Commission on Professionalism, Illinois Law Schools, Legal Organizations Elevate 1Ls from Historically Underrepresented Communities through Jumpstart

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is pleased to report that, for the first time, first-year law students from all nine Illinois law schools participated in Jumpstart, a pre-law school preparatory program designed to elevate first-generation law students and those from communities that are historically underrepresented in the legal profession.

Stepping up to Sponsorship

[…] program to others. Fortunately, there is not much debate on the value of mentoring for new lawyers. According to a 2013 National Association for Law Placement ( NALP) study, The State of Mentoring in the Legal Profession, nearly 90% of all law firms surveyed offered some form of mentoring programs. For firms of more […]

Five Steps to Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Your Organization

Last month, I spoke about increasing diversity and inclusion at the NALP Annual Education conference. My co-presenters and I discussed recruiting and retaining millennials of color. The hypothetical scenario we used was Marcus, a third year black law student, and Jim, the white male managing partner at a fictional international law firm called Walker Cross. After […]

GCs Demand Law Firm Diversity

[…] to diversity or they’ll take their business elsewhere. The open letter comes on the heels of dismal law firm diversity numbers from the National Association for Law Placement ( NALP) and an online debate sparked by Paul Weiss’ all-white and majority male partner class. Paul Weiss has since outlined steps to improve diversity. The letter, which […]

Implicit Bias: Cloaked in Color-Blind Clothing

[…] internalized and unconsciously impact our daily decisions. Implicit bias likely fuels the continued underrepresentation of minorities in the legal profession. The National Association for Law Placement ( NALP) reports in its April 2018 bulletin that 81.3 percent of equity partners are men, 18.7 percent are women, and 6.1 percent are minority men and women […]