Peer to Peer Magazine

50 Since it's important to track both public and non-public details to optimize the accuracy of diversity metrics across clients and matters, having the Diversity team using the same tool as Business Development can simplify and enhance the process. Business Development can take advantage of the public information when selecting diverse pitch teams to include when generating proposals, while the diversity team can leverage both public and private details to better analyze performance to goal metrics. For this to work, HR and the Diversity team must have the ability to populate accurate diversity details on the backend. Care must be taken to ensure that sensitive information captured in a platform can be secured by roles, so the data can drive reporting but is not individually discoverable to Business Development and the rest of the firm. Another challenge is being able to report on low numbers while a diversity program takes hold. There needs to be enough people doing work for a client or matter to be able to break down the metrics without collaterally disclosing a protected status. With more diverse lawyer involvement, however, the more data a firm will have and the more data they can report on. It is also helpful to integrate time entries into analysis. Diversity insights are easily identified when aggregated with firm HR and CRM data. For example, Foundation can calculate diversity work percentages on a client, display who is handling what type of work, and provide access to matter breakdowns for all their work done by the firm. Using these insights along with other key financial and relationship metrics, a firm can more consistently and proactively manage their strategic client relationships. Data Can Also Drive Inclusion While driving diversity in lawyer representation is a critical first step in meeting goals, firms need to do more work to make sure that diverse lawyers see they have a future at the firm. Seeing one's color, gender, or sexual preference reflected in leadership — or leaders who have followed an alternative path like taking parental leave — can go a long way in demonstrating a firm's commitment to inclusion. Moving to foster a culture of inclusion needs long term planning with tracking and measurement along the way. Important metrics to track for diverse populations include: • Percent of work being done for top clients • Percent of high value work being done • Percent of billable and non-billable hours • Percent of work handled for clients to support succession planning • Percent of hires and departures A firm's intelligence platform can be helpful for many of these areas as well, as it can contain a combination of data from multiple required sources and can easily show things like what matters lawyers have been working on, for how long, and for whom. This type of reporting could easily take a couple of data analysts weeks to complete without an integrated platform. The late, great Shirley Chisholm said "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." It is with this in mind that ILTA Publications takes aim at boardroom tables everywhere and asks: What seat would you pull up to the table? With great pleasure, we welcome our next chair to table guest Berys Amor, long-time ILTA volunteer, current ILTA Knowledge Advisor, speaker, and, in her copious spare time, Berys is the Director of Technology at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. There, she manages a national team which includes client technology solutions, IT project delivery, IT training, helpdesk and service delivery, and infrastructure and applications support. Berys was selected for CIO Australia's top 50 CIOs for 2016. Today, Berys sits down with ILTA Senior Content Manager Beth Anne Stuebe and talks about what chair she would bring to the table, who else is at that table, and so much more. Getting a Seat at the Table L I S T E N T O P O D C A S T AT I L TA N E T. O R G / F A L L - 2 0 1 9

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