Crisis Preparation: The Important Work No One Wants to Do

November 4, 2019
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Most law firm leaders have given at least some thought to how they would respond when blindsided by a damaging news story, lawsuit or other event that brings unwanted attention to their firm. Unfortunately, too many of them engage in that reflection at 2 a.m. in a cold sweat, then go back to sleep and forget all about it.

Planning for a crisis costs time and money, and to the more superstitious among us it may feel like tempting fate. But time and again, organizations that are able to...

Do Your Lawyers Feel Comfortable Bringing Their Whole Selves to Work?

October 28, 2019
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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...

What Your Corporate Holiday Gifts Say About Your Firm

October 21, 2019
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We just put our beach umbrellas away, so it’s definitely too soon to talk about the holidays. But for the person at your firm who is responsible for ordering your corporate gifts, it's that time of year. Catalog season. Before they place the same order as last year, however, it might be time to reassess. 

In an era requiring firms to be much more mindful about markers of inclusion — such as how you describe office policies or who is depicted in stock images...

What’s the Secret to Effective Sponsorship Programs? Women in Power.

October 14, 2019
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DEI

When international law firm Dechert got serious about enacting new policies to help more women advance up the ladder, they focused on more equitable parental leave, addressing implicit bias and establishing a more robust sponsorship program, according to a recent American Lawyer piece.

This last initiative, the Sponsorship and Sustained Support program, has been...

Is the CEO Statement of Purpose Merely a PR Stunt? Does It Matter?

October 7, 2019
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By now everyone has heard about the statement that struck fear in the hearts of shareholders across the country.

On August 19, the Business Roundtable, a group representing the chief executives of 192 large companies, published an update to its definition of the purpose of the corporation. Since the 1980s, the business world has treated...