DON’T ALIENATE YOUR MINORITY LAWYERS
The benefits of diversity have been embraced for the most part by the American legal world, but it’s just as important for managers and employees to address the subtle slights that keep the workplace from being truly welcoming to minority lawyers. So said speakers at Thursday’s well-attended panel on “micro-inequities,” at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
What kinds of behaviors qualify as micro-inequities?
As panelist and Morrison & Foerster partner Eric Tate explained, it’s things like: dismissing the idea of one employee, only to embrace it when it’s raised by another; going out to lunch with some employees more often than others; checking one’s BlackBerry while talking to an employee; leaving some employees off group e-mails; mistaking an attorney of color for cleaning staff; making fun of employees’ accents; being openly chummy with and making nicknames for some employees and not others.
The behaviors may be subtle, but they can add up to significant losses of productivity and morale, panelists said.
“These micro-inequities have a tremendous impact on how people are valued in a workplace,” said Kim Rivera, vice president and associate general counsel at The Clorox Co. in Oakland. “It really destroys a person’s morale. It lowers their commitment to what they’re doing.”
These behaviors also affect companies’ and firms’ ability to retain qualified minority attorneys, Rivera said.
“It is apparent from everything I’ve seen that employee engagement � is increasingly becoming a key factor in whether people are going to be able to retain talent,” she said. “Now it’s starting to cost something.”
These kinds of behaviors are not just a matter of employees having “a chip on their shoulder,” Rivera added. “This is something that will absolutely affect our bottom line someday.”
So how to make a change? Panelist Sophia Lee, senior litigation attorney with Sunoco Inc. in Philadelphia, said the tone needs to be set from the top. “Without it being sanctioned from people at the top, it’s tough,” she said.
Tate recommends training in micro-inequities, and all panelists said frank and open discussions between managers and employees alike, though uncomfortable, are the best way to take it on.
“You have to go into discussions with an open mind,” said panelist Nicole Harris, an attorney with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. “Regardless of how they phrase different questions, being able to discuss these things will advance the ball a bit.”
Moderator Floyd Holloway, counsel with State Farm Insurance, added that such discussions are a form of “preventative law” that can head off costly lawsuits and employee departures.
“I think this area is ripe for preventative law,” he said.
� Jessie Seyfer
A PERFECT PITCH
Like many Los Angeles residents, Douglas Mancino loves the Dodgers.
“I’m a homegrown boy, at least for the past 27 years,” he said. “We go to a dozen games a year.”
But as an attorney focusing on the organization of nonprofits, it didn’t seem likely that his work and pleasure would combine.
That changed this summer, when the Dodgers launched their official fundraising organization and called on Mancino, a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery, to represent them.
In late July, the Dodgers and their owners created “ThinkCure,” a charity that will raise funds for cancer research at City of Hope and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The new organization will be similar to “The Jimmy Fund,” the well-known Boston Red Sox charity that supports cancer research.
“They’re promoting it as the official charity of the Dodgers,” Mancino said. “They’re very interested in finding a cure.”
Mancino said he got the new client because of his expertise in the charitable giving arena. He’ll be advising the charity on general incorporation, exemption applications and ongoing fundraising advice � the usual fare, but with an unusual client, he said.
“Working with Travis McCourt is a delight,” he said, referring to the son of owner Frank McCourt Jr.
At a reception earlier this month for the board of directors of the new organization, speakers included former manager Tommy Lasorda, current manager Grady Little and beloved sportscaster Vin Scully.
“This is a major piece of the fabric of L.A., so it’s wonderful to be associated with it,” Mancino said.
� Kellie Schmitt
