CDF Labor Law LLP’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives help the Irvine-based employment and immigration law firm recruit and retain not only employees, but also clients.
“More clients and companies are demanding DEI of their firms and outside counsel,” CDF San Francisco Office Managing Partner and diversity committee lead Alison Tsao told the Business Journal.
The firm, which counts offices across California, represents employers and advises them on issues such as compliance and immigration matters.
Corporations that are interested in working with CDF have increasingly required the firm to complete surveys about its DEI efforts and metrics over the past five years.
“It is a business imperative to recognize that this is now a client mandate by a lot of companies,” Tsao added.
CDF has been selected for inclusion in the Business Journal’s inaugural Embracing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Special Report.
Diversity Lab-Certified
CDF has the metrics to pass diversity screenings required by prospective clients.
The firm this year earned the Mansfield Certification Plus from Diversity Lab, which describes itself as an incubator for initiatives that boost diversity and inclusion in law.
The credential signifies that CDF has achieved 30% representation of historically underrepresented lawyers (attorneys who are women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and who have disabilities) in current leadership roles and in professional development programs.
The firm, in fact, has far surpassed the required 30%. Underrepresented lawyers account for over 68% of all CDF’s attorneys, and 65% of those lawyers occupy firm governance roles, according to the company.
“Our firm has always been very diverse,” Tsao said. “Getting certified was to have official recognition of our efforts to make us more attractive to candidates, recruits and clients.”
Mentorship Program
While CDF’s Mansfield Certification Plus status attracts recruits and clients, the firm’s mentorship program retains its attorneys.
Tsao got the idea for a mentor-mentee program after learning that other firms’ lack of meaningful mentorship drove attrition.
Though the program started out as a service for diverse associates, CDF opened it up to include all attorneys at the firm.
“We didn’t want to exclude anyone if they wanted or needed a mentor,” Tsao said.
Through the program, mentees are assigned to one of the firm’s partners. Mentors and mentees are required to meet at least once a quarter.
The program not only aims to provide professional development coaching for attorneys, but also to alleviate the racial and gender disparity in leadership in law.
“The legal profession as a whole has presented challenges for women and attorneys of color,” Tsao said.
The percentage of women, people of color and women of color that have made partner at law firms has steadily increased in about 1% increments over the past 30 years.
As of last year, nearly 27% of firm partners are women, 11% are people of color and around 4% are women of color, according to the National Association for Law Placement.
By contrast, 49% of firms’ associates are women, 28% are people of color and 17% are women of color.
Pairing historically underrepresented lawyers with partners that share their racial and gender identity will help increase those percentages because diverse attorneys “need to see a role model and a path to success at the firms where they work,” Tsao said.
“It’s not just a matter of working hard, but that partnership or elevation is achievable.”
