A Collaborative Lab for Disrupting Bias Through Data & Science

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Boosting Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Through Experimentation, Accountability, Transparency & Results Measurement

The Move the Needle Fund (“MTN”) is the first collaborative effort designed and funded for five years — by Diversity Lab and four trailblazing law firms — to test innovative initiatives to create a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.

Despite decades of hard work by industry stakeholders to diversify the talent pool — from law students through law firm and legal department leadership — the needle hasn’t moved far enough fast enough.

To drive greater progress, four law firms, 25+ general counsel, and a dozen community leaders are embarking on a different approach. They are working together through MTN to create a first-of-its-kind experimental “laboratory” in which bold new approaches are being incubated over five years in the law firms to serve as a model for learning and transformative change in the legal profession and beyond.

These four firms have set aggressive, measurable diversity goals. They are now experimenting with research-based and data-driven ways to achieve them and will publicly report their progress.

The general counsel are working together with the MTN firms to achieve their goals and also pilot some of the innovative initiatives with their legal departments and current outside counsel.

How It Works

Diversity Lab and four law firms are: (1) setting aggressive, public firm-specific diversity goals; (2) experimenting with innovative, research-based methods to achieve them; (3) measuring the outcomes; and (4) sharing the results — including the successes and failures — with each other and the community.

To achieve these goals and serve as a model from which others can learn, MTN will leverage the investment made by the firms and Diversity Lab to:

explore and experiment with new approaches to hiring, work/life integration, work allocation, sponsorship, promotions, feedback, performance reviews, and compensation systems;
implement the winning Diversity in Law Hackathon ideas;
test evidence-based research such as the bias interrupters from the ABA and Minority Corporate Counsel Association study as well as other inclusion research from top academic institutions; and
crowdsource innovative ideas from other industries.

Founding Law Firms & Measurable Goals

The four trailblazing MTN law firms are Eversheds Sutherland (US), Nixon Peabody, Orrick, and Stoel Rives.

The MTN firms’ measurable goals, detailed below, have been carefully crafted to tackle some of the biggest challenges and barriers — specifically focused on hiring, retention, and advancement — that law firms face in achieving greater diversity and inclusion. MTN officially began measuring progress on these goals in January 2020.

Law Firm logos - Eversheds Southerland, Nixon Peabody, Orrick, Stoel Rives

Why Does the Legal Profession Need “Metrics-Based Goals” Focused on Greater Retention and Advancement of Diverse Talent?

Our hope is to create and sustain an equitable and inclusive legal profession. There are many good reasons for metrics-based goals related to that, but two primary impetuses drive MTN.

First, what gets measured gets done. And, second, to know how far we’ve come (or not come), we have to know where we started.

Law School Graduating Classes v. Large Law Firm Equity Partnerships

For more than a decade, law school graduating classes have hovered around 50% women, 33% racial and ethnic minorities, and 6% LGBTQ+ students, yet the equity partnership in most large law firms still consists of only 21% women, 9% racial and ethnic minorities, and 2% LGBTQ+ lawyers.

Law Firm Diverse Associate Attrition

One of the reasons for this leaky pipeline is the increased rate at which diverse lawyers leave law firms before they reach partnership compared to non-diverse lawyers. At the associate level, attrition rates are 11% higher for women than for men and 33% higher for racial minorities than for white lawyers.

At the Current Rate of Change, When Will Law Firm Equity Partnerships Match Law School Graduating Classes?

Predictive modeling, using the last five years of ALM data, suggests that — at the current slow rate of progress — the largest 200 firms in the country as a group won’t mirror the law school diversity percentages for women and racial minorities in the equity partnership until 2057 and 2084, respectively, unless drastic changes are made immediately. (There is insufficient historical data available to conduct these same analyses for LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities. MTN hopes to remedy that issue.)

Why are the MTN Law Firms’ Five-Year Goals Important — For Both the Firms and the Profession?

Recognizing that it will take 38 years to reach 50% women and 65 years to reach 33% racial and ethnic minorities in the equity partnership, the MTN law firms have set public goals and are piloting interventions to accelerate this timing by decades.

As part of the MTN mission, in addition to women and racial and ethnic lawyers, we are working on boosting the inclusion and representation of LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities.

The Outcome if the MTN Firms Achieve Their Goals

If the MTN firms achieve their goals, predictive modeling suggests they will be in the top 10% of all AmLaw 200 firms for both associate and partner diversity.

What If All AmLaw 200 Firms Achieved the MTN Goals?

If all AmLaw 200 firms emulate their efforts and achieve the MTN goals, the time it will take for the equity partnership of law firms to mirror the diversity of law school graduating classes — 35 and 65 years respectively — could be cut in half.

What are the MTN Law Firms’ Five-Year Goals?

Stoel Rives

Challenge to Solve: NALP data show that diverse lawyers leave law firms before they reach partnership at much higher rates than non-diverse lawyers. At the associate level, attrition rates are 11% higher for women than for men and 33% higher for racial minorities than for white lawyers.

