Ed. note: Please welcome Lauren E. Skerrett to the pages of Above the Law. She will be writing about her experiences as a black Biglaw associate.
Juneteenth: A Prelude
With the historic occasion of many Biglaw firms designating today, Friday June 19th (also known as Juneteenth, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, or Jubilee), as firm-wide holidays, I would like to begin by speaking to this moment.
Juneteenth commemorates the day enslaved Texan-Americans received the news that they had been free citizens for two years. And in 2020, a large portion of corporate America is acknowledging Juneteenth and encouraging employees to take time to reflect. Understanding America’s untaught history and doing the emotional labor to pursue racial healing are integral to our society moving forward. And racial healing work is not just for White people. If a system is dysfunctional, no one can move through it unscathed. We all have work to do.
While I am encouraged by what I see, there are some who posit that much of this activity from corporate America is “performative” in nature and there are few sincere intentions to move the needle on racial justice issues. I disagree and continue to remain cautiously optimistic. It seems that America has finally begun to reach an inflection point with many agreeing that it is no longer tenable for the status quo to remain the same.
I think the Juneteenth celebrations are indicia that we are moving closer to The Moment, a concept I describe in detail below. And it is my hope that readers of this column will do their part to practice courage, boldness, and further advance the cause of justice and equality for all.
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This is an article I should not have to write. But recognizing that there are now, and will continue to be in the future, certain individuals in influential positions who will fail to understand and embrace beneficent concepts like “diversity” and “inclusion” for their virtue, I thought it would be worthwhile to explain the case for Black attorneys (and generally all minorities) in your Biglaw firm from a perspective that is somewhat motivational to every American. Yes, the financial incentive, or as Diversity & Inclusion professionals the world over have summarized, “the business case.”
I hope you can understand the reticence within my heart as I write today, for what human being could possibly be eager to undertake the task of attempting to convince others she is worthy of equal treatment and opportunity by pointing to the economic benefits to be gained by others?
Returning to the matter at hand, what is meant when people refer to “the business case” for diversity? The pitch typically goes like this: in order to generate the best ideas (and therefore, create the most cutting-edge work product for your clients), you will need to generate diversity of thought. And diversity of thought is created by (i) gathering a group of people who have had different life experiences and (ii) asking them to engage one another in discussions on any given topic. Diversity leads to more unique solutions, because as people with different perspectives wrestle with ideas, they challenge one another, strengthening the value of their collective output. This is a straightforward argument supported by a number of studies: collective diversity of thought outweighs groupthink.
I tend to find the traditional presentation of the business case unconvincing. After all, the current diversity numbers in Biglaw firms are awful and yet, financially, no firm seems to be facing any negative impacts as a direct result. If the traditional case were truly compelling, there would be a sense of urgency striking the industry and we would have already seen changes in numbers and lasting solutions. Yet, we see institutional clients continue to re-engage their favorite firms: cases are tried, deals are closed, fees are collected, and the world keeps turning. We must only conclude from the current state of things that the general quality of work being done in the marketplace is sufficient, and the ingenuity being lost because four out of five voices in the room are White men from your city’s nearest affluent suburb is immaterial to your client’s bottom line.
Today in 2020, it remains somewhat acceptable that there are law firms operating with no Black attorneys or a handful of juniors and few to no equity partners, and people will point to a plethora of reasons. Most frequently we hear about the “pipeline issue” — as though it is an impossibility for every firm to follow the few pioneers who have begun recruiting from Howard University and other predominantly Black law schools. Sadly, I suspect, depending on the results of the upcoming presidential election, the status quo may remain somewhat acceptable for about four more years. But, after that, and depending on how the Republic fares, I believe there will be an even stronger and more undeniable push towards racial equity.
There is a tide in America which has ebbed and flowed since the country’s inception. And in recent years, certainly following recent events, this tide is beginning to rise faster — the undercurrent of the tide’s waves calling forth justice, equity, and equality is becoming stronger and stronger. Race relations between Black and White America are coming to a head; and soon, a loud crescendo will burst. This moment will be “The Moment,” and once it arrives, it will no longer be possible for individuals and organizations to remain silent and complicit bystanders regarding issues of social importance. There will be a painful clarity revealing where everyone stands; indeed, where everyone has stood all along.
