Lisa Helem, editor-in-chief of The National Law Journal magazine.

At the National Law Journal, We look at our annual report ranking the nation's largest 500 U.S.-centric law firms as an information piñata. It's chock full of law firm facts. And once a year, we get to break it open, reporting on everything from overall law firm head count trends, to how average firm size has changed, to which firms made the biggest moves up the chart.

In this year's package, we unpack the data on attorneys and partners and spotlight the firms that are leading the way on gender diversity. (Spoiler: New data shows us that the top two firms on the 2020 Women's Scorecard lead the way not only at retaining and promoting women as a whole, but also with their high percentages of minority women partners.)

Putting together the NLJ 500 special report is a herculean task that is well worth the effort. And I'm grateful for the contributions of the entire team that worked together to present the stories behind the trends: Managing Editor Sarah Tincher, Assistant Editor Victoria Ostrander and business of law reporters David Thomas, Patrick Smith, Samantha Stokes and Dan Packel. I'm also appreciative of the tireless work of ALM's Senior Research Manager Jeanne Graham and Research Manager Dan Masopust (without the extensive industry data they gathered, NLJ 500 would not be possible). Lastly, a big thank you to Senior Photo Editor Diego Radzinschi and our skilled design team, led on this issue by Senior Graphic Designer Chelsey Fredlund and including Jai Prakash Bachchan, graphic designer, and Shilpi Bhargava, editorial production manager.

Shifting gears a bit, in the weeks before we prepared to go to print for this special issue, another story hit full stride like Usain Bolt in the final stretch of the 100-meter dash. One could not look away. And that is the story of George Floyd, an African American man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck. In the wake of the incident and protests around the world, I reached out to two African American law firm leaders in Washington, D.C., to give context to the frustration, sorrow and anger we were seeing and to examine where they thought progress could be made. A. Scott Bolden, D.C. managing partner of Reed Smith, and Ben Wilson, chairman of Beveridge & Diamond, placed Floyd's death in a historical context. They also shared their lived experiences with racism and their hope for greater inclusion in the legal profession and beyond. I've excerpted some highlights of that conversation in this issue. And the entire interview, originally recorded for the Legal Speak podcast, is also available on our site.

Thank you for reading and thank you for listening, to us and to each other. Stay in touch.