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A group of former and current general counsel is setting some very specific goals to increase racial diversity in the top legal spots at some of the world's largest companies.

The 2025 Black GC Initiative initially hopes to increase the number of black GCs in Fortune 1000 companies (currently at 38) to five percent of the total Fortune 1000 group by 2020. By 2025, the aim is to grow the proportion of black GCs to 10 percent of the top company lawyers in the Fortune 1000.

The long-term goal is to increase the number of black in-house legal leaders in both public and private large companies.

“We want to be able to have a pool that is robust enough that we should be able to field some qualified black candidates for about any search that opens up out there,” said Ernest Tuckett, general counsel, Americas, at Akzo Nobel Inc. and co-leader of the initiative.

The initiative was sparked by a speech by Tuckett at an annual National Bar Association Corporate Counsel event last year about diversity in the in-house community and his call to action to improve those numbers. He suggested the value of setting some goals and discussing ways to reach them in eight years. Those who volunteered to do so met, and the effort was born.

Key to the initiative's effort is the identification of so-called “ready-now” black GC candidates. To be deemed ready now, however, the candidate must be nominated or sponsored by a current or former GC, a chief executive officer or an executive search firm, said April Miller Boise, senior vice president, CLO and corporate secretary at Meritor Inc. and the other leader of the initiative.

These ready-now candidates, Boise added, are identified based on ideal core criteria necessary to be a successful GC and developed by the group's advisory council. While acknowledging that “everyone's path to the GC chair is different,” Boise said the core criteria generally can be divided into three main categories: strong executive presence and interpersonal skills, significant technical legal expertise and experience, and excellent judgment.

Candidates who believe they are set to go are encouraged to compare their experience to the core criteria and discuss that analysis with GCs that they know and trust.

“I'm sure one of the reasons that this has really resonated with people is that these are very tangible goals to drive the needle,” Boise said. “This is not just networking. It is getting to know each other so that we have these relationships and can talk about the state of the profession and how we drive that change.”

Also integral to the effort is what's called a bio book, which includes short bios and headshots of GCs and ready-now candidates. Current GCs are included because many will be candidates for new and different top-lawyer roles—leaving openings for the ready-now lawyers.

As GC searches are conducted, selected bios may be presented by a member of the advisory council or other GCs to search firms and other potential employers for further discussion with target candidates.

“This is a good opportunity to make sure that our candidates who are ready now would be on the slate for these executive recruiters,” said Tuckett.