Dusting Off Your Firm's Diversity and Inclusion Plan: 10 Key Steps to Building a Framework for Success

• Author: By Kelly J. Bundy and Nicholas K. Holmes
• Pages: 27-36

THE CONSTRUCTION LAWYER 27Volume 41, Issue 4, 2022

YOUR DIVERSITY & INCLUSION PLAN

Dusting O Your Firm’s Diversity

and Inclusion Plan: 10 Key Steps to

Building a Framework for Success

By Kelly J. Bundy and Nicholas K. Holmes

Most law rms have some stated

commitment to diversity, be it

a paragraph or page on their

webpage, or a statement made

to job candidates in an interview.

But while stating a commitment

to diversity, equity, and inclu-

sion is a rst step, creating a

more diverse, equitable, and

inclusive workplace takes more

concrete action. While women,

minorities, and other histori-

cally disadvantaged groups have

continued to make incremental

gains in the legal profession,

the gains continue to be slow

to come—evidencing that the

issues facing diverse lawyers

are not self-correcting.

1

There

is much work to be done. This article identies concrete

steps that law rms should take to begin building a frame-

work to support the long-term, systemic, cultural change

needed in the legal profession.

1. Assess Your Baseline—Evaluate the Current State

of Diversity and Inclusion at Your Firm.

Be candid with yourselves and your rm’s policies. Where

does your rm really stand in terms of diversity and inclu-

sion? Even if your rm “talks the talk,” does your rm

really “walk the walk”? Investing time to collect and

evaluate data is invaluable. Collect and analyze both

quantitative and qualitative data to determine where your

rm stands, and just as importantly, how employees expe-

rience your rm from within and how others (e.g., clients

and competitors) view your rm.

a. Examine What Data Your Firm Regularly Collects

and Gather and Analyze Quantitative Data.

The good news is that your rm may already have data

to mine. Determine what statistical data your rm has

available. Quantitative statistics on rm population may

be easiest to collect—for example, how many female

versus male associates does your rm employ? How do

those percentages change from associates to nonequity

partners to equity partners? Examine the same statistics

for race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and identity, and

other diverse criteria. Similarly, examine the population

of diverse lawyers in leadership positions—be it prac-

tice group or section leadership, committee leadership,

the rm’s board of directors and/or management com-

mittee, or others.

Data on retention and other demographic factors may

be more difcult to gather. Even in the event your rm

conducts exit interviews, evaluate whether the interviews

truly solicit candid feedback and responses. Nevertheless,

examining statistical data on departures from your rm

can be revealing. Are diverse lawyers statistically leaving

your rm at specic times of their careers and/or lives—

whether two or three years after joining your rm, around

the time of promotion consideration, or before or after

starting a family? If so, these trends may be indicative

of a larger problem.

b. Qualitative Data Are Just as Important as the

Quantitative Data.

Qualitative data are just as important and can be equally

or more revealing. Soliciting feedback from attorneys and

employees allows a diversity and inclusion (D&I) team

and rm leadership to better ascertain how others experi-

ence your rm. Qualitative data may be collected with the

use of surveys, focus groups, or some combination thereof.

Depending upon your rm’s current culture and the

emphasis it has placed on diversity and inclusion in the

past, the D&I team may need to determine the best man-

ner in which to solicit qualitative feedback. If attorneys

and employees at your rm feel hesitant to self-identify

or have concerns about being identied based upon their

responses, then surveys may need to be anonymous and

condential to encourage fulsome and candid responses.

If your rm elects to use a survey, be considerate of

length: A survey that is too short will fail to solicit suf-

cient information, but a survey that is too long may

discourage potential respondents from participating.

Fewer than 50 questions on a variety of topics may be

helpful. Topics for consideration may include the follow-

ing: (i) whether employees feel included and welcome

at your rm; (ii) employees’ willingness to share ideas

Kelly Bundy

Nick Holmes

continued on page 30

Published in

The Construction Lawyer

, Volume 41, Number 4. © 2022 American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not

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