In the Legal's Diversity supplement, read about ways to combat implicit bias, the role of management in top-down diversity efforts and check out our roundtable discussion.

Click here to download the digital edtion

Breaking the Courtroom Glass Ceiling
For the last 20 years, approximately half of all law school graduates have been women. Yet, as has been widely reported, women only make up slightly more than 20 percent of the partnership at major law firms, with even fewer women becoming equity partners. Read more

The State of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under Title VII
Until recently, no U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had extended Title VII to include sexual orientation as a protected class, meaning that LGBTQ individuals who suffer discrimination could not avail themselves of Title VII protection from bias. On the heels of Obergefell v. Hodges—the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision favoring gay marriage—the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a July 2015 administrative decision styled as Baldwin v. Foxx in which the agency held for the first time that a person alleging sexual orientation discrimination had a cognizable claim under Title VII. Read more

Implicit Bias: The Best Ways to Combat It
We all understand what explicit biases are—they are the biases that we have that we know about. They are conscious and largely controllable. Implicit bias, unlike explicit bias, is more complex and refers to our attitudes or stereotypes that we have about a person or a group but that reside in our subconscious. These biases affect the way we act and react, but all in an unconscious manner. Read more

Top-Down Diversity: The Role of Management, the Client and the Bench
Diversity and inclusion are so often discussed in the business world that they are becoming buzz words. Unfortunately, in the legal profession, the “buzz” seems to be just that: noise. Law firms and the legal profession, generally, are notoriously stagnant (and even falling behind) in diversity. While most lawyers agree that it is an important initiative—the question becomes, how do we bridge the divide? Read more
Proposed Amendment to Rule 8.4: How Wil It Impact Diversity and Inclusion?
At its August 2016 annual meeting, the American Bar Association passed a resolution that amended 8.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to make it an ethical violation for an attorney to “engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law . Read more
2017 Diversity Roundtable Discussion Read more

In the Legal's Diversity supplement, read about ways to combat implicit bias, the role of management in top-down diversity efforts and check out our roundtable discussion.

Click here to download the digital edtion

Breaking the Courtroom Glass Ceiling
For the last 20 years, approximately half of all law school graduates have been women. Yet, as has been widely reported, women only make up slightly more than 20 percent of the partnership at major law firms, with even fewer women becoming equity partners. Read more

The State of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under Title VII
Until recently, no U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had extended Title VII to include sexual orientation as a protected class, meaning that LGBTQ individuals who suffer discrimination could not avail themselves of Title VII protection from bias. On the heels of Obergefell v. Hodges—the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision favoring gay marriage—the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a July 2015 administrative decision styled as Baldwin v. Foxx in which the agency held for the first time that a person alleging sexual orientation discrimination had a cognizable claim under Title VII. Read more

Implicit Bias: The Best Ways to Combat It
We all understand what explicit biases are—they are the biases that we have that we know about. They are conscious and largely controllable. Implicit bias, unlike explicit bias, is more complex and refers to our attitudes or stereotypes that we have about a person or a group but that reside in our subconscious. These biases affect the way we act and react, but all in an unconscious manner. Read more

Top-Down Diversity: The Role of Management, the Client and the Bench
Diversity and inclusion are so often discussed in the business world that they are becoming buzz words. Unfortunately, in the legal profession, the “buzz” seems to be just that: noise. Law firms and the legal profession, generally, are notoriously stagnant (and even falling behind) in diversity. While most lawyers agree that it is an important initiative—the question becomes, how do we bridge the divide? Read more
Proposed Amendment to Rule 8.4: How Wil It Impact Diversity and Inclusion?
At its August 2016 annual meeting, the American Bar Association passed a resolution that amended 8.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to make it an ethical violation for an attorney to “engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law . Read more
2017 Diversity Roundtable Discussion Read more