When it comes to developing diversity programs and getting results, these corporate law departments are among the cream of the crop.
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As American corporations continue to boost their competitive edge, those companies that have incorporated diversity initiatives have increasingly emerged as some of the leaders in overall productivity and employee satisfaction. By embracing the principles of diversity, these firms are cultivating the full potential of all their employees while developing a workforce that will mirror the emerging markets that are fueling economic growth into the future.
The leaders of corporate law departments understand that by doing a good job managing diversity, they can make their company better able to compete. Since great attorneys can choose where ever they want to work, if a corporate law department is going to attract the best candidates, it must be viewed as a great place to work. While implementing a solid diversity program can make a company a great place to work for all employees, some corporations have gone the extra mile to earn the status of "Employer of Choice." This year, Colgate-Palmolive, Pitney Bowes, Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly & Co. and Lucent Technologies have earned this distinction.
Just what does it mean to be the employer of choice? Simply said, the relentless competition for talent has heated up substantially throughout the 90's and continues unabated into the 2000's. Recruiting and retaining a diverse and talented workforce is no easy matter, and becoming an employer of choice, in part, comes down to developing recruitment and retention programs that work and become known within the profession.
Employers of Choice develop diversity measures that have greater depth than most corporations. The legal departments of these corporations have adopted systems and measures that make sure that their commitment to diversity translates into regularly reviewed results. In addition strong top-down commitment to diversity and aggressive recruitment, these corporations adopt innovative approaches like Eli Lilly's company-wide requirement to make sure that a list of the most qualified woman or minority candidates for the job is compiled and reviewed before the position is filled; Pitney Bowes' making diversity goals a part of senior managers' evaluation and compensation; or Abbott Laboratories' technique of threatening to replace recruiting firms that claimed they couldn't find a diverse slate of candidates for open positions.
By taking the core principles of diversity to the next level, the Employers of Choice are setting the standards America corporations will aspire to in a diverse world.
COLGATE-PALMOLIVE
Andrew D. Hendry, General Counsel and Senior Vice President
With more U.S. based companies deriving a significant amount of their revenue outside the country, having a diverse workforce is becoming as important as an effective marketing strategy. Colgate-Palmolive Co. saw the connection between globalization and diversity years ago.
The Colgate-Palmolive Co. legal team – Left to Right (Standing): Rosemary Nelson, Rosemary Miano, Andrea Bernard, Nina Huffman, Emily Zuckerman, Brigette McLeod, Michele Mayes, Nina Gillman, Elizabeth McQuillan. Left to Right (Seated): Jessica Glass Pollack, Katherine Hargrove Ramundo, Andrew D. Hendry, Alexandra Gerber, Mauricio Boscan, Anita Yeung.
The company's legal department is no exception. Out of 87 attorneys, both U.S. and internationally-based, 34 are minorities. Of the five direct reports to the company's general counsel and senior vice president, Andrew D. Hendry, two are African American women—Michele Mayes, vice president, deputy general counsel, international and corporate and Rosemary Nelson, vice president and division general counsel, Colgate-U.S. Hendry has put together an aggressive hiring and retention program and has built a diverse legal office.
"This is an excellent place to work," says Hendry, who became general counsel of Colgate-Palmolive in 1991. "The work is challenging and the promotion opportunities are good."
Hendry says he's made diversity part of his hiring goals. Achieving this goal is made easier by the fact that the company has a global presence and lawyers working in other countries, such as Latin America. "We have a natural pool of diverse candidates," he says. "In some instances, we have brought lawyers from Latin America to our New York headquarters to work."
For the most part, the lawyers who work at Colgate-Palmolive stay with the company. According to Hendry, the retention rate is approaching 100%. Part of the attraction is the work: Hendry makes sure the more interesting cases are kept in-house. "The only thing we send out routinely is litigation," says Hendry. Work is also sent to outside counsel if it is highly specialized.
Originally initiated in the early 1990s and updated last December, Hendry implemented career tracks that reflect more accurately the responsibilities and characteristics of lawyering. He created a technical and a managerial track and something called formal legal competencies to help lawyers advance.
