GC and The Legal 500 are collaborating on a series of specially commissioned reports on diversity and inclusion in companies around the world. With experience in both in-house and private practice, Arnold & Porter`s Charles Yi speaks with U.S. content writer Helen Dolegan about diversity in U.S. government and the legal profession Following the release of each report, we will host a series of small workshops where six to eight participants will have the opportunity to work with more experienced colleagues on how diversity and inclusion initiatives can be implemented. practice. Eric Grossman, General Counsel at Morgan Stanley, talks to GC about the effectiveness of sponsorship and the role it plays in ensuring that different candidates have ways to advance in the legal department. In the current global climate of Covid-19, diversity and inclusion (D&I) is paramount for companies, and those with a strong foundation in D&I will reap the rewards when it comes to the well-being of their employees. D&I appeals to the heart to take care of our employees. The language of this crisis – .

Last year, GC magazine published a series of articles about in-house lawyers around the world who are involved in diversity initiatives, both as role models and practical architects. It`s no secret that the United States takes diversity very seriously. Since the advent of the Bill of Rights in 1789 – which revealed fundamental individual freedoms, civil liberties and constitutional protections – diversity and inclusion has been an evolving process. Banga has made financial inclusion a central part of MasterCard`s future business strategy, which General Counsel Tim Murphy says is a business necessity stemming from diversity. “If we focus only on people who already have access to financial services, we limit our growth trajectory. If we focus on those who don`t have bank accounts or other financial accounts, we open up to more growth,” Murphy says. When I hire, it`s very clear to me that I want to see a diverse list of candidates, because if I don`t see a diverse list, it will be very difficult to make sure my team is diverse. I am very proud of the diversity of my team. I live it, I breathe it, I speak it, and that`s probably what I`m most passionate about, and I see the difference it makes from a business perspective. It goes all the way to the board, and I was very proud that we did a search this year and added a second woman to our ten-person board – and I don`t think it stops there. The statistics indicate that if it is not at least 30%, it is very difficult to make a difference, so I look forward to adding at least one woman and hopefully two more to the board over the next few years as we retire and change the board. GC explores the impact of the global pandemic on diversity, equity and inclusion in Latin American business life Georgina Stanley, Editor-in-Chief of UK Solicitors, explains why The Legal 500 will play its part in tackling the lack of diversity in the legal sector If the legal industry wants to solve its historic diversity and inclusion problem, says Lenovos Quatela, General Counsel and Law Firms Need to Work Together.

“CCs usually have a lot of ideas on how to make things better, but they have tight budgets. Law firms also have a lot of ideas, but they have profitability goals. The only way to realize any of these ideas is to find a place where ideas and economic interests meet. One of the most notable attempts to formalize collaboration between law firms and clients came from the Move the Needle Fund (MTN), an initiative launched by legal innovation incubator D&I Diversity Lab, which has since received $5 million in funding. The strategic benefits of diversity and inclusion are not just ethical rights, but a common reformulation is that it makes economic sense. Law firms, however, must provide fertile ground for women who are determined to climb the partnership ladder. This, of course, starts with the hiring process, which some partners believe should include a targeted recruitment policy and goal setting. “Candidate diversity matters,” says Ashurst`s Grewlich, “a company known for promoting and valuing diversity should attract diverse candidates. However, this may only be the crux of the matter. Although they did not want to speak, a number of male managing partners told me that they had difficulty attracting female partners because their existing partnership composition was exclusively or predominantly male. Legal 500 researcher William Farrington speaks with senior lawyers about partnership, diversity and recruitment in the Indian legal market “Our workforce and our entire economy are at their best when we fully embrace diversity, which means opening doors to everyone and recognizing that the American dream excludes no one,” said Secretary Thomas Perez of the U.S.

Department of Labor. According to Grewlich, Ashurst “actively questions the need for women to choose between continuing to work and raising children. In my team, for employees and paralegals, we actively promote part-time and job-sharing agreements to overcome child care challenges. We want them to know that there are still meaningful opportunities when they return to work. But not all types of work lend themselves equally to these arrangements: “It can be more difficult to integrate flexible work into a transactional team with volatile work demands and sometimes 24/7. By definition, leaderboards will never please everyone (and they shouldn`t). But as the new UK editor of The Legal 500, there is one issue in particular that I see as an area where he should move forward: diversity. Women make up more than half of entry-level entrants, but typically much less than 30% of entrants.

And when it comes to empowering the legal market, Advocates General are uniquely positioned to shape one of the least diversified professions. The Diversity Lab`s announcement of the Move the Needle Fund (“MTN”) in September 2019 revealed the most ambitious, public and collaborative efforts by global law firms to achieve measurable diversity goals. Participating companies have set ambitious five-year diversity targets and will report publicly on their progress and the steps they are taking to . It`s also true that many prominent in-house attorneys in the U.S. have proactively used their purchasing power and influence as clients to make changes in outside law firms. While some have pointed out that this movement has gone somewhat astray due to the global financial crisis, the strength of the mandate communicated by our research participants has made it clear that the importance of diversity and inclusion for businesses – from corporate giants to start-ups – is firmly at the heart of it. “My experiences as a minority and a woman have made me particularly sensitive to how organizations view diversity and inclusion, and to the fact that the legal community in the United States has been stronger than any other in terms of diversity and inclusion, which is reflected in the depth and breadth of respondents to this project. as well as the topics in which they inserted. For example, PepsiCo`s general counsel, Tony West, with his role in marriage equality litigation when he was deputy U.S. attorney general, or Olga Mack for her work promoting the role and representation of women on boards and throughout Silicon Valley. Similarly, companies as a whole have shown little reluctance to speak out and use their influence to drive legal reform, from Morgan Stanley`s early support for the Marriage Equality Act to PayPal and Salesforce`s tough stance against North Carolina`s infamous “Bathroom Bill.” “Of course, 2020 has been a very challenging year for everyone, but one of the lasting positives is that it has raised awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion among large companies.

Companies are waking up to the fact that we live in a world where a strong commitment to equality and justice is expected, and where doing the right thing to do ethically is the right thing to do in the business sense.