When law firms avoid or sideline DEI programs, they implicitly say that they are okay with missing out on the diversity of experience and thought that fuels better decisions, stronger performance, and lasting relevance.
In short: Rejecting DEI means settling for less. This has been well-documented:
- McKinsey found a link between ethnic diversity and higher financial performance across all industries.
- A report from Cloverpop found that diverse teams make better decisions up to 87% of the time.
- Reuters reported that DEI helps law firms improve everything from their external reputation and business value to their internal stability and turnover rates.
DEI delivers measurable, wide-reaching benefits for law firms and the communities they serve. And it's worth embedding into the daily operations of your practice—not as a one-time initiative, but as a long-term strategy for growth and resilience.
This article will help you chart that path forward by finding a law firm DEI strategy that fits your current capabilities, while making space for future growth.
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What is law firm DEI?
DEI is an acronym for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Other similar terms (e.g., DIBE, DIBS, or IDEA) might be used by various organizations, but they all describe the same concept: A framework that aims to foster a workplace environment that is more representative, fair, and welcoming to individuals from historically underrepresented or marginalized groups. The opposite of DEI? Homogeneity, inequity, and exclusion.
Why DEI matters for your law firm
Diversity in a law firm means your team reflects a range of lived experiences—across race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, and identity, to name a few. It improves your ability to connect with a broader client base and offers critical insight into varied legal needs.
Equity is about ensuring access to your law firm for both employees and clients by eliminating barriers to participation. This could include your approach to promotions and raises, the ways you seek out new hires, or sliding-scale pricing for your clients.
Equitable policies allow everyone in your law firm to feel like they have an equal opportunity to engage with everything you have to offer, allowing employees to feel empowered and clients to access your services in whatever way works best for them.
Inclusion can be as simple as explicitly welcoming and encouraging people from diverse backgrounds to get involved with your law firm. You can also review and remove language or policies that could unintentionally make them feel unwelcome or unwanted.
Good examples of inclusive actions could be meaningfully celebrating (and broadcasting) your law firm's participation in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, Black History Month, and Pride, making it clear that your firm is willing to put in time and effort to embrace and acknowledge those communities.
Building your law firm DEI strategy
There is no single blueprint for building a DEI strategy for your law firm, since it can be shaped by unique factors in terms of your workforce, community, and shared values. But any approach must include consistency and collaboration to succeed and grow.
Consistency means DEI isn't seasonal—it's a firm-wide commitment to keeping these programs and changes going year-round, not just during specific moments or times of celebration and acknowledgment. Collaboration means it doesn't sit on one person's shoulders. Shared responsibility will allow your law firm to better recognize positive opportunities or identify moments of unintentional bias in your policies or methods.
By applying these two fundamental approaches to the core concepts of DEI, you could roll out changes that help your law firm reflect and serve a wider swath of people in your community, including employees and clients:
- Creating employee resource groups where underrepresented communities in your firm can support each other.
- Bringing a qualified expert to conduct bias training to educate and inform your whole firm, as recommended by Berkshire Associates.
- Researching up-to-date DEI policies for hiring as well as implementing methods to enforce those goals, as demonstrated by 8 Figure Firm.
- Starting a DEI Committee of empowered team members who spearhead and develop new initiatives (and have the time and resources to do so).
- Identifying local issues your team is passionate about and kicking off community engagement programs to help address them.
- Funding and launching sponsorship or scholarships programs to reduce financial barriers to entering the legal field.
When done right, DEI policies are like any other system that keeps people safe and workplaces running smoothly: You don't notice it when it's working properly, but it becomes very obvious when something has gone wrong.
What is the cost of overlooking diversity in law firms?
At its core, DEI is about getting as many different voices as possible into your law firm's decision-making process.
It's not just for the sake of a more diverse workforce or to increase your opportunities to better serve your clients. It's simply the best remedy for ignorance, in a practical sense. You don't know what you don't know. Having a team with a more diverse experience that can approach problems from a variety of perspectives means you are far less likely to be in the dark about new information or developments. In addition:
- A diverse team can bring innovative insights into emerging technologies and tools to use within your law firm.
- Diverse workers can recognize and solve problems for diverse clients more effectively.
- Diverse lawyers are less likely to be caught unaware of terms, phrases, or trends during briefs and court dates, simply because of their exposure to different aspects of their communities.
Embracing DEI is the difference between waiting for change and educating yourself ahead of the curve. But it's also easier said than done for many small and mid-sized law firms.
The challenges facing law firm DEI today
Building a meaningful law firm DEI strategy requires leadership commitment, cultural alignment, and an understanding of the real risks firms face when DEI is overlooked.
