#33 The Legal Profession This Week - Diversity Matters - But Only in Front of Clients?​


By Dheepa M​

Diversity Matters - but only in front of clients?

A recent investigation at Law.com has revealed that tokenism is widespread at many U.K. law firms. Many BAME lawyers report their images and presence being used at client pitches and on firm promotional material to create the impression of diversity at their firms. One source recounts that her name was placed on a client pitch despite not even being involved in that area of work. Other lawyers note that they were contacted to be on pitches where the general counsel (GC) was someone of the same skin colour or ethnicity.

Tokenism leads to stereotyping or associating lawyers of certain ethnicities with certain kinds of work. For example, one lawyer told Law.com that she was only placed on a matter because the work involved a region of the world that she had clear ties to.

While those law firms are clearly at fault for this practice, clients could also be to blame. This past year, many leading corporate names have pushed a diversity focus for their legal panels (BT, Vodafone and Novartis to name a few). However, GCs must actually look beyond the numbers presented to them and at the actual lawyers working on their matters. Otherwise bold statements about diversity in legal panels will remain just as performative as the law firms they hire.

‘Business as usual’ – the notable deals and cases which went ahead this week:

Allen & Overy (A&O) and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Skadden) are advising on DoorDash’s takeover of Wolt. Both companies operate in the takeout and food delivery space in the US and Finland respectively. A&O is advising DoorDash while Skadden is acting for Wolt (Law.com)

Kirkland & Ellis and Dentons are advising private equity firm KKR on its $15bn joint acquisition with Global infrastructure Partners of CyrusOne, a publicly listed data centre operator based in Texas. CyrusOne is being advised by Eversheds Sutherland while Paul Weiss is acting for Global infrastructure Partners (The Lawyer).