Mitch Zuklie Discusses How GCs are Motivating Law Firm Diversity in The American Lawyer

Orrick Chairman Mitch Zuklie recently spoke with The American Lawyer on initiatives spearheaded by the general counsel of major corporations to increase diversity in the firms they turn to for outside counsel. The piece was published as part of The American Lawyer’s annual Diversity Scorecard rankings. This year, Orrick jumped from #13 to #8 in the rankings.

Mitch noted that he welcomes pressure from corporate clients to staff matters with diverse teams, as it reinforces the need to increase diversity in Big Law. “While we’ve made great progress, I think progress everywhere, including at our firm, is slower than it needs to be and I think these types of measures at least force a dialogue,” Mitch said.

Mitch added that Orrick has been accommodating diversity requests from clients like Microsoft and Intel for years, which has shifted the way the firm approached diversity. “I don’t think we staff a matter today without thinking about the diversity of the team—and we’re not alone in that,” he concluded.