Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr has hired Tracey West as its new director of diversity and inclusion from Boston College Law School, where she spent nearly 20 years and was most recently an associate dean for external relations, diversity and inclusion.

West said she was evaluating a number of different professional opportunities in the legal and corporate realm when Wilmer approached her earlier this year.

"They persuaded me of their deep commitment to diversity more than anyone else," West said.

Robert Novick, Wilmer's co-managing partner, said in a statement that the firm was looking forward to "even greater progress" on the diversity front with West leading its efforts.

"We believe the impressive breadth of Tracey's diversity and inclusion work, along with her management experience, make her the ideal person to inform and guide our firm's efforts in this important area," Novick said in a statement.

West said she found Wilmer to be transparent and forthcoming about what the firm thinks it is doing well and what it thinks it needs to do better. She said she visited the firm's offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City before coming on board. "My presence needs to be felt throughout the entire law firm," she said.

Her predecessor at Wilmer, D.C.-based Nimesh Patel, left the firm to become Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's chief diversity and inclusion officer earlier this year.

West will continue to be based in Boston but will continue to travel to other Wilmer offices.

Other major law firms around the country are also continuing to invest in executive level positions to promote greater diversity in the profession, which remains dominated by white men, particularly at the partner level. Just last week, Foley Hoag brought in Rosa Nunez to establish its diversity and inclusion program, and IP boutique Brooks Kushman appointed shareholder Linda Mettes as chief diversity officer.

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