—   Arab American History Month   —

April 3, 2024

On the Need for Equity in America

Celebrating Arab American Resilience and Diversity

ARAB AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH   Here are 10 suggested DEI activities and best practices for celebrating National Arab American Heritage Month this April.  Arab America Foundation

Law Firms Boost Diversity Defenses After Backlash

DEI SUPPORT   2018 Fellow Nikia Gray, NALP Executive Director — as well as LCLD Diversity Pros Yusuf Zakir of DWT, Alexis Robertson of Foley & Lardner, and Virginia Essandoh of Ballard Spahr — respond to recent shifts in Big Law’s DEI strategies.  Bloomberg Law

The Colorblind Campaign to Undo Civil Rights Progress

DEI SUPPORT   Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The 1619 Project, argues that anti-DEI groups have “co-opted both the rhetoric of colorblindness and the legal legacy of Black activism not to advance racial progress, but to stall it. Or worse, reverse it.”  The New York Times Magazine

DEI Support & Strategy

Using AI to Improve DEI Outcomes in the Workplace

DEI STRATEGY   Faegre Drinker partner Erika Collins suggests several opportunities for AI to support DEI goals and initiatives, from accessibility to bias detection.  New York Law Journal

5 Tips for Law Firms to Incorporate DEI Best Practices in 2024

DEI STRATEGY   These five tips each include a set of action steps to help your firm apply a data-substantiated approach to enhancing DEI.  ABA Journal

Diverse Teams Thrive with Four Elements of Belonging

SYSTEMS & PROCESSES   Organizational psychology professor Ludmila N. Praslova explains how to better support neurodiverse employees and the myriad benefits of developing systems that are “deeply and holistically inclusive — in ways that people can experience and sense with their entire being.”  MIT Sloan Management Review

What Demographics Forms Say About Inclusivity at Your Company

SYSTEMS & PROCESSES   Recent research shows how identity omission can have major implications for members of minority groups. Here are two low-risk, low-cost suggestions for boosting language inclusivity at your organization.  Harvard Business Review

Podcast | Promoting ‘Comfortable Diversity’ Can Impact Firms’ Bottom Lines

INCLUSIVE CULTURE   “A business only benefits from diversity when people are comfortable in that environment... so that the company can develop and maximize all the talent there,” said lawyer Chanel T. Rowe of Johnson & Johnson. “And that’s when things really start to impact your bottom line.”  Corporate Counsel Legal Speak Podcast

LCLD Leads on DEI

How Amazon’s Legal Team Has Built a Global Pro Bono Program

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS   “One of the most inspiring things about our program is the way that we’ve been able to export it around the world, and it looks different in different parts of the world,” said David Zapolsky, GC of Amazon.  Legal Dive

Anti-DEI Advocacy Groups Have a New Target: Minority-Focused Grant Programs

DEI STRATEGY   2020 Pathfinder Marcus Childress of Jenner & Block co-authored a guest column examining recent anti-DEI efforts from higher education to corporate diversity — and what to expect next.  Daily Journal

America’s Top 200 Lawyers 2024

INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP   Yvette Ostolaza of Sidley Austin was profiled in Forbes as one of this year’s top lawyers. Other LCLD Members recognized include David Boies and Sigrid McCawley of Boies Schiller Flexner, Michele Connell of Squire Patton Boggs, Doug Gibson of Covington & Burling, Adam Hakki of Shearman & Sterling, Deborah Read of Thompson Hine, William Savitt of Wachtell, and Jennifer Selendy of Selendy Gay.  Forbes

Top 10 Companies for Diversity & Inclusion

INCLUSIVE CULTURE   Accenture, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, Mastercard, and Procter & Gamble were recognized for their leadership in DEI.  Corporate Counsel

Leading for Tomorrow

General Counsel Who Don’t Embrace Artificial Intelligence Will Eventually Be Replaced

SYSTEMS & PROCESSES   Two Major, Lindsey & Africa directors detail the tangible benefits of generative AI for in-house teams and how GCs can balance the risks and rewards associated with this rapidly developing technology.  Legal Tech News

The ABCs of Leadership: A Simple but Powerful Roadmap

INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP   Cut through the noise of leadership advice with these 26 core qualities, from A to Z.  Inc. Magazine

for LCLD Members & Diversity Professionals

APRIL 16 @ 1:00 PM ET  |  LCLD Members & Diversity Professionals  |  virtual

Leaders at the Front: Better Than Before (Part 2)

This customized, interactive, two-part webinar series will explore the evolving legal landscape for workplace DEI initiatives.

We invite LCLD Members and their DEI advisors to join Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law, and David Glasgow, Executive Director of the NYU Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, for the second of two sessions.

APRIL 17 @ 2:00 PM ET  |  Diversity Professionals  |  virtual

Diversity Professionals’ Virtual Meeting: April 2024

Join LCLD staff and your fellow Diversity Professionals for our second meeting of the year.

We’ll cover updates about 2024 LCLD programs and initiatives, as well as answer any questions you may have.

Stay connected with us!