According to the results of the 2011 Associate Survey conducted by the Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI), as well as the sentiment of a June 2011 CLI focus group comprising diverse law firm partners, a key discovery was made that may shed light on why diverse attorneys leave law firms at higher rates than their non-diverse counterparts. The results found that diverse attorneys encounter hidden barriers in legal organizations that operate to exclude them from career advancement opportunities at greater rates than non-diverse attorneys. A similar conclusion has been reported in numerous national research studies.

This article discusses the results of CLI’s 2011 Associate Survey and June 2011 retention event, which identified hidden barriers to retention for diverse attorneys at their firms and at law firms generally. It also discusses CLI’s national campaign, “Step Up For Diversity: Take Action to Build an Inclusive Legal Profession,”™ which provides concrete ways for  individual attorneys to help reduce hidden barriers for diverse and female attorneys. Read the full article.