Hartford Business Journal

18 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | June 6, 2022 Andrés Jiménez-Franck, an associate in Pullman & Comley's labor, employment law and employee benefits department, helps spearhead DEI efforts at the firm. PHOTO | GARY LEWIS Law firm DEI efforts extend to management, younger students By Liese Klein R eturning for his second year at UConn Law School, An- drés Jiménez-Franck had a definite edge. He had spent the summer at law firm Pullman & Comley in a new program that allowed him to do the work of a summer associate, a post typically reserved for students prior to their third year of law school. "I think I got the real experience early on," Jiménez-Franck said. "They gave me the same materials that the second-year law students received, my workload was very similar to what they had." He was also able to discuss his work and larger legal issues with the firm's senior partners. "Pullman provided substantial feedback on my work product," Jiménez-Franck said. "And I took that with me when I went back to school. It definitely made me more confident." Jiménez-Franck went on to be hired by Pullman & Comley after he finished law school and passed the bar exam. First-year law students are a new focus of Pullman & Comley's efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), as the legal profession seeks to align its workforce to the nation's demographics. DEI efforts at law firms are increasingly looking to younger age groups to spark interest in the profession, in addition to focusing on concrete metrics to track their progress. New positions are also being created within firms to bolster DEI efforts at the highest levels of leadership, and clients are clamoring for help on their own DEI outreach. Meantime, clients are also demanding firms that represent them to have formal DEI strategies and an increasingly diverse lawyer pool. "We will try to walk the walk and talk the talk internally; we also want to share these concepts with our clients," said Mark Sommaruga, chair of Pullman's DEI committee. As a firm specializing in employment law, Pullman, with offices in Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury and Westport, sees increasing demand from corporate clients on incorporating diversity efforts in their workplaces. "Diversity, equity and inclusion training is frequently the highest, the most requested service they want from us," Sommaruga said. The law profession in general has made progress in diversifying its ranks in recent years, but it still has a ways to go to increase diversity, particularly among women and minorities. According to the 2021 "Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms," published by the National Association for Law Placement Inc., people of color made up 27.6% of U.S. law firm associate positions and 12.4% of counsel positions, compared to 23.3% and 10.2%, respectively, five years ago. But only 10.8% of U.S. partner positions were filled by minorities last year, compared to 8.42% in 2017, the report found. Management role adds DEI focus At New Haven-based Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey, the increased importance of DEI work is reflected in a new Mark Sommaruga

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