Inclusion Blueprint

The Inclusion Blueprint provides law firms with a roadmap of meaningful inclusion actions to initiate, track, and measure to ensure that all lawyers — with a particular focus on underrepresented lawyers — have fair and equal access to quality work, influential sponsors, business development, and other career-advancement opportunities.

It is a first-of-its-kind diagnostic tool that allows firms to track and measure inclusion practices, at both the leadership and practice group levels.

Participating firms complete the Inclusion Blueprint assessment by submitting data on four key diversity and inclusion indicators, including: (1) current diversity representation based on average or above-average thresholds, (2) year-over-year diversity representation progress, (3) diversity representation tracking, and (4) meaningful inclusion practices and activities. Firms are also encouraged to commit to implementing at least one “Do Something Hard” action.

2021 Inclusion Blueprint — Findings & Champions Announced

Click here to read the 2021 Inclusion Blueprint Champions & Findings Press Release (15Dec2021)

Each year, Diversity Lab recognizes firms that are proven leaders across key inclusion indicators as Inclusion Champions. In 2021, 20 firms met or exceeded the challenging eligibility criteria for the Inclusion Champion Awards at the firm leadership and/or the practice group levels.

To learn more about the findings from the 2021 Inclusion Blueprint and actions that the 2021 Inclusion Champions are taking to boost diversity, equity, and inclusion in their firms, read the press release and see the key findings below. Also, join us for a series of webinars hosted in collaboration with Gina Passarella, Editor-in-Chief of The American Lawyer, in early 2022 (see knowledge sharing below).

2022 Inclusion Blueprint — Now Open for Participation

If your firm is interested in participating in the 2022 Inclusion Blueprint, please reach out to Erin Hichman at erin@diversitylab.com. The deadline is February 18, 2022. By participating in the 2022 Inclusion Blueprint, firms have three opportunities to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion and to be honored publicly for their actions:

Recognition for Commitment to “Do Something Hard”
ChIPs Honor Roll Awards
Diversity Lab Inclusion Champion Awards & Summary of Findings Report

About the Inclusion Blueprint

Background

The Inclusion Blueprint, a collaborative project between Diversity Lab and ChIPs, provides a first-of-its-kind tool to measure the representation of diverse lawyers and the career-enhancing inclusion activities that law firms can and should employ to ensure that historically underrepresented lawyers have fair and equal access to quality work, influential people, and other opportunities.

The Inclusion Blueprint was initially created by Diversity Lab and launched in partnership with ChIPs in 2018 to measure and track the gender diversity and inclusion in firm leadership and Intellectual Property practice groups in law firms. With input and support from teams from the Spring and Fall 2018 Diversity in Law Hackathon series, the Inclusion Blueprint has since been expanded to track additional inclusion activities and to include underrepresented racial and ethnic lawyers, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities in all practice groups.

The Inclusion Blueprint includes four main categories for law firms to track, measure, and benchmark their diversity and inclusion efforts at both the firm leadership and practice group levels: (1) current diversity representation based on average or above-average thresholds, (2) year-over-year diversity representation progress, (3) diversity representation tracking, and (4) meaningful inclusion practices and activities. Firms are also encouraged to commit to implementing at least one “Do Something Hard” action.

The “Hard” actions at the leadership level include: (1) providing 50 hours of billable credit for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) contributions, (2) linking partner and/or practice group leader compensation to DEI, and (3) conducting pay and origination credit equity gap analyses for partners. The practice group actions include: (1) providing matter credit to underrepresented lawyers for originating or expanding work, (2) staffing client teams with at least 50% underrepresented lawyers who have direct access to clients, and (3) committing to an Ally Action Pledge.

Benefits of Participating

By participating in the Inclusion Blueprint, your firm and practice groups will have a roadmap of meaningful actions to take to continue investing in diverse talent and ensuring fair and equal access to career-building opportunities for all lawyers. As part of this process, Diversity Lab will score each firm, allowing firms to compare themselves against their peers and the industry. Diversity Lab and ChIPs will recognize the ChIPs Honor Roll Award firms, Inclusion Champion firms, and firms that make bold “Do Something Hard” commitments.

Key Dates

Late September 2021: Diversity Lab announces 2021 “Do Something Hard” commitments.
Late October 2021: ChIPs announces the 2021 ChIPs Honor Roll Award winners at the Global Summit.
December 2021: Diversity Lab announces 2021 Inclusion Champions.
November/December 2021: Diversity Lab invites firms to participate in the 2022 Inclusion Blueprint.
January 2021: Diversity Lab releases 2021 Inclusion Blueprint Report with aggregated findings from 60+ firms.
February 18, 2022: 2022 Inclusion Blueprint submissions due.

Strategic Planning Guides

Diversity Lab and ChIPs are encouraging law firms to use the Inclusion Blueprint Strategic Planning Guides as a tool to help plan for diversity and inclusion activities and programs.

Click here to view the 2020-2021 Firm Leadership Inclusion Blueprint Guide

Click here to view the 2020-2021 Practice Group Inclusion Blueprint Guide

Knowledge Sharing

To learn more about the 60+ participating firms’ aggregated findings and the actions that the 2021 Inclusion Champions are taking to boost diversity, equity, and inclusion in their firms, please review the 2021 Inclusion Blueprint Report (linked below). Also, join us for a series of webinars — hosted in collaboration with Gina Passarella, Editor-in-Chief of The American Lawyer, and the firm leaders named as 2021 Inclusion Champions — in early 2022.

Inclusion Blueprint Champions Webinars

January 26, 2022 — Linking Compensation to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Join four of Diversity Lab’s recently named Inclusion Blueprint Champions — Baker Botts, Cooley LLP, Jenner & Block, and Reed Smith LLP — for a virtual session to hear about their trailblazing efforts to align compensation-based rewards with their strongly held values to grow and support diversity and inclusivity. Watch the full webinar here.

February 15, 2022 — Transparency in Pay, Promotions & Performance Reviews: Best Practices from Leading Law Firms & Other Industries: Join Harvard Kennedy School scholar Siri Chilazi and several leaders from Diversity Lab’s recently named Inclusion Blueprint Champions — including Eversheds Sutherland (US) and Perkins Coie LLP — for a virtual session February 15th from 2-3pm ET to hear about the importance of transparency and their trailblazing efforts on this front.

March 29, 2022, 1 p.m. ET — Monitoring & Tracking Client Team Diversity & Direct Access: Join Diversity Lab for a discussion on the processes and practices that leading law firms are taking — at the firmwide and practice group levels — in partnership with their clients to ensure their teams are inclusive and diverse. Click here to register.

Key Findings & Reports

Many of the inclusion practices measured in the 2021 Inclusion Blueprint correlate positively with higher diversity representation. Data shows firms that undertake the following inclusion practices are much more likely to achieve the average and above-average diversity representation thresholds outlined in the Inclusion Blueprint than firms that don’t. The top six practices include:

The firm specifically asks what each partner has done to contribute to diversity and inclusion at the firm and/or in their practice group during the annual compensation review process.
Partner compensation is impacted by meaningful contributions, or lack thereof, to diversity and inclusion.
Practice group leader compensation is impacted as a result of positive or negative diversity headcount or inclusion efforts within their group.
The firm’s performance review and compensation criteria and procedures for associates are written and available to all lawyers.
The firm’s performance review and compensation criteria and procedures for partners are written and available to all lawyers.
The firm is Mansfield Rule Certified or in the process of attempting to become certified.