Insights

 

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Action Step – Maintaining & Fostering Gender Diversity Through Difficult Times

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

Our 2023 New Partner Report and 2024 New Partner Summit highlighted positive data and trends in the advancement of women in law firms last year. Significant metrics were robust; notably, the share of women among U.S.-based new partners increased substantially by 3.5%, and the nation’s top grossing AmLaw 50, AmLaw 100 and AmLaw 200 firms demonstrated similar increases in the shares of women new partners. We should celebrate these bright spots and wins. However, we should also proceed with caution, as the results of our 2022 report were quite concerning; specifically, there was a decrease in the share of women new partners from the 2021 figure, and a significant year-over-year dip in the share of women new partners at the nation’s top grossing AmLaw 50 firms.1 We must ponder whether this year’s strong data demonstrates true upward momentum in gender parity, or whether it is simply adjusting for last year’s troubling results. Further, we are concerned with current market responses, including layoffs, deferral of incoming attorneys, and tightening of hybrid work environments, and how these responses will impact women in leadership in future years.

1 The share of women among new partners was 40.2%, demonstrating a 0.7% decrease from the previous year’s figure. There was a significant year-over-year dip of 4.2% at the nation’s top grossing AmLaw 50 firms. The average new partner class increased substantially – 14.1 attorneys in 2022 vs. 11.7 attorneys in 2021.

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

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Culture Catalyst Boot Camp: Leading Through Change – March 14, 2024

2024 Culture Catalyst Boot Camp

Leading Through Change: A Deep Dive Into Change Management

March 14 | 10:00am – 4:00pm | Crowell’s Washington, DC Office

Are you looking to become the change catalyst in your organization?

Our one-day, in-person Culture Catalyst Boot Camp, “Leading Through Change: A Deep Dive Into Change Management, is specially designed for talent, diversity, human resources and organizational leaders who face the unique challenge of managing change while keeping the workforce engaged, motivated, and productive.

Whether you’re dealing with organizational restructuring, adjustments to workplace flexibility, cultural shifts, leadership changes, or technological advancements, the skills and insights gained in this Boot Camp will empower you to lead with confidence and effectiveness.

Be the leader who not only anticipates change but uses it as a catalyst for growth and development in your organization!

Key learning objectives include:

  • Talent-Centric Change Management: Master strategies to manage change with a focus on talent development and engagement.
  • Leadership Self-Assessment: Reflect on your leadership style and its impact on your team’s adaptability and creativity.
  • Cultivating Adaptive Leadership: Transition from traditional leadership methods to adaptive styles that prioritize inspiration, influence, and employee empowerment.
  • Appreciative Inquiry in Talent Management: Learn to apply Appreciative Inquiry specifically to talent management, emphasizing strengths and potential of your workforce.
  • Implementing Sustainable Change: Follow a structured four-step framework (Inspire, Innovate, Implement, Iterate) for implementing change initiatives that align with talent development goals.

This event is ideal for anyone responsible for shaping your organization’s culture, and maximizing employee engagement, productivity and wellbeing.

Please contact Emma Simpkins if you have any questions or need assistance.

REGISTER FOR THE 2024 BOOT CAMP

The 2024 Boot Camp has been approved for 5 SHRM Professional Development Credits. The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.

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Interrupting Bias in Feedback – March 5, 2024

2024 Signature Seminar

Interrupting Bias in Feedback

Featuring Manar Morales, President & CEO, Diversity & Flexibility Alliance

March 5, 2024 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm ET

Delivering feedback is a critical component of effective leadership and performance. Research shows, however, that women and under-represented professionals are less likely to receive constructive feedback that’s needed to improve performance and for career advancement. In this session, you’ll learn how to develop a framework for setting expectations and overcoming the conscious (and unconscious) roadblocks for giving effective feedback.

This event is open to all individuals at member organizations.

Learn more about the Signature Seminar Series here.

MEMBERS - REGISTER HERE
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Meeting the Challenge of Burnout – January 17, 2024

2024 Signature Seminar

Meeting the Challenge of Burnout

Featuring Dr. Christina Maslach, Author, The Burnout Challenge

January 17, 2024 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm ET

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon that results from chronic workplace stressors that have not been successfully managed.  Research on burnout has identified the value of fixing the job, and not just the person, within six areas of job-person mismatch.  Improving the match between people and their jobs is the key to managing the chronic stressors, and can be done on a routine basis as part of regular organizational checkups.  Better matches enable people to work smarter, rather than just harder, and to thrive rather than to get beaten down.

This event is open to all individuals at member organizations.

Learn more about the Signature Seminar Series here.