The technical track is for those lawyers who are interested in advancement, but not necessarily aspiring to manage groups of lawyers. "It appeared to me that for many of our lawyers, their value and aptitudes can't be measured by how many people they actually have working for them," says Hendry. "An excellent merger and acquisition lawyer may only have an administrative assistant and a paralegal working for them, but control hundreds of millions of dollars for the company."
Formal legal competencies outline desirable behaviors for different positions within the department. In developing the competencies, he started with the assumption that everyone at Colgate was an excellent lawyer. "The competencies are to work on taking lawyers' talent and make it have an impact on the business of the company," explains Hendry. "Some people are intuitive and can figure out what it takes to advance. For others, if you don't spell it out, they don't see it." For instance, an attorney hoping to advance to senior attorney needs to show that he or she can handle matters with a modest amount of supervision. More independence and competence leads to a promotion to associate counsel. This approach came from looking at what some lawyers actually do and clarifying the criteria for advancement.
In reaching for that next step on the career ladder, Colgate has many resources available. Assistance is given to lawyers to help them identify goals and achieve them. "My cliché is that careers don't just happen," says Hendry. "They have to be planned." Training, personal coaches and classes are all part of the available resources. Colgate offers in-house business courses for lawyers who want to brush up on basic business skills. At least once a year, Hendry also gathers together his lawyers for internal training sessions. For example, Latin American Colgate lawyers might fly to New York and explain their country's marketplace and legal environment.
The general counsel, who received his J.D. from New York University Law School in 1972, has also implemented a Lotus Notes database so that Colgate lawyers throughout the world can communicate with each other. "The theory is that with 85 lawyers, we can consolidate all that energy and bring it to bear on certain problems and serve the company better," he says.
Hendry has also made sure that his outside law firms reflect Colgate's value on diversity. Hendry is a signatory to the pledge circulated by Charles Morgan, general counsel of BellSouth, stating to law firms that diversity is important and should be valued. Colgate has also signed the New York City pledge, which says that the signatory pledges to increase the retention and promotion of women lawyers .
A firm believer in giving back to the community, Hendry is also formally launching a pro bono program in January. Although the company's lawyers have consistently done pro bono work, their effort will be more organized. Networks have been forged with several New York City organizations that will channel cases to the company's lawyers. "We hope to do some of the pro bono work with our law firms," says Hendry.
Hendry is very involved in the community. He is the former chairman of the corporate advisory board and director of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. He recently received their award for outstanding service for providing legal services to the poor. He is a member of the Georgetown University Law Center Corporate Counsel Institute Advisory Board and the Steering Committee on Commerce and Industry of the New York State Bar Association. Prior to joining Colgate, he was general counsel at Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys). Before that, he joined Reynolds Metals Company as an attorney responsible for corporate securities and acquisition matters. He also served briefly as an assistant staff judge advocate in the United States Air Force. He began his law career in 1972 as a corporate lawyer at Battle & Fowler in New York City.
PITNEY BOWES
Sara Moss, Vice President and General Counsel
Early on, Pitney Bowes Inc. figured out that talent comes in diverse packages. From there, they took the significant step of putting the resources behind the insight. As a result, the Stamford, Connecticut based company has won a slew of awards for its efforts. Asian Enterprise magazine named it the "1999 Corporate Advocate of the Year"; the company was ranked among the Top 100 companies for Hispanics by Hispanic Magazine in 1999; in 1998 it was recognized by Minority MBA magazine as one of the 10 best Companies for Minority Managers; and in 1999, Fortune magazine selected Pitney Bowes as one of the 50 best companies for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians to work for.
Members of Pitney Bowes legal department: (seated) Amy Corn, Corporate Secretary and Senior Associate General Counsel; Robbie Narcisse, Deputy General Counsel – Corporate and Assistant Secretary; Sara Moss, Vice President and General Counsel; (standing) Michael Melton, Deputy General Counsel – Intellectual Property and Technology Law; Chris Hughes, Secretary and General Counsel Pitney Bowes Financial Services; Keith Williamson, President, Capital Services Division; Russell Hochman, Deputy General Counsel – International Legal and Government Relations.
