Suzie Scanlon Rabinowitz writes in the ABA Journal that “Both the perception of and reality for women attorneys is disheartening. According to the National Association for Law Placement, women accounted for 20% of equity law firm partners in 2018. That’s while women have constituted about half of law school graduates for the past 20 years, according to Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on advancing women’s professional progress. By many other key metrics, the law is still male-dominated, especially at its highest levels.”

“In a profession where cultural change happens at a creeping pace, how can we change the perception—and the reality—that success for women at the upper echelons is the exception, rather than the rule? Just as important, how can we elevate the practice of law by fostering diversity in the profession?”

Read the article.

Littler has launched an initiative to advance nonbinary gender inclusiveness within the firm, according to a release from the firm.

Internally, the firm is providing resources to employees that outline suggested practices for handling matters that involve nonbinary individuals whose gender identities are beyond the two categories of “male” or “female.” Gender-based pronouns will be eliminated from human resources documents, including handbooks, and employees will have the option of choosing a nonbinary identifier in the firm’s internal HR system. In addition, the firm is standardizing email signature blocks including the addition of a voluntary option to include preferred-pronoun identification.

Additionally, marketing collateral and other external materials will be made gender-neutral.

“An important part of gender identity is the pronouns we choose. By being mindful of others’ preferred pronouns and by proactively sharing our own preferred pronouns, we can help to ensure that we respect one another’s gender identity and avoid misgendering people,” said Tom Bender and Jeremy Roth, co-managing directors of Littler, in a joint statement. “In conjunction with broader efforts as part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we’re confident that these initial steps will further foster a more welcoming and inclusive environment for our employees and clients.”

The Princeton Review has released the results of a study designed to rank the top 10 U.S. law schools that provide the best opportunities for women students.

The findings are based on school reported data — the percent of the student body that are women — and student surveys. Students answered a survey question on whether all students are afforded equal treatment by students and faculty regardless of their gender.

Topping the list is Stanford University School of Law in California.

Read the Princeton Review article.

Women make up as many as 50 percent of new associates, yet they leave law firms much more frequently than men, the American Bar Association found in a new study.

Bloomberg Law, reporting on the ABA study, summarized the findings:

“The report found that there are big differences in how the genders view their firm’s handling of promotions, leadership opportunities and equity partnerships.

“Some 91% of firm leaders, for example, felt their firms are “actively advocates of gender diversity,” while only 62% of the women lawyers responding thought the same thing.”

The study found that women cited the level of stress at work, care-taking commitments, differences in pay, and the firm’s emphasis on marketing as negative factors.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law reports that a former Hershey Co. intellectual property lawyer can’t proceed with a suit alleging he was discriminated against when the company terminated him by saying it was eliminating his position, but then hiring “a younger, African-American woman” for the same job, the Middle District of Pennsylvania said.

Kurt L. Ehresman, a 52-year-old white man, worked as Hershey’s senior counsel for global intellectual property until Hershey told him it was eliminating his position, writes Bloomberg’s Blake Brittain. Ehresman said Hershey soon created a “Head of Intellectual Property” position and hired a younger black woman “to promote Defendant’s goal of diversity.”

The court found his claims were barred by an agreement he signed when he left the company.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law reports that Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is accused in a new lawsuit in New York of discriminating and retaliating against a black former associate because of his complaints about racial bias at the law firm.

Kaloma Cardwell alleges the firm denied him job assignments — causing him to go from billing more than 100 hours per month to zero billable hours for four consecutive months. The firm then fired him, according to his complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Cardwell was the only black attorney hired in the firm’s 2014 class of more than 120 new associates, and one of only four black attorneys at the entire firm, the complaint says.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

When Pepper Hamilton partner David Stratton received an invitation to the firm’s upcoming judicial diversity panel, he forwarded the message to two other partners with a derisive comment about the affinity groups, according to a report on Above the Law.

The problem, though, is that he later sent an apology for his snippy comment, he used the reply-all feature. That was a bad idea, because not everyone was even aware of his original, wildly inappropriate comments until the apology was sent.

