re: BR Business Report: Law firms dominated by white men may find it hard to attract clients

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Lost in the ecstatic fervor are notions of talent, hard work, knowledge, craft, excellence - none of which seem to matter much any more. A truly disheartening situation.

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All must pray at the altar of the New Orthodoxy.

Inquisitions to follow.

Heretics and apostates must burn.

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I am in the legal industry. DEI has become a ubiquitous, all-consuming mania. Major institutional clients now demand that their outside counsel observe diversity hiring and retention quotas. New matters must be staffed with diverse teams. Regular reports to corporate clients on diversity initiatives are required. Law firms have to appoint or hire diversity coordinators. Internal ERGs (employee resource groups) are established to promote and police diversity. Retention of outside counsel is regularly based on the diversity of the teams presented. If diversity mandates are not obeyed, the corporate clients threaten to withdraw their business from the firm. On at least one occasion I have personally witnessed, a corporate client moved a matter from one firm to another solely on the basis of race. I must receive 20-50 emails a week about DEI. Lost in the ecstatic fervor are notions of talent, hard work, knowledge, craft, excellence - none of which seem to matter much any more. A truly disheartening situation.

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I'm also in the legal industry, and this is 100% accurate.

All very true.

One of our big institutional clients makes us submit our invoices through the CounselLink third party portal. This portal monitors and grades our compliance with "billing guidelines" and helps the client cut bills. It also keeps tabs on the firm's diversity and grades us on that too. We don't know our grades but I can't imagine they're good.

I'm a victim of discrimination in terms of someone less qualified being promoted ahead of me to help check a box for diversity. This stuff is real, and it's scary. And not necessarily legal.