Law Firms Seek Diversity by Recruiting at ‘Overlooked’ Schools

Law firms seeking to diversify their ranks are expanding recruitment efforts at law schools “that tend to get overlooked,” according to the director of diversity efforts at Goodwin Procter LLP.

“We tend to fish in the same ponds for the same talent,” Goodwin’s Bernard Guinyard told lawmakers at an Oct. 17 hearing by the House Financial Services Committee’s panel on diversity.

The bid to broaden recruitment is part of a five-year diversity initiative launched in September by a group that includes Goodwin, four other law firms, and in-house lawyers at more than 25 companies.

The representation of women and minorities ...