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The Current Law Firm Pyramid Model

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The current law firm pyramid model where there are far more associate than partners only exacerbates this problem. This scarcity of mentorship has a disproportionate impact on minority associates. The inability to find mentorship or desire to demonstrate that they are worthy to be mentored manifests itself in attitudes and behaviors that are detrimental both to the diverse associate and the productivity of the firm. As articulated by a law firm diversity officer:
If you go to a law firm that does not have a strong mentoring program and you are not totally self-sufficient, you may be in trouble within two years. Oftentimes you are in trouble within two years and you do not even know it. Mentoring is the ability to give both developmental …show more content…

Twenty-percent of diverse associates reported receiving no constructive feedback on assignments and only fifty-four percent of large firms train supervising attorneys on how to evaluate associates . The result of receiving no regular feedback on assignments coupled with formal evaluations given by lawyers with no formal training in evaluating is dissatisfied diverse associates. Thirty-one percent of women of color, twenty-five percent of white women and twenty-one percent of men of color reported receiving at least one unfair performance evaluation. Less than one percent of white males had the same feeling. This helps to explain why most successful companies have attrition rates of two and three percent each year while Big Law has an overall attrition rate around nineteen percent. Law firms’ inability to provide mentorship, means that associates are unlikely to receive meaningful feedback. The lack of meaningful feedback, then leads to associates failing to develop as lawyers. Without the mentorship and feedback needed to improve diverse associates are no longer given meaningful assignments. This third point is crucial. Corporate legal positions that compete with law firms for diverse talent, provide their employees with meaningful work. Diverse associates, or any associate for that matter, who do not receive meaningful work know that they will not make partner. Therefore, they are not invested

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