Groups help diverse lawyers make connections at law firms

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In 2003, Sara J. Bolden had concerns about coming to Milwaukee to start her legal career.

She is a Hispanic American from Miami, who had no prior ties to Wisconsin. Milwaukee’s Hispanic community is not nearly as large as her hometown’s. Where would she find mentors and friends who share her background?

To her great relief, she found a way to connect with other Hispanic attorneys, some of whom were also new to the profession and navigating the large-law firm environment.

Bolden joined Foley & Lardner LLP’s affinity group for Hispanic-American attorneys.

She says, “The affinity group has really provided an avenue to be able to make connections with associates at my level who are going through the same things, have the same issues and attend the same conferences. But also, I’ve met people who were further along, that I probably wouldn’t have known otherwise, because they’re not down the hall from me. … I’ve made some great contacts and friends.”

Affinity groups are people with a common interest or background, who meet to discuss their professional development, issues in which they share a concern, or whatever else is on their minds.

At Foley, usually once a month, the Hispanic-American affinity group “meets,” meaning that lawyers from the firm’s multiple offices participate in a conference call. Typically they discuss upcoming events, such as meetings of the Hispanic National Bar Association: the speakers, the issues and who would like to attend, etc. Then they open up the floor.

Group Discussion

Affinity groups are not just beneficial for new lawyers. Nancy J. Peterson, a partner in Milwaukee who chairs Quarles & Brady LLP’s Diversity Committee, and who also participates in its Women’s Forum, says that she always gets something out of Women’s Forum events.

At one gathering, Peterson led a discussion about avoiding the temptation to try to do it all at home. At a subsequent meeting, a new associate said that she very much appreciated that message, and began to delegate more household tasks to her husband, who in turn delegated more to their children. One of the children’s new tasks became making their own lunches under Dad’s supervision.

Since then, Peterson’s children, ages 9 and 12, have been making their own lunches.

They like it, and mornings are a little less hectic in Peterson’s home.

Foley has affinity groups for women, flex-time, Hispanic-, African- and Asian-American, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) attorneys, says Maria E. Gonzalez Knavel, a partner In Milwaukee who chairs the Hispanic-American affinity group.

Diversity Efforts

Gonzalez Knavel says that the firm’s former Diversity Partner, Maurice J. McSweeney, approached her to start the Hispanic-American affinity group in 2005. She e-mailed all lawyers within the firm at any level who had identified themselves as being Hispanic, and anyone who expressed an interest.

Her affinity group decided that recruiting would be the principal focus. Last October, Foley was one of the sponsors of the Hispanic-American Law Students convention in Madison, and members of the firm’s Hispanic-American affinity group led a panel discussion on how to succeed in a big firm.

Incidentally, next fall, a new Hispanic-American associate will be joining Foley. She is a Northwestern graduate, which is Bolden’s alma mater and where Bolden has been actively working to recruit diverse attorneys.

Meanwhile, at Quarles, Peterson says that no one sat down one day and said, “Let’s start an affinity group!” Rather, their groups have emerged when someone had the idea to start them and the willingness to do a little legwork to get them going.

As for Quarles’ Women’s Forum, she says that groups of women lawyers had always gotten together informally. A few years ago, the Diversity Committee decided to give that a little more structure.

The first job was to poll the women attorneys to see what they wanted from the group.

They learned that the women wanted to network better with each other; to occasionally hear from outside speakers; to work on rainmaking and professional development; and to learn about and discuss and work/balance and health issues.

They also learned in that initial surveying that there was some interest in “peer mentoring circles.” As a result, a few subgroups have developed, such as a flex-time group, a parent group, a new associates group, and an associates-close-to-partnership group. Typically, these groups meet for brown bag lunches, or they might go outside of the office.

In addition, at Quarles, a GLBT group is just getting its start. And, for their attorneys of color, the firms hosts quarterly meetings, usually luncheons, in its two main offices in Milwaukee and Phoenix.

Good Investment

These firms cover any expenses incurred by these groups — it’s been well worth the modest investment, according to Peterson and Gonzalez Knavel. Moreover, at their firms, there hasn’t been a great deal of paperwork generated by the affinity groups: There simply hasn’t been a need to make the case and justify every dollar spent to management. Also, the firms have allowed their groups to define their own purposes and activities, rather than giving them written mandates as to what they must do.

That’s because their firms are solidly behind their diversity initiatives, they said.

Everyone at their firms? Of course not, they concede.

“With more than 900 lawyers at my firm, I can’t say we all speak with one voice. There are always some dissenters,” says Gonzalez Knavel. “No one has voiced any strong resentment or advocated for the affinity groups’ termination. And I can say that diversity is a goal that the majority of our partnership has embraced. Frankly, while there might be some who are not quite on board, they’re not the ones driving the train.”

As for Peterson, she says that in 2002, Quarles adopted a strategic plan that included diversity as one of 10 critical goals. The partners adopted this, after giving their input, and there were several drafts of the plan.

She recalls, “At that point, there was some push-back, both ways: Some wanted to liberalize it, and some wanted to restrict it. But once we had the consensus, it has been accepted. That’s not to say that we haven’t gotten a call once in while from somebody who didn’t like something. But it’s been very rare and behind-the-scenes.”

Gonzalez Knavel adds that two years ago, her firm hired a consultant who talked about the extremely small number of women of color who attain partnership in large U.S. law firms.

“When I heard that, I thought, ‘Why am I here?’

“Because I am sitting here, I just feel like I have a duty to try to help other people who look like me achieve that, too. I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of that. I really enjoy helping people. And for some people, being a role model is not all that hard, specially when you’re just being who you are.”