Unconscious bias, exclusion from networks lead to dearth of minority law firm partners, prof says
Partners at some of the nation’s top law firms say they value diversity, but the pool of candidates is inadequate.
The real problems, according to Stanford law professor Deborah Rhode, are unconscious biases that lead to assumptions that minority lawyers are less competent and a lack of cross-racial relationships. Rhode, the author of a new book called The Trouble With Lawyers, spoke with the New York Times about her conclusions.
Fewer than 2 percent of law firm partners are black, and only 5.6 of those in leadership positions at law firms are lawyers of color, according to the National Association for Law Placement.
Jimmie McMillian, an African American partner at Barnes & Thornburgh, told the Times about his experience. When he joined the law firm, McMillian said, he had no experience with or exposure to corporate America.
“There were cultural barriers,” he said. “I had gone to majority-white schools, but I hung with the people I knew so I never had to develop close relationships with other groups. I quickly realized that in a law firm, your livelihood depends on more than just the work.”
McMillian learned that he had to develop relationships with people in the firm. Barnes & Thornburgh made the adjustment to law-firm life easier by providing mentoring and experience. McMillian also participated in a fellowship program for lawyers selected as promising leaders through a program of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
McMillian is one of nine African-American partners at Barnes & Thornburgh, which had only four black partners when he was hired in 2004.
