ANALYSIS: Mentorship Is a Must to Keep DEI Afloat in 2024

Although the fight for diversity in the legal profession is far from over, law firms and corporations are shifting strategies for their DEI programs in light of recent legal challenges.

Now is the perfect time for firms and corporations to step up their mentorship efforts as part of their overall approach to maintain robust diversity programs. Mentorship is a concept that’s been talked about for years in legal circles: Having mentors can help retain diverse talent. This works by fostering a sense of belonging, which can lead to lower turnover.

If challenges to DEI programs persist, mentorship will play a key role in DEI efforts in the future. And Bloomberg Law survey results indicate that there’s a need for mentorship, especially as it relates to attorneys’ feelings of belonging at work.

Friends, Mentors, and Communication

Attorneys who responded to Bloomberg Law’s Attorney Workload & Hours survey were asked how much they agreed with the statement “I feel like I belong at work.” They were then also asked how much they agreed with several other statements, including:

• “I have open communications up the chain of command at work.”
• “I have colleagues I can relate to at work.”
• “There are people I consider friends at work.”
• “There are people I consider mentors at work.”

There are statistically significant positive correlations between several of these factors. Correlation is a statistical metric that quantifies the strength and direction of a relationship between two items. It doesn’t mean that one causes the other, just that they are related more than one would expect due to chance. In terms of this data, when an attorney agreed (or disagreed) with a statement, they were likely to select a similar response to the other statements. The strongest correlation was between having colleagues they can relate to and having people they consider friends.

While this makes intuitive sense, there aren’t many formal programs that organizations can implement to ensure coworkers become friends. What can be instituted, however, is a culture of clear communication and structured mentorship programs.

Mentorship Matters

Overall, just under half of surveyed attorneys agreed that there are people they consider mentors at work. This question was asked generally, so it could encompass formal mentorship programs as well as informal relationships; however, it doesn’t take into account that many people have mentors outside of their current organization.

While it’s initially striking that half of all survey respondents didn’t agree that they had a person they considered a mentor a work, a breakdown of the data by attorneys’ years in practice reveals that legal organizations are doing a fairly good job with mentorship.

Nearly three-quarters of newer attorneys—those with five or fewer years of experience—agree that they have a mentor and two-thirds of those with six to eight years in practice agree. The bulk of those who disagreed with the question have over 15 years of experience and are likely the ones serving as mentors, not the other way around.

Interestingly, 86% of law firms that submitted data for Bloomberg Law’s DEI Framework reported having mentorship programs as a way to increase diversity at all levels. Because most firms have mentorship programs, and about seven out of 10 newer attorneys say that they have a mentor (and we know that having a mentor is related to a greater sense of belonging at work), mentoring—formal and informal—is an area where increased efforts can make a big impact. Look for more of it in 2024.

Access additional analyses from our Bloomberg Law 2024 series here, covering trends in Litigation, Transactions & Contracts, Artificial Intelligence, Regulatory & Compliance, and the Practice of Law.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can find related content on our Surveys, Reports & Data Analysis page and our DEI Framework page.

Nonsubscribers can access information information on the DEI Framework here.

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