This sign caught my eye recently:
The homage to “Black Lives Matter” signs was obvious, and it reminded me of the battling signs of a few years ago, when some folks seemed compelled to react with signs proclaiming “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter.” I think once I even saw one with “Our Lord
These days, “merit-based” is being hurled around by some as the purported antidote to their caricature of “DEI.” Behind the food fight is an important question – how do we actually go about being merit-based in deciding who belongs?
As discussed last time, if we’re committed to find actual merit, we must first get
I recently flashed back to a memory from 40 years ago. I was sitting in my old law firm’s main conference room with my fellow brand-new lawyers, listening to senior partner Jim Borthwick present to us on The History & Culture of the Firm. Among other lessons, Jim told us:
When you office a new
I caught up with Michael Williams over coffee at Café Corazón. He was early, as he tends to be in all he does. Michael is a Gen-Xer, an extrovert, and one of the few Black founding partners of Kansas City’s law firms. And while I clearly needed my morning caffeine, Michael’s engaging personality arrived
If you haven’t listened to this morning’s NYT The Daily podcast, please do: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/podcasts/the-daily/skadden-lawyer-resigned-trump-thomas-sipp.html. Thomas Sipp explains why he’s resigned from his law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Sipp is the son of a white American father and a Japanese mother. At age 10 he moved with his family from Japan
This blog’s premise was that I could learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion by somehow cajoling folks different than me to open up about their lived experiences with professional belonging as lawyers. From the get-go this was hard to pull off, but in today’s climate, it’s nearly impossible.
With the subtlety of a Selma
It’s right there, on page 40 of Van Halen’s concert contract, under Food Requirements: “M & M’s (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES).” Why did these rock prima donnas ban backstage brown M&Ms? In his 1997 biography, David Lee Roth claimed it was a way to see if the performance venue had actually read
Great news! A January 21, 2025 Executive Order has declared that we’re going to be a meritocracy! The President’s E.O., titled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, blames governmental and private sector DEI programs for “undermin[ing] our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and
Shomari Benton and I met up over morning coffee at Café Corazón. Shomari is a real estate and development lawyer and also an entrepreneurial property redeveloper focused on Kansas City’s urban core. He is a young Gen Xer, and he and his wife are newlyweds. And behind his resonant voice and engaging laugh,
Law firms across the country have invested in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts for decades. Impactful work has been done, and National Association of Law Placement (NALP) data demonstrates twenty years of gradual progress.[1] Such progress has been slow but significant for women, with more women in law firm partnerships, and with 2023