Notes From the President & CEO
GREATER DIVERSITY AT THE TOP—CAN FIRMS DO IT TOO?
MORE THAN ANYTHING, FIRM BEHAVIOR IS DRIVEN BY CLIENT EXPECTATIONS. Tese days, the commonly held assumption is that few corporate law departments have meaningful external diversity and inclusion ini- tiatives, and fewer still are willing to hold their firms accountable for increasing diversity within their ranks or with the lawyers who handle the client matters. Tis dynamic, I believe, is finally changing. I recently served on two separate panels with the
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GCs of several major corporations who spoke with passion and conviction about their commitment to diversity and inclusion and their expectations of their external counsel. I heard Teresa Roseborough of Home Depot and Leslie Slavich of Spanx discuss the mistake some firms still make when they show up to pitch meetings with teams that are not diverse. I saw Larry Tompson of PepsiCo share stories of how his influence ensures that their outside counsel provide meaningful and substantive roles for diverse lawyers behind the pitch. Tis trend was evident at the recent MCCA
Diversity Awards Gala (see page 34) which honored companies such as Nationwide, Chevron, DHL, Morgan Stanley, and Heinz for their innovative programs. Even more revealing is the result of a recent MCCA research study of in-house law department efforts. Of the largest of the 765 corporate law depart- ments surveyed, 87 percent have instituted formal diversity and inclusion programs, 91 percent have established a formal diversity committee separate from any company-wide efforts, 77 percent actively meet and track the efforts of their outside counsel regarding diversity, and most telling, 100 percent reported that
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DIVERSITY & THE BAR® NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 MCCA® Staff
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those results are reviewed by the chief legal officer of the department. Finally, MCCA’s recent GC surveys showed the
highest percentages of women and minority GCs in the history of the survey. Te disconnect on the firm side—and the importance of client input—was illustrated vividly by the recently released National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) annual sur- vey which showed little movement for women among the ranks of equity partners. Tere is truth to the saying: “that which gets
measured, gets done.” Commitments to inclusion and to meaningful, substantive opportunities for client work are finally being measured. Now, let’s see if we can get it done.
JOSEPH K. WEST President & CEO
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