Q. What best practices and business development opportunities can law firms implement to improve inclusiveness of attorneys who, for example, identify as LGBTQ+ and racially diverse?

A. In addition to providing intersectional LGBTQ+ inclusion educational programming for all law firm employees, law firms can do the following:

• Prioritize stronger mentorship and sponsorship opportunities and resources for LGBTQ+ attorneys, particularly those who are underrepresented at the firm: LGBTQ+ attorneys of color, trans and nonbinary attorneys, bisexual women, and lesbian attorneys.

• Address a culture of fear by having difficult conversations. The general feeling of lack of safety by underrepresented attorneys leads to expensive loss of retention. Diversify avenues of safer communication to solicit honest feedback from underrepresented attorneys, particularly those with multiple marginalized identities.

• Focus outreach efforts to recruit higher numbers of LGBTQ+ attorneys of color from summer associates to lateral hires through networking and career fair opportunities such as the LGBTQ+ Bar’s Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair and joint LGBTQ+ events at minority bar associations, such as the Black LGBTQ+ Legal Professionals Caucus, the LGBTQ+ Bar’s joint endeavor with the NBA LGBTQ Division or NAPABA’s LGBTQ Network.