By William A. Munck of Munck Wilson Mandala
(Aug. 10) – My role as the managing partner of Munck Wilson Mandala has always been to ensure that we do the best work we can for our clients. My goal is to get the best people to solve our clients’ problems and to have them do their best.
But the simple truth is that our industry makes it difficult to find the best people because of historically unequal treatment of people based on differences, whether that be gender, race, disability or other difference. Obstacles for one group of attorneys, women, have led to a number of smart and capable women “opting out” of their law career right as they hit their stride. Consequently, law firms lose time and expend effort spent training these attorneys and then waste significant resources in time and money to replace them.
I see why some opt out. It looks exhausting to be a woman in this industry – opposing counsel condescend to our competent female litigators but back down when confronted by a male colleague, schools constantly calling mothers at work but rarely calling fathers to pick up sick children, and comments about appearances that are totally irrelevant to the work our female colleagues accomplish. And that is before our female employees even get to their difficult substantive jobs.
That sexism also hurts our efficiencies. When women cannot be efficient because of obstacles which are solely related to their gender but not to their work product, our business suffers. So, when our firm – like many in our industry – was faced with losing competent, senior female attorneys due to issues that typically are not shared by male attorneys, we wanted to find solutions to keep them.
This is not altruism; it is just good business. We do not want to lose any competent senior attorneys. We want to get and retain the best people – this certainly includes our women attorneys.
One of those women asked me to join a conference last fall and together we attended S.H.E. Summit Bacardi in Miami. The event was hosted by The Bacardi Women in Leadership Initiative which was founded with the mission of unleashing the potential of current and future female leaders inside Bacardi, in its industry and beyond. S.H.E. Summit is part of an empowerment movement focused on building a culture of support and inclusiveness, and it challenges women to be the drivers of this cultural shift.
Bacardi WIL partnered with S.H.E. Summit to bring the event to Miami because Bacardi is committed to getting and retaining the best people regardless of factors such as gender or race or ethnicity. Bacardi is an industry leader because of its commitment to diversity.
At S.H.E. Summit Miami, female and male leaders, scholars, educators, entrepreneurs and students shared stories on how and why they are helping to raise women to their highest potential and how they do it themselves. I met Claudia Chan, founder of S.H.E. Global Media, who started the first S.H.E. Summit in 2012 in New York City as a means to convene women to share, educate and empower each other. I heard from Marlene Gordon about her rise from a village in Jamaica to her role as general counsel for Bacardi N.A. I joined with other men, like Pete Carr, regional president of North America for Bacardi, and discussed ways we can best sponsor women in our organizations to allow them to achieve their potential which will, in turn, allow our companies to do the same.
During the conference, I realized that what I thought was just common sense business strategy was actually right in line with the movement S.H.E. Summit is promoting and that we needed to be part of the larger conversation.
I knew from personal experience there is a gap in women’s leadership and the studies back it up. Women have outnumbered men on college campuses since 1988. They have earned at least one-third of law degrees since 1980 and accounted for fully one-third of medical students by 1990, yet their prominence in top leadership positions – as equity partners, medical school deans, and corporate executive officers – remains below 20 percent. Their presence as board directors, CEOs, Hollywood writers, producers, and directors and as members of Congress is also less than 20 percent.
As long as these numbers continue to stagnate, it is clear that society as a whole will suffer from the lack of an inclusive, open and respectful environment. Diversity and inclusiveness make society stronger, more creative and bring to bear varied perspectives, experiences, backgrounds, talents and interests. Selfishly, in the legal industry, diversity and inclusion translates to better service for our clients as we tackle complex legal problems.
The goal of the S.H.E. movement is to reach gender equality by 2030, and Munck Wilson Mandala is here to help achieve that goal. We partnered with S.H.E. Summit and Bacardi WIL and on Aug. 16, S.H.E. Summit Bacardi will be hosted at the Omni Dallas. S.H.E. Summit will feature panel discussions, breakout sessions and keynotes that will cover everything from breaking barriers in male dominated industries to how successful women have overcome obstacles to start billion dollar businesses. This year, S.H.E. Summit will be in New York, Miami and now Dallas for the first time. We would love to have you join us. Whether you are a women or man, senior executive or new hire, if you are committed to finding professional and personal success, S.H.E. Summit is for you.
We are so grateful to have many great sponsors and community and corporate partners who are helping us bring S.H.E. Summit to Dallas, and we have partnered with Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support as well. More than 250 professionals representing Bacardi, partner organizations and firms across various industries including finance, hospitality, law, consulting and more are anticipated to attend.
S.H.E. Summit is Aug. 16, 2018 at the Omni Dallas. The program begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes in the afternoon with a cocktail reception sponsored by Bacardi. S.H.E. Summit is open to professional women and men. To learn more about S.H.E. Summit go to: www.shedallas.com
William A. Munck is the managing partner of Munck Wilson Mandala, LLP. He is a member of the executive committee and chairs the firm’s technology/intellectual property law practice.