This recognition is due, in part, to the fact that diversity is found at every level of the company. Two out of the company's 12 board of directors are minorities. Minorities make up 20.9% of officials and managers and 40.3% of the work force. In 1995, the company set a goal of spending $52 million with minority and women suppliers by 2000. In 1999, it surpassed that target.
The legal department is no different; of the 40 attorneys in the corporate legal department, intellectual property department, financial services, tax and employment, seven are minorities. Two of the six direct reports to Sara Moss, vice president and general counsel of Pitney Bowes since 1996, are minorities.
"The most strategic way for us to realize our business objectives is to leverage our unique and diverse workforce," says chairman and CEO Michael J. Critelli. "It is the talent and productivity of our people that will sustain our competitive leadership now and well into the 21st century." In 1996, the company embarked on a five year research project on the "Business Value of Diversity" with the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
In the 1980s, the company established separate women and minority resource groups that served as advisors to senior management. Today, each business unit has a Diversity Leadership Council, with a mission to set a vision and action plans with measurable objectives for reaching that goal. Each of the company's business units develop objectives against the company's overall diversity plan. Each year the general managers of the business units present action plans to the chairman and a year-end report detailing the progress of the units' initiatives and accomplishments. Putting teeth behind its diversity push, Pitney Bowes has made diversity a part of senior managers' evaluation and compensation.
To help spot and promote talented employees, Pitney Bowes devotes extensive resources to training and enhancing its employees skills. Every employee is evaluated on an annual or quarterly basis. Those who exhibit leadership potential are given appropriate training, such as executive coaching. Supervisors also watch for and groom their successors by providing additional training and management courses. The company runs its own four-week executive development program through Babson College in Babson, Massachusetts.
In the legal department, Moss evaluates each attorney and looks for ways to maximize their potential. She has sent several in-house lawyers to executive coaching and development sessions. One of her lawyers went to a one week business leadership program. At the end of the week, she had to make a presentation to the chairman and chief operating officer about a financial strategy for the facsimile division. "I was awed and impressed by her ability to work with a team and learn about an area outside her technical realm," says Moss. "My objective is not simply to hire diversely, but to develop the potential and careers of my high potential people and continue moving a diverse group of people up through the corporation."
Each attorney has a formal career plan. The lawyer fills out the plan, a manager adds to it and a meeting is held. It is then reviewed by Moss, the chairman of the company and a group of top executives. "It's quite comprehensive," says Moss.
Like the rest of the company, Moss doesn't just talk the talk. One of her former deputies, an African American male, Keith Williamson, recently was appointed the president of the business unit for capital services. One of her recent hires, Michael Melton, deputy general counsel responsible for the intellectual property department, is an African American male whom she met several years ago on a panel about intellectual property litigation. At the time, Melton was head of the patent department at MCI.
"Over the years, Sara kept in contact with Michael," explains Susan Johnson, Pitney Bowes director of diversity. "When there was an opening, she called him."
Moss also looks for opportunities to increase her use of minority outside counsel. One of her deputies is responsible for monitoring and implementing programs for choosing minority outside counsel.
Moss was also instrumental in having Pitney Bowes contribute to the Haywood Burns scholarship, which is designed to support minority law school students at CUNY Law School in New York City. Moss had personal reasons for getting her company to support the program. She clerked for Honorable Constance Baker Motley, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York and the first African American judge in the country. Haywood Burns was Motley's first law clerk who later became a law professor at CUNY who also did civil rights work. "He was a wonderful man," says Moss.
ABBOTT LABORATORIES
Jose M. de Lasa, Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel
When Jose M. de Lasa joined Abbott Laboratories in 1994 as general counsel, he had a long list of things he wanted to accomplish. Near the top was a concerted effort to increase diversity in the legal department.
Abbott Laboratories Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel Jose de Lasa
"When I arrived, we were behind the curve," says the Cuban born de Lasa. But under his direction, the department didn't stay that way for long. In February 1997, seven of the 52 attorneys were minorities. By 1998, there were 10 and by 1999 the number grew to 13, including four Asian Americans, four Hispanics and five African Americans. "You have to understand the passion with which I approach this issue," explains de Lasa. "I am a minority; and given my position, now, I'm able to open doors for others."
