Legal Industry Trailblazers Launch “Move the Needle Fund” — with a $5M Investment from Law Firms — to Test Innovative Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives to Create Transformational Change in the Profession

Despite decades of hard work by industry stakeholders to diversify the talent pool from law students through law firm and legal department leadership, the needle hasn’t moved far enough fast enough. Knowing varied approaches are needed, four law firms, more than 30 general counsel, and top community leaders will work together through MTN to create a first-of-its-kind experimental “laboratory” in which bold new approaches will be incubated over five years in the law firms to serve as a model for learning and transformative change in the legal profession and beyond. These four firms will set aggressive, measurable diversity goals, experiment with research-based and data-driven ways to achieve them, and publicly report their progress.

The four MTN law firms are Eversheds Sutherland (US), Nixon Peabody, Orrick, and Stoel Rives. The MTN law firms’ goals, detailed on www.MTNFund2025.com, reflect many of the keys to success in becoming a more diverse and inclusive organization: retention of diverse lawyers; access to career-enhancing work experiences, clients, and sponsorship; and advancement to leadership. MTN firms officially began measuring progress on these goals in January 2020.