Diversity

Former Michigan Law Prof Fights Alleged Gay Bias

A cutting-edge breach-of-contract case brought by a former law professor denied tenure at the University of Michigan could have an impact on gay bias claims and education law nationwide, depending on its outcome. Because there is no law in Michigan protecting employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,…

Dec 20, 2007 8:09 PM CST

Bar Chief’s Glass Ceiling Theory: Assumptions and Slights

Lorelie Masters has her theory about why so many women leave law firms or fail to advance into partnership positions. She attributes the problem to “the soft bigotry of low expectations,” or, in the words of Legal Times, the theory of assumptions and slights. Masters, president of the Women’s Bar…

Dec 13, 2007 1:36 PM CST

Mintz Levin’s Bold Diversity Stroke Crumbles

When Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo hired a predominantly minority practice group in 2005, newspaper accounts touted the “bold stroke” that doubled the firm’s number of minority partners from six to 12. The move gave Mintz Levin a large corporate diversity counseling group in Washington, D.C., and an…

Dec 12, 2007 1:14 PM CST

Philly Bar Chief Wants Law Firms to Hike Legal Aid Donations

The incoming chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association is trying to help law firms’ bottom lines at the same time he is urging them to pony up more money for legal aid. A. Michael Pratt says he wants the city to repeal a professional services tax that subjects law firms…

Dec 4, 2007 4:46 PM CST

Students Aim for BigLaw Change

Group’s protest letter results in only one meeting—but one that mattered

Dec 1, 2007 8:40 PM CST

Overlooked No Longer

A new ABA commission will address sexual orientation and gender identity issues in the legal profession

Dec 1, 2007 4:58 PM CST

Women Lawyers at the Top Earn Significantly Less than Men

A new survey shows “slow progress” for women in the upper echelons of big law firms. The survey (PDF) by the National Association of Women Lawyers finds that only 16 percent of equity partners at large law firms are women, and they earn almost $90,000 less than their male counterparts,…

Nov 29, 2007 12:34 PM CST

Law Firm Head Taken Aback By Reax to Her Promotion

Philadelphia lawyer Nina Gussack had long held top posts at her firm, Pepper Hamilton. So when she became chairwoman in February, it seemed like a natural progression, especially considering she was the firm’s top rainmaker. But the outpouring of calls and emails from women lawyers across the country took her…

Nov 26, 2007 5:42 PM CST

Pillsbury Hires Director of Corporate Social Responsibility

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has created a new position that so far has been mostly confined to European law firms: Director of corporate social responsibility. The lawyer appointed to the position is Tania Shah, the former executive director of the California Minority Counsel Program, the Recorder reports. The new position…

Nov 21, 2007 1:29 PM CST

FBI Hate Crimes Stats Soar; Noose Use Not Counted

Hate crimes rose significantly in 2006, up nearly 8 percent in that one year alone, according to the FBI. “Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical…

Nov 20, 2007 12:01 AM CST

Ginsburg: If Male, I’d Be a Retired Partner

It wasn’t only former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who, famously, had trouble finding work as a lawyer after graduating at the top of her class from a renowned law school back in the day when law practice was almost exclusively a male domain. Her female colleague on the U.S. Supreme…

Nov 12, 2007 10:59 PM CST

‘Dismal’ Diversity at Big Dallas Firms

More than a decade ago, the men at the helm of the biggest and best-known law firms in Dallas pledged to a major effort to recruit more minorities. But attorneys of color still represent only a small fraction of those who work there–less than five percent of equity partners, reports…

Nov 12, 2007 7:39 PM CST

Survey Reveals the Unhappiest Associates

The most unhappy people in the nation’s top law firms are minority female midlevel associates, according to an American Lawyer survey. Women of color express less satisfaction and encounter more obstacles, according to an article on the Minority Experience Survey in the Minority Law Journal. More minority female midlevels were…

Nov 7, 2007 11:45 AM CST

Black Counsel Scarce at US Supreme Court

For the first time in more than a year, an African-American lawyer should be arguing before the U.S Supreme Court today. Even more unusual, Drew Days III is representing a corporate client. The argument will be his 24th before the nation’s highest court, reports the Associated Press, solidly establishing Days…

Oct 29, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

Diversity Expert: Change Legal Hiring System

It’s obvious that the current law firm system of hiring and training attorneys isn’t doing a very good job of providing opportunities for minorities. So the obvious answer is to change the system, one expert says. Although good mentoring programs, for instance, have been shown to be helpful, they aren’t…

Oct 17, 2007 6:48 PM CDT