Hackathon Series
2018 Diversity in Law Hackathon Series
Diversity Lab — in partnership with Bloomberg Law — is working with 105 law firms and legal departments from top companies across the country to hack the legal industry’s toughest diversity and inclusion challenges.
Two Shark Tank style events combined law students, high-level law firm partners, and legal department leaders in small teams working together for four months to ideate and pitch solutions that will boost diversity and inclusion in law. The winning ideas will be further developed and piloted by Diversity Lab in partnership with the participating Hackathon organizations.
Harvard Law School Executive Education partnered with Diversity Lab to host the Spring Hackathon from February through June 2018. And Northwestern Law and UC Hastings partnered with Diversity Lab to host the Fall Hackathon from July through November 2018.
**All of the fantastic ideas — including the judges’ top selections and the crowd favorites — that were presented at the Spring and Fall Hackathon pitch events are detailed here (Spring) and here (Fall). Stay tuned for more details as we work with the participating law firms and legal organizations to pilot the winning ideas in years to come!**
Spring Hackathon
Hackathon Details
Spring Hackathon — Hosted By Harvard Law School Executive Education
February 6-7, 2018 (in-person kick-off event/Boston)
February – June, 2018 (teams work together virtually)
June 21-22, 2018 (in-person pitch event/Boston)
Participating Organizations
| 3M | Dorsey & Whitney | Lowenstein Sandler | Saul Ewing |
| Amazon | Exelon | Medtronic | Shearman & Sterling |
| American Express | Fasken | MetLife | Sheppard Mullin |
| Arnold & Porter | Fish & Richardson | Morgan Lewis | Stoel Rives |
| Bank of America/Merrill Lynch | Ford Motor Co. | Morrison & Foerster | Toyota |
| Blank Rome | General Electric | Norton Rose Fulbright | Vinson & Elkins |
| Boies Schiller Flexner | Goodwin Procter | Orrick | Weil Gotshal |
| Boston Children’s Hospital | Goulston Storrs | PayPal | WilmerHale |
| CBS | HP Inc. | Pearson | Wilson Sonsini |
| Davis Polk | Intel | Pepper Hamilton | |
| Dechert | Katten Muchin | Pillsbury | |
| DLA Piper | Liberty Mutual | PNC |
Pitch Judges
Team Advisors
Fall Hackathon
Hackathon Details
Fall Hackathon — Hosted by Northwestern Law & UC Hastings College of Law
July 12-13, 2018 (in-person kick-off event, Northwestern/Chicago)
July – November, 2018 (teams work together virtually)
November 1-2, 2018 (in-person pitch event, UC Hastings/San Francisco)
Participating Organizations
| Abercrombie & Fitch | Cooley | Jenner & Block | Schiff Hardin |
| Accenture | Covington | K&L Gates | Seyfarth Shaw |
| Akerman | Dentons | Keker, Van Nest & Peters | Shook Hardy |
| Amazon | Drinker Biddle | Kramer Levin | Sidley |
| Archer Daniel Midlands | Liberty Mutual | Skadden | |
| Baker & McKenzie | FaegreBD | Littler Mendelson | SurveyMonkey |
| Baker Botts | Fenwick & West | McDermott Will & Emery | The Scoular Company |
| Ballard Spahr | Ford Motor Co. | Microsoft | Toyota |
| Barnes & Thornburg | GAP | Miller Canfield | Troutman Sanders |
| Bass Berry | O’Melveny Myers | Verizon | |
| Bloomin’ Brands | GSK | PayPal | Walgreens |
| Brownstein Hyatt Farber | Holland & Knight | PNC | White & Case |
| Bryan Cave | Hunton & Williams | Polsinelli | Workday |
| Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney | Ice Miller | Reed Smith | Xcel Energy |
| Compass Minerals | Intel | Ropes & Gray | Cargill |
Pitch Judges
Team Advisors
Tiffany Harper
Associate Counsel, Grant Thornton LLP and Co-founder of the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Initiative
Stacia Jones
Vice President, Associate General Counsel, and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Abercrombie and Fitch
Jaya Saxena
Director of Dean’s Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, George Washington University School of Law
Michelle Silverthorn
Diversity & Education Director, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
Team Topics & Benefits
Pitch Teams: 9-10 teams of 3-4 law firm partners, 2-3 legal department leaders, one law student, and a team advisor
Hackathon Challenge & Team Topics:
How do we successfully increase and sustain diversity and inclusion in the legal profession?
- True Inclusion, No Lawyer Left Behind – Involving everyone, including men and the majority, as active participants and allies to build and sustain a diverse and inclusive workforce; weaving policies and programs into the fabric of the organization to create a culture of inclusion to make them “sticky” and beneficial for everyone
- Diversity Pipeline – Expanding the pipeline of talented diverse lawyers entering the legal profession
- Equal & Fair Access to Opportunities – Facilitating equal access to work and influential power players (i.e., social capital) to create a fair and balanced approach to career growth and advancement
- Pay Parity – Identifying if and where the pay gap exists and working to close it in law firms and legal departments
- Leadership Gap – Increasing diversity and inclusion in the leadership ranks of law firms and legal departments as well as in the judiciary and other influential legal and business roles
- Unconscious Bias Interrupters – Mitigating unconscious bias in hiring, training/mentoring, feedback, performance reviews, promotions, and other talent management processes
- Diverse Teams – Creating and leveraging diverse teams to achieve better business results
- Lawyer Satisfaction & Retention – Boosting lawyer work satisfaction in combination with work/life integration and flexible work options to retain the best and most diverse talent
- Diversity & Inclusion Impact/Measurement – Creating a scorecard or standardized measurement of progress, impact, and ROI for diversity AND inclusion policies, programs, and efforts in the legal profession to be used by law firms, legal departments, and others
Team/Participant benefits include: (1) 8 weeks of on-demand learning on the topics listed below in advance of the Hackathon and four months of focused learning, strategizing, and collective wisdom sharing with law firm and legal department leaders devoted to advancing and retaining diverse lawyers during the Hackathon; (2) 16+ innovative ideas to consider implementing post-Hackathon at the company; and (3) one year of access to the Diversity in Law Innovation Portal, home to an ever-growing library of data, research, and 200+ articles, webinars and other resources on diversity and inclusion.
Advisory Board
Special thanks to the following individuals for their incredible suggestions, feedback, and contributions as the Hackathon transitioned from concept to fruition.
Lisa Kirby, Director of Research & Knowledge Sharing, Diversity Lab Kate Ryan, Design & Innovation Strategist, Diversity Lab Melanie Heller, Vice President & Chief of Staff, Bloomberg Law Scott Westfahl, Faculty Director, Executive Education, Harvard Law School Anusia Gillespie, Senior Manager of Program Development, Executive Education, Harvard Law School Sari Zimmerman, Assistant Dean, Career Development Office, UC Hastings College of the Law Juliann Cecchi, Assistant Dean, External Partnerships, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alyson Carrel, Assistant Dean of Law & Technology Initiatives, Northwestern Pritzker School of LawSponsor