Above the Law senior editor Kathryn Rubino said the firm’s bosses weren’t happy with this turn of events. “They quickly sent their own email from managing partner Thomas Cole, distancing themselves from Stratton’s off-color comments, and assuring everyone the matter is being properly handled behind the scenes,” she writes.

Read the Above the Law article.

George D. Medlock, Jr. has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP as a partner and as the firm’s first director of inclusion and diversity. He is based in the firm’s Birmingham office.

In release about this newly created role, the firm said Medlock will oversee the firm’s inclusion and diversity efforts, including working with existing firm committees focused on the recruitment, training and retention of diverse and talented attorneys. He will further the firm’s objective to attract, retain, and promote into leadership roles individuals who foster inclusion and reflect the diversity that Bradley values. Medlock will work with Skeeters, as well as the firm’s board and Inclusion and Diversity Committee, as part of Bradley’s commitment to a work environment in which diverse lawyers thrive and reach their full potential, the firm said.

Prior to joining Bradley, Medlock served as vice president and deputy general counsel for Comcast Cable in Philadelphia. In this role, he developed and led company strategy for all patent matters, including patent prosecution, agreements, and high-stakes litigation. He also previously practiced as a partner at Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta.

Medlock received his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science, both cum laude, and both from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Bradley has been recognized by numerous local, regional and national organizations for the firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. These include being named among the Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers 50 Best Law Firms for Women, and receiving the Nashville Bar Association’s Diversity Committee Leadership Award 15 times since 1994.

Justice Neil Gorsuch

The Supreme Court justices sounded closely split Tuesday and a bit uncertain over whether to make it illegal under federal law for companies and public agencies to fire employees solely because they are gay, lesbian or transgender, with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch likely the deciding vote, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Trump-appointee Gorsuch described the case as “really close…. Assume for the moment I’m with you on the textual evidence,” he told an ACLU lawyer representing a transgender woman who was fired from her job at a funeral home in Detroit.

“The four liberal justices, joined at times by Gorsuch, said they agreed that firing gay or transgender employees was discrimination based on sex as the law defined it,” writes the Times‘ David G. Savage. “But others, including most of the conservatives, said that Congress in 1964 did not mean to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Read the  LA Times article.

Duane Morris LLP and the Bar Association of San Francisco will present the 7th Annual Citywide Diversity and Inclusion Networking Event and Panel Discussion on “Standing Up for Justice: Challenging the Erosion of Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion.”

The event will be in the Duane Morris office at One Market Plaza, Suite 2200, in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, 5-8 p.m.

The panel will explain and share examples of how they became bias interrupters by making small tweaks to basic business systems (hiring, performance evaluations, assignments, promotions and compensation) that interrupt and correct explicit and implicit bias in the workplace. Instead of approaching diversity initiatives as large-scale culture changes, bias interrupters identify and change the constant flow of bias in basic business systems. Bias interrupters work because they change systems, instead of people.

Opening Remarks :

Doris Cheng, President, Bar Association of San Francisco
Christopher Punongbayan, Executive Director, California ChangeLawyers

Panelists:

Doris Cheng, President, Bar Association of San Francisco
Charles Jung, President, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area
Catherine Ongiri, President, Charles Houston Bar Association
Jeff Kosbie, Co-Chair, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom
Christopher Punongbayan, Executive Director, California ChangeLawyers

Moderator:

Terrance J. Evans, Partner and Co-Chair of the Duane Morris LLP SF Diversity and
Inclusion Committee

Register for the event.

Duane Morris and the Charles Houston Bar Association will be holding a CLE program, “Two Bars: A History of African American Legal Advocacy in the Bay Area,” on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Duane Morris’ San Francisco office.

The presenter will be Judge Charles A. Smiley III of the Superior Court of California. Terrance J. Evans, Duane Morris partner and co-chair of the Duane Morris San Francisco Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and Winter L. Hankins, deputy city attorney for the City of Hayward, will make the introductory remarks.

