Xerox’s legal department is worth copying. The company is far ahead of the curve with regard to diversity.
In July 2009, former CEO Anne Mulcahy passed the reins to Ursula M. Burns, president of the company — the first time a female chief executive has replaced another female chief executive at a Fortune 500 company. In addition, Ms. Burns is the first African American woman to run a Fortune 500 company, which reported revenue of $17.6 billion in 2008, and recently announced the $6.4 billion acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, an outsourcing services company.
“Diversity is not just a goal at Xerox; it is not just a ‘nice thing to do.’ It is our entire DNA; it is who we are, what we are about,” explains Don Liu, Xerox’s general counsel. “We have been focused on diversity for much longer than other companies. It is a core business priority.” The metrics support Liu’s assertion. Of the U.S. attorneys in Xerox’s law department, 25% are minorities and 40% are women.
The success at instilling diversity within Xerox allows Liu to concentrate his diversity efforts on the law firms that serve his company. “One of the things I have done since arriving here is to look at the diversity of the law firms that we use,” he shares. “We use the ‘carrot’ a lot, but if the carrot doesn’t work, we might have to take our business elsewhere.”
Liu is skeptical of internal mentoring programs. “We do not have a formal legal mentoring program within the law department. That isn’t saying we don’t have mentors. Every good manager should be a mentor to his or her employees.” In addition to challenging his staff to invest in one another’s professional development, Liu believes in the importance of helping diverse law students find their way, and he has served as a mentor to countless young lawyers and students.
In fact, Xerox was the first corporate law department to “adopt” MCCA’s KAN–Do! mentoring program. The Web–based program allows mentees to connect with outstanding lawyers across the country, regardless of the firm or company for which they work. It is one way that the talented members of Liu’s staff at Xerox are giving back to help others.
The progress of diverse attorneys is promising, Liu foresees. “Back in 1999, I was the only general counsel who was Asian American,” he reflects. “Ten years later, we have ten times that number. What if we continue that trend? Now, the math doesn’t work that way, but it is clear we are making progress. If we see a four– or five–fold improvement in the next ten years, that will be a phenomenal accomplishment. I would be very happy with that result.”
Liu wants Xerox’s success to continue. “The emphasis in the corporate world seems to be on the word ‘How,’ He observes. “We aren’t interested in talking about how we do things. We want results and we have results. What we have now is working.
“My goal here is not to screw it up,” he humbly jokes. In Liu’s case, that’s highly unlikely, given that he is the only general counsel to be presented MCCA’s coveted Employer of Choice award twice (first as general counsel of IKON Office Solutions). DB
From the November/December 2009 issue of Diversity & The Bar®