Stoel Rives, in hopes of serving as a model for the profession to learn from, plans to tackle this challenge by: (1) leveraging research-based methods to better understand the reasons for the higher attrition rates among diverse lawyers; and (2) experimenting with new initiatives and talent practices to better retain and advance all lawyers — with a special focus on historically underrepresented lawyers — to close the attrition gap.

Visit Stoel Rives »

Eversheds Sutherland (US)

Challenge to Solve: Research shows that: (1) diverse associates leave law firms at higher rates than non-diverse associates prior to partnership; and (2) diverse and female partners move laterally at lower rates — male partners, for example, move 2x to 3x more often than female partners. Eversheds Sutherland (US) has chosen to tackle these challenges by investigating the underlying causes and testing new approaches to attracting, hiring, developing, and advancing talent to partnership.

Visit Eversheds Sutherland (US) »

Orrick

Challenge to Solve: Clients are increasingly demanding more inclusive teams knowing they produce better results, innovative solutions, and more effective collaboration with their in-house teams. And research shows that the key to greater retention and advancement of top talent of any background is access to meaningful and challenging work as well as business development and leadership opportunities. Orrick’s goal seeks to identify innovative ways for firms and clients — who share a commitment to enhancing diversity in the profession — to work together to ensure that lawyers at all levels have access to career-enhancing work and leadership opportunities within the context of a valued law firm/client relationship and team.

Visit Orrick »

Nixon Peabody

Challenge to Solve: On average, in AmLaw 200 firms, the equity partnership consists of 21% women, 9% racial/ethnic minorities, and 2% LGBTQ+ lawyers. Despite an increased focus on diversity and inclusion throughout the profession, the average annual percentage increase for equity partners across Am Law 200 firms is only .8% for women and .38% for racial and ethnic minorities. Nixon has chosen to tackle these challenges by testing new approaches aimed at increasing inclusivity and equity related to work allocation, sponsorship, and business development systems.

Visit Nixon Peabody »

Founding General Counsel

The founding general counsel and their legal departments will support the firms’ goals and boost diversity in the profession by partnering on diversity internships and other law school pipeline initiatives, providing career-enhancing work and advancement opportunities to diverse outside counsel teams, and measuring their current and future outside counsel firms’ diversity and inclusion progress.

In parallel, they will also experiment with and measure the impact of many of the innovative MTN efforts in their own legal departments and with their current outside counsel.

Read their open letter supporting this effort and encouraging others to get involved here.

Lora D. BlumMomentive
James L. ChosyU.S. Bancorp
Sonia GalindoKBR
Bradley M. GaytonFord/Coca-Cola (Former)

Rachel GonzalezStarbucks (Former)
Hannah GordonSan Francisco 49ers
Julie GruberGap Inc.
Marie Oh HubereBay

Gregory B. JordanPNC Financial Service Group
Jan KangStairwell
Fleur KnowsleyGoogle Fiber
Doug LanklerPfizer

David LevineBloomberg LP
Tom LueDeepMind
John MellenFord Motor Company
Megha ParekhJacksonville Jaguars

Karyn PolakTransamerica
Laura QuatelaLenovo
Kristin SverchekLyft
Todd MachtmesSalesforce

Tony WestUber
Amanda RomeXcel Energy
Rishi VarmaHewlett Packard Enterprise

Supporting Legal Departments

In addition to the founding general counsel, the following legal departments have signed on to support the MTN firms and boost diversity and inclusion in the legal profession by joining the legal department collectives described below and providing valuable insight and expertise to the MTN Fund.

Please email Leila Hock at leila@diversitylab.com to learn more about how to join the MTN Fund as a Supporting Legal Department.

ADP
Arrow Electronics, Inc.
Bridgestone Americas
CDW
Conagra Brands, Inc.
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Corning Incorporated
Euromoney Institutional Investor plc
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
McDonald’s Corporation
State Street Corporation
Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc
ViacomCBS

Board of Advisors

Several of the founding general counsel and legal department leaders are helping to oversee and drive MTN’s progress by serving on its Board of Advisors and as Collective Project Leaders.

Lora D. BlumMomentive GC
James L. ChosyU.S. Bancorp GC
Bradley M. GaytonCoca-Cola Company Former GC
Rachel GonzalezStarbucks Former GC

David LevineBloomberg LP GC
Megha ParekhJacksonville Jaguars GC
Rishi VarmaHewlett Packard Enterprise GC

Collective Project Leaders

Willie HernandezCoca-ColaPipeline Collective
Miho KameokaPfizerPipeline Collective
Alison O’NeillPfizerPipeline Collective
Laurie CharringtonNetflixAccess to Opportunity

Sonia GalindoKBRAccess to Opportunity
Jan KangStairwellAccess to Opportunity
Tammy AlbarranPelatonDiversity Dividends
Marie MaGap Inc.Diversity Dividends

Christophe MosbyHP Inc.Diversity Dividends
Michelle VonderHaarHP Inc.Diversity Dividends

Collective Projects

MTN will use a portion of the $5M to invest in collective projects — with the MTN organizations as well as other interested law firms and legal departments — focused on increasing diversity and inclusion in their respective organizations and in the entire profession. A few of these initial projects include:

MTN 1L Diversity Pipeline Collective

To increase the pipeline of junior lawyers from populations historically underrepresented in the legal industry in law firms and legal departments and to boost their chance of success once there, many of the MTN founding organizations and others have committed to annually providing paid, split summer internships — similar to the Law in Tech Collaborative started by eBay — to first-year law students from underrepresented populations.

