Why Law Firms Should Be Viewed As A Business
[00:00:00] As a law student, I'm not sure that the law firms not wanting to hire activists are out there jives with what I've seen.
Nowadays, it seems like larger New York firms appear "woke" or "current" they will happily hire people whose backgrounds are absurd.
I'm a law student at a top 14, and I've seen peers with the most insane backgrounds be hired by top law firms.
One woman wrote a post on LinkedIn after being hired by a top firm that was 'liked' by the firm's attorneys appraised her firm and made availed criticism. Other law firms for not hiring black or female attorneys not having enough pro bono hours, etcetera. Maybe law firms are changing for better or worse. "
So there are a lot of issues in what you're bringing up.
You're right about some of this, but there are some issues.
In terms of law firms liking things. So law firms, need a diverse group of attorneys to reflect the makeup of society.
And that's a problem because the people that are running companies many times are, different races and backgrounds and so forth. So that's the first thing. And so, anything, a law firm to appease their clients, not, I'm not a piece, but [00:01:00] to keep clients and get clients law firms and I've written a book by the way, if you look on the BCG site about race and hiring inside of law firms because this is a topic I'm very passionate about.
I want to help all sorts of people get jobs and it's important to understand that there are a lot of historical biases and things and law firms against different types of people. And it's just because groups tend to be self-perpetuating.
Certainly, things are changing and law firms are changing. But at the same time while they need a diverse group of attorneys, law firms also, are businesses. And so as businesses, they have to produce a certain type of work product and they need people to need to produce work product and they need people supporting the abroad mission.
That's nothing to do with race. If you were a member of the NRA and believe that everyone should own guns and Democrats were evil you would have a very difficult time in most New York law firms or LA law firms for that matter, probably Chicago law firms.
There's just, and law firms, don't like anyone who's too far outside the box, whether it's too [00:02:00] conservative or too liberal or whatever, because it can hurt the operation of the business. And lawyers, they want, for the most part, they want to be neutral and unbiased to not reach conclusions about this sort of stuff.
And the law firms do take diversity as an important thing. But the problem is when people make opinions, whether it's, a belief and the fact that one person's very pro-life. They're protesting against it and all out for it, and have very strong opinions about it. It doesn't have to be about race. It doesn't have to be about diversity. It can be about anything.
So the idea is law firms are businesses, and then you, people's important to your overall mission. And if you appear like someone so committed to one issue that it's going to detract from your ability to represent people or to help the firm, that can help hurt you. And that's all I'm saying. And law firms, want a smooth operating business, so it's no different, McDonald's probably and business with no distractions. So that's just how it works.
It's no different than any other [00:03:00] business.
If someone wants to go to McDonald's and they have a bunch of tattoos on their face it's not, that's another kind of example of tattoos on their face. And have a federal flag on their truck. They probably are not going to get hired at McDonald's.
It's nothing to do with McDonald's opinions about these sorts of things. It's just distracting from the business. You won't get hired at McDonald's. So anything that you do, that's going to be a distraction to the operation of the law business, many times, will make it difficult for you to get hired as well. Law firms want diversity. They want people with different opinions, but if they see too much activism, it's going to detract from their ability to run the law firm and may create problems. And I don't make these rules by the way.
You just need to sometimes not make an issue of that. You want to be hired for your abilities and diversity, but not too much of an issue.
