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The Shift: Diversity Data Is More Than Just Numbers on a Spreadsheet

As Christine Simmons noted last week, Coca-Cola GC Bradley Gayton made waves in late January in unveiling a new set of diversity standards for outside firms working with the company. According to the new guidelines, law firms must provide Coca-Cola with self-identified diversity data for a quarterly analysis of the diversity of teams working on the company's matters. At least 30% of the lawyers on Coca-Cola's new cases have to be diverse, half must be Black. Firms that fall short multiple times will see a reduction in fees or possibly lose Coca-Cola's business entirely.

Gayton's efforts advance the ball further in what has been an increasing realization among corporate legal departments and law firms alike: diversity metrics have real power. A record 117 firms sought certification for the industry's "Mansfield Rule" last year, after all, in which firms agree to consider at least 30% women, lawyers of color, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities for leadership and senior positions. "You can't get what you don't measure," Diversity Lab CEO Caren Ulrich Stacy said last summer. "One thing the Mansfield Rule does that no one really talked about is, as a foundational premise, it requires that firms track their candidate pools."