GOOD Guys is a program designed to break the impasse in women’s advancement by engaging people who have been missing from the conversation for too long – the GUYS! It is a model program designed for replication by member organizations. Acting in unison, we can make a bigger impact.
The National Conference of Women’s Bar Association’s (NCWBA) GOOD Guys Program was born out of a desire to take the message to the masses and engage all attorneys – men and women alike – to be one of the “GOOD Guys” in the fight for gender equity. “GOOD” stands for “Guys Overcoming Obstacles to Diversity,” and “GOOD Guys” include all people who are dedicated to seeing these efforts succeed. Progress in gender and racial diversity in the legal profession has stalled over the last decade. In 2006, the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) conducted its first annual survey regarding the retention and promotion of women in law firms, issuing the challenge to the legal community to “[i]ncrease the number of women equity partners, women chief legal officers, and women tenured law professors to at least 30 percent by 2015” (essentially doubling the numbers of that time). In 2015, NAWL issued a failing grade to the legal community, noting that “[f]irms have made no appreciable progress… [as]women still comprise only approximately 18 percent of equity partnership”; the picture is even bleaker for minorities, as women of color make up only 8 percent (or 1 in 25) of equity partners. Traditional diversity programs have failed, and things need to change. Research has repeatedly shown that the key to achieving diversity is to engage men, not blame them, and a number of efforts are based on this principle. We need a program that will bring together all attorneys to increase diversity in the legal community, and more importantly, we need a program that can be replicated across the country by organizations of all types and sizes. This is where the GOOD Guys Program comes in.
A programme of the National Conference of Women's Bar Associations brought to you by the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession.
