It’s not an easy time to be a diversity, equity and inclusion professional, in the legal world or elsewhere, with the topic garnering significant legal, political and social pushback over the past year. But the involvement of more than 100 lawyers and in-house counsel in a DEI Hackathon organized by Diversity Lab reveals that the subject is far from dead in Big Law.
“I wanted to get involved in a project that could benefit the legal profession as a whole. … As a partner at a Big Law firm, I feel a moral responsibility to improve the profession and make it better for everybody,” Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe finance enforcement and litigation partner Jay Williams, one of the winners of the hackathon, said about his decision to participate in the program. Other firms whose personnel participated included K&L Gates, Holland & Knight and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
