Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession - The Business Case for Diversity: Reality or Wishful Thinking?

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The Business Case for Diversity: Reality or Wishful Thinking?

IILP along with the Association of Legal Administrators (“ALA”) launched the Business Case for Diversity Research Project to examine how the business case for diversity has thus far impacted the three primary stakeholders: corporate clients, law firms, and diverse partners. Over the course of five months, data was collected from the following:

52 corporations representing 10.4% of Fortune 500 corporations;
391 law firms representing 65.8% of law firms with 501+ lawyers and 39.8% of law firms with 251-500 lawyers on the National Law Journal’s list of 250 largest U.S. firms; and,
1,032 diverse partners.

The study found that while a business case for diversity exists, understanding what it means and what expectations flow from it differ dramatically from one group of stakeholders to the next.

Download the report.