Compiled for LCLD Members and the 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, or if you would like to subscribe, please email Communications Manager Caitlin Puffenberger at cpuffenberger@lcldnet.com


1. The Gender Gap at the Top: What’s Keeping Women from Leading Corporate America?

  • Research from Working Mother found four gap areas that keep women from reaching the top levels of their organizations: awareness of what’s needed to move up and what opportunities exist, ability to build relationship capital, confidence and willingness to take risks, and corporate cultures that have accountability around creating opportunities for women.  Working Mother 
  • Sponsors of the report include LCLD Member organizations Jones Lang LaSalle, Prudential, and State Farm.  Working Mother 

2. Gap’s AGC Grew Her Legal Skills In-House, Straight Out of Law School

“These are people who not only gave me permission but empowered me to develop a passion and purpose in the space, and I bring that to work with me every day,” says LCLD Fellow Marie Ma of her journey from paralegal to Associate General Counsel at GapCorporate Counsel

3. ‘Crazy Ideas’ Welcome: How Orrick is Working to Build an Innovation Culture 

“A part of having a good innovation culture is a willingness to constantly improve,” said Siobhan Handley, Chief Talent Officer at LCLD Member firm Orrick. The firm is one year into a program that allows associates to put 50 hours of billing credit toward innovative projects.  The American Lawyer 

4. Lawmakers Ask Big Tech for their Outside Counsel’s Diversity Stats 

Members of Congress have asked the 10 biggest companies in the tech industry to disclose their outside counsel diversity hiring practices. Seven of the ten organizations are LCLD Members.  Corporate Counsel

5. How to Design a Diversity Intervention that Actually Works

“People who are very different from each other will only be able to function as a cohesive unit when they are effectively managed. This is why leadership is the fundamental quality that enables teams and organizations to leverage diversity,” writes business psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.  Forbes  

6. It’s Time to Enable People to Use Their True Names on Cards 

“For the transgender and non-binary communities in particular, the card in their pocket can serve as a source of sensitivity, misrepresenting their true identity,” says an announcement from LCLD Member organization Mastercard about the developlment of “True Name” cards.  Mastercard Engagement Bureau 

7. How to Fix Your Hiring Process 

“If you’re looking at exit interviews and people said, ‘I didn’t realize it was going to be like this, I don’t fit here,’ that is something that’s a mistake in the hiring process that you should correct,” says Peter Cappelli, Director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of Business.  Harvard Business Review