This week, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association announced a new Diversity Scorecard to evaluate performance at law firms. This new DEI Scorecard for law firms is unique because it’s based on 14 years of data from MCCA’s annual Law Firm Diversity Survey. In developing the Scorecard, MCCA also worked closely with law firms who want to measure & improve their own progress – as well as GCs who want to easily consider the hiring, retention & promotion of underrepresented lawyers in their staffing decisions. Here’s info on the methodology:
The Scorecard measures Categories, Elements, and Key Components. There are four categories: (1) Demographics, (2) Recruitment, (3) Attrition, and (4) Promotion relevant to each law firm’s DEI practices. Each category has three elements: (1) Profile, (2) Trends and (3) Key Components. … There are 26 components total.
It relies on data that categorizes lawyers according to gender, race/ethnicity (African American/Black, Alaska Native/Native American, Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, Multiracial, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and White/Caucasian), LGBTQ+ and disabilities as recognized under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The Scorecard presents results based on the size of the firm: 1) up to 50 lawyers; 2) 51-100 lawyers; 3) 101-250 lawyers; 4) 251-500 lawyers; and 5) more than 501 lawyers. Firms are compared to other firms of similar size and to the industry as a whole.
The MCCA page identifies all of the firms that participated – and the ones that scored well in each size category. It also includes FAQs and resources for improving representation at law firms. MCCA has also upgraded its Law Firm Diversity Database, which includes additional benchmarking info, graphs & tracking tools so that users can compare and gauge progress. To access the full Scorecard, you need to be a MCCA member or purchase it from MCCA.
