The percentage of legal departments striving to track and improve diversity internally and at their outside law firms is increasing only marginally, according to a new study. The Law Department Management Benchmarking Report by the Association of Corporate Counsel and Major Lindsey & Africa reveals that 32% of legal departments are now tracking internal diversity metrics. This is a slight increase from 28% in 2023 and 29% in 2022. The cautious approach to holding outside firms accountable for diversity underperformance reflects broader hesitancy in the industry.
“If the legal industry were truly advanced in DE&I, we wouldn’t see such minimal progress,” said Jean Lee, president of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. The incremental gains suggest that both internal and external efforts need reevaluation to achieve substantive improvements.