Case study: Training together

It isn’t just the government that wants law firms to look closely at the backgrounds of their employees. Clients are also becoming increasingly selective, with a number recently demanding evidence of action on diversity. Weil Gotshal and Manges now delivers structured diversity training in London.

By Amanda Little, training manager, Weil Gotshal and Manges

Diversity of the workforce in law firms is a very hot topic at the moment. And no wonder. Despite some encouraging statistics at the entry level of the market, there is a distinct lack of diversity at partner level – particularly at those firms judged to be at the top of their field. More women than men have qualified as solicitors now for many years, but the figures show that far fewer go on to become partners. More people from ethnic-minority groups are also being attracted to the profession, but the statistics show they are grouped in certain sectors of the industry, rather than entering across the board. To date, again, many do not stay in private practice to partnership level. Recent research carried out by the Law Society has shown that some gay men and lesbians – particularly in City firms – have been aware of homophobia in spite of some recent improvements. They said they were unlikely to be open about their sexuality at work until they had already achieved a certain level of seniority within the firm. And of course, ‘diversity’ can encompass many more differences than gender, colour and sexual orientation. It can also include socio-economic backgrounds, religions, personalities, and even length of service. Moreover, the best people do not necessarily come through the traditional route to qualification. There are those with different careers behind them that will also have useful experience to bring.

This status quo is simply going to have to change if we are going to maintain any degree of credibility as a profession. We need to be able to encourage the best people to become solicitors – and we need them to stay and make successful careers in private practice. If we are unable to demonstrate that everyone who is good enough can make it to the top, those good people will be discouraged from applying in the first place. Associates need to believe that they can develop and succeed no matter what their individual circumstances. In fact that whatever the particular skills and knowledge they can bring to their firms, these will be used to their best advantage, rather than seen as different from the norm, and possibly therefore even threatening. There are plenty of other jobs out there for qualified and experienced solicitors these days. If they do not feel welcome, they may well vote with their feet and leave. Conversely, associates working at a firm with a policy of inclusiveness and support, implemented with top-level backing, will be more likely to stay at that firm and do their best work while there. Having a strong diversity policy is not the only way to try to keep good associates these days, but it can certainly help.

To have a successfully-diverse workforce also recognises that these differences can enhance a firm’s ability to perform for its clients. Clients are becoming increasingly selective about the law firms they will work with. There are more of them, and the days of consistent loyalty are long gone. They say they will act where they do not feel sufficient steps are being taken to encourage a diverse team of lawyers to work with them. This is still a relatively new concept for the UK, but it has been standard, certainly among larger corporations, for quite some time in the US. Some clients are not even satisfied merely with seeing statistics, but will tell outside counsel to field a diverse team for transactions to be a preferred provider of legal services.

Evolution of diversity at WGM

Weil, Gotshal and Manges (WGM) was one of the first New York firms to institute a firm-wide diversity training programme and a formal diversity policy in 1984. Commitment to a diversity strategy has continued over time, while the firm recognises further investment of commitment, time and money is necessary to continue to make progress.

In 2002, a firm of external consultants were engaged to update the firm’s diversity strategy and help with communication to all staff. The consultants used the results of a confidential questionnaire, which was sent to all staff in participating offices, to make sure the policy really fitted in with the firm’s culture and how the staff themselves wanted it to develop. Making everyone feel they had input has certainly helped with buy-in; as they were consulted, they could better understand its relevance to them as individuals and the firm.

Once approved by the management committee, the strategy was then marketed internally, with senior partners introducing it and then following up with a series of training workshops for all staff run by external consultants. These were practical, highly interactive half-day sessions, and explained the strategy, the business case and senior level buy-in. Part of the training was also to help develop skills that facilitate enhanced communications. Since these initial workshops, people in London as well as each US office have been trained to deliver the course. It is held as often as necessary to ensure all new joiners take part as soon as possible.

Responsibility

An important consideration throughout was to have a structured approach to the implementation
of the firm’s strategy. The implications of having a diversity strategy must be considered in many different areas of the business of a law firm, including recruitment, retention, professional development and business development. A central committee that oversees all the strands of application is very useful. A diversity committee comprising partners and senior administrative staff meets regularly and reports directly to the firm’s management committee. In many US firms, including WGM, a senior executive is also appointed to work solely on implementing the diversity strategy. The more senior this individual, the stronger the message delivered to employees and clients.

It really helps to show a firm means business when its top level of management is totally committed to a strategy, but this involves more than just an e-mail introducing it. Concrete examples need to be shown. WGM London managing partner, Mike Francies, for example, has spoken on a panel discussing issues surrounding diversity in the legal profession at the Law Society’s annual conference. One female member of the management committee was also the recipient of the charity YWCA’s ‘Woman of Achievement Award’ in 2003, while one of the firm’s female associates made up to partner in 2006 works on a flexible schedule.

