by Elizabeth A. Campbell
Partner and Chief Diversity Officer
Andrews Kurth LLP
Working With organizations on diversity and inclusion strategies, I have learned that accountability can be critical in achieving success. At Andrews Kurth, we have found a way to manage accountability.
In 2006 I was intrigued by the opportunities in the legal industry for an attorney, human resources professional, and diversity practitioner like myself. The call to action for corporations through their general counsel was taking hold and law firms should have been eager to answer the call.
However, few firms in my home geography were interested. I was contacted by a recruiter conducting a search for a Partner and Chief Diversity Officer for Andrews Kurth LLP. To my knowledge, no other law firm in the country had a partner devoted exclusively to the development and implementation of a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy. I was honored to join the firm.
“While we rapidly moved forward with developing a vision, business case, focus areas and training, my suggestions about accountability took longer to be embraced.”
There were a few hurdles in the beginning, though; the most significant of which was accountability. During my screening process, I had mentioned the key elements of a diversity and inclusion strategy: vision, business case and accountability. The recruiter cautioned me that attorneys might not appreciate such an ultimatum-like approach to this new strategy.
As an attorney with over 25 years’ experience, I have worked with scores of lawyers. Yes, accountability might be a problem. But if I were going to be successful in this new Chief Diversity Officer role, then accountability would have to be addressed.
I joined Andrews Kurth in 2007. While we rapidly moved forward with developing a vision, business case, focus areas and training, my suggestions about accountability took longer to be embraced. To me, the caution about accountability meant to proceed slowly, but proceed, nonetheless.
I began by explaining the importance of getting as many people engaged as possible. We first added staff department leaders to the diversity committee. Next we developed firm billing numbers so that attorneys could report their time spent working on diversity and inclusion matters; I included firm billing numbers in our diversity orientation training materials and talking points for attorneys attending diversity-related events. Our managing partner updated our performance review process to create the opportunity for attorneys to report on their efforts to contribute to our diversity strategy. In less than one year, we implemented this full array of accountability measures.
Today, diversity and inclusion components are integral parts of the firm’s overall strategic business plan and our 400 attorneys are spending in excess of 6,200 hours per year on our diversity and inclusion efforts.
Accountability achieved!
This article has been sponsored by:
Communicating Across Cultures
Elizabeth A. Campbell
Partner and Chief Diversity Officer
Andrews Kurth LLP
Elizabeth A. Campbell is an attorney with a successful record of working with corporate executives and teams to accomplish organizational goals. As partner and chief diversity officer for Andrews Kurth, she is responsible for the diversity and inclusion components of the firm’s strategic business plan. Elizabeth received her BA from American University and her JD from the University of Michigan Law School.