Insights

We’ve been hearing from some law leaders who have been surprised to learn that not all the employees of their firms are on the same page about when in-office work can and should safely resume. While many partners are champing at the bit to get back to normal, others continue to face challenges at home that make “normal” impossible. A third cohort reports having found a new rhythm and efficiency in working from home and does not relish going back to normal.

Last week, we, like many of our clients, paused our external communications. In the early days of what has become a national and sustained movement for change, it felt essential to ensure that the most important voices — Black voices — were heard loud and clear without interference.

Internal communications went on, of course, and the best statements to employees directly acknowledged the systemic injustices in this...

Law firm marketing leaders typically play an important role in planning and organizing partnership and all-attorney meetings within mid-size and large firms. That’s because everyone in leadership understands that attorneys who develop new business need to be clear on the firm’s overall branding and messaging.

The same cannot be said, however, for employee town hall meetings, and that is a problem. While it’s true that administrative staff are less likely to be involved with...

Scholar and Sociologist Tsedale M. Melaku writes in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review that attorneys who are women and/or people of color continue to hear, in explicit and implicit ways, the message that they “don’t look like a lawyer.”

Melaku’s research and recent book, You Don’t Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered...