Association (MCCA) have announced the launch of the Law Firm Diversity Database, an

innovative online tool that enables users to compare law firms on a number of diversity

performance measures. This service was developed for corporate counsel to provide

them with statistics and other crucial information on diversity at over 200 firms

nationwide. The online database was created in cooperation with Accenture, Bank of

America, Microsoft, PPG Industries, Sara Lee, and Wal-Mart, and is located at

The database was unveiled last week at the Call to Action Summit, a three-day meeting

of corporate general counsel and law firm managing partners devoted to increasing

The Law Firm Diversity Database contains both quantitative and qualitative data

regarding diversity programs at firms, the leadership of these initiatives, and the firms’

action plans to increase the hiring and retention of a diverse staff. For the past four years,

Diversity Survey, is translated into a database that will enable the corporate counsel

community to evaluate and make meaningful comparisons among outside counsel in

terms of their diversity efforts.

“Until Vault and MCCA teamed up on this project, there had been no meaningful effort

to gather information of this type and disseminate it to the law community,” says Samer

Hamadeh, COO, Vault.com. “With the Law Firm Diversity Database, we have now

harnessed technology to facilitate the collection and analysis of the data. Coupled with

distribution on the Internet, we have created a powerful mechanism to influence firms to

make diversity more of a priority.”

“This new online tool enables users to call up a list of law firms and do side by side

comparisons using one or any number of diversity performance measures captured

through the survey,” says Veta Richardson, Executive Director, MCCA. “This allows

‘apples-to-apples’ comparisons that will facilitate a better understanding of how firms

measure up to each other. It will also enable users to look back on a period of years of

progress or lack thereof.”

MCCA and Vault credit Jim Diggs, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary,

PPG Industries, Inc. for the idea of creating a standardized approach to a diversity survey.

“Quality legal services can and should be provided by a diverse and inclusive legal

team,” Mr. Diggs says. “We know that building diverse and inclusive workforces

enables us to achieve greater levels of success in the global and highly competitive

marketplace where we do business each day. This resource summarizes what large law

firms throughout the country are doing to advance diversity. Moreover, it allows the

general counsel community to make meaningful comparisons among those law firms that

strive for our business.”

Using the Law Firm Diversity Database, company leaders can learn the percentage of

minorities employed by firms in a variety of categories, ranging from full-time associate

to equity partner to management roles. Demographic categories currently represented in

the database include minority men, minority women, white women and GLBT attorneys.

In the future, the database will include statistics for attorneys with disabilities, as well as

expanded racial/ethnic breakdowns. The database also features self-reported profiles

from law firms describing their diversity initiatives. These profiles include information

on how firm leadership communicates the importance of diversity to staff members, and

the ways leadership is held accountable for achieving results.

The Vault/MCCA database confirms that the minority presence at the nation’s top firms

is small but steadily growing. With this new tool, corporations, law firms and

prospective employees will get a window into how firms across the country are

addressing the issue of diversity. Corporations will have crucial information at their

disposal for hiring outside firms, and law firms can see where they stand in comparison to

peer firms, thereby encouraging their efforts toward a more diverse workplace.

Graduating law students and other job seekers also will have a tool to use when they are

making decisions on where to apply for positions at law firms or where to accept job

offers.

Vault is the leading media company focused on careers. Vault offers over 100 online and

features thousands of company and university profiles, information on hundreds of

occupations and industries, articles on a multitude of workplace topics, a network of

message boards for professionals with over 2,200,000 posts and jobs-related video, blogs

and research tools. Its clients include nearly 1,000 advertisers and recruiters, over 900

universities and graduate schools, and over 7,000,000 consumers worldwide.

Maintaining offices in New York, London, Mumbai, and Hong Kong, Vault was founded

in 1996 by Hussam Hamadeh, Samer Hamadeh, and Mark Oldman and recently received

a majority investment from Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a $5 billion private-equity firm

focused on media and communications.

MCCA was founded in 1997 to advocate for the expanded hiring, promotion, and

retention of minority attorneys in corporate legal departments and the law firms that serve

them. In addition, MCCA stimulates an ongoing dialogue of diversity ‘best practices.’

MCCA accomplishes its mission through the collection and dissemination of information

on diversity in the legal profession. Because MCCA seeks to advance diversity, its

research, publications and educational programs address issues faced by those outside the

majority and this includes women, GLBT, and physically challenged attorneys; although

the challenges faced by lawyers of color remain MCCA’s primary focus. MCCA’s

headquarters are in Washington, D.C., and it also has an office in Atlanta.