Small corporate legal departments, those with 10 or fewer attorneys, are fighting to boost the diversity of their staffs just as their bigger brethren are, but face especially daunting obstacles, general counsel and experts on legal hiring say.

Those often range from having fewer resources for recruiting and lower pay scales to just not having enough positions on staff for minorities of similar backgrounds to build a sizable community.

"If you have very small departments, then you have more limited opportunities to include each of those as a dominant diversity," said Melba Hughes, national in-house diversity practice leader at Major, Lindsey & Africa.