Microsoft expands diversity incentives for law firms it does business with

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Published onAugust 4, 2015

published onAugust 4, 2015

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Like most organizations, Microsoft has had theiroccasional gaffein regards to diversity. Still, they have recently been emphasizingtheir commitment to increasing diversityand awareness in the workplace. And now, Microsoft is expanding one of their more innovative diversity programs to encourage law firms they do business with to have more diverse leadership.

Microsoft has been fostering diversity amongst law firms they contract with using their Law Firm Diversity Program since 2008. This program provides incentives for firms by paying out a bonus at the end of the fiscal year equivalent to up to 2% of their fees for the year if they have met certain goals in promoting diversity within their own organization.Microsoft announced todaythat they are changing the criteria to base the annual bonus on the firm’s performance in increasing diversity in three dimensions of their leadership. They are:

With this recent change to the program Microsoft is encouraging more diversity not among the lawyers representing Microsoft but at the firms’ overall leadership levels.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel and Executive VP for Legal and Corporate Affairs, wrote in the post the reasons for the change in the program were twofold. One, that it had been such a successful program since 2008 from their point of view, having an impact on business results and helping them and their legal teams be more creative and be able to better understand legislators, regulators, and customers around the world. Secondly, statistically, diversity among law firm leadership ranks even lower than among law firms as a whole. Smith goes on to say:

“All of this has inspired us to take our next step. As we do so, we’ve concluded that it’s important now to focus on promoting more diversity in leadership positions in law firms.”

You can learn more about Microsoft’s LawFirm Diversity Program on theMicrosoft on the Issues blog post.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

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