Diversity Initiative

Purpose

Open, Inclusive Columbus Attracts Minority Talent

"The word is getting out to law schools and law students across the country: open, inclusive Columbus is a great place to start your career. Committed action to recruit, retain and promote talented minority attorneys has made a profound difference in the opportunities available in Columbus."
--Columbus Managing Partners' Diversity Initiative

The Managing Partner's Diversity Initiative provides a working blueprint to help Columbus create a diverse community of lawyers. In the current 2006-2010 plan, action steps focus on four areas: retention, recruitment, law firm culture and infrastructure. Each participating organization agrees to write a diversity plan with measurable results based on best practices. A few examples of best practices are:

• Conduct "regretted loss" study of voluntary departures of employees the firm would have liked to retain, and take actions to reduce regretted losses.
• Create focused development plans for high-performing attorneys of color on partnership track;
• Measure and analyze the utilization of attorneys of color by designated clients.
• Develop marketing tools that highlight Columbus's diverse community of lawyers.

Public accountability is built into the project, as firms agree to survey the racial diversity of their employees each year and publish the results in a joint press release. The racial groups tallied in the survey are: African-American/Black, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Native American Indian, Hispanic, and White.

As the program's coordinator, the Columbus Bar Association seeks to actively partner with member law firms, bar associations, civic and business groups, and law school organizations. Law students especially are encouraged to participate in the larger legal community through bar association activities.

All organizations stand to benefit from investing in Columbus's diverse community of lawyers.