“Show, don’t tell” is the Golden Rule of writing, and The Lawt follows the same principle for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
To demonstrate our commitment to prioritizing DEI in our recruiting strategies, The Lawt recently published a case study to offer a transparent, quantitative analysis of our work. Case studies hold The Lawt accountable to methodologies in recruiting that reduce implicit bias, tap into underrepresented talent pools, and keep us engaged in the humility and growth required to overcome systemic challenges in the legal industry.
Our measure of success is not in the number of diverse candidates we place, but in the efforts we make and strategies we develop to present diverse candidates to our clients. This is consistent with the Mansfield Rule, which aims to boost diversity in law firm leadership by broadening the pool of candidates considered for these opportunities.
DEI Case Study
Renewable Energy Company – Boulder, CO
Client contacted The Lawt (fka Legal Marketing and Staffing or LMS) for recruiting services to backfill its General Counsel role. In the original intake call for the position, The Lawt inquired about the client’s desire to prioritize diversity recruiting. Client fervently described its desire to make this role a diverse hire in the categories of racial and gender diversity (demographics underrepresented in company leadership).
Initial research: According to a 2019 U.S. Solar Industry Diversity Study published by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), 88 percent of senior executives and 73 percent of workers within the solar industry are white and 80 percent of senior solar executives are men. Further, the United States Census Bureau estimates that Boulder county is 89.5% white, compounding the difficulties of diversity recruiting for this position.
Challenges: Underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in the renewable energy industry and a hiring location significantly lacking in racial diversity.
Given these challenges, The Lawt proceeded with the following steps to garner diverse candidates:
- Opened the search to candidates located outside of Colorado who would be willing to relocate. Client supported this strategy and committed to offering relocation assistance.
- Sourced on HBCU graduates on LinkedIn Recruiter.
- Utilized our paid membership to the Leopard List for sourcing candidates with a high probability of diversity. The Leopard List is a proprietary legal database that aggregates data about law firms, corporations, and legal professionals to help recruiters strategically collaborate and source by industry, practice area, experience level, and other criteria.
- Posted the job description in Diversity Sourcing & Recruiting LinkedIn group.
- Searched for Women in STEM, Women GCs, Minority GC LinkedIn groups and received industry-specific recommendations from candidates to further expand the search.
Recommendations: After an initial round of sourcing produced gender-diverse candidates but limited results for racially diverse candidates, The Lawt recommended the following steps to expand the likelihood of identifying racially diverse candidates:
- Pursue candidates in tangential industries (energy but not green energy, environmental) to obtain leads through referrals or to tap into candidates who are branded in other practice areas but who may also have less syndicated green energy experience.
- Offer more remote days to expand the geographic area for local options to include a major metropolitan area (e.g., candidates from Denver vs Boulder). Client could not modify their remote work offerings.
Results: Of the 19 candidates The Lawt presented, 9 are from demographics underrepresented in client company’s leadership (47%). Client interviewed 6 of the 19 candidates presented (32%), and, of those 6, 3 are from underrepresented demographics (16% of the total presented, 50% of the total interviewed).
