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The legal profession, long considered to be among the least diverse industries in the US, has made great strides toward representational equality in recent years. As we’ll touch on below in more detail, the demographics across associates and the profession as a whole have come close to matching the makeup of the US population in terms of gender and racial representation.
However, leadership is still lagging behind. As of 2024, for example, women in partnership roles had reached about 28%, and the share of these roles held by people of color was about 12%.1 Both of these figures are far below the respective proportions across the country and the profession.
Below, we’ll explain why diversity is critical to ethical and effective operations at any law firm, tackle some of the barriers to establishing it, and lay out how firms can cultivate diversity.
Diversity in legal leadership is critical to law firms’ success. Reflecting the cultural differences and perspectives of your personnel and clientele is both strategically and ethically sound.
There are two main reasons firms should strive to establish and maintain diverse leadership:
Here’s a closer look at the biggest reasons diversity in legal leadership is essential.
At a base level, diverse leadership brings in varied perspectives to improve problem-solving and decision-making by considering a wider variety of solutions holistically. Incorporating different views and assumptions empowers firms to cover their bases with respect to sensitivities and differences in interpretation or impact that a more monolithic leadership board could miss.
But, beyond generalizations, organizations with diverse leadership simply perform better.
McKinsey has studied the phenomenon of diversity’s impact on business performance since at least 2015. Over eight years, McKinsey found that the relative likelihood of a firm outperforming competitors was directly correlated with the representation of women and ethnic diversity in its executive teams. Companies in the top quartile of gender and ethnic diversity in 2023 were 39% more likely to outperform their peers—up from 15% and 35%, respectively, back in 2015.2
What this all means is that, beyond ethical concerns, diverse leadership is good business.
In the legal profession, diversity in leadership is the key to effective collaboration, strategic thinking, practical success in legal matters, and sustainable growth in the future.
Proportionate representation is critical to accurate and fair understanding, advocacy, and relationship-building between legal professionals and their clientele. Leadership should be informed by the cultural dynamics impacting their personnel, ideally through direct exposure.
Diverse leadership is itself a measure of equality, and it also promotes equity in service.
A reasonable goal would be for legal leadership to approach proportionate representation relative to the legal profession—if not the US population as a whole. And the industry has made great strides to match US population demographics in recent years. Across gender and race, about 50.5% of the US population is female, and about 75.3% of the population is labeled as “white alone.”3 In the legal profession, per the ABA, about 50% of associates are female, and about 30% of all associates are legal professionals of color, meaning that about 70% are white.4
These strides toward proportional representation in the rank and file help lawyers advocate for clients more effectively. However, to maximize their potential, leadership also needs to shift in a direction more proportionate to the body of legal professionals and the clientele they serve.
Despite the strides toward representation amongst associates and legal professionals overall, leadership at firms across the US could still be improved. As noted up top, women and people of color in leadership roles at law firms now sit at 28% and 12%, respectively. While these figures are higher than they have been in the past, there is much work to be done.
One major barrier to diversity in legal leadership is implicit bias in hiring and promotion.
While raw hiring numbers have improved over time, the pipeline to leadership roles is still harder to access and navigate for historically under-represented populations. For example, per an ABA/ALM survey, about 67% of women attorneys reported lacking business development opportunities, 53% have been denied promotion, and 40% have trouble accessing sponsors.5
Other issues have to do with retention and quality of life for women, people of color, and other under-represented groups at law firms. In addition to lost opportunities, individual firms and the legal profession as a whole often fail to understand or accommodate unique challenges faced by individuals from these communities. For example, gender-based expectations can complicate female attorneys’ work-life balance in ways their male counterparts may not be aware of. And lawyers of color can be exposed to racial microaggressions in their dealings with other associates or clients, adding a layer of difficulty that their colleagues may not understand.
Retention is a key measure of the impact these challenges have in the aggregate. While overall attrition in the legal profession was 18% in 2023 (down from 20% in 2022), attorneys of color left law firms at a significantly higher rate (24%) than their white counterparts (16%).6
Overcoming these challenges is critical to success across the legal profession.
Despite the challenges outlined above, forward-thinking law firms in every specialization and location across the US are integrating diversity into their leadership ranks. Taking action and addressing inequality top-down is one of the best ways to set your firm up for success.
Some best practices for promoting diversity in legal leadership are:
Let’s take a closer look at each.
It all starts with who is given a seat at the table. Law firms should embrace a culture of true meritocracy. This means leveraging technological tools to make decisions based on candidates’ history rather than preconceived notions based on gender, race, or other identity markers.
To that end, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools are helping law firms find the best fit for their needs while also avoiding unconscious bias in hiring. JD Supra has illustrated how advanced predictive analytics powered by AI allow firms to evaluate clients more fairly and accurately, minimizing the potential for racial or other stereotypes to cloud their judgment when comparing prospects.7 The same is true of evaluative software used to measure performance and make decisions about promotion within or across law firms.
Establishing and maintaining a robust DEI program is one of the best ways to attract, retain, and promote diverse talent across a firm. It’s also an excellent pipeline to diverse leadership.
The ABA Journal recommends the following tips and tricks for effective DEI program design8:
These suggestions all point to a concerted, intentional effort that puts DEI at the center of a firm’s strategy. This is in contrast to organizations in the legal profession and elsewhere that take a more haphazard, reluctant approach to DEI—only to miss out on the benefits of diversity.
As noted above, one of the top challenges impeding more diverse leadership in law firms is the gap in development opportunities offered to under-represented communities. To combat this, law firms should implement targeted leadership and mentorship programs with the specific aim of identifying, cultivating, and promoting top talent among gender, racial, and other minorities.
In particular, Bloomberg Law has highlighted how targeted mentorship is especially important in a climate where DEI initiatives are facing pushback and challenges across the legal and political spectrum.9 It’s not enough to be proactive and transparent in hiring and promoting top legal talent. Firms should go out of their way to identify up-and-comers from gender, racial, ethnic, religious, and other backgrounds that are not accounted for in their leadership circles.
Lawyers who are accustomed to seeing people who look like them in leadership roles enjoy a built-in advantage in terms of their own psychological dispositions and those of the boards who select leaders in their firms. Targeted mentoring counter-balances this, for everyone’s benefit.
Creating and maintaining a culture of diversity at law firms starts with leadership. Having people from all walks of life in leadership positions helps law firms shape the future of a more equitable and effective legal profession. It’s also critical to success in this rapidly evolving legal climate.
E.P. Dine helps firms optimize their practices with diverse perspectives, finding the best talent from the widest and most representative pools available. We’ll help set you up for success.
To learn more about how we can help, get in touch to speak with our legal executive recruiters today.
Sources:
At E.P. Dine, we are committed to delivering content that is not only relevant and insightful but also rooted in professional integrity and expertise. To achieve this, every article published on the E.P. Dine blog undergoes a meticulous review process by qualified professionals with deep knowledge and experience in the legal field and legal recruitment.
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