Caren Ulrich Stacy

Founder & CEO

Background

Caren has 30 years of management and leadership experience as the head of talent and diversity for many of the world’s top law firms, including Arnold & Porter, Cooley, and Weil Gotshal. After hiring 3700+ lawyers and supporting their advancement to partner and other high-level roles, Caren co-founded Lawyer Metrics (a start-up company later acquired by the Access Group) that pioneered a “Moneyball” data-analytics approach to selecting and advancing high-performing talent. Following that success, Caren founded Diversity Lab to focus on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in law and other professions through the use of data, science, and technology.

As Diversity Lab’s CEO, Caren works with more than 20 talent experts and data scientists to create and experiment with innovative initiatives that cultivate diversity in the leadership ranks of top law firms, legal departments, government agencies, and other organizations. Her passion for diversifying these high-level roles is driven in part knowing that many of these leaders will eventually serve in other influential positions – such as judges, C-suite executives, board members, university presidents, and Congress – that impact society more broadly.

Honors & Industry Leadership

Caren was awarded the National Association of Legal Professionals (NALP) Mark of Distinction in 2009, the InnovAction Award by the College of Law Practice Management in 2014, and the Ms. JD “Strength in Numbers” Award in 2015. In addition, Caren was elected in 2010 as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Commission on Improving the Legal Profession in 2013.  In 2016, she was honored with Legal Momentum’s Women of Achievement Award and also selected from more than 500 entrepreneurs as one of the inaugural 10 Tory Burch Foundation Fellows. In 2019, she was selected by members of Congress to assist with the Congressional Black Caucus task force on increasing diversity in law and tech.

Caren currently serves on the Legal Advisory Committee for the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League and as a Board Member for the US National Committee for UN Women in Silicon Valley.

Over the past two decades, she has contributed to over 250 presentations and publications on talent management and authored several highly regarded books, including Loyalty by Design: A Practical Guide for Developing an Effective Attorney Integration Program.  Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The American Lawyer, The Wall Street Journal, and on Fox News.

Select Presentations & Publications

Recent Speaking Engagements

• U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action & Its Impact on DEI in Law, NY State Bar Association (September 2023)
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Walking the Talk, The Economist GC Summit (September 2023)
• Using Data to Advance Women in the Workplace, Association of Corporate Counsel (June 2022)
• Increasing Diversity in Innovation: Capturing America’s Lost Inventors, U.S. Intellectual Property Alliance (July 2021)
• Law Firm Diversity Scorecard: What the Data Says & Why It Matters, The American Lawyer (June 2021)
• The Future of Racial Equity in the Legal Profession, Penn Law School (February 2021)
• Why Increasing Diversity in the Law is Crucial for the U.S. & the World, Harvard Law School (January 2021)
• Conducting Pay Equity Gap Analyses to Ensure Fair Compensation Decisions, Ark Summit (January 2021)
• To Increase Diversity, We Must First Master Inclusion, Chief Women IP Counsel (November 2020)
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: State of the Legal Industry, The American Lawyer Conference (October 2020)
• Diversity in the Patent World: Creating a Fair System That Allows for Equal Access, IP Institute (July 2020)
• Economic Incentives & the Gender Gap in Law, Burford Capital (May 2020)
• Doubling Down on Diversity in a Recession, Colorado Bar Association (May 2020)
• Why We Should Double Down on Diversity & Inclusion Right Now, Chief Women IP Counsel (April 2020)
• Tech Meets Law: How Big Tech is Diversifying Representation & Promoting Diversity in Law, Tech Accountability Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus, Tech 2020 (November 2019)
• Women’s Leadership in Law, United Nations (in Partnership with Assoc. of Corporate Counsel; July 2018)

Books

• Foreword Author, “The Articulate Attorney”  By Brian Johnson and Marsha Hunter (Crown King Books, June 2013)
• Contributing Author & Editor, “The Six-Minute Marathon: A Guide to Life as a Lawyer” By Judge Andy Hartman (NITA, June 2010)
• Contributing Author, “Partners in Transition: The Five Phases of an Effective Partner Integration Program” (NALP Foundation, January 2010)
• Contributing Author, “How Associate Evaluations Measure Up: Identifying Effective Evaluations Criteria” (NALP Foundation, June 2006)
• Co-author, “Loyalty By Design: A Practical Guide For Developing an Effective Associate Integration Program” (NALP Foundation, July 2005)
• Contributing Author, “Best Practices in Attorney Professional Development – Conducting an Effective Needs Assessment” (American Bar Association, October 2004)

Articles

• The American Lawyer, “Stay Calm and Carry On (Legally) in the Wake of Anti-DEI Directives” (August 2023)
• Bloomberg, “Diversity in Leadership: How the Mansfield Rule is Driving Change” (July 2022)
• Bloomberg, “Five Ways In-House Counsel Can Boost Outside Counsel Diversity” (June 2021)
• National Law Journal, “Diversity Lab CEO’s Recession Advice for Leaders: Double Down on Diversity” (April 2020)
• Law.com, “The Game Changing Potential of Combining Tech, Talent & Diversity” (June 2018)
• The American Lawyer, “Four Unexpected Career Hacks from Big Law’s Top Performers” (May 2017)
• NALP Bulletin, “Keeping the Keepers: Focusing on Lateral Associate Hires” (January 2014)
• Law Practice Management, American Bar Association, “Solving the Multimillion-Dollar C Player Problem” (May 2013)
• NALP Bulletin, “Behavioral Interviewing 2.0: Using Structured Panel Interviews to Identify High Performers and Eliminate Bias in Lawyer Interviewing” (February 2012)
• Bloomberg Law, “Everything You Think You Know About Lawyer Recruiting Is Wrong: The New Science of Evidence-Based Hiring Practices” (November 2011)
• The American Lawyer and Law.com, “Moneyball for Law Firms” (October 2011)