MEMBERS - REGISTER HERE
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Action Step – All Key Processes Must Consider Caregivers

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

More organizations have implemented policies and procedures to support caregivers before, during, and soon after leave. According to our 2022 Benchmarking Study, nearly all law firm participants have gender-neutral leave policies, off- and onramping policies (transition to and from leave) are common, a number of resources are offered to parents (i.e. shipment of breastmilk; coaching; childcare; adoption/fertility resources), and strides have been made in a number of aspects of these policies and offerings. Further, more organizations have expanded “caregivers” to include caregiving of children, elderly relatives, and those with medical needs. However, the 2023 American Bar Association Study shows that biases and inequities for caregivers, especially mothers, extend far past returning from leave1. To truly support caregivers, organizations must make sure that all their key processes contain intentional structures to ensure that caregivers are fairly treated.

  1. Hiring. First, organizations must track their hiring process to see if any inequities exist for caregivers, broken down by gender and seniority. Compared to other candidates, see if there are any differences when looking at caregiver candidates at each stage of recruiting (i.e. interview selection; offers extended; and offers accepted). Next, organizations need to put structures in place to ensure equity. Make sure caregivers are consistently represented in your interview panels and hiring committees. Also, train your interviewers and provide guidelines on what to ask and what not to ask during interviews….

1“Legal Careers of Parents and Child Caregivers,” American Bar Association (2023).

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

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Diversity & Talent Leader Innovation Circle (January 2024)

Members – please join us an upcoming Innovation Circle for Diversity & Talent Leaders:

January 29, 2024 | 1:00pm – 2:30pm EST

We invite individuals at member organizations who hold the following roles (or the equivalent thereof in your organization) to register:

  • Chief Diversity Officer or DE&I Director
  • Chief People Officer or Director
  • Chief Talent Officer or Talent Director
  • Chief HR Officer or HR Director

Members – register for this event in the Member Resource Center or by emailing Emma Simpkins.

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Action Step – Highlights & Insights from our 2023 Annual Conference

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

Our 2023 Annual Conference, “Humanizing the Workplace: Thriving Beyond the Global Reset,” was our first in-person conference since the pandemic and included a variety of programming, inspirational speakers, networking opportunities, and insightful panels. Participants should reflect on new ideas, innovative trends, and creative solutions and think about how to apply them to their organizations. Some of our top takeaways from the Conference are as follows:

  1. Remember “Equity, Inclusion & Belonging” in DEI&B: Throughout the Conference, many speakers pressed on the importance of DEI&B coming from the top to make an impact throughout the organization. Various speakers discussed different ways to do so. For example, organizations that include DEI&B leaders in Executive Committee meetings encourage awareness of DEI&B implications. Additionally, leaders in the talent and DEI&B space will have a greater ability to make a difference by holding a senior title, such as Partner, Chief and/or Managing Director.

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

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Special Member Event: 2023 New Partner Report Summit

January 22, 2024 | 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET

Featuring: Courtney Carter, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Jenner & Block;  Rosevelie Márquez Morales, Chief Diversity Officer – Americas, Hogan Lovells; and Manar Morales, President & CEO, Diversity & Flexibility Alliance

The 2023 New Partner Report Summit – a special member event that will share insights and trends from our 2023 New Partner Report – will take place on January 22, 2024. The Summit will include in-depth discussions with leaders from firms that have achieved gender parity in their new partner classes for multiple years.

Registration is open to Alliance members. Non-members who were recognized as 2023 Tipping the Scales firms are also eligible to attend. Non-members should contact Emma Simpkins to register.

The New Partner Report Summit has been approved for 1.25 SHRM Professional Development Credits. The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.

This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 1.6 hours of total CLE credit. Of these, 1.6 qualify as hours of credit for diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias (BCLE Reg. 302:1).

MEMBERS: REGISTER HERE

Access to the full 2023 New Partner Report is an exclusive member benefit. We invite non-member organizations to learn more about the report here. (Alliance Members can view the entire report in the Member Resource Center.) 

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78 Law Firms Recognized For “Tipping the Scales” Towards Gender Parity In Their 2023 New Partner Classes

2023 New Partner Report Shows 3.5% Increase in Women New Partners

Washington, DC (November 3, 2023) – Today, the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance released the results of its 2023 New Partner Report, a compilation of public data related to the gender breakdown of attorneys promoted to partner in US and global law firms. Yesterday, the seventy-eight law firms that had 50% or more women in their 2023 new partner class, globally and/or US-based, were recognized as “Tipping the Scales” and honored at the Alliance’s annual conference.

The Report revealed that 43.7 percent of new partners from 196 major US law firms in 2023 were women, representing a substantial increase of 3.5% from last year’s 40.2%. Accounting for increased globalization of the legal industry, this year’s report also includes global new partner promotion data for the first time. Globally, women accounted for 43.3% of new partners.

