2019 Cleveland Inclusion Summit

MCCA partnered with Microsoft in 2018 to launch our Inclusive Leader Program (“Program”). Our Inclusive Leader Program consists of three components: (i) an inclusion index survey developed by Russell Reynolds Associates to measure and benchmark our profession; (ii) an inclusive leader training and best practices to create awareness; and (iii) inclusion summits with other members to share best practices and strategies to create an inclusive workplace leveraging our research. We launched the Program to address the growing need for diverse and inclusive leaders to disrupt homogeneity in legal leadership.

To accrue the dividends that diversity and inclusion (“D&I”) has the potential to produce, bold and inclusive leadership is required both on an individual and a systemic, organization-wide level. Diversity by itself is not enough. An organization with a reputation for inclusiveness becomes a magnet, attracting top diverse talent; in turn, that talent can better tap markets’ potential, whether in emerging economies or among a broader set of consumers.

The Cleveland Inclusion Summit (“Summit”) is a continuation of our 2018 Program and in partnership with Eaton. The Summit will focus on workplace culture and the challenges of creating a culture of inclusion. For decades, the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession (“the Commission”) and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (“MCCA”) have worked tirelessly to combat gender and racial bias in the legal profession. Nonetheless, statistics on women’s advancement have not changed appreciably over the years. In 2016, the Commission and MCCA partnered with the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law to conduct research to understand further law firm and in-house lawyers’ experiences of bias in the workplace. This new research, Bias Interrupters: You Can’t Change What You Can’t See, confirms that many of the traditional diversity & inclusion tools we have relied upon over the years have been ineffective, and the findings have served as the foundation in developing the next generation of diversity & inclusion strategies.

The Summit will share the challenges of creating a culture of inclusion and the strategies leaders have employed. Specifically, the half-day Inclusion Summit will be structured with a panel of general counsel; advice from a #metoo expert on some dos and don’ts; share the findings and review the tactical tools outlined in the report; and a discussion on how individuals can act as organizational change agents to implement real solutions utilizing those tools to create systemic accountability and benchmark progress.

Event Agenda