Jennifer Bankston of Bankston Marketing Solutions. Courtesy photo

Smart Strategy

Socially conscious literary icon Charles Dickens portrayed the squalor, blight and inhumane working conditions of the industrial revolution. We have indeed come a long way from Victorian London, its workhouses, and heart-wrenching demonstrations of inhumanity, bias, and prejudice. Yet have we come far enough? The time has come for a "Belonging Revolution" in law firms.

Today, the world's strongest brands and workplace experts, already committed to fundamental fair labor practices for decades, have embarked on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to improve workplace culture. Since 2020, billions have been pledged by U.S. companies to promote DE&I. Most recently, a more detailed concept and new nomenclature has been added to the DEI spectrum—belonging.

Law firms can be fragmented and isolating environments for individuals that comprise the organization—from law clerks to lawyers to marketing and business development personnel to accounting to any billable timekeeper. This feeling of isolation is the antithesis of belonging.