Other highlights include:

  • Since 2012, when the Alliance began compiling this data, the share of women new partners has increased 10.5 percentage points (from 33% in 2012 to 43.7% in 2023).
  • The share of firms with 50% or more women in their new partner class increased from 27.6% last year to 38.3% this year.
  • The gap in the share of new women partners compared to the share of women associates decreased from a gap of 8.1% in 2022 down to 5.7% this year.
  • Alliance member firms achieved a 2.6% higher share of women new partners than the overall US-based percentages (46.3% vs 43.7%).

“I’m optimistic about the overall upward momentum of the percentage of women in new partner classes in the US and globally,” said Manar Morales, President & CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. “However, law firm leaders must continue to be intentional about developing strong, equitable systems for recruitment, work distribution, mentorships, training, pay and evaluations to maintain and grow their gender parity in leadership,” she added. “Once again this year, I’m immensely proud of the Alliance member firms who consistently prioritize flexibility, wellbeing, engagement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and achieve higher percentages of women partners.”

The Alliance’s New Partner Report, which is released in full to its members, is a yearly compilation of data from the nation’s largest and top-grossing law firms examining the gender breakdown of attorneys promoted to partnership in their U.S. offices.  The data is based upon publicly available firm announcements and other self-reported sources on new partner classes with an effective date of promotion between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023.

The “Tipping the Scales” firms recognized for having 50% or more women in their 2023 new partner class included:

1. Akin

2. Armstrong Teasdale

3. Arnold & Porter***

4. Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo

5. Baker Donelson

6. Barnes & Thornburg

7. Beveridge & Diamond

8. Bilzin Sumberg

9. Bond Schoeneck

10. Bracewell*

11. Bradley

12. Brownstein

13. Burns & Levinson

14. Burr & Forman

15. Chapman and Cutler

16. Choate

17. Cleary Gottlieb

18. Cole Schotz

19. Covington

20. Crowell & Moring**

21. Davis Polk

22. Davis Wright Tremaine***

23. Day Pitney

24. Debevoise*

25. Dechert*

26. Dentons

27. Dykema

 

 28. Epstein Becker & Green**

29. Faegre Drinker

30. Finnegan

31. Fish & Richardson

32. Fisher Phillips

33. Goldberg Segalla

34. Goodwin

35. Goulston & Storrs

36. Greenspoon Marder

37. Hodgson Russ

38. Hogan Lovells*

39. Honigman

40. Ice Miller

41. Jackson Lewis**

42. Jenner & Block*

43. Jones Day**

44. Kelley Drye

45. Littler**

46. Locke Lord

47. Loeb & Loeb*

48. Lowenstein

49. Manatt*

50. Mayer Brown

51. McDermott Will & Emery

52. McGuireWoods

53. Miller & Chevalier**

 54. Morrison & Foerster

55. Munger, Tolles & Olson

56. Offit Kurman

57. Ogletree Deakins*

58. Orrick

59. Parker Hudson

60. Perkins Coie*

61. Phelps Dunbar

62. Porter Wright

63. Robins Kaplan

64. Saul Ewing

65. Seyfarth*

66. Shutts & Bowen*

67. Smith Gambrell

68. Spencer Fane

69. Stoel Rives*

70. Thompson Hine

71. Troutman Pepper

72. Venable

73. Weil*

74. White & Case*

75. Wiggin and Dana

76. Williams Mullen

77. WilmerHale*

78. Wilson Elser

*One asterisk is next to firms that have been recognized as “Tipping the Scales” firms for three years.
**Two asterisks are next to firms that have been recognized as “Tipping the Scales” for four years.
***Three asterisks are next to firms that have been recognized as “Tipping the Scales” for five years.
Diversity & Flexibility Alliance Member Firms are bolded.

For more than a decade, the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance has collaborated with organizations to develop inclusive flexible working cultures that cultivate diversity in leadership, drive workplace wellbeing, and foster a more humanized work experience.  The Alliance provides practical research-based solutions, customizable training programs, strategic advisory services and a peer-learning network that increase organizational effectiveness through diversity and flexibility.

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Action Step – Surveys: Making Sure All Voices Are Heard

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

Many organizations utilize surveys to gather employee feedback regarding D&I, talent and workplace flexibility. Surveys are an efficient way to take the pulse of your workforce and to make sure management hears all voices when launching, revamping or ending programs, policies and practices. Organizations should conduct regular surveys on their D&I, talent and workplace flexibility programs to make sure they are iterative and improved upon appropriately. The following are our recommendations with surveys:

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.