Diversity Nudges
The Practice
January/February 2017
Gentle pushes—or “nudges”—and a consistent organizational process with well-defined decision points may allow firms to achieve diversity goals that has, to date, eluded them.
January/February 2017
Nudges to Increase Diversity
This article presents examples of nudging techniques in action successfully applied in attracting and recruiting more women, especially lateral hires. Firms that have used these approaches have made real gains in the recruitment of women lawyers at various levels—including double-digit increases in the number of women hired.
Diversity in Practice
When looking at hiring criteria for what they call “very significant matters”—matters that are above being routine, in which cost would likely be the predominate factor, but below “bet the company” matters, David B. Wilkins and Young-Kyu Kim find that results in similar cases, reputation, and prior relations are the most critical considerations.
Managing Effectively Across Difference
What are law firms doing to combat problems like implicit bias, particularly when it comes to midlevel managers? To answer that question, we interviewed Amran Hussein, a partner in the major international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, who is also the co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee, about an innovative program recently rolled out at the firm called Managing Effectively Across Difference, or MEAD.
The Allocation of Work
In developing relationships with partners, most of it, certainly, comes down to your skills as a lawyer—of knowing your craft. However, we would be kidding ourselves if we thought that’s all that is at play in how relationships are developed—and therein how work is allocated. Golfing. Watching sports. Creating personal connections over shared interests. These mattered, too.
Diversity in Corporate Law Firms
Valerie Radwaner is a partner and deputy chair of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP. Radwaner recently sat down with David B. Wilkins, faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession, for a one-on-one conversation on diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.
