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Diversity

BigLaw firm tones down diversity references on website, citing ‘fluctuating internal and external expectations’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 13, 2025, 10:13 am CST

Updated: K&L Gates has removed references to “diversity” from its website and rebranded its Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Above the Law noted the changes after monitoring BigLaw websites since President Donald Trump took office last month.

According to Above the Law, K&L Gates has removed or changed these references:

  • The link to “Our Commitment to Diversity” on the homepage has been removed.

  • “Diversity and Inclusion” is changed to “Opportunity and Inclusion” on the “About” page.

  • The renamed “Opportunity and Inclusion” page no longer includes diversity percentages for leadership positions.

  • The law firm has removed a sentence reading, “We pledge to follow the Mansfield Rule,” which requires firms seeking certification to commit to certain percentages of diverse candidates for leadership positions.

  • The Diversity and Inclusion Committee has been renamed the Opportunity and Inclusion Committee.

K&L Gates explained the changes in a firmwide email obtained by Above the Law.

The email said K&L Gates is not diminishing its commitment to opportunity and inclusion.

“We are embracing the terminology opportunity and inclusion to more comprehensively express our commitment to fostering a culture that supports and empowers a broad range of individuals with diverse backgrounds and different life experiences,” the email said.

“The website changes are reflective of guidance being received by many clients and others, as entities understandably are taking a hard look at how to preserve their values amid fluctuating internal and external expectations and to ensure they remain compliant with shifting laws and regulations,” the email said.

“To date, the changes on our website have been implemented and led by a cross-section of stakeholders at our firm, including importantly by members of our opportunity and inclusion team. The team is still in the process of making updates to the website—and we can assure you that the feedback we receive will be factored in.”

K&L Gates made similar points in this statement forwarded to the ABA Journal: “Consistent with our long-held values, K&L Gates is committed to advancing opportunity and inclusion across all facets of the firm. Revisions to our website have been implemented and led by a cross-section of stakeholders at our firm, including importantly by members of our Opportunity and Inclusion Committee, and we are and will continue to be in close communication with our entire global team about these changes. Not only do we place great value on our team members’ unique backgrounds, talents and skills, but we also benefit as a firm from the diversity of their lived and learned experiences. We are dedicated to ensuring that every person at K&L Gates feels respected, heard, valued and supported. We have not diminished in any way our long-standing commitment to foster an inclusive, talented team, as we know this enables us to provide the best possible service to our clients and empowers our workforce to thrive.”

Updated Feb. 13 at 11:09 a.m. to include the statement from K&L Gates.

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3. Florida Supreme Court tells state bar to…

Diversity

Florida Supreme Court tells state bar to stop funding diversity initiatives

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 6, 2024, 8:21 am CST

The Florida Supreme Court has directed the state bar to stop funding diversity and inclusion initiatives in its new budget.

In response, the Florida Bar will transition its Diversity and Inclusion Committee to a new Membership Outreach Committee that will encourage Florida lawyers to get more involved with the bar, report Florida Bar News, Law360 and Bloomberg Law. Diversity funding will also be moved to the new committee.

The Florida Bar is an arm of the Florida Supreme Court, which has oversight of the bar’s budget, the Florida Bar’s communications director told Law360.

The bar’s current budget called for spending $234,000 on diversity and inclusion, according to Bloomberg Law. The previous fiscal year, the bar spent about $300,000 on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The Florida Supreme Court supports bar participation by all members, according to Paul Flemming, the state supreme court’s director of public information, who was quoted by Law360 and Florida Bar News. As a governmental entity, the bar must treat all members equally and without bias, Flemming said.

The state supreme court’s directive follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision striking down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

But diversity is not the same as affirmative action, according to Merrick L. Gross, a shareholder at Carlton Fields, who spoke with Law360.

“There are lots of ways to support and enhance diversity without affirmative action,” said Gross, who told Law360 that he was speaking for himself and not his law firm. “Acknowledging and understanding diversity can amount to removing barriers and creating truly equal opportunity.”

See also:

“Florida judges can no longer get CLE credit for general ‘fairness and diversity’ courses, state supreme court says”

“Refusing to budge, top Florida court says ABA imposes CLE panel ‘quotas,’ state lawyers can’t get credit for participation”

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3. Listen to our 10 favorite podcast episodes…

Year in Review

Listen to our 10 favorite podcast episodes of 2023

By Lee Rawles

December 22, 2023, 8:59 am CST

Looking for a new listen? We’ve picked our favorite 2023 episodes from each of the ABA Journal’s three podcasts, one of which is bidding adieu after a 13-year run. If this whets your appetite, find all our past episodes on our podcast page. You can also check out more legal podcasts from our partners at Legal Talk Network.

Asked and Answered

  • “Attorney for Lawrence v. Texas reflects on LGBTQ rights on 20th anniversary”: Winning a 2003 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case expanded a gay lawyer’s Supreme Court practice, he says, and looking back, it’s his favorite case.

  • “Interested in trying AI to write? It’s as easy as opening a document”: “A founding father” of bar exam software cautions that human knowledge and judgment are needed to make sure that AI-generated writing is accurate.

  • “So Long and Farewell: Asked and Answered’s host steps down from the podcast”: After 13 years and 170 episodes, Asked and Answered host Stephanie Francis Ward is hanging up her headphones and switching off her mic. Asked and Answered, the ABA Journal’s first and longest-running podcast, is ending its run—at least for now.

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Legal Rebels Podcast

  • “What is the future of remote working in the law firm world?”: Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home and communicating and collaborating via real-time communication tools has become the norm for many law firms and offices.

  • “How generative AI is already changing contract review”: A lot has been made about how generative artificial intelligence has already changed many aspects of the legal industry. Heck, we’ve already done a few shows on this very topic.

  • “Changing the culture at law firms to promote wellness and mental well-being”: For decades, lawyers who worked in BigLaw could expect some version of the following: Work long hours, including nights and weekends, with minimal free time, giving up almost all semblances of a social life. The reward: money and a potential partnership. And if you didn’t like it, there was the door. And if you were having mental health or wellness issues, then suck it up and deal with it.

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The Modern Law Library

  • “Law grad turns culinary passion into TikTok fame and a brand-new cookbook”: Like many others, Jon Kung figured that law school would be a safe harbor to weather the storms of the Great Recession. But after emerging from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2011, Kung changed course.

  • “The Shadow Docket shines light on an increasingly uncommunicative Supreme Court: In The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck argues that the U.S. Supreme Court is expanding its powers at the expense of the rule of law and public transparency.

  • “Is family court too flawed to be fixed?” Jane M. Spinak did not set out to write a book arguing for the abolition of family court. She thought that she would be making the case for a set of sensible reforms. But the more she dug into the history of the family court system, the previous attempts at reform, and the examples of real world harms that the system had caused, the more she began to believe there was no saving it.

  • “Tales of 3 generations of Black women intertwine to form Memphis”: Tara M. Stringfellow became an attorney simply because her first book of poetry didn’t sell and she needed an income. But after a few years at Crown Castle in Chicago doing family and real estate law, she left, heading straight to the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing at Northwestern University to get back into the writing game—this time with a lawyer’s sharpened pencil.