Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How a Law Firm Tracked Leadership Face Time and Fixed It
Transcript
- Lucas: So a few years ago, a mid-sized law firm in Chicago decided to actually track something most firms would rather not look at: who gets face time with senior partners. Luna: Face time as in being in the room when deals are discussed, not just the hours logged on a timesheet. Lucas: Exactly. The managing partner had noticed that when it came time to hand out the most career-making assignments, the same names kept coming up. And those names were disproportionately white and male. Luna: So they decided to audit themselves. What did the data show? Lucas: They tracked every meeting where a senior partner was present over a six-month period. Pitch meetings, strategy sessions, client dinners, even internal case reviews. They coded who attended, who spoke, and who got follow-up assignments. Lucas: The finding was stark: junior women and attorneys of color were present in only about 22 percent of partner-attended meetings. And when they were present, they spoke less than a third of the time. Luna: That's a pipeline problem in plain view. If you're not in the room, you're not building relationships, and you're not getting the work that leads to partnership. Lucas: Right. And the firm's leadership realized something uncomfortable: they weren't deliberately excluding anyone. But they were relying on habit and comfort. Partners invited people they already knew, people they'd worked with before, people who reminded them of themselves. Luna: So what did they change? Lucas: They implemented what they called a 'visible work rotation.' Every partner-led meeting now has a designated slot for a junior attorney who doesn't normally attend. The junior attorney isn't just sitting in—they're expected to prepare a two-minute update on a relevant case or piece of research. Luna: That's smart. It's not just about being present; it's about having a reason to be there and a structured way to contribute. Lucas: Exactly. The firm also changed how assignments are staffed. Instead of partners handpicking associates, they now have a weekly staffing meeting where a committee reviews all incoming work and matches it to junior attorneys based on skill and development need, not familiarity. Luna: I imagine that reduced the 'tap on the shoulder' bias significantly. Lucas: It did. Within eighteen months, the percentage of junior women and attorneys of color in partner-attended meetings went from 22 percent to just under 50 percent. And the assignments that resulted from those meetings became more evenly distributed. Luna: How did the partners react? I can imagine some of them pushing back, saying they know best who to staff on their cases. Lucas: There was pushback initially. A few partners argued that the system was adding bureaucracy. But the managing partner framed it as a retention issue: the firm was losing talented mid-level associates because they weren't getting the exposure needed to build a book of business. Luna: And the data made it hard to argue with. Lucas: Exactly. When you see that 78 percent of your high-visibility meetings have the same five people attending, you can't claim it's purely merit-based. So the partners eventually got on board, especially when they saw the quality of work from junior attorneys who finally got a shot. Luna: Was there any measurable impact on retention? Lucas: Yes. Over the two years after the changes, attrition among junior women dropped by 30 percent. Among attorneys of color, it dropped by 25 percent. The firm also saw an increase in the number of associates who said they felt they had a clear path to partnership. Luna: That's a pretty concrete return on a fairly simple structural change. Lucas: It is. And it's worth noting that the cost was minimal. No new software, no consultants. Just a shift in how meetings and assignments are organized. Luna: I think that's one of the most powerful lessons from this case: you don't always need a grand initiative. Sometimes you just need to look at the data and change a process. Lucas: Yeah. And this is exactly the kind of thing we talk about on this show. If you've found these career insights useful, and you want to help us keep the conversation going ad-free, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It genuinely helps us keep producing episodes like this one, and we really appreciate it. Lucas: Anyway, back to the firm. One other thing they did was redesign their pitch process. Instead of the same senior partners always leading client pitches, they started requiring that at least one diverse junior attorney be on every pitch team. Luna: That's a huge exposure opportunity. Pitching is where you learn how to sell work, which is essential for making partner. Lucas: Absolutely. And it also sends a signal to clients about the firm's commitment to diversity. Several clients actually commented positively on it. Luna: So the firm essentially turned a diversity initiative into a business development tool. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the kind of alignment that makes these changes sustainable. When partners see that diversity also helps win business, the motivation shifts from compliance to strategy. Luna: I think a lot of organizations could learn from this. The key seems to be identifying the specific bottleneck—in this case, access to face time—and then designing a simple intervention. Lucas: Right. Not trying to fix everything at once. Just one measurable, structural change that opens doors for people who were being left out. Luna: And the firm is now looking at other invisible biases. They're starting to audit who gets invited to social events, who gets tapped for internal committees, even who gets nominated for awards. Lucas: That's the next frontier: the informal networks that often matter as much as formal assignments. But the lesson from this case is that you can start with one thing, prove it works, and then expand. Luna: Yeah. It's a great example of using data to drive equity without needing a massive budget or a cultural revolution.