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Creating Pathways to Success Forall Creating Pathways to Success forAll Advancing and Retaining Women of Color in Today’s Law Firms May 2008 In partnership with co-sponsoring organizations: Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Hispanic Bar Association of DC, National Association of Women Lawyers, Howard University School of Law Advancing and Retaining Women of Color in Today’s Law Firms Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women May 2008 © 2008 The Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. All rights reserved. The Final Report of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women Diversity Summit: Creating Pathways to Success for All Lorelie S. Masters, WBA President Jenner & Block LLP WBA Board of Directors, 2007-2008 Jennifer Maree, President-Elect, Patton Boggs LLP Michelle Lynn Turner, Treasurer, Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP Jill Dash, Treasurer-Elect, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP Ferdose al-Taie, Secretary, U.S. Department of Justice Amy L. Bess, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP Barbara Burr, The Burr Law Firm Linda Bray Chanow, Project for Attorney Retention Sheila Slocum Hollis, Duane Morris LLP Holly E. Loiseau, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Consuela A. Pinto, Center for WorkLife Law Tracy-Gene G. Durkin, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC Reporters’ Committee Jamie R. Abrams, Chair, American Univ., Washington College of Law Lorelie S. Masters, WBA President, Jenner & Block LLP Linda Bray Chanow, Project for Attorney Retention Alexis J. Echols, Miller & Chevalier Chartered Rea J. Harrison, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. Heather L. Hodges, Crowell & Moring LLP Vanessa Martin, American Univ., Washington College of Law Debora Motyka, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Consuela A. Pinto, Center for WorkLife Law La Toya Sutton, Hogan & Hartson LLP To-Quyen T. Truong, Dow Lohnes PLLC Jennifer Wine, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP 2 Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia Acknowledgments WBA Initiative Task Force Ferdose al-Taie, U.S. Department of Justice Jennifer Maree, Patton Boggs LLP Brigida Benitez, WilmerHale Lorelie S. Masters, Jenner & Block LLP Linda Bray Chanow, Project for Attorney Retention Shaniek Maynard, U.S. Attorney’s Office Heather L. Hodges, Crowell & Moring LLP for the Southern District of Florida Jenny Kim, Miller & Chevalier Chartered Monica G. Parham, Crowell & Moring LLP Karen M. Lockwood, Howrey LLP Consuela A. Pinto, Center for WorkLife Law Holly E. Loiseau, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Women Attorneys of Color Advisory Board Vanita M. Banks, Allstate Insurance Company Linda L. Oliver, Hogan & Hartson LLP Paulette Brown, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP Dr. Arin N. Reeves, The Athens Group Carl G. Cooper, Law Firm Consultant Ramona E. Romero, E.I. du Pont de Nemours Melanie L. Harrington, American Institute for Managing & Company Diversity Mary L. Smith, Member, ABA Commission on Women Philip L. Harris, Jenner & Block LLP in the Profession Magda M. Herrera, Hispanic National Bar Association Grace E. Speights, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Linda M. Jackson, Venable LLP Julie A. Tassi, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP Suzanne Miklos, General Motors Corporation To-Quyen T. Truong, Dow Lohnes PLLC Vernã Myers, Vernã Myers Consulting Group LLC P. Alex Vasquez, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Individuals Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Jenner & Block LLP Saundra Brown-Savoy, Howard University, Former Melvin White, DC Bar President, and McDermott WBA President Will & Emery Danielle Do, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP John Kirk, Reliable Copy Alejandra Almonte, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Dean Kurt Schmoke, Howard University School of Law 3 Creating Pathways to Success for All Sponsors THE WBA SINCERELY APPRECIATES THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS Your Support Made This Work Possible Platinum Sponsors Howrey LLP Latham & Watkins LLP Jenner & Block LLP Patton Boggs LLP Networking Sponsor Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Gold Sponsors Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP Hunton & Williams LLP Covington & Burling LLP L.A.D. Reporting Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Fried Frank Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP Fulbright & Jaworski LLP WilmerHale Hogan & Hartson LLP Silver Sponsors Arnold & Porter LLP Jack H. Olender & Associates, P.C. Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. Jackson & Campbell PC Blank Rome LLP King & Spalding LLP Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP McDermott Will & Emery Chadbourne & Parke LLP Miller & Chevalier Chartered Cooley Godward Kronish LLP Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo LLC Crowell & Moring LLP Ropes & Gray LLP Dickstein Shapiro LLP Sidley Austin LLP Dow Lohnes PLLC Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP General Motors Corporation Venable LLP Huron Consulting Group Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Bronze Sponsors Igbanugo Partners Int’l Law Firm, PLLC McKee Nelson LLP Kelley Drye & Warren LLP Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC Leftwich & Ludaway LLC Thompson Hine LLP 4 Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia Table of Contents Letter from the President and Summit Program Chair . 1 Creating Pathways to Success for All Chapter 1: Summit Moves the Initiative Forward . 3 Chapter 2: Identifying the Challenges . 5 Achieving Inclusion is the Key to Retention Chapter 3: Recognizing Isolation and the Causes . 7 Collaborating for Success Chapter 4: We All Win When We Work Together . 13 The Solution Preempts the Conclusion Chapter 5: Action Items to Work Together for Change . 27 Appendices Appendix A: WBA Informal Web-Based Survey . 33 Appendix B: Select Bibliography . 34 Appendix C: List of Summit Speakers and Facilitators . 35 Appendix D: Endnotes . 36 Appendix E: Sponsor Recognition . 37 5 Creating Pathways to Success for All Letter from the WBA President and the Program Chair of the Summit on Women of Color If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! — Sojourner Truth This quotation, delivered in the Keynote Address of Michelle Cross Fenty, First Lady of the District of Columbia and an accomplished attorney, reminds us of both the power of the individual and the power of collaborative teamwork. The Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia (“WBA”) hopes to harness the synergy of both to create pathways to success for all through its Diversity Summit, Creating Pathways to Success for All (“Summit”), building on its Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women (“Initiative”). Our vision was to bring the legal community together, especially, but not exclusively, white women and women of color, to change the trend of dwindling numbers of women of color in law firms. Our challenge in implementing this vision was stark and daunting at the outset. The National Association of Law Placement (“NALP”) reports that, of law firms listed in NALP, just 10.07% of associates are minority women and just 1.65% of partners are minority women nationally. The statistics in Washington, DC, are only slightly better at 10.33% for minority associates and 2.11% for minority partners. The ABA Commission on Women’s study, Visible Invisibility, reported that less than 1% of minority women remained at law firms by their eighth year and that women of color had vastly different experiences at law firms than their male and white female counterparts. These statistics provided us with a starting point and a powerful call to action. 1 Taking the lead on such daunting challenges is a hallmark of our profession. As we have witnessed throughout history, in the struggle for suffrage and the civil rights movement, through collaboration, we all win. This leadership presents an opportunity for the profession to excel and reach new levels. When women of color succeed in law firms, law firms and our profession succeed. Inclusion, success, and excellence are inextricably intertwined. Inspired by this history of our profession and by pioneers such as Charlotte Ray — the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia and the first woman lawyer of color in the country — we responded to the call to action with a three-prong approach to exchange ideas and identify meaningful solutions and strategies. The approach included a web-based survey, a Summit, and this Report. The web-based survey generated data from more than 500 attorneys in the Washington, DC legal community. The day-long Summit, on March 19, 2008, at Howard University Law School, addressed key issues such as isolation, mentoring, skill development, and management structures. The Summit challenged lawyers, law firms, law schools, and bar associations to lead the profession and the nation on inclusion through productive dialogue and discussion. This Report summarizes the key findings of the web-based survey and the Summit, conveys resolutions and strategies, and expands the dialogue beyond the Summit participants. In implementing this approach, we learned that no one stakeholder or action item holds the answer; rather, it is through true collaboration that we can foster meaningful change. With this collaboration and the communication that inherently surrounds it will come a stronger sense of inclusion for women of color — a visible and meaningful presence in all aspects of client service and firm leadership. As Mahatma Ghandi, one of the foremost change agents of the 20th Century, said, “We must first be the change we wish to see in the world.” It is that spirit of change, action, and leadership that led the Summit,
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