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Marketing the Law FirmFeaturesDiversityLaw Firm Marketing and Business Development

Racial Equity Audits Create Accountability for DEI Programs

By Alexandre Rene, Michael R. Littenberg, Jessica L. Soto and Caitlin Handron
April 01, 2022

"I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories … We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust … We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better." — Justice Thurgood Marshall

Workplace discrimination is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Notwithstanding this federal law, the underlying jurisprudence applying it, and its state and local analogues, fair and equitable treatment of employees remains elusive for many organizations. According to a 2019 Glassdoor survey, 61% of U.S. employees reported that they have witnessed or experienced workplace discrimination, and stark racial and gender disparities in professional advancement persist at every level in every major industry. Furthermore, evidence suggests that some of the most common interventions to promote diversity do not work as intended. See, Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, "Why Diversity Programs Fail," Harvard Bus. Rev., (Jul-Aug. 2016).

The 2020 murder of George Floyd and the ensuing public outcry jolted the nation — and the racial equity movement — in ways unseen in decades. As intolerance for inequities in policing and the workplace grew, corporations across the nation pledged their commitment to transform their hiring, promotion, and retention practices to foster inclusion for personnel at all levels.

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