The Pipeline Collective is thrilled to provide over 25 split-summer internship opportunities around the country for Summer 2022. Selected students will be spending their summer at the following organizations:

ADP / TBD Am Law 200 Firm, Bridgestone Americas / Squire Patton Boggs, Bridgestone Americas / Bass Berry Sims, Chime / Jenner & Block, Chime / Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Conagra Brands / Husch Blackwell, Consolidated Edison of New York / Eversheds Sutherland (US), Consolidated Edison of New York / Heidell Pittoni Murphy & Bach, Consolidated Edison of New York / Morris Duffy Alonso Faley, Consolidated Edison of New York / Wilder & Linneball, Discord / Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Ford / Hogan Lovells, Intel / Stoel Rives, Kaiser Permanente / Baker Hostetler, Kaiser Permanente / O’Melveny, McDonald’s Corporation / TBD Am Law 200 Firm, PNC Financial / Ballard Spahr, PNC Financial / Riemer & Braunstein, RBC Wealth Management / Dorsey & Whitney, Starbucks / Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Transamerica / TBD Am Law 200 Firm, U.S. Bank / Taft Stettinius, Xcel Energy / Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Xcel Energy / Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

In addition, MTN will annually donate money and Diversity Lab’s in-kind services in excess of $100,000 to existing legal pipeline programs such as Pipeline to Practice, Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, Street Law, LCLD Pathways, MCCA 1L Scholarship, Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, Law in Tech 1L Diversity Collaborative, and other initiatives to strengthen and expand current successful efforts.

As a starting point in 2020, we launched a virtual networking program for 1Ls from underrepresented populations and provided scholarships to women of color law students. The details follow.

Virtual Learning & Networking Forums for Underrepresented Students

With support from the four MTN law firms — Eversheds Sutherland, Nixon Peabody, Orrick, and Stoel Rives — and 25+ founding legal departments, we hosted a 10-week 1L Virtual Summer Learning & Networking Forum for Summer 2020 and a 6-week program for Summer 2021. With over 300 participating students and 200 attorney networkers, we expanded the program to provide additional sessions for 2L students over the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters.

Leadership Institute for Women of Color Attorneys — Scholarships to Underrepresented 2Ls & 3Ls

With a special focus on women students of color, MTN provided scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 to the following 2L and 3L students in 2020 through the Leadership Institute for Women of Color Attorneys.

— Nadia Lee, Boston University School of Law, 3L

— Charlene Minatee, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2L

— Brittney Martinez, Temple University Beasley School of Law, 2L

— Samantha Santiago, DePaul University College of Law 2L

— Chelsea Bosley, Thurgood Marshall School of Law 3L

Learn more about the scholarships here »

MTN Access to Opportunity Collective

The MTN founding legal departments — representing more than $1.5 billion in legal spend annually — have committed to providing diverse teams at law firms, with a special focus on the MTN firms, with the opportunity to be considered for new and expanded business. For diverse lawyers who work on or lead their cases, the legal department leaders will also provide sponsorship in the form of advocacy, feedback, and referrals.

To provide quick and easy access to partners that have self-identified as part of a historically underrepresented population at the MTN law firms, the Access to Opportunities Collective has launched the MTN Diverse Partners Directory. This app will help in-house counsel, press, conference organizers, and others raise the visibility of diverse lawyers and equalize access to key opportunities. Diversity Lab will track the usage of this app to determine whether a tool like this measurably improves access to diverse lawyers in the legal industry and if it could be expanded to include lawyers beyond the MTN network.

Users can use the app to search diverse partners by firm, practice area, or state bar license. To contact a lawyer directly, users can click on an email address within the directory and will be directed to a pre-populated email with a copy to the MTN team at the applicable firm. The magic in this directory will come from its distribution network. To that end, please share it broadly!

Access the MTN Diverse Partners Directory app here »

MTN Diversity Dividends Collective

To wield their collective power, many of the MTN founding legal departments will require their potential and current outside counsel law firms to consistently and progressively staff matters with diverse teams and lead lawyers. Other legal departments are invited to join as well.

The legal departments participating in the Diversity Dividends Collective will engage in an annual diversity data collection process — facilitated by Diversity Lab — that sets outside counsel diversity goals, collects timekeeper and firm diversity data, and rewards compliance. Current exemplar initiatives, such as HP’s law firm diversity & inclusion initiative, have resulted in increasingly diverse teams, providing evidence that this approach produces positive results.

Access the Diversity Dividends Collective overview and registration details here »

How to Get Involved

We encourage other law firms and legal departments to join this effort by agreeing to do one or more of the above-mentioned actions in collaboration with us. For more information on getting involved with MTN collaborative efforts, contact Caren Ulrich Stacy.

Community Leaders

The MTN Community Leaders, listed below, are providing valuable insights and data, challenging norms, and supporting the firms and legal departments in achieving their goals.