Recruitment, retention, and realization of diverse lawyers.

Turnover is hard, expensive, and often embarrassing. How can a law firm or legal department attract diverse candidates and then sustain them for an entire career? Let’s talk about tools to make professional satisfaction achievable.

You said so when you didn’t say so.

What subtle signals are you unconsciously sending that drives away diverse candidates? Sometimes it’s what is said, but as often what is not said. Let’s talk about breaking the code of miscommunication.

Intergenerational changes/work life balance.

Organizations must grow or go. However, young lawyers have new ideas about work balance and job satisfaction, and older team members burn out in professional cages. Let’s talk about how to find a sustainable balance to energize all team members for overall success.

Understanding the inherent value of individuals.

Understanding the inherent value of each individual and the unique contributions he/she/they bring to a team is at the heart of “value.” Let’s talk about integrating different perspectives to bring value to the organization.

Why are we still talking about diversity?

A lot of progress has been made in the legal profession. What’s left, and why should we care about addressing remaining challenges? Let’s talk about growth, stability, inclusiveness, and success.

The business case for diversity.

More than 200 General Counsel signed an open letter threatening to move to firms who embrace diversity and inclusion. They’re looking to their own business models and applying what they’ve learned to the legal environment. Why?

Defining diversity and meaning it.

We’ve all read the list of “protected categories” in state and federal law. Commitment to diversity and inclusion means more than compliance with law. Let’s talk about moving beyond labels and integrating value-added perspectives.

Leadership in diversity issues.

 A “diversity statement” is a good start, but Inclusive Excellence requires constant and steady, leadership. Let’s talk about achieving dedicated leadership to move the statement forward into reality.

Sexual Orientation, Disability, Religion, and other evolving diversity issues.

The “Invisible Minorities.” An organization which focuses solely on “numbers,” “protected groups,” or “major minorities,” overlooks opportunities for true inclusion and excellence. Let’s talk about making inclusion so systemic that it encompasses team members whose perspectives can’t be readily seen.

“I didn’t mean anything by it…”

All of us want to be fair, but we all come to the table with a history and preconceived notions. Learning to recognize how implicit bias leads to discontent within professional relationships can help individuals and organizations move beyond “politically correct” toward self-awareness and success.

Let’s talk about the gender equity gap.

It’s hard to explain to aggrieved customers in adjacent aisle seats why one ticket costs more than the other. It’s even harder to explain why equally qualified women continue to earn less than males. Let’s talk about the gender equity gap in the legal profession. Better still, let’s talk about how to end it.

Inclusive Excellence.

This concept moves us from a simplistic definition of diversity to a more inclusive, comprehensive, and omnipresent awareness where:

a. Inclusiveness and Excellence are interdependent rather than separate concepts
b. Everyone in the organization is responsible for inclusiveness
c. Diversity is embedded throughout the organization and measured by overall progress rather than quota goals
d. A broad and flexible definition of diversity is used and updated as needed