Registration, Networking and Reception: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
CLE Program: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Q&A: 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

A former partner at Jones Day’s Silicon Valley office who accused the law firm of forcing her out after she raised concerns about its “boys’ club” culture has dropped her lawsuit in exchange for a return of capital she put into the firm, reports Bloomberg Law.

“Wendy Moore’s suit claimed the firm’s leadership retaliated against her after she voiced misgivings about its culture, pay transparency, and treatment of female attorneys,” writes Bloomberg’s Mike Leonard. “The complaint described Jones Day as a ‘fraternity’ where women are marginalized and objectified while male lawyers attend business meetings at strip clubs and sporting events.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) – the invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests –announced that it has launched the IADC Diversity and Inclusion Award and has presented its first award to the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (DAPP).

DAPP, a non-profit organization founded to advance opportunities for women of color and the creator of DAPP Direct, the first and only national job placement fair for women of color law students, will be formally recognized as the award’s recipient at the IADC’s 2019 Annual Meeting in July in Asheville, N.C.

In a release, the firm said he IADC Diversity and Inclusion Award recognizes an individual, group, organization, company or country that has championed diversity and inclusion within the legal profession. The recipient also has taken purposeful, tangible actions that have yielded positive outcomes in helping to achieve diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and/or has significantly advanced understanding of the need for diversity and inclusion in the profession.

“The IADC recognizes that diversity and inclusion is a core tenet and central to our organization,” said Bonnie Mayfield, Chair of the IADC’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Chair of the organization’s Employment Law Committee. “This award is designed to identify and honor those persons or entities who have championed diversity and inclusion in the legal profession through meaningful and tangible actions. We believe what gets recognized gets repeated.”

Mayfield, who is a product liability and labor and employment defense lawyer at Dykema Gossett PLLC, stressed that the legal profession is not where it needs to be in terms of increasing diversity and inclusion, and that recent studies on diversity in the profession confirm that that African American/Black equity partners are rare and may even be declining.

“DAPP is precisely the type of organization that the IADC wants to recognize and celebrate through this award for its tangible contributions to helping diverse individuals succeed in the legal profession,” Mayfield added.

Founded in 2014, DAPP is a non-profit corporation that addresses the continued and systemic decline of women of color lawyers in law firms and across other coveted positions in the legal profession. Through its scholars program and national job placement program, DAPP Direct, DAPP works to expand opportunities for women of color law students to succeed in law school and secure paid summer positions at law firms and corporations following their first year of law school. DAPP Direct pairs law firms with women of color in-house counsel who interview on their behalves and place talented, first-year women of color law students in paid law firm internships across the nation. The DAPP Scholars Program provides scholars with placement assistance, academic support, coaching, counseling, book stipends, tutoring, seminars and workshops, tailored professional development, mentorship, and more.

DAPP was started by two African-American female attorneys who graduated from law school during the height of the recession, and through their leadership positions in minority bar associations and diversity organizations, witnessed the barricades to, and rapid decline of, women of color in big law.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar with Chicago Women in IP (ChiWIP), “Understanding Women’s Conflict in the Legal Workplace and the Bias That Built It,” featuring attorneys Andie Kramer and Alton Harris, with attorney Nikki Little as moderator.

The event will be on Thursday, June 13, 2019, at 10 am PDT / 11 am MDT / 12 noon CDT / 1 pm EDT. It also will be available as an on-demand webinar after presentation.

A common misconception is that women inherently have challenging relationships with other women at work, the firm said in a release. But the research of the speakers, Andrea Kramer and Alton Harris, has shown this is patently untrue. They will provide real-world advice and tactics for how both women and men in the legal profession can avoid workplace conflict and overcome deeply rooted biases in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

During this webinar, the presenters will share insights on the following:

• Gender bias in the workplace, including women’s same-gender conflicts
• How gendered workplaces disadvantage women
• How to build supportive work environments to help women succeed and advance

Register for the webinar.

Bloomberg Law reports that two women among a group of female associates accusing Morrison & Foerster LLP of pregnancy discrimination must replead some or all of their claims, a federal judge ruled.

