“We think we can help if we can be clear and unambiguous and hold firms financially accountable.”<br />HP now requires its outside law firms to have at least one diverse so-called relationship partner or at least one “woman<br />and one racially/ethnically diverse attorney each performing at least 10 percent of the billable hours worked on HP matters.” (A woman who is also a minority will cover the requirements as long as she bills the requisite 10 percent.)<br />“Law is the least diverse white-collar profession,” said Jean Lee, the chief executive of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, an organization<br />that focuses on the hiring, retention and promotion of diverse lawyers.<br />“A lot of companies made a concerted effort to increase diversity internally, and now they are demanding diversity at the firms they use.”<br />“One of the challenges in the legal profession is that, despite all of the focus, the lack of diversity is a stubborn<br />and persistent problem,” said Kim Rivera, HP’s general counsel.<br />Morgan Stanley’s chief legal officer, Eric Grossman, in addition to encouraging diverse teams, also annually<br />names one of its outside law firms as the recipient of a leadership award in diversity and inclusion.<br />“We put a lot of weight not just on the diverse and female attorneys who work on Morgan Stanley matters,<br />but also on how many diverse lawyers they have in the firm and the depth of their sponsorship programs they have to promote overall diversity.<br />“Companies are now using a carrot and stick approach<br />because the carrot approach alone didn’t work,” said Ms. Lee of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.
