Year after year, companies worldwide strengthen their efforts to create diverse work environments. Whether it’s education, background, gender, or ethnicity, a diverse team is ideal. Law firms are no different in their wish for diversity, but headlines have proven that race and the law can be a tough case to solve.
It’s a challenge nationwide. Among all employers listed in the 2012-2013 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, just 6.71% of partners were minorities and 2.16% of partners were minority women, although many offices report no minority partners at all.
“What we have found from both a client perspective as well as our own internal perspective is that having diverse ideas and thoughts makes the practice of law better,” says Kim Robinson, Jones Walker partner in Tax & Estates Practice Group, in a Business Report feature from the current issue. “If you’re going to have diverse practices, it also makes sense to have a diversity of background, education, life experiences, gender, and ethnicity.”
Since the 1930s, Jones Walker has grown to become one of the largest law firms in the United States, with a branch in Baton Rouge. Part of its expansion involves adding minorities to its team.
The practice of law is competitive in nature, and every law firm wants the top students from law schools. If there are only a few top students that happen to be ethnic minorities, then the competition becomes that much more intense.
“The number of graduates from law school every year who are ethnically and racially diverse minorities is relatively small in comparison to other demographic groups; it’s a lot of competition,” says Skip Philips, managing partner for Taylor Porter. “There will always be competition in our world for qualified lawyers, whether they’re in a minority or a majority group.”
Taylor Porter recently marked 100 years of practice, making it one of Louisiana’s oldest firms.
“Frankly, Louisiana turns out such quality lawyers, there’s a lot of competition from out-of-state law firms,” Philips says. “It’s the same limited pool of talent from which to select.”
Read the full feature, which includes a listing of the Capital Region’s five largest law firms’ share of minority employees. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
