Friends in D&I places

Beth Marshall, a patent attorney at Murgitroyd in Aberdeen, Scotland, has no trouble recalling what happened early in her career: while attending one of her first conferences, someone made a comment that was intended to be flattering but it crossed a 
line. On this occasion, an ally stepped in.

“I wasn’t in a position of authority, I didn’t have power in the situation when the comment was made. Someone standing up for me was huge,” Marshall remembers. On other such occasions, no-one had stepped in, she adds gravely.

From a diversity and inclusion (D&I) perspective, allies can be defined as people, most likely colleagues, who support a minority community that exists within a workplace.

An ally may be a member of a different D&I group, or someone for whom the concept of D&I itself was previously alien.

What they provide to under-represented communities, as Marshall discovered, can be profound. If a law firm or in-house legal team has any chance of achieving its diversity aims, allies can be vital, bringing with them the added incentives of positively affecting not only workplace culture but a firm’s image—and even revenue.

Leading by example

David Stone, global head of IP at Allen & Overy (A&O), is a proud advocate of D&I issues. He is very involved in the firm’s LGBT network, A&Out, which has more than 100 members and 700 allies worldwide.

A&O operates a ‘women in IP’ workstream in its global IP group. It is also looking at how the firm uses barristers and is working with chambers on practical improvements to D&I.

The firm has been on what Stone calls a journey to reach its variety of schemes, helped by senior management making D&I one of the firm’s strategic priorities.

“Allies are not just important—they’re essential. 
It boils down to an individual’s or community’s agency within an organisation,” he says.

“Comparatively, not many people are in these diverse populations. It should never be up to those people to ensure that the larger cohort becomes more diverse.

“It’s not just a management responsibility, it’s the responsibility of all of us. And allies help with that.”

Rachael Rodman, partner at Ulmer & Berne in Ohio, is a self-confessed “passionate member of D&I groups” inside her firm and outside in the legal community.

Prominent is her activity in the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), where she is vice-chair of the group’s women in IP law committee.

“Only through allies can you really advance the causes of increasing the representation of women and minorities,” Rodman says. She’s driven partly by her own experience as a young litigation attorney.

“I looked around and I didn’t see a lot of examples of where I wanted to be. I didn’t know any women in their 40s, doing big litigation, who had families and outside interests.

“Now I’m in my 40s, I think it’s very important to provide a path for younger women and minority attorneys so that they’re not in the same position of feeling like we’re fighting for a few positions at the top.”

Marshall, who is the carer for a child with disabilities, believes IP suffers from many of the 
same prejudices found in any other business areas.

“The more people there are who understand the challenges these communities face, the more respectful the workplace becomes,” she says.

What makes a good ally?

At A&O, allies are encouraged to be useful in four carefully defined ways. The first is to “be aware”, which means “educating yourself about the issues that are involved with that particular strand of diversity”, Stone explains.

Stone himself has a reverse mentor—a trainee at the firm who identifies as BAME (black, Asian or minority ethnic), who he meets regularly to learn more about an experience he has not personally lived. “No-one expects you to be an expert,” Stone adds.

The second thing the firm asks of its allies is to be open to talking about D&I issues and sharing their own experiences with others, perhaps through mentoring or a more hands-on sponsorship of a colleague.

“Third is ‘be visible’, be that on an email signature, a marker on an office security pass or a flag on a desk that says: ‘I am someone you can talk to without fear of judgement’,” Stone continues.

Last, and sometimes the “most challenging” Stone says, is to speak out.

“It’s the person who is aware and has the self-confidence, the language and the knowledge to stand up for D&I in all its forms, when it matters,” he adds.

To perform this aspect of ally support requires skill.

“It does not mean challenging the general counsel of a major client in front of her or his staff,” Stone explains, “but it may mean having a quiet word afterwards.”

James Skelton, senior associate at Swaab in Sydney, believes being a good ally can simply mean creating a safe and supportive environment for D&I issues to be discussed.

Skelton, who leads the wellbeing and diversity working group at NSW Young Lawyers, part of the Law Society of New South Wales in Australia, stresses the importance of engaging with policies created during the course of a D&I strategy, so they remain relevant.

“Too often firms adopt an internal policy or sign
up to a programme, only for it to be listed on a website and never engaged with again. It’s important to keep the momentum going on these initiatives,” Skelton says.

The loss to a firm that doesn’t deliver can mean missing out on the best talent. The law students Skelton speaks to tell him these initiatives can be the difference between a student’s accepting or rejecting a firm.

“To be a good ally, even the simple act of using your influence in the workplace to provide a voice for those knowledgeable on a D&I issue is so important,” he adds.

It can mean something as straightforward as listening. Marshall believes that too often, people find it hard to believe that things can be as bad as a 
person says.

“Listen and believe that what you’re being told is the truth,” she adds.

She encourages everyone to seek out training or learn about unconscious bias. “We all have blind spots, we naturally gravitate towards people who are like ourselves.

“But if we become aware of it, we can start to challenge our own assumptions and work against our prejudices,” she explains.

Benefits all around

Whether they are driven by personal fulfilment, a moral desire to do what’s right, or non-altruistic business reasons, allies can also benefit from the experience. In fact, the cold economics of operating a business with a more diverse workforce is not something to be shy about, says Rodman.

“If you’re promoting diversity as an ally, you’re going to benefit the bottom line in your organisation. You’re going to have better teams, better results, and better outcomes.

“Whether you do it because it’s the right thing, or because it’s a profitable thing to do, everyone benefits from increased diversity,” she says.

“There’s a lot to be said for creating a business case for a particular issue,” Skelton agrees.

Meanwhile, Marshall admits, she embarked on her involvement in D&I groups thinking she had a good understanding of the issues. What she found 
was the opposite.

“I have learned so much. It has very been eye-opening learning about the experiences people have had both in and out of work,” she says.

Overcoming ally nerves

Despite the benefits to allies, minority groups and businesses, many lawyers may be reticent about offering their support. The merits of ally programmes are clear, but many people have painful memories of saying the wrong thing to a person and for some, not being part of a diverse group can be a barrier to participating.

Rodman identifies the need to bring men, especially white men, to the table. “You can’t change the status quo without buy-in from everyone,” she says.

Lawyers tend not to enjoy being outside their comfort zone. What’s the message for those who are worried about making a misstep, getting the terms wrong, or simply offending someone through ignorance?

Marshall highlights a barrier that she calls the “feeling of gatecrashing”.

“Because they are not a member of a community, people can feel they cannot be a mouthpiece for that community. But that’s not what being an ally is about—these groups can do that themselves,” 
she says.

“It’s okay to be uncomfortable,” Rodman says, admitting that she has found herself in conversations reaching to find the right word. “No-one is going to fault you for trying and getting it wrong.”

“You know more than you think,” says Skelton, who points out that his own experience of legal training and early roles will be different from those in the generation before him. This, he says, gives him a pass to contribute meaningfully to the discussion and support others.

Rodman puts it plainly: “The worst that’s going to happen is somebody’s going to tell you you’ve done something wrong—and that’s good, because you’ve learned something.”

It seems the trick to being an ally is the same as with D&I in general: leave your assumptions at the door.