Everyone can do better when it comes to diversity and inclusion, a panel of in-house attorneys said at the 2019 Legalweek on Wednesday at the Midtown Hilton in Manhattan.

The diversity and inclusion panel was moderated by Joe West, a partner and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Duane Morris. The panel was made up of Tami Collingwood, an attorney in the U.S. Commercial Enterprise of Microsoft Corp.; Simon Des-Etages, the deputy general counsel, global retail banking and wealth management at HSBC; Ann Kappler, a senior vice president, deputy general counsel and head of external affairs at Prudential Financial; and Andy Yoo, the vice president and associate general counsel at Pearson.

"Client expectations are increasingly rooted in diversity and inclusion," West said. "The representation of minorities in law firms continues to be problematic; both at the associate and the partner level."

To combat that, many firms have signed onto what is known as the Mansfield Rule, which is a policy in which firms must consider minority, women and LGBTQ candidates for senior positions.

Yoo said he was part of the hackathon series in which the Mansfield Rule came out of.

"The point I want to make about the Mansfield Rule is that not only is it a rule where folks are signing up to meet the 30 percent inclusion threshold," Yoo said.

He explained that Pearson is making an effort to reach out to more disabled people in hopes of giving them a better opportunity at pursuing a career in law.

He said the rule allows for partnership and continued growth for diverse hires.

Kappler said Prudential is hesitant to require firms to sign on to the Mansfield Rule because the company doesn't have to meet the same threshold for candidates. However, she said, it does make sure firms are empowering women and minorities.

She explained one way Prudential promotes diversity in law firms is it uses a "spotlight" program. She explained a Prudential employee is tasked with identifying a certain number of diverse associates that Prudential invests in their career.

"Can we get them on panels at bar associations? We really work with the law firm and figure out how to get them credit. How do we advance them? It's all about the relationship," Kappler said.

She explained in the past Prudential has helped underappreciated associates move to another firm. That portability she said is valuable because it may lead to another firm, more willing to promote a diverse hire, getting work with Prudential.

Microsoft is perhaps best known for publicly making its firms promote diversity and inclusion. However, Collingwood said for newly hired in-house lawyers there is an informal mentoring program. She said this gives them someone to go to who has a similar experience to make them feel comfortable in the workplace.

"On top of that we actively go out and look at nontraditional schools and colleges," Collingwood said.

Des-Etages said HSBC is at a point where it needs to look inward and consider its own internal biases.

"We're at a point where we're asking ourselves what we are missing," Des-Etages said.

He said if HSBC doesn't fully understand how to promote diversity and inclusion itself, then it can't go to its law firms expecting the same.