This blog has covered the Call to Action of Rick Palmore (See my post of March 26, 2006: Palmore letter.). A chapter in Laura Empson, ed., Managing The Modern Law Firm: New Challenges New Perspectives (Oxford Univ. Press 2007) at 47 (by David Wilkins) cites two earlier efforts aimed at the same end as well as several articles that describe them.
“[T]here were two other initiatives by corporate counsel designed to press law firms to hire and promote more minority lawyers: a letter from the general counsel of Ford Motors in 1987 that was endorsed by dozens of major corporations and the American Bar Association, and a letter in 1996 from the general counsel of Bell South that was eventually signed by over 350 companies.”
Wilkins describes the two earlier initiatives and summarizes their effect: “neither produced lasting change” (See my post of July 17, 2007: why hasn’t the Call to Action achieved more.).