One of the plaintiffs was too late with her claims under federal and District of Columbia law, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said. And another plaintiff’s allegations were insufficient to support her argument that a release she signed was unduly influenced by the dire economic situation caused by her termination, the court said.

The women are part of a proposed nationwide class action filed in April 2018.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The former general counsel of ExlService Holdings says in a lawsuit that she suffered from gender stereotyping in her job, illustrated by an order from the CEO that she serve cake to the company’s junior male employees at a company anniversary.

The Washington Post reports on the complaint, which says the CEO at that anniversary event singled out then-GC Nancy Saltzman as one of the “ladies” in the room, despite the fact that she was the most senior female executive at the company. The complaint says Saltzman was humiliated.

The complaint says the event was an example of gender stereotyping. The Post‘s Deanna Paul writes: “According to the complaint, [the CEO] ‘took steps to exclude her from career and advancement opportunities, subjected her to enhanced scrutiny, and micromanaged her’ in a manner her male equals were not.”

She complained to other executives about stereotyping, but she later was fired.

Read the Washington Post article.

A small Labor Department agency with sizable oversight is looking closely at Big Law firms like Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Fox Rothschild, and Paul Hastings, as part of its mission to address compensation and promotion practices in the legal industry, reports Bloomberg Law.

“The DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs recently cautioned law firms that do work with the federal government that it will be closely analyzing how their employment practices affect diversity,” reports Bloomberg’s Paige Smith. “At least 10 firms will be audited by the OFCCP in 2019, and the agency’s director Craig Leen said investigators may target the legal industry in particular in future probes.”

Some big law firms are facing a wave of litigation over alleged discrimination against women and people of color.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

A new survey aims to move forward the conversation about equality in Biglaw by examining which firms are taking key steps to close persistent gender gaps.

Bloomberg Law reports on the survey, which was conducted by Diversity Lab, an incubator for diversity and inclusion in the law, and ChIPs, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing and connecting women in technology, law and policy.

Top scoring firms were Brooks Kushman and Sheppard Mullin.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Genhi Givings Bailey has joined Perkins Coie as chief diversity & inclusion officer. Bailey previously led the diversity and inclusion department at DLA Piper for eight years.

“Throughout her career, Genhi has shown a strong dedication to diversity and inclusion, which are core values of our firm,” said John Devaney, Perkins Coie’s firmwide managing partner. “Her exceptional skills, experience, and grasp of diversity and inclusion issues will help us build on the progress we’ve made to date and contribute fresh thinking to further advance our efforts. We are very excited to see what she brings to this role.”

Inn a release, the firm said Bailey, who will be based in Perkins Coie’s Chicago office, will lead the firm in achieving its current diversity and inclusion goals and develop new initiatives that champion diversity as a key ingredient to driving the firm’s success. She will lead recruitment, retention and advancement plans for diverse lawyers and work closely with the firm’s senior leadership and department heads to ensure consistent and effective diversity and inclusion efforts across the firm.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to join a firm like Perkins Coie, which has demonstrated a genuine commitment to embrace diversity and inclusion and embed it into its culture,” Genhi said. “I look forward to collaborating with others at the firm and adding my experience and knowledge to take the firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts to the next level.”

Bailey serves as a board member and volunteer for various groups, including the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Umoja Student Development, the Posse Foundation and the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals. Prior to her roles focused on diversity and inclusion, Bailey was a Legal Placement and Diversity Consultant at Ajilon in Minneapolis and a practicing attorney focused on trademark and copyright in the entertainment industry. Bailey received her J.D. from the Mitchell Hamline College of Law and her B.A., cum laude, from Metropolitan State University.

James L. Heskett, a Harvard Business School professor emeritus, reports on some of the responses to a recent column about how best to foster a climate of inclusion in an organization.

In his original column, the author discussed how diversity and inclusion are universal topics among executives. One typical study looking at the issue found “a strong correlation between gender diversity and a company’s bottom line.”

Companies in the top quartile of gender diversity worldwide had a high likelihood of outperforming bottom-quartile industry peers in both earnings before interest and taxes as well as longer-term value creation, according to the study.

Read the article.