As with other companies that have made significant headway in promoting diversity, Abbott's top management is firmly behind the concept. In its August, 1999 issue, Fortune magazine included Abbott as one of the 50 best companies for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians to work for. Of the company's 25 top paid employees, four are minorities. The Chicago-based health care company runs what is considered the best summer internship program in science, engineering and business. In 1997, 40% of the 300 interns were minority students.
According to de Lasa, Corporate America is realizing that diversity makes good business sense. "We need to attract, retain and develop a diverse employee population that matches our customer base," says de Lasa. "Companies that are not on top of this are going to fall behind."
De Lasa has implemented a multi-layered strategy to increasing diversity in Abbott's legal department. His strategy involves recruiting minorities and creating a work environment where minorities have an equal opportunity to learn and advance.
In his effort to recruit more minority lawyers, de Lasa met with his direct reports and told them his goals. "I said I wanted to diversify the department and that I meant it—and that it meant something if they didn't do it," he says. To help with that effort, de Lasa and his senior attorneys instructed several search firms to find diverse candidates. Initially, some firms came back and said they couldn't find qualified minority attorneys. "We told those firms 'you failed,' " says de Lasa, "and sent them back to search further. That technique worked."
Hearing de Lasa's commitment to diversity, many in-house counsel began aggressively networking to recruit more minority attorneys. The local press wrote about de Lasa's efforts, which attracted more candidates.
Organizational changes de Lasa implemented have helped create an environment that motivates and retains attorneys. He flattened the organization so that most attorneys now report to someone who reports to de Lasa. Instead of a multitude of titles, now there are only two, counsel and senior counsel. "Lawyers are more accountable for their work," explains de Lasa. "That means there is more opportunity to be in the spotlight and in close contact with senior management." The general counsel also redesigned the department so that the more interesting legal work stays in-house and routine work is out-sourced "The in-house lawyer knows the client and company better than outside counsel," says de Lasa. "That means the in-house lawyer can work more efficiently."
De Lasa, who was associate general counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and an associate at the New York law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton prior to joining Abbott Laboratories, borrowed a law firm model in designing his promotional strategy. He created what he calls a senior staff group, which includes de Lasa and his direct reports. The group is the equivalent of an executive committee at a law firm and handles almost all administrative decisions, including retention, compensation, and promotion. Formally on an annual basis and informally throughout the year, the group considers an in-house attorney's aspirations to follow a particular career path, such as transforming from a litigator to an international lawyer or moving from the law department to the business side of the company. "By having a representative group from the whole department make these decisions," reasons de Lasa, "no one can allege that his or her supervisor isn't doing enough for them." As an additional safeguard, the company conducted an inclusion survey in 1998 to determine if employees thought the work atmosphere was comfortable and whether it was possible to develop sufficient skills to be promoted.
Recently, Abbott Laboratories became a signatory to the statement of principles circulated by Charles Morgan, general counsel at Bell South, which states that the signers will contact their outside counsel and inform them that they are interested in working with law firms that promote and maintain diversity. A portion of the in-house litigation team's bonuses is tied to to their efforts to promote diversity. "We've retained a number of law firms that are minority owned and when dealing with majority owned firms, we have singled out minority partners and asked to work with them," says de Lasa.
De Lasa has alwaysa been involved in community activities. He serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Children's Museum, the Resource Foundation, the Stovir Foundation and is on the advisory board of the Instituto Cervantes in Chicago. From early on in his legal career, he has been involved with legal services for the poor. While at Cleary Gottlieb, the Yale Law School graduate served for several months as a full time volunteer attorney in the Bronx office of New York Legal Services. He volunteers occasionally with Spanish speaking clients of the Waukegan, Illinois office of Prairie State Legal Services.
Eli Lilly & Co.
Rebecca O. Goss, Vice President and General Counsel
At Eli Lilly & Co., Rebecca O. Goss has excelled in her career and in putting together a strong diversity promotion program. "To compete in the pharmaceutical industry, we have to attract, retain and promote the best and the brightest, and that means seeking out people from diverse backgrounds," says Goss.
