Rachel is a Native American woman who attended a top-tier law school. She graduated in the top 5% of her class and is now partner at a large law firm. When Rachel had her second child a year ago, she went part time at the law firm. She continues to stay abreast of the changes in her practice area, antitrust law, often writing articles and speaking on CLE panels. She also continues to mentor young associates at her firm. One of Rachel’s past clients is considering adding the firm to his company’s preferred provider list. However, the client doubts the firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion given the paucity of women and minority associates and partners. He often tells Rachel that law firms must understand the “business case” for diversity. He adds that a firm’s lack of women and minority attorneys is a factor in deciding whether to add a firm to his company’s preferred provider list. Rachel has been …show more content…
What advice would you give the managing partner about leadership buy-in regarding diversity and inclusion?
3. What advice would you give to Rachel about returning to the practice of law on a part time basis? How can Rachel best manage the desire to be part-time with the demands that accompany diversity and inclusion efforts?
4. What advice would you give to Rachel about whether she should spearhead the firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts or decline this assignment? a. Should Rachel share her concerns with the managing partner?
5. What role, if any, should the potential new client play in this scenario? Should he talk to the managing partner about the “business case” for diversity and inclusion?
6. How might the law firm address the issue of participation of diversity and inclusion activities taking time away from billable hours? Should compensation decisions factor in a partner’s contribution to firm committees on hiring, diversity and inclusion, and mentoring?
1. How should the managing partner address the “business case” for diversity and
7. What do you believe will be your strengths and challenges in working with diverse
Three ways of gaining executive commitment to diversity are to gather data and to assess the organizations current commitment to diversity to show where and why there is a need for change. The development of diversity council can also garner executive support because it offers a way for executive members of an organization to have a dialog with other members of an organization about diversity. Systematic changes are also necessary such as hiring from a diverse roster of candidates when filling a position. (Moodian, 2009,
Strategies you would implement, if you were a senior manager of this company, to ensure future compliance and inclusion in the multicultural
Institutions welcome diversity, however, they also introduce minorities to a profession of glass ceilings. The number one reason I often see firms and institutions push diversity is for monetary value. Although this may be true, for me, this reasoning of including diversity in the legal system can be flawed and quite off base. It is time to establish real value in minorities and people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. That value requires adequate representation. Having assorted groups of excelling attorneys in the legal profession creates an accurate depiction of recognizing and addressing pressing issues.When minorities thrive in the legal profession it is an adequate reflection of reality, especially in the community and the people attorneys serve. Attorneys play a number of roles, often times, changing the life of their clients, Therefore, it is up to the legal profession to embrace excellence of all backgrounds to better serve the legal community. Diversity in the legal system includes, but is not limited to, race and ethnicity, gender, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation, and disability. Inclusion and diversity in the legal system are a reflective representation of attorneys by bringing people from all backgrounds and all different experiences to make the legal profession more efficient and
1.1 Explain the models of practice that underpin equality, diversity and inclusion in own area of responsibility.
Inclusion is working with diversity in mind to create a culture of collaborative involvement. Pipeline programs concentrated on retaining diverse lawyers focus on promoting inclusion through "mentoring, sponsorships, networking, using affinity groups and other programs to reduce the sense of social isolation that diverse attorneys often experience." (79). While these initiatives can be effective in promoting the retention of diverse attorneys within the profession, they are nonetheless
One of the main issues in need of remedy is senior managements lack of a goal to implement diversity (Colquitt, 2013). Since senior managers have
Despite the effort to increase diversity of workforce over recent decades, the number of female and minority executives has remained disproportionately low. (Celia & Antonio, 2007)
1, Describe an approach to a business diversity program that would be pragmatic and ethical.
Mrs. Joy Smith has left Love Enterprises a very generous donation of $500,000 million to the agency but more importantly she has given us an opportunity to transform Love into a leading organization in diversity initiatives. As stipulated in her will in order to receive the full gift Love Enterprise needs to have a solid action plan in place as well as specific ways to measure the organization’s success with diversity. In the following paragraphs I will discuss what course of action I would take in developing an action plan, then I will discuss the various tools and modes I would use to measure the success of the action plan.
1.Do you feel that Karen is an independent contractor or an employee? What is your rationale for this decision?
Well-managed diversity programs can benefit an organization in terms of the business case for diversity and the stakeholders in terms of the involvement of employees, suppliers and community. John Robinson lists five requirements for effective diversity leadership: making diversity visible, being specific about what needs to be done, evaluating for results, providing constant reinforcement, and making change international. This requires commitment from top management, and the necessary resources to make diversity an advantage. Diversity leadership requires at least two main components at its directive level. The first is that the CEO must champion diversity, and have a diverse board of directors, and second, to appoint a chief diversity officer, to oversee, coordinate and manage an organization’s diversity initiative.
3. What might Larry do to help Ray boost enrollment, within the limits of empowerment?
No. 1: Evaluate John Taylor and Marty Grayson’s effort to identify the opportunity. Are they the right people for this opportunity? Why or why not?
“The future of many organizations is likely to depend on their mastery of diverse succession planning given that building bench strength among women and minorities will be critical in the competitive war for talent”. (Charles R. Greer and Meghna Virick, 2008.)