Compiled for the LCLD Board of Directors every Wednesday, this digest is designed to brief you on the latest headlines about LCLD Members and organizations, as well as thought-provoking articles on diversity in the legal profession, talent development, mentoring, and leadership. Past issues of the Digest are also archived on the LCLD web site.
If you have questions about the Digest, articles you'd like to share, of if you would like to subscribe, please email Communications Specialist Caitlin Puffenberger at cpuffenberger@lcldnet.com.
1. Outside the Walls
Modern Counsel, September 2017
“Positive representation is important,” says LCLD Member Kirkland Hicks, General Counsel at Lincoln Financial Group. “But we need to go beyond that to inclusion and inclusive leadership.”
2. Perfect Fit
Modern Counsel, September 2017
“There’s a clear disconnect between the words and actions of many,” says 2016 Fellow Stacia Jones, Associate General Counsel at Abercrombie & Fitch. “Even with a small legal team, we believe we can have a meaningful impact on diversity in U.S. law firms.”
3. OpEd: Was Charlottesville the Exception or the Rule?
The New York Times, 9/13/17
“America has never not been struggling with diversity,” writes Claudia Rankine. The events in Charlottesville last month, and others like it, are not the source of white supremacy, but the amplification of its prevalence in American culture.
4. Female Equity Partner Rate is At All-Time High. But It’s Still Not That Great.
Law.com, 9/18/17
At 19 percent, the percentage of female equity partners has improved, but only marginally. More promisingly, women make up 33 percent of the new equity partner class.
5. Whites Have Huge Wealth Edge Over Blacks (But Don’t Know It)
The New York Times, 9/18/17
Black families in America hold just $5 of wealth for every $100 held by white families. Yet Americans overall, and particularly higher-income whites, believe the number is closer to $80.
6. Colorblind Diversity Efforts Don’t Work
Harvard Business Review, 9/11/17
Effective diversity initiatives need to balance ally engagement and designated spaces for discrete populations – for example, actively engaging allies with existing employee resource groups.