Members of the Eli Lilly & Co. Legal Division Executive Committee: Rebecca O. Goss, Senior Vice President and General Counsel; John C. Jenkins, Deputy General Counsel; Alecia DeCoudreaux, Secreatery and Deputy General Counsel; robert A. Armitage, Vice President and General Patent Counsel Lilly Research Laboratories; Arnold A. Pinkston, Deputy General CounselEli Lilly's Law Division is currently 130 lawyers strong, worldwide, half of whom are women and about 20% who are minorities. While it's nothing new for a company to hire minority attorneys, not many retain and promote them like Indiana based Eli Lilly has done. Goss' six member senior legal staff includes two minorities: the deputy general counsel and secretary is Alecia A. DeCoudreaux, an African American woman, and the deputy general counsel, pharmaceutical products is Arnold A. Pinkston, an African American male.
Eli Lilly's success has been keyed by committing extensive resources to the career development of each attorney, offering flexible work schedules and providing options to help employees balance family and work. Acknowledging that Indianapolis, the headquarters for the company, is not necessarily a place where many minorities dream of working, the company has gone to extra effort to help newcomers integrate into the community.
The company has a strong Performance Management program to ensure all employees receive feedback and training to improve their performance and heighten their chances of promotion. Every employee has an annual performance plan as well as a development plan in place. The development plan details what new skills the employee should learn over the next 1-2 years. Each employee also has a career plan to identify how the employee can increase his or her contribution to the company and improve personal job satisfaction over the long term.
Like many companies, Lilly has a regular talent review process, in which supervisors review employees in their division to identify potential leaders as part of succession planning. Lilly also has an Executive Mentoring Program which pairs future leaders with top executives in the company for one-on-one coaching and development.
Goss has added even more to the attorneys' understanding of their career development. Last year, the Law Division established an Attorney Career Progression Model. This system identifies the different career paths available to attorneys, the individual attorney's skill set and what that attorney needs to acquire to move to a particular career path. For example, an attorney can choose between becoming a legal generalist or a specialist. The model lays out the expectations, the skills, behaviors and responsibilities for both career paths. Other possible career paths available to Eli Lilly attorneys include managerial and supervisory roles. "The goal is to try and make everything as transparent as we can," says Goss. She also uses this new program to help make promotion decisions.
When it comes to making new hires, "The piece that has been most helpful is a company wide requirement that whenever we have a job to fill, we ask the question, 'who is the most qualified woman or minority?' " says Goss. "That doesn't mean that person automatically gets the job—they may be the most ready female or minority, but not the most qualified person overall—but, it forces us not to overlook people."
Goss believes Eli Lilly's generous benefits and compensation package is a draw to attracting and retaining talented employees. She argues it shows how much the company values its employees. "I'm always asked, what does Lilly do for families, and one of the things I point to is our superb compensation and benefits package."
The flexible work options Goss instituted also help staff accommodate work and family. The legal department has staff who share jobs by working part time. Several employees are also participating in a pilot project for telecommuting. In addition, the company's headquarters houses two on-site day care facilities. "Basically, my staff tells me what is needed to get the job done," says Goss. "If it makes sense and delivers the product, I don't much care how the work gets done."
The final resource that has helped attract and retain minority lawyers at Eli Lilly are efforts to help new employees integrate into the community. "We spend time finding out what people are looking for in a community," says Goss. "Then, we try to facilitate that. At Lilly, giving back to the community is very important." Goss practices what she preaches. She's a trustee of the Christian Theological Seminary, and a director of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Prevent Child Abuse, Indiana, Young Audiences of Indiana, and Union Planters Bank.
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES
Richard J. Rawson, Senior Vice President and General Counsel
As general counsel of New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies, Richard J. Rawson's fingerprints are all over the company's diversity efforts. For Rawson, promoting diversity in the legal profession goes hand in hand with his other job responsibilities. "It became clear to me early on that part of what came with the job was a wonderful opportunity to make a difference," he says. "In essence, I've been given a microphone, a spotlight and a bully-pulpit, and I've chosen to take advantage of it to promote diversity in the legal profession."
