How Consistent Is Your Firm’s Diversity Effort?

These days, law firms are continuously aware of the push for diversity. And it’s not news that many, if not most, firms still have a long way to go.

But in the effort to recruit a more diverse group of attorneys, firms should also be looking at diversity as it relates to firm administration, Altman Weil senior consultant Virginia Grant Essandoh told Philadelphia’s chapter of Association of Legal Administrators at the group’s monthly meeting yesterday.

Essandoh said firms should make sure their commitment to diversity is consistent, in their message outside — and within — law firms.

Firms should look at their diversity competencies at all levels of the firm, including its support staff, human resources, and marketing materials, she said.

Obviously, this means focusing on diversity when recruiting and hiring. But it also means looking at the firm’s internal policies and procedures that may, or may not, be consistent with the firm’s diversity creed, she said.

For example, Essandoh said, a firm may have a policy of being open to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. But if the firm doesn’t have domestic partner benefits, there is a disconnect.

Essandoh said top-down management of diversity was a strong strategy — but that means from the top all the way down.

All levels of staff should be involved, she said. That includes, file clerks, marketing directors, recruiters, secretaries, associates, and so on.

— Stephanie Lovett, Staff Reporter

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