Diversity and inclusion initiatives aren’t just valuable for checking off compliance boxes and writing marketing copy. Those benefits are a distant second and third to the genuine value that team diversity has on the success of a company or a project. That also means law firms and trials.

A recent article published by the American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice Section hailed the diversity of perspectives for how they improve a team’s ability to resolve legal issues, innovate solutions, and introduce factors that homogeneous teams may miss.

The National Association for Law Placement reported that women and people of color are making great progress at major law firms. Nearly half of associates are women, and based on summer associate statistics, women are expected to break the 50% as early as this year or next. Black associates made impressive gains, but there remains room for improvement. At the partner level, however, Black and Latinx women and men remain stuck in the low single digits.

In this episode, we drill down even further to examine trial teams in the intellectual property arena. I was thrilled to speak with Tara Trask, one of the nation’s leading experts on IP trials and juries, having directly worked on or observed more of these proceedings than just about anyone. Tara has championed research on this topic as part of her work and presentations for the American Intellectual Property Law Association. The diversity spark lit up for Tara when she and her panelists enjoyed an enthusiastic reaction to an AIPLA conference session she moderated titled, “Perspectives on Diversity: Views on Trial Teams From the Bench, The Boardroom, and the Jury Box.”

Listen to Tara’s insights based on analysis of her own cases, analysis of related studies, and expanded fact-gathering she is leading in collaboration with the association.

BREAKING NEWS! This episode kicks off a series of guest-hosted sessions for which Tara will take the mic to interview professionals from her impressive network on legal team diversity.

Thanks for listening!

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If you have questions for Tom or would like to participate, you can reach him at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.

Ask him about creating this kind of content for your firm — podcasts, webinars, blogs, articles, papers, and more.

Tom Hagy
Litigation Enthusiast and
Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast
LinkedIn

FILED UNDER: Intellectual Property | Legal Operations + Procedural Law | MassTorts + Class Actions​​
TAGS: Jury Selection | Litigation & appeals