Recruitment

Law firms are looking to recruit more people than in previous years, so they need to visit more institutions in the UK and overseas, as well as encouraging people seeking alternative routes of entry into the profession to apply. Just looking at the talent pool in traditional universities has clearly prevented recruiters from finding all the best applicants in the past. Even if not due to the implementation of diversity strategies, the pool of applicants open to the profession is now widening and should continue to do so. This can only be good, but we must also realise that to attract the best candidates (particularly those from less traditional universities or backgrounds) a strong diversity policy, with evidence of implementation, is increasingly necessary. Such applicants will ask about diversity statistics, role models, mentoring schemes and affinity groups. WGM visits many universities, as well as offering vacation scheme places to people who have already undertaken the legal practice course (LPC) but don’t yet have training contracts. Advertising in publications aimed directly at minority groups also helps raise the firm’s profile among people from different groups who are considering a career in the law.

As a whole, however, what is now needed is to ensure we are attracting the best people onto law courses in the first place. We need to find academically talented children in all communities and encourage them to go on to higher education and then consider a career in the law. Going into schools to describe what it is like to be a solicitor and what it takes to get there can be a very positive experience – both for the audience and presenters. There are also schemes that set up mentoring relationships with pupils who are of sufficient academic ability, but who do not have other adults in their lives to provide relevant advice. Banks and other competing industries often have sophisticated programmes in place to invest in the best and brightest of young people from all backgrounds and help them to find out more about their institutions. If the legal profession does not catch up, it may lose out.

Retention

Training workshops

The original diversity workshop is now repeated in each office as required depending on the number of new joiners. The firm also now has several certified diversity trainers. It is understood that each culture’s approach to diversity will be different, and having local trainers helps make sure the same message is put across in an appropriate fashion. This helps to ensure everyone continues to receive the same message about the strategy and its impact on the business and culture of the firm as soon after they join as possible. People are encouraged to discuss any issues they want and are challenged to comment on others’ viewpoints. The strongest message communicated is that everyone has a duty to ensure all employees are treated with respect and given every opportunity to develop to their potential. Workshops and seminars are important to continue to press the message home. Some may be more legal in nature – e.g. a recent talk on the EU Anti-Discrimination laws, or more practical, such as a session on how body language can affect the way a message is given.

Professional development

Systems also need to be in place to ensure a firm can deliver on its promise to allow everyone to develop to the best of their potential. Work allocation must be dealt with fairly for all associates, which can be managed centrally, or by way of career-development partners for individual associates as long as it is consistent. We are also about to introduce benchmarking into our appraisal system, ensuring there are objective expectations clearly stated for all associates. However, appraisers also need to take all circumstances of an associate’s professional development into account. Feedback needs to be given consistently, honestly, and in a constructive way (and associates need to understand how to deal with it). Any suggestions for improvement need to be followed up with the associate.

Mentoring programmes can also be effective at giving people from minority groups specific guidance from someone who has already reached a level of seniority to which they aspire. The firm supports the creation of affinity groups, and currently has a Women’s group, a Hispanic group, a Black affinity group, an Asian affinity group and an LGBT group. There is no compulsion to join, but while well-supported in the US, the concept is still quite new in English law firms and among English solicitors. The most popular of these in the London office is the Women’s Group, which now has a separate European committee and funding. The firm will fund events for each of these groups, but the content of meetings and events is left to each. The groups are not exclusive in terms of membership, and men are very welcome to attend almost all of the Women@Weil events.

In 2006 the firm also held its first global ‘Diversity Week’, where each office was given the opportunity to focus on diversity issues in their own way for a week. Offices in different countries and American states had many ideas, but different cultures approach diversity in a different way. In a global organisation it is important to recognise this. There are many solutions that can be used to reach similar goals.

Monitoring effectiveness

Collection of diversity statistics, at least for gender and ethnic minority, is commonplace, but making such statistics public is not yet the norm. Despite the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) requirement of 2006, disappointingly few firms have published diversity statistics on gender and ethnic minority on their websites, even if the number doing so is increasing. In the US information is collected by commercial providers (e.g. Vault.com) and published in comparable form on their websites. It may be that this is the way the UK market will eventually move, but it is worth noting very few firms in the UK gather statistics on sexual orientation. Indeed, only two firms actually publish such statistics on their websites to date.

Of course, publishing diversity statistics is useful for prospective applicants, but for those responsible for implementing a diversity strategy they only give a static picture of the firm on the date the information was gathered. What is more useful, as with most statistical information gathering, is to watch trends over time, including what happens to the percentage of ethnic minority associates as they become more senior in different practice areas. Trends should be scrutinised by the diversity committee on a regular basis. Data can be collected on joining the firm, and then periodically by way of an attitude survey. It can also be collected on leaving the firm. The data could be purely statistical, but it can also usefully invite the participants to include comments (e.g. during an attitude survey or in an exit interview).

As a profession, we need to ensure we have a strong, well-respected membership, which is representative of society. This must be done by taking action at a collective level (e.g. going to schools and mentoring schemes) as well as at individual firm level. Diversity as a policy sits across a firm’s strategies. It needs to be considered as part of each strand and requires top-level involvement and support.

Amanda Little is training manager for the London office of Weil, Gotshal and Manges. She can be contacted at amanda.little@weil.com