Natalie Pierce, Littler Mendelson shareholder. (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)

Littler Mendelson's Career Advocacy Program pairs minorities and attorneys who have identified themselves as LGBTQ or differently abled with firm leaders and general counsel of the firm's clients, including NBCUniversal, Verizon and others, for mentorship and leadership development. The program garnered the firm one of three Innovations in Diversity and Inclusion Awards that will be honored at the California Leaders in Tech Law and Innovation Awards. The Recorder recently caught up with Natalie Pierce, a San Francisco-based co-chair of the firm's Diversity and Inclusion Counsel who developed the program, to discuss how it came together.

The firm's Career Advocacy Program pairs participants with leaders within the firm and with clients for mentorship and leadership development. How important is the client component of those opportunities?

Natalie Pierce: The client champions that participate in the Career Advocacy Program are critical to development of the associate protégés, providing them with access to C-suite decision-makers that help guide their career development. As part of the program, each champion meets privately with a small group of protégés to share insight on how they achieved success, how to take ownership of one's career, and what they look for in their relationship counsel. Former protégés that have been promoted to shareholder have attributed the support and encouragement from champions as instrumental to their career progression.

How do you measure success in a program such as this?

One goal of the Career Advocacy Program is to provide opportunities for influential shareholder advocates to participate in developing Littler's diverse talent and helping them gain business development skills and have access to experiences that position them for success.

At the beginning of the program, each advocate-protégé pair identifies both short- and longer-term goals for the protégé. This initial plan serves as a guidepost for the advocate's and protégé's efforts, and is adjusted or supplemented as needed. This plan is used to assess the success of the program and the particular advocate-protégé pairing. The areas for development that the program focuses on are: business development/client relationships, management skills, profile and networking. We compare the results with the firm's history of retention and promotion, and over time, determine if the program is making a positive impact.

Littler has tracked the progress of the program since its inception, and the numbers demonstrate that it is making a difference. Over the past four years, protégés represented 12% to 40% of each new shareholder class. Another unique indicator of CAP's success is that 15 former protégés—who have all been elevated to shareholder—continue to participate in the program.

We are continually evaluating the program and refining how we monitor progress and ensure accountability.

What are Littler's biggest challenges in fostering diversity among all levels of the firm?

Effectively retaining and advancing diverse lawyers has been a challenge across the legal industry. Before launching the Career Advocacy Program, we recognized that fostering diversity among all levels doesn't always happen naturally—whether it be a diverse attorney seeking a mentor or a successful shareholder looking to share his or her knowledge with an up-and-coming attorney. Through this program and other diversity initiatives, it has become evident that when a successful partner or client is given a framework within which to mentor someone, they welcome the opportunity.

Diversity is also a fundamental part of who we are as a firm and the commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace comes from the top of the firm. It is this permission to be bold that gives us the courage to break orthodoxies, and I think some of our best initiatives have been launched with that mindset.