1. Laying the foundation for your DEI program
The biggest challenge most law firms face when considering DEI policies is getting them off the ground in the first place. Leadership buy-in is a critical component of any law firm DEI initiative. Without top-down support and enthusiasm, many DEI policies fail to enact or deliver the benefits and upsides that they otherwise could expect.
That's why the first step to enacting your law firm DEI program should be getting leadership firmly on board and locking in key responsibilities and commitments. By knowing the full range of the support and resources you have at your disposal, you'll be able to build a realistic blueprint, furthering your chances of keeping things consistent and collaborative from day one.
2. Losing clients—and revenue—without DEI
Firms without strong DEI policies risk losing out on both clients and revenue. Corporate clients—especially in tech, finance, and the public sector—now expect their legal partners to show meaningful diversity progress. Over 200 general counsel have pledged to reward firms that meet DEI benchmarks, and companies like HP and Microsoft tie legal spend to those goals.
Without DEI, firms may be passed over for high-value work. Internally, a lack of diversity can hurt performance. Research shows diverse firms often see stronger financial results, including up to $260,000 more in partner compensation thanks to the "diversity dividend." Broader perspectives lead to better decisions, innovation, and resilience.
3. Missing out on top talent
Younger legal professionals—particularly Gen Z and Millennials—are increasingly selective about their employers' values and culture. A Leopard Solutions and Major, Lindsey & Africa survey found that 87% of Gen Z lawyers consider DEI policies when it comes to choosing where to work. Nearly 80% expect firms to not only talk about values, such as inclusion and equity, but to act on them, especially when it comes to promotions and leadership development.
Similarly, a 2023 law firm culture survey by Legal.io found that over 70% of Millennial and Gen Z legal professionals prioritize working at firms with active DEI initiatives. These expectations are shaping how younger talent evaluates employers, and where they ultimately choose to build their careers.
Without a clear DEI framework, law firms risk losing high-potential candidates to competitors who actively promote equity, representation, and belonging.
That's why DEI isn't just a recruitment edge, it's a retention strategy.
Strategies you can use to advance DEI in law firms
When you collaborate with a wider team or DEI Committee you'll inevitably get a wide range of different ideas to consider for implementation. But to get you started, here are a handful of proven law firm DEI strategies to experiment with and tailor to the unique needs of your law firm and community.
1. Develop a DEI mission statement
A mission statement allows your whole law firm to get on the same page about your values, goals, and commitments. It also serves as an easy guidepost going forward by being a quick way to check if specific actions or plans are in line with your mission statement.
As outlined by Culture Ally, a good mission statement for law firm DEI should include the following:
- A clear and explicit commitment
- Multiple diverse initiatives that you're pursuing
- Acknowledgment and representation of the underrepresented
- Inclusive language
- Readable human tone (avoid jargon or legalese)
2. Measure and report your DEI initiative progress
Many DEI initiatives fall flat because they lack clear criteria for success. By collaborating and developing a system for measuring and reporting benchmarks and milestones ahead of launching your initiatives, you'll be able to track and tweak your programs as they roll out, rather than scramble to find meaningful data afterwards.
Like any other structure at your law firm, DEI initiatives should build toward trackable outcomes. Being able to see how new initiatives perform against those metrics will allow you to continuously improve them over time.
Here are a few examples of measurable DEI success indicators for law firms:
- Recruitment and retention: Are more candidates from underrepresented groups applying, joining, and staying at your firm? Are you creating a workplace where people from all backgrounds can thrive?
- Leadership representation: Who's moving into leadership roles? Tracking how diverse your partnership and management teams are helps identify growth areas—and celebrate milestones.
- Employee feedback: Inclusion can't be assumed—it has to be felt. Use engagement surveys to track how your team experiences belonging, psychological safety, and trust in leadership.
- Participation in DEI programs: Are people showing up? Whether it's affinity groups, mentorship programs, or workshops, consistent participation can signal a culture of shared commitment.
- Compensation equity: Run regular pay equity audits. If gaps exist between demographic groups, address them transparently and proactively.
- Community and client connections: Is your firm building stronger ties with diverse communities? Consider who you sponsor, partner with, or represent—and how those choices reflect your values.
3. Create a DEI policy template for your law firm
As no two firms will have the exact same needs for their workforce and communities, it's important to write down the specifics of your law firm DEI policy in one document that all parties approve and support.
Here's a DEI commitment template we've put together that you can use as a foundation for bringing your DEI policy to life: Download the template here.
Future-proofing your law firm
DEI policies aren't about reacting, but being proactive. By ensuring that your team is looking for, listening to, and seeking out new perspectives, you're investing in an environment that is far more likely to be prepared for what comes next and less likely to be stuck behind limited opinions, insights, or knowledge sources.
Law firm DEI is about giving your firm every option and opportunity you possibly can. And the best time to get started is now.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
