CLASS OF 2021
'We will not sit idly by’
The legal sector must address its lack of diversity, says Jennifer Salinas, executive director, general counsel, infrastructure solutions group and head of global litigation at Lenovo.
As a Latina lawyer, I am acutely aware that there are not enough attorneys who “look like me” in the profession.
Industry statistics show that diverse attorney representation lags significantly behind their non-diverse counterparts. According to the American Bar Association’s National Lawyer Population Survey, in 2020 Hispanics comprised 5% of all attorneys, African Americans 5%, Asians 2%, and other ethnic minorities made up 2%. By contrast, white attorneys accounted for 86% of all lawyers in the US, a country where Latinos are conservatively estimated to account for 18% of the population, African Americans 13%, and Asians over 5%.
The lack of proportional representation in the legal profession is glaringly obvious, fundamentally wrong, and particularly magnified at this moment in time as events around racial discrimination and inequality have shaken our beliefs in fairness and an equitable justice system.
Percentage of attorneys in US who are white
(out of a population of which more than 36% are Latino, African American or Asian)
Source: American Bar Association, National Lawyer Population Survey
In the summer of 2020, the death of George Floyd sparked shock and outrage, but more importantly it became a catalyst for a number of transformative discussions around race and bringing equality to social justice. Many organisations made concerted efforts to provide spaces for diverse and non-diverse employees alike to share their thoughts, reactions, suggestions, and hopes for overcoming the disparities that affect diverse communities, leading to refocused commitments and momentum toward tangible actions.
More than one year later, it’s more important than ever that we remain open to dialogue, new ideas, and continuing the work of addressing disparities in society—including in the legal profession.
Making a difference
Altering culture is an uneven process that, in many cases, is driven by a succession of small changes. For far too long, the legal industry has failed to prioritise the goal of ensuring that the numbers of diverse attorneys reflect the changing demographics of the country. This historical lack of emphasis on diversifying the legal profession has resulted in its becoming one of the least diverse professions in the US.
”Critical to really moving the needle is tying diversity to compensation. There need to be consequences with teeth.”
Jennifer Salinas, Lenovo
Corporate legal departments have taken steps to raise awareness and lead the charge to improve the statistics by implementing a variety of carrot and stick approaches to the firms that work for them. Many companies insist that law firms meet certain diversity targets. These efforts are vital to the goal of improving diverse representation in the legal profession, because if business imperatives are not tied to diversity initiatives, historical under-representation will undoubtably continue.
Success cannot be measured by demographic numbers alone, however. Achieving diverse representation is effective only if there are policies or initiatives in place to foster an environment where everyone’s input is equally heard and valued. For many years, diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategies have focused predominantly on recruiting and hiring more diverse attorneys but have failed to focus on the next key elements for creating lasting change—retention and promotion.
Law firms have made concerted efforts to recruit and hire more diverse associate attorney classes, yet the percentages of diverse attorneys progressing to partnership or leadership levels at firms still lags far behind diverse candidate hiring statistics and law school graduation rates.
This means that while there are more diverse attorneys entering the workplace each year, there is not a corresponding increase in diverse law firm partners. Part of the answer to correcting this wrong is to empower diverse professionals by creating an inclusive environment that exists across all levels of a business.
Success might require involving senior leadership in D&I boards, creating clear metrics and performance reviews that fully value diverse attorney contributions, providing career development programmes for historically under-represented groups, and establishing employee resource groups that provide communities of shared identity for employees of all levels to engage with and support one another.
Critical to really moving the needle is tying diversity to compensation. There need to be consequences with teeth.
”We will not stay silent and sit idly by as failed D&I policies lead to continuing under-representation for diverse attorneys.”
Bridging the chasm
After spending the majority of my career in private practice at various firms, there is a chasm between many firms’ stated commitments to diversity, and the actual numbers of diverse attorneys who succeed in the firm.
Diverse partner and law firm leadership numbers are even more dire than the general lawyer demographics. For companies such as Lenovo, these disparities are unacceptable.
That’s why we recently launched our Preferred Counsel Program, which requires firms to proactively disclose diversity information and meet representation thresholds. The programme mandates that one of the two “relationship partners” for a firm be of a historically under-represented race, ethnicity, or gender. This requirement exists even for our IP matters; historically many companies have exempted IP matters from such diversity requirements.
If these requirements are not met, a firm can be removed from the panel and become ineligible to receive work from the company. The aim of such a programme is to effect necessary change and reward those firms that exceed our clear expectations.
Changing that narrative and meeting the ideals upon which our country was founded requires that all communities have proportional representation in the important professions that shape the future path of our nation.
Corporations such as Lenovo are tuned into this enormous need and are doing everything they can to change across all aspects of their businesses, including the legal department. Attorneys outside corporations should similarly be committed to doing the right thing. The rationale for doing so is undeniable and failing to heed the call will not go unnoticed.
Our profession and our country have moved past tacit acceptance of an unequal status quo. We will not stay silent and sit idly by as failed D&I policies lead to continuing under-representation for diverse attorneys. I hope all companies and law firms join in this commitment and help correct some of the wrongs that permeate our society.
Jennifer Salinas is the executive director, general counsel, infrastructure solutions and head of global litigation at Lenovo. Salinas serves on the senior legal leadership team, reports directly to the chief legal officer and supports the board of directors and audit committee. She can be contacted at: jsalinas1@lenovo.com
Images, from top: Shutterstock / Casther, Monkey Business Images, Robert Kneschke