Keeping Score

Supporting the effort are some 65 bar organizations, including major groups such as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York State Bar Association and small specialty bar associations such as the Nigerian Lawyers Association and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Law Association. In-house counsel at more than 20 businesses were also signatories, including lawyers from such large corporations as the Bank of New York Companies, Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., Prudential Securities Group, Inc., and TIAA�CREF.

For law firms, failure to adequately diversify legal teams assigned to client matters could mean the difference between retaining business or being dropped in favor of more socially progressive shops, according to speakers at a press conference announcing the pact. The agreement suggests that head counts on minority staffing might one day be publicized, although exactly when and how that would happen remains unclear.