Law Department Management Blog
Morgan Stanley’s legal department promotes diversity in many ways. According to Sutherland Asbill & Brennan’s Partnering Perspectives, Winter 2010 at 17, the department (1) runs a summer intern program for first-year law students, (2) assists youth from underserved communities, (3) sponsors a South African attorney to comes to the US for six months and work in the department, (4) hosts forums on women’s issues, (5) provides mentors for diverse attorneys, (6) runs panels on diversity with its law firms and (7) collects diversity data by a survey of its top 50 firms based on billings. All this from its 45-member diversity committee.
As to asking law firms to provide data on diversity, I have written about several other law departments that have done so (See my post of April 4, 2006: GE collects diversity metrics from its law firms; Dec. 8, 2006: DuPont survey of its 38 PLFs; Jan. 14, 2007: diversity survey by Accenture’s law department; July 25, 2007 #3: possible issues with collection of diversity data through department’s e-billing system; Dec. 5, 2008: evaluations of law firms on diversity as good, adequate, or poor; July 4, 2009: shared and free database of law firm diversity data; July 13, 2009: Williams Co. ranks its law firms; and Dec. 7, 2009: diversity survey by Coca-Cola of its firms.).