Energy industry lawyers discuss diversity, inclusion among legal partners at NARUC meeting
In a meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Subcommittee on Supplier and Workforce Diversity on Friday, legal experts discussed ways to exert their influence to create more diverse and inclusive environments among the industry’s legal partners.
NARUC intends to launch a Commission Diversity Components tool to track diversity of gender, race and ethnicity in the industry. The wealth of data provided will be sortable by state and aspect of diversity, and allow users to see actions various commissions and states have taken to address the issue.
Yet the main topic of the meeting was not NARUC or the industry itself, but rather, what it can do to effect change among its partners. To address this, subcommittee chair Sadzi Oliva, a commissioner on the Illinois Commerce Commission, gathered together Veronica Gomez, senior vice president of regulatory and energy policy and general counsel for ComEd; Chonda Nwamu, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary for Ameren Corporation; Andre Porter, vice president, general counsel and secretary for MISO; and Alan Rubenstein, executive vice president at Chicago Legal Search.
All made clear how little things have changed in much of the legal field over the years. For black professionals in particular, numbers have not improved particularly at law firms, according to Nwamu – and those numbers are abysmal. Rubenstein dug into those numbers a little more heavily, and echoed Nwamu’s fears that too little has changed.
“If you look at the largest law firms, whether in Chicago or in the nation today, you see oftentimes firms of several hundred, thousand-plus attorneys, who may have no black partners, a black partner, no partners of color, and just attorney percentages overall might be somewhere around 3-4 percent,” Rubenstein said. “Far less representative of the people of color on the whole in the law.”
In fact, even in the top five diverse law firms in the country, partnership ranks less than a full percentage point black, by Rubenstein’s figures.
Naturally, change starts from within. At ComEd, for example, there has been a recognition of the need for change and regulated utilities are working together to push for supplier diversity. Diversity considerations for internships and programs within its departments go side by side with developing relationships with minority law firms. According to Gomez, a complex problem like this requires a multidimensional solution.
“Developing supplier diversity in certain categories is one set of challenges, doing it in professional and legal services are a different set of challenges, and it can be kind of sticky,” Gomez said.
At Ameren, it has been a similar story. Nwamu noted that there has been a big focus on helping people aspire to what they see. Diversity rests at the core of the company’s values, she said, and forms a concrete statement to coworkers and communities alike that it’s important. She cited diverse interview panels, wider candidate net casting, higher equity standards for outside counsel and a commitment to getting things done by intention, not passivity.
Part of this has meant spending dollars in a way to make diversity matter to the workforce at large. Part of this has also meant taking a long, hard look inside.
“What I’ve found is oftentimes in the energy industry, it’s a small industry, a lot of people know each other, so there would be an opening, and attorneys would say ‘Oh I know someone, and they’re great,’ and I think that’s wonderful, but what it also can do is close the door to others who may not be in those same circles,” Nwamu said.
Hence the importance of casting a wide net. Porter added that Chief Diversity Officers help, along with guaranteeing the ones doing the interviewing look as diverse as those being interviewed. Retention will also mean listening to the diverse components of a company and actively working to make their spaces less lonely for them. Businesses, in his view, need to be prepared to look beyond their traditional recruiting efforts and to provide a support structure when they arrive, even if it’s just for soft skills individuals need to be successful.
Hundreds of law firms exist in Chicago alone with no people of color on staff, Rubenstein pointed out. And even lawyers of color who may get into these types of firms rarely end up staying for partnership. Why? A lack of mentorship, or belonging – the organizations may not be openly racist, but that doesn’t stop them from being exclusionary. Even passive assistance isn’t enough.
“They might say, hey, if there’s anything I can do, let me know,” Rubenstein said. “But that’s not helpful. People need to take an active role.”
