Diversity & Inclusion
What is Working
For:
ALA Washington, DC
By:
Mauricio Velásquez, MBA
President, CEO
The Diversity Training Group
692 Pine Street
Herndon, VA, 20170
Web: diversitydtg.com
Email: [email protected]
Meet Mauricio Velásquez
Mauricio Velásquez is the President and CEO of The
Diversity Training Group (DTG) in Herndon, VA. Mauricio
serves as a Diversity and Inclusion strategy consultant,
trainer, sexual harassment prevention trainer, executive
coach, mentoring trainer, and expert witness.
DTG’s clients include small and large law firms, general
counsels, and other professional service firms as well as
public and private organizations. A partial list of our clients
– past and present - include US Navy JAG, Jackson Lewis,
Jones Walker, Nixon Peabody, Sonnenschein, Liberty
Mutual’s GC, Bryan Cave, Jennings, Strouss & Salmon,
Polsinelli, Pillsbury, Constangy Brooks and Smith, Arent
Fox, Baker Botts, and KPMG to name a few. IPMA, LMA,
other ALA chapters, and many Bar Associations are clients
and partners.
Agenda / Objectives
 Opening, Set Up
 Quick “D & I Framework”
 What are you doing to affect change in your firms?
 What are the tough questions to ask?
 What best practices are working
 What ensures success for the long term?
 What undermines Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) success
for the long term?
 Why is this conversation not a fad?
 How do you know how your firm is faring?
 Action Plan
Intent vs. Impact
Intent
(what you meant to do)
vs.
Impact
(what you actually did & consequences)
To Affect Change
 You first have to define your destination – “Future State”
 A Vision for the Firm – a Diversity and Inclusion Vision
 Define it, so you know when you have arrived (on your web site)
 Then you have to size up your “Current State”
 Realize Status Quo is not working
 What got us here may not get us to Future State
 Assess, study, diagnose your culture, your firm
 Identify current obstacles, barriers
 What is stopping this firm from becoming more diversity, inclusive,
and a better firm (all go together)
 Devise a D & I Strategy and Plan
 Execute
 Have metrics – measure progress, put on website, market, etc.
About D&I Issues…
What You Don’t
Know You Don’t
Know
(DKDK)
What You
Don’t Know
(DK)
What You Know
(K)
You hear “Diversity or Inclusion”
… What pops into your head?
What do you think your clients – GCs – are talking
about?
Before you can have a “D&I Strategy” you first have to
clear definitions. All be on the same page.
Dimensions of Diversity
Language
Military
Experience
Education
Religion
Age
Gender
Work
Style
Family
Status
Income
Sexual
Orientation
Ethnic
Heritage
Mental/
Physical
Abilities
Race
Work
Experience
Individual
Geographic
Location
Communication
Style
Operational Role
and Level
Group
Organizational
Affiliation
Dimensions of Diversity
Military
Experience
Language
Education
Religion
Work
Style
Age
Gender
Mental/
Physical
Abilities
Sexual
Orientation
Family
Status
Ethnic
Heritage
Communication
Style
Income
Work
Experience
Race
Geographic
Location
Operational Role
and Level
Dimensions of Diversity
Indivi
Individual
dual
Group
Organizational
Affiliation
* DEFINITION OF A DIVERSITY ISSUE
You have a diversity (inclusive workplace) issue…
 When an issue (i.e. policy or business practice – formal,
informal, internal or external) has a different impact on a
particular group (for example, impact on male vs. female
associates, White vs. Black, etc. – mentoring, training,
assignments, choice work, etc.)
 When it happens more frequently to a particular group
(for example, different groups have dramatically different
“numbers” – turnover, terminations, promotions, few or
no role models)
 When it is more difficult for one group to overcome upward mobility for a particular group within an
organization (for example, “glass or concrete ceilings”)
What is working
– critical success factors
STRATEGIC
I. Visible, supportive and fully-committed senior
leadership
II. Diversity strategy/plan developed & aligned with
organization’s strategic plan
III. Internal and external communications improved
IV. Employee involvement and assessment
V. Recruitment and retention activities improved
VI. Measurement, metrics and follow through emphasized
VII.Constant benchmarking and continuous improvement
of diversity strategy and plan
Nationwide Best Practices
Sources:
American Express Benchmark Study
Business Week Special Sessions
The Conference Board Best Practices Publications
Fortune’s Best Practices Lists/Articles
Towers-Perrin North-American Diversity Best Practices
Study
US Department of Labor and other US Government
Studies
What are you doing to affect change?
 Firm Leadership committed or supportive?
 Lateral Hiring – who are we hiring/not hiring? (fantastic
metric)
 Centralized all diversity-related RFPs / admin?
 How much money are we talking about?
 We know what we won but do we ask why did we not win certain
pitches? (another metric)
 Who is actually doing the pitches? Who is present in the
room, who is never in the room? (metric)
 Conducting exit interview and post-exit interviews?
 Diversity Scorecard – MLJ, MCCA, etc. – ultimate metric
 Do you have a D&I infrastructure in place? CDO, CDP
More specific questions to ask..
Turnover – voluntary vs. involuntary
 Who is leaving? Who is staying? Any patterns? Why…
 I thought you were mentoring him/her?
 What are your exit interviews telling you?
 Do you conduct post-exit interviews (third party)?
