We Cannot Relent: The Need to Remain Resilient in Your Firm’s DEI Efforts

As a co-founder of three women-owned businesses, advocating and educating on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace has been an important part of my career over the last 13 years. Not only is it a passion of mine to help support and amplify underrepresented voices, but from a business owner’s standpoint, it becomes a competitive advantage to have as many differing backgrounds and perspectives around the decision-making table. Working in the legal industry gives rise to many challenges when it comes to DEI in our firms and legal departments. Improving inclusion and belonging in the legal industry has not been without setbacks and roadblocks. However, we are now facing a new tidal wave aimed at broadening the distance we have traveled to improve DEI in our industry. In early August, my business partner and colleague, Francine Griesing, wrote an article titled “A Slippery Slope: The Erosion of DEI in the Legal Profession and Beyond” which discussed about three important diversity and inclusion initiatives happening in the United States. Her article focused on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision rendering unlawful use of affirmative action in education admissions decisions, the losses stemming from banned books, and the growing censorship of DEI initiatives—both at the private and public sector levels. As you will read below, the most recent threats to dismantle DEI in the United States are now aimed at the legal industry, but we cannot relent against these attacks and instead must remain resilient with our DEI efforts now and well into the future.

The Attacks on DEI Have Reached New Heights

In the months since affirmative action became unlawful in education admissions, there have been at least three blatant attacks on DEI efforts and initiatives in the private corporate sector— two of which were aimed at Big Law. The first shot set its sights on The Fearless Fund, which “invests in women of color-led businesses seeking pre-seed, seed level or series A financing. Our mission is to bridge the gap in venture capital funding for women of color founders building scalable, growth aggressive companies.” For those not familiar, in early August 2023, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) sued The Fearless Fund, under the guise of—of all things—a discrimination lawsuit. Using a radicalized version of viewpoint diversity, AAER “alleges the grant program excludes some of its members who are not Black women,” which is discriminatory and unlawful. The Black Economic Alliance Foundation recently filed an amicus brief in support of The Fearless Fund, which also has the support of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the National Women’s Law Center. While The Fearless Fund did agree to withhold issuances of new grants while the preliminary injunction is decided, Arian Simone, CEO and co-founder of the Fearless Fund declared, “This attack does not change our mission … we will remain steadfast on ensuring that the Fearless Fund will continue to empower women of color entrepreneurs.”