Do in-house leaders truly care about diversity? Sure, they've signed letters and joined initiatives to encourage law firms and legal departments to hire and promote more diverse lawyers. But has much of it been a show?

From where Donald Prophete sits, that's exactly what it's been. The partner at Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete hasn't been shy about calling out the GC crowd for repeatedly pledging to push for diversity—and repeatedly failing to make any real difference.

"They don't care. It's not really important to them. If it were, they would fix it," Prophete says. He adds, "If you don't want to expand your portfolio of outside lawyers, just say that. Stop signing these letters and stop creating these false programs where you know it's basically just lipstick on a pig."