Quote:
Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall
I have plenty of thoughts. It's just that this profession is going nowhere--at least at firms. And it's because firms want it that way.
In house jobs are really the only viable route for black attorneys. The way firms are structured and what they value means that black people will make only the slowest of steps toward progress. And what is the most annoying is that firms talk all that shit about wanting to be diverse but finding no candidates(!), but they consistently ignore the problem and/or shoo it off on the black associates and partners to solve when they are the fucking issue.
Firms value business. Not surprising. But the path to business is either through family and friends connections, hustling, or being cultivated/inheriting/working on the firm's institutional business.
Obviously given the state of our country and the place black people occupy in it, it is exceedingly rare for black attorneys to have access to the types of connections which yield business.
Hustling is a fucking myth. We all know someone who we thought was out there networking and built a practice through hard work and effort, but it always turns out that whatever they bring in was through a relationship they have with a family member or friend from fucking high school or college (or one degree of separation from that scenario). That puts us back in the first bucket. (And please spare me the "But I know a guy who..." stories. I'm a corporate finance attorney. I inherited my main client and was lucky to do so. If you think I can go out there, meet decision makers at financial institutions, pitch them, woo them, whatever, and build a client base on my brains and hustle, you're delusional. I've done it all and the business goes to long-standing relationships amongst older white men. Period. End of story.)
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Point 1: Big law can't help.
My first biglaw, my entire class got turned down for partner at the last minute because "the firm wasn't doing well, and they needed to ensure that each current partner could expect a certain income." So they added a year to the track.
A bit after that a young partner gave me a list of billings from the "current partners." It was full of deadwood. Guys who once had a promising practice but now had no work and did very little. there was the problem- people who wanted "assurance" they'd be paid, when their anemic practices were the problem.
Meanwhile, my class? there were 7 of us. At first we'd been 50. Across 8 years they'd weeded us out. the associates who made it to the vote were 100% skilled and hard working. Yet they passed us over, rather than cut the comp for the real problem. BECAUSE the real problem had equity. The very clear business reality didn't matter.
I'm not looking for a boo-hoo for me- just making the point Big Law cannot change, not to keep me, and likely not to adjust to a diverse culture.
Point 2: I had no business or family connections- I'm from a lower middle class family. I tried "hustling" and got nowhere. Spent evenings at "Italian American Bar Association" meetings trying to network, only to see the dinner speaker talking about drunk driving defenses; meaning there was no possible connection there.
I have had a great career because one young woman I was friends with got shit out of my biglaw and went in house. the first chance she had to send work, she was 100% on board with helping a young lawyer; my good fortune was she picked me. then she became a pinball bouncing between several big companies and always pulling me in- For all my BS, my practice is solely because someone decided to help another young lawyer, rather than a GP.
Of course, being nice to people and "hoping someone with work picks you," isn't really a plan that can effect major social change.
So it does fall back on the firms to recognize the client base is becoming diverse, so they'd be smart to do so. But again, see Point 1.
the answer may be for in-house counsel to be willing to move away from big law and look to mid-size firms that have more ability to adjust to realities, and to look to build a firm that looks more like the clients they represent?
