Diversity — A Business Necessity and a Source of Strength

 
A Q&A with Brad Smith, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Microsoft and M. Elaine Johnston, Partner, White & Case
September 7, 2007

Many large corporations feel that having a diverse workforce is a prerequisite for doing business on a global level. This surge has driven law firms to bolster their diversity initiatives and find ways to ensure the recruitment, retention and promotion of a diverse work force.

In the following Q&A, Brad Smith, General Counsel at White & Case client Microsoft, and M. Elaine Johnston, Chair of the Diversity Committee at White & Case, share their insights about the importance of diversity, particularly as it impacts the client-law firm relationship. Click here to learn more about White & Case's commitment to diversity.

Q. What is the importance of diversity to Microsoft?

Smith: Diversity is something we treat as a business necessity. We have employees and subsidiaries in more than a hundred countries. To better understand our customers, we need to be like the world in terms of the nationalities that make up our company, and have a strong balance of men and women of different races, religions and ethnic backgrounds. At Microsoft, we don't feel that we can truly succeed as a company unless we are as diverse as the world we serve.

Q. How important is it to you that a law firm be diverse as well?

Smith: Particularly over the course of the last five or ten years, diversity has become quite important to us and to the corporate community, for a couple of reasons. As clients, we look at law firms as extensions of ourselves; we are partners together. So, if our company is diverse, but the law firms with whom we work are not, then we're really not as diverse as we ought to be. Second, we recognize that if we are going to become more diverse over time, it will ultimately be because we are going to hire great people who represent diverse communities. Quite frankly, we expect law firms to expose us to great people who, in some cases, we hope, will come work for us directly in the years ahead.

Q. What does diversity mean at a global law firm?

Johnston: Diversity encompasses many different, though related, issues. If you were to ask every lawyer in our firm what diversity means to them, I suspect that you would hear a wide variety of answers. Diversity means that the lawyers at our firm should reflect the world we live in and the clients we work for. Diversity means building an environment where every lawyer can feel comfortable. Diversity means giving each lawyer the same opportunities to succeed. Diversity means avoiding subtle inequities that over time can hinder some people from fulfilling their potential. We found it helpful to develop a diversity mission statement because it establishes a common ground, reinforces the values our firm places on diversity, and directs our initiatives towards a clear goal.

Q. How did Microsoft achieve diversity?

Smith: It's been a long process, and it's never over. It takes years of work to develop a reputation for being a good place to work. One of the most important keys to this success is attracting diverse people who, in turn, go out and spread the word that your firm is a great place to work. It is something that you need to keep doing, otherwise you will slide backwards, especially in a world where other companies and competitors are valuing diversity and working to get ahead of you and recruit great diverse people away from you. You can not take things for granted.

Q. What steps has White & Case taken to ensure diversity?

Johnston: We incorporate our diversity efforts and monitor our initiatives at every level — recruiting, training, retention and promotion. We hired a full-time Manager of Diversity Programs, Maxine Williams, who spearheads our diversity events and programs and organizes outreach plans for various diversity initiatives at law schools and legal associations. Maxine has carried out a detailed analysis of the diversity of our lawyers globally that will enable us to monitor the success of our initiatives going forward. We also have a New York Diversity Committee that works in tandem with our Women's Initiative Committee, and supports Maxine with various initiatives. Over the last year, we have established a number of affinity groups for our lawyers. These grew out of a self-identification survey with open-ended questions that enabled our lawyers to select the diverse groups that they affiliate with most. Using the information gathered from the survey, we established affinity groups to create targeted programs specific to each group's needs and professional development.

Q. What approach do you take with recruiting?

Johnston: As part of our recruiting efforts, we have found it beneficial to form "relationship teams," comprised of partners and associates, for each core law school. We are now involving those teams in our diversity initiatives. Maxine interacts with these teams and with our attorney recruiting department to monitor the steps we are taking to proactively reach out to minority students at each of these schools. We are also involving our affinity groups in outreach efforts to minority students who are interviewing with the firm.

Q. Have law firms lost your business for lack of diversity?

Smith: We give feedback to law firms on an ongoing basis. When we found a lack of diversity, we addressed it with the client, and the good news is that those firms took remedial action before it ever got to the point of us terminating the relationship. I don't believe that any law firm today can be top-of-class in the United States or the world without taking diversity to heart. It is, in my opinion, as much a business imperative for any truly great law firm as it is for a company that aspires to be truly great.

Q. How do you think White & Case can distinguish itself from its competitors with respect to diversity?

Johnston: The real key is not what we say about diversity, but rather what we actually do. In addition to being one of the few firms to hire a full time diversity professional, we approach the issue through both the implementation of standard best practices as well as through creative approaches. We regularly monitor the workload and progress of our diverse lawyers to ensure they are given the types of projects and opportunities to excel in their careers. We are establishing a minority attorney initiative, similar to what we have done with our women's initiative, where we will bring our minority attorneys together (partners, counsel and associates) to brainstorm with them regarding the issues they face as lawyers and how the firm can ensure a supportive work environment where they can succeed. We have an innovative Diversity speaker series that enables lawyers from different practice areas and backgrounds to meet and share ideas with renowned individuals in a variety of fields, fostering tolerant and adaptable thinkers who can make enhanced contributions to clients' matters and to issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Q. In your relationship with White & Case, what do you see as some of the firm's strengths?

Smith: We are a large department ourselves; about 350 lawyers distributed around the world. What I love about the team at White & Case is they adapt so well to a teamwork environment, even when the group is made up of people who come from many different backgrounds. They strike the right balance of standing up for what they believe is right for the client and telling us what we need to hear, and ultimately making that harmoniously come together with everyone's ideas working together in a spirit of genuine teamwork. It makes a huge difference.