Reflections
As MCCA® celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, the milestone prompts reflection on our past accomplishments as well as our challenges in the future.
As the Board of Directors and I lead this association into its second decade, we find ourselves examining what has changed over the past 10 years. How will we position this association to make a greater impact, better serve our stakeholders, prompt more corporations and law firms to set diversity as a top priority, and stimulate action consistent with that priority? At MCCA, we don’t believe that we have all the answers. We know that it will take the ideas and efforts of many—as demonstrated by the people who contributed their views and stories to this issue of Diversity & the Bar®—for the legal profession to reflect the diversity of the communities it serves.
In this issue, we focus on law firms and the diversity efforts that impact them. Our cover story features the decision of one outstanding corporation that its interests would be well-served by choosing a team of minority-owned law firms to handle a significant corporate transaction. We also spotlight a groundbreaking ABA report on the experiences of women of color who work in large law firms, and we analyze the results of the annual survey of law firm diversity that MCCA publishes with Vault, Inc. We also look at what attributes distinguish a superstar attorney from the pack; not surprisingly, law school rank and academic pedigree didn’t make the list.
We hope these articles prompt a dialogue within law firms about the choices they will make, and the resources they will dedicate, toward increasing the diversity of their ranks at all levels—from incoming associates to the senior partners that run their institutions. DB
Veta T. Richardson
From the March/April 2007 issue of Diversity & The Bar®