Walking the Data Walk: Using Time Entries to Advance DEI Initiatives

Abstract

Law firms absolutely want to give each of their associates the types of experiences that will help them grow as lawyers, and law firms absolutely want to retain a diverse group of professionals. We suggest that the best way for a law firm to ensure that it is, in fact, giving everyone the same access to valuable experiences is to mine the firm’s own data—time entries—to doublecheck any anecdotal evidence that the firm’s efforts are working.

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Keywords: Diversity, DEI, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, big data, artificial intelligence, law firms, fairness, data-driven decisionmaking

JEL Classification: J15, J70, K1, K10, K19, K2, K20, K22, K29, K30, K31, K39, K4, K40, K42, K49