Assignment of Work
 Have you defined “choice assignments” or best work?
 Who is getting/not getting the choice assignments (by
office, practice area)? Fair, equally distributed or...?
 Formal process for assignment of work or informal –
centralized oversight or decentralized but accountable?
I am no fan of ….
…. “special treatment” for minorities or women in your
attorney ranks
I am for understanding how “different groups of people”
(non dominant or out group members) have different
experiences than the dominant group and making sure out
group members have the same experience (opportunity) as
their dominant group colleagues
What is the path to partner? Is it clear? Clear to all?
Partner or out? On ramps, off ramps…
Or, is it some mystery, some cabal (to out group), some star
chamber? How many times.. “You were up for..”
I want to be very clear….
I am not partnering with law firms to help
them create a better firm for minorities or
women
I am helping our clients become better firms
period!
“The Practice of Law is advanced. Your
clients benefit greatly when diversity of
background, skill set, perspective, diversity
of thought – are brought to bear on your
practice of law and the servicing of your
clients.”
Best Practices
How are you ensuring assignment of work
process is more inclusive?
Who are your “up and comers?”
How will you retain them?
Do you have a REAL FORMAL mentoring
program in place?
Do you have diverse bench strength?
Can lateral hiring be revamped to be more
inclusive?
Are you honoring your internal change agents?
New Realities
Have you noticed Juries and Plaintiffs are more diverse?
Have your clients noticed?
Who are on your pitch teams? Who is benefiting from such
experiences? Before your pitch, “Please explain to
me….”
Have you won the Thomas L. Sager Award?
Client inquiry is getting more aggressive:
“I want a report every week of the number of billing hours
you are charging me/us by protected class group
participation”
“What percentage of the ownership of the firm is held by
________ ?”
Are you seeing this? Are you experiencing this yet?
From ALA recently
INCLUSION CLAUSE – Sometimes the carrot will only get you
so far before you have to break out the stick. With dismal diversity
numbers persisting in Big Law, general counsel at Facebook Inc.,
Hewlett-Packard and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. have all
announced in recent months initiatives that will require more
diversity among their outside counsel—or put those firms at
risk of losing fees, according to a report by Meghan Tribe. The
point? To put pressure on firms to make real progress in addressing
what Kim Rivera, chief legal officer & GC of HP, called "a very
stubborn problem." Longtime diversity champion Tom Sager,
former GC at E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. and now GC at
Ballard Spahr, said this approach is a necessary one. “You can
demand all you want,” Sager said, “but if you don’t have a way of
demanding accountability, it’s just a press release.”
Are you ready for diverse talent?
Is your firm culture – Inclusive?
 All associates are groomed, developed, mentored
similarly, equitably? (– not the same)
 Formal mentoring, not some informal “buddy system”
that is haphazard, varies, not measurable and no
accountability
 How are you ensuring “feedback” is equitable across all
differences, all groups?
 Do you have an ombudsman? A CDO? CDP? (someone
watching, monitoring, advocating) D & I Strategy
 In essence - non-dominant group members are
“embedded in firm”
 Are you telling your story?
Some of the most creative..
 Outreach to diverse student organizations, bar associations, etc. (for
example, client, Pres of Hispanic Bar) – not telling their story!!!
 Summer program participation (associate goes inside client)
 Participation in minority clerk-ship programs (one of our clients
founded one)
 Participation in diverse scholarship programs
 Essay – book scholarship, raise your firm name, brand/awareness
 Resume writing, career counseling
 Explicit Letter to Dean
 Outreach and connection to diverse student group faculty advisor
(keep an eye out for our firm)
 Are you telling your story? On your website, marketing?
 Client Story, Diversity Award, Higher status, More Money
 Your CDO, CDP, awards, honors on your web site for all to see
(standard – not creative)
Ultimately - Cut to the chase
Clients measure you based on:
 Your reputation, expertise
 Your ranking
 Who is pitching for you
 Your competition – who are you up against for the new
business (differentiation)
 General diversity image – goodwill factor
 Your past performance
 Who is on your bench – up and coming diverse talent
 Am I missing anything?
 In the end - your clients are demanding it (change)
Attorney Engagement – One Slide
With Firm
(trust)
High
Performance
Strategic Alignment
(clear goals, strategy)
With Partner /
Manager
(feel valued)
Competency (you
got what it takes)
Most inclusive firms – Supervising Attorneys
1) Find out what motivates your direct reports
2) Hire and keep people who are good at their work
3) Get people working on what’s important
4) Explain and train
5) Let people work
6) Be generous with praise and show it
7) Expect excellence
8) Care about people and show it
9) Treat employees with respect
10) Lead by example
11) Build around your mission and core values and hold all
accountable
What is your greatest challenge?
In General… (for all firms, profession)
What is your biggest obstacle in our
field?
What must most firms overcome to be
more diverse and inclusive?
Brainstorm – I will chart for Panelists to
hear and consider (SQ not working!)
Action Plan
How can I create a better, more
engaged firm of talented
professionals?
How can I make myself better?
How can I use what I have learned
in this session in my firm and
beyond?
For more information…
CONTACT:
The Diversity Training Group
692 Pine Street
Herndon, VA 20170
Tel. 703.478.9191
Fax 703.709.0591
[email protected]
Mauricio Velásquez, MBA - President