Raising the Bar: Diversifying Big Law

by Debo Adegbile, Lisa Davis, Damaris Hernández, Ted Wells, Anthony C. Thompson (Editor)

Overview

A first-of-its-kind book of honest reflections, straight talk, and essential advice about life at big law firms for people of color

What do young people of color aspiring to careers in the law need to know about life at big law firms? What do law schools need to do to prepare them? What do the firms themselves need to do to attract, retain, and promote them?

In Raising the Bar, four partners of color from leading law firms engage in a no-holds-barred conversation about what it takes to make it in big law using their own journeys to the top to discuss how law firms can do a better job of attracting and holding on to a more diverse set of young attorneys.

They also offer advice to the attorneys themselves on how to succeed in a culture that has long excluded them, including finding mentors among those who don't look like you, building a portable toolkit of skills, establishing key connections outside the firm, and staying "true to you," even as young associates of color navigate the foreign terrain of insular firm culture.

The book also includes a section of concrete advice from diversity coordinators at several top law firms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620974964
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	08/06/2019
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Debo P. Adegbile is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and co-chair of the firm's Anti-Discrimination Practice. He lives in New York.
Lisa Davis is a partner in the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. She lives in New York.
Damaris Hernández is the first Latina partner in Cravath, Swaine & Moore's litigation department. She lives in New York.
Ted Wells is a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and co-chair of the firm's litigation department. He lives in New York.
Anthony C. Thompson is a professor and faculty director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at New York UniversitySchool of Law. He is the author of Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities and Dangerous Leaders, and a co-author, with Sherrilyn Ifill, Loretta Lynch, and Bryan Stevenson, of A Perilous Path. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Race, Inequality, and the Legal Profession: A Public Conversation on Private Practice 19

Advice from the Experts: A Roundtable Discussion with Diversity Professionals 93

The Playbook: What Law Firms and Law Schools Need to Consider When Thinking About Diversity in the Legal Profession (And an Important Read for Law Students Interested in Law Firms as Well!) 161

Acknowledgments 191