And when The Moment comes, your firm may have a crisis, because it will no longer be socially acceptable to operate corporate America generally, and Biglaw firms specifically, as bastions of wealth that are playgrounds for certain types of people only.
Millennial and Gen Z generations differ from those who came before us.
We live our values loudly and let them seep into every aspect of our existence. Even financial analysts have cautioned that businesses must change their operations, because our generations focus on consumption and spending as an ethical concern, in a way that differs from our predecessors. It is not enough to simply post on social media that you care about the environment or #blacklivesmatter, because we conduct our due diligence. We are checking companies’ carbon footprints and looking at the photos of their executive leadership. And, if your firm is currently verbalizing a commitment to any sort of social or ethical value, you should have your proverbial “house in order,” lest we discover you have attempted to take advantage of critical social causes in order to seem “on-trend” and relevant to national discourse.
Remember, we are the generation that invented “cancel culture” (a phenomenon which capitalizes on social media to destroy a company or individual’s reputation in record speed). If a company does something that offends the senses of the majority, for better or worse, that company will likely “be canceled,” and we will stop any and all forms of support. It does not matter if your business has been wildly successful for decades, with cancel culture, no company is ever “too big to fail.”
Consider what happened to Starbucks in the past few weeks. Initially, on June 4th, Starbucks tweeted: “Black lives matter. We are committed to being a part of change.” But, in its next breath, the company advised employees not to wear any clothing echoing the same sentiment (citing such clothing as a violation of company policy). Uproar ensued, calls to boycott were made, and in a sudden change of heart, less than a week later, Starbucks announced it was distributing 250,000 Starbucks-branded t-shirts to its employees with slogans such as “Black Lives Matter” and “It’s not a moment, It’s a movement.” This is the power of Millennials and Gen Z. Organizations may continue to maintain racist, sexist, and overall “good ole boy” establishments, but we will not stand idly by and there will be consequences: diminished reputation and lower revenues.
I urge firm partners and leaders to be thoughtful in your approach as you respond to this current moment spotlighting the continued devaluation of Black lives in all areas of American society. Because when The Moment arrives (and rest assured, it will come), there will be a number of firms that have kept their commitments to racial equity. Indeed, I am well aware of a number of Biglaw firms that are making tireless efforts to identify structural problems and develop impactful solutions. But, there will also be firms that are revealed to have offered only empty platitudes. You will not want to be in the latter group, because we are watching. We are keeping tabs. And we will not forget. And when The Moment comes and it is socially unacceptable to lack decent representation of all people groups at your firm (in your partnership and at the helm of your firm leadership committees), you are going to flounder to find fresh minority talent.
The tide in America is flowing towards equality for all, and some of the more progressive states like California have already begun to provide a sample of what can be expected as the country continues to progress. For instance, as of December 31, 2019, public companies with principal executive offices in California are required to have at least one woman director on the company’s board. Additionally, earlier this year, Goldman Sachs announced that it will no longer take companies public if they do not have at least one woman or diverse board member. It is evident that America will continue moving forward; there is no other option.
To be clear, my comments today are not a message that everyone needs to hear. There are many leaders in Biglaw institutions who have been committed to the principles of diversity and equality, and in this current season, they are leaning in more than ever before. To these allies and supporters, I offer a heartfelt acknowledgement and thank you, and I look forward to continuing to partner with you as we all do the ongoing and necessary work.
However, to those whose ears may still be refusing to hear. Please, hear me plainly — you need to identify the institutional issues that exist within your law firm as an impediment to the full cultivation and promotion of Black legal talent, and then you need to fix them in a meaningful way. Failure to do so will be detrimental to the long-term viability of your firm’s reputation, and ultimately, its financial success. This is the real business case and how much time you have to get this right is still to be determined. But when The Moment comes, there will be no more room for apology statements and promises to do more moving forward. We are watching. We are keeping tabs. And we will not forget.
Lauren E. Skerrett is an associate attorney at a large, multinational firm. She graduated with a BA in philosophy from Washington and Lee University and obtained her JD from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, along with an LLM from Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (“Sciences Po”). All views expressed belong to her and should not be attributed to any organization with which she is affiliated. You can reach her by email at lauren.skerrett@gmail.com.