Despite Ropes & Gray’s expansion in New York in the last decade, its roots may have posed an obstacle to diversity. The firm was founded 150 years ago in Boston, a city that at times has been seen as hostile to blacks.
“Some of the old perceptions of Boston still exist a little,” said Bernard Guinyard, Ropes & Gray’s diversity manager. But the firm has been trying to change those perceptions since arriving in New York by acquiring Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt & Maynard in 2003 and Fish & Neave in 2005.