Richard J. Rawson, Lucent Technologies Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Lucent, which was formed in 1996 when it separated from AT&T, has a company policy of promoting and cultivating a diverse work force. The company allocates significant resources to developing its employees' careers and ensuring that its workforce reflects its diverse customer base.
To ensure a diverse flow of new attorneys into the profession, the legal department seeks placement firms that will provide a diverse slate of candidates; encourages referrals from their own diverse attorney population; and is developing an internal resume file of diverse candidates with the help of minority bar associations. The Lucent legal department has also developed a close relationship with local law schools, providing scholarships and summer intern positions to minority students.
By now, many companies have figured out that a diverse workforce makes good business sense. But the most innovative companies go much further. Lucent offers training and development programs to all its employees through its Learning and Performance Center. Employees can take classes in Leadership and Management Excellence, Business Acumen, Communication Technology, Desktop (PC) Productivity, Diversity and a number of other areas. In-house lawyers are encouraged to enroll in the courses provided internally as well as by the traditional legal educational suppliers. But Rawson also sends lawyers to executive education programs at places like Harvard or Northwestern each year to further deepen their understanding of business practices.
Every year, employees receive performance evaluations. Part of that appraisal includes an assessment of an employee's leadership skills and management potential. Executive coaching—training to cultivate those skills—is also offered.
The company also holds an annual company-wide global diversity conference. The purpose of this conference is to create a forum for discussion so the participants learn about each other and about specific tools and resources to support the role diversity plays in building a high-performance global enterprise. The conference features renowned speakers and presenters, both internal and external to the company, covering subjects from race relations in communities and business to discussions on global diversity and market success. Within the company, employees can belong to different employee groups, such as ABLE, the Alliance of Black Lucent Employees or HISPA, the Hispanic Alliance or WILL, Women in Leadership at Lucent, among others. These groups provide an opportunity for employees to network and support each other through mentoring, coaching and an annual Professional Development Conference. These groups play an important role in helping employees learn respect for differences—a key element for the company’s future success.
Rawson who earned his law degree from Rutgers (Newark) School of Law in 1977, has formed unique relationships with his alma mater and with Seton Hall Law School, both located in Newark. "We are one of the largest corporate law departments in the state of New Jersey," says Rawson. "I felt given our size, we had a responsibility to reach out to our local law schools and an opportunity to do some special things together." Shortly after becoming general counsel, he met with the deans of Rutgers and Seton Hall and Lucent set up a scholarship fund to support a group of minority or economically disadvantaged students. Each year Lucent’s law department funds a $25,000 grant to both law schools, for a total of $150,000 over the three years that the Lucent Scholars Program has been in existence. To date, eight students at the two schools have been granted scholarships. The scholarships are diversity outreach not a recruiting tool. "We don’t hire first year associates," says Rawson.
Rawson also set up a summer internship program focused on minority first year law students from the two schools. Over the course of the summer, the interns attend "lunch and learn" sessions, where law students can hear seasoned practitioners talk about tax, commercial business and transactions, technology, labor and mergers and acquisitions. At the end of the summer the interns receive a performance appraisal and provide feedback about the program to Rawson. In part, because of these efforts, in October 1999 the distinguished Alumnus Award from Rutgers and the Alliance of Black Lucent Employees honored Rawson for making a significant contribution in promoting diversity.
Rawson has taken his interest in promoting diversity to his top outside law firms. Building on the Statement of Principles initiative lead by Charles Morgan at BellSouth, Rawson wrote his eight primary law firms explaining Lucent’s strong interest in having its outside counsel support a diverse legal population and having minorities and women work on Lucent’s matters. Then going a step further, he personally met with each of the managing partners at the firms to talk about promoting diversity in the legal profession. "It’s been a very good dialogue. "We are learning from firms the things that work and those that don’t" he says. "Some are more effective than others and I’m sharing that learning with the other firms and using it in our own efforts."
From the March 2000 issue of Diversity & The Bar®