Busting the Myth That Clients Are Driving Big Law Diversity

I wish I had a bitcoin—actually, let’s make that the good old nickel—every time someone told me that the business case for diversity in Big Law has been made.

You know the spiel: Corporate clients are demanding that major law firms do the right thing and step up their diversity game. And by charm or force, those clients are using their economic might to pressure staid white, male institutions into becoming bastions of diversity and inclusion. So woe to firms that are not getting the message.

The reality: Corporate customers are neither giving much of their precious business to underrepresented ...