Scenario
Setting: A rapidly growing medium-sized law firm’s litigation department plans to hire a lawyer recently called to the Bar. The job posting expresses preference for experience in private practice, experience in litigation, and ability to fit within their “work culture,” though this is not defined.
The candidate pool includes a racialized woman who gained extensive litigation experience while articling at a small rural nonprofit legal clinic. The clinic did not have the funds necessary to hire her back full time. She is the first in her family to go to law school.
The pool also includes a non-racialized male candidate who completed his articles at a large firm. He gained some experience in a wide range of legal work but did not have the opportunity to receive in-depth training in any given area. The firm had a large and competitive articling program, and the candidate received minimal exposure to litigation practice. He did not get hired back.
As the hiring committee deliberates, one member leans toward the male candidate because his résumé shows a “better cultural fit” as someone with large firm experience, and she vouches for the candidate because she knows his parents through their children’s participation in high school athletics. Another argues for the female candidate’s hiring, as her litigation experience provides the firm more immediate benefit than having experience in a large private firm. A third says it would be easier to help the male candidate gain litigation experience than it would be to ensure the female candidate fits into their “work culture.”
The committee uses a candidate rubric that weighs private law firm experience and culture fit more highly than litigation experience. The firm’s “culture fit” standard is undefined and tends to reflect the majority group’s lived experiences.
Questions:
1. What assumptions or unconscious biases might be at work here?
2. How could the firm apply an equity lens in designing the hiring process so that it values diverse experiences and reduces structural barriers?
3. What might the firm do post‐hire to ensure retention, mentoring and advancement of the new hire from a less traditional background?
For assistance in answering these questions, consult the Society’s Equity Lens Toolkit.
Review the NSBS answers at Equity in Action Scenario: Hiring a New Lawyer (Answers).