Mentorship and D&I: Insights from IBM, Deloitte and more...
January marks National Mentoring Month and comes at a time when such guidance and support has become vital in achieving a more diversified leadership in law.
The new year started with some good news: an encouraging study from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), showed that the number of summer associates at US law firms was the most diverse ever recorded.
But it also cautioned that levels of diversity continue to lag at more senior levels due to historic barriers, including a dearth of quality mentorship.
Lack of senior sponsorship or backing remains a key barrier to diversity and inclusion, and has a negative effect on mental health and wellbeing.
A September 2020 report by diversity recruitment firm Rare, revealed that minority lawyers spend on average 20% less time in post than their white counterparts, and confirmed that twice as many minority lawyers who received sponsorshior or mentorship stayed at their firm compared to those who didn’t.
Time and again, IP diversity champions have told WIPR that mentorship is critical for retaining female and minority attorneys and ensuring that they reach the upper ranks of IP.
We hear from general counsel from IBM, Deloitte as well as partners from leading law firms about their experiences of mentorship and why it can no longer be perceived as a “nice to have” in an organisation’s D&I armoury.
Instead, they argue, it is an essential bulwark against the loss of talented and creative individuals that could make the sector more equitable, dynamic and fair.
