In search of diversity

A report on diversity at Dallas’ largest law firms was just released and the results aren’t that great. While the "Law Firm Diversity Report Dallas 2007" prepared by the Dallas Diversity Task Force notes some improvement at big Dallas firms, it also shows that 68.4 percent of the 19 largest firms in the city don’t have an African-American equity partner. The report was the main topic of discussion at a diversity roundtable at the Dallas Bar Association’s Belo Mansion today, where a panel primarily made up of corporate in-house lawyers had a warning for Dallas law firms: Hire diverse lawyers or we won’t hire you. “We haven’t told any of our outside counsel you better get your house in order or we’re taking your business away. But I think that’s where it’s headed,” said Robert L. Jones Jr., an in-house attorney for Fort Worth-based American Airlines. Jones litigates employment cases. And showing up in front of a diverse jury with two white outside counsel “won’t work for me,” he said. Wesley K. Young, general counsel of Debt Settlement America, told the audience the same thing: “If I’ve got a sexual harassment case, I want a woman. If I’ve got a racial discrimination case, I want a minority lawyer." Raquel Tamez, vice president and corporate counsel for Affiliated Computer Services Inc., said outside counsel sometimes show up with a “colorful group” of lawyers to win her business, but will assign her company’s case to a “traditional white male.” Her company has started to look at a law firm's diversity before hiring outside counsel. “We all know you have competent people in your law firms,” she told the audience. But “what does the firm look like, broader?”

-- John Council