In the World of Big Law Dealmaking, Black Lawyers Are Scarce

When Jill Louis started her legal career in Dallas several decades ago, she would often find herself as the only Black dealmaker—and the only Black woman dealmaker—in the room.

“The lawyers would gather at a long conference table, and everyone—lawyers and clients—was a White man,” says Louis, a corporate lawyer, who is also now managing partner of Perkins Coie’s Dallas office.

“Then I would be asked a question that was not asked of anyone else in the room,” she said. “Where did you go to law school?”

“Harvard,” she’d reply. And negotiations moved on, said Louis.

Although there is little ...