Linking Well-Being and DEI in the Legal Profession

A recent article by Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Katrina Lee looks at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and lawyer well-being in law firms. Prof Lee provides an overview of the two topics, discusses the unique impacts of the COVID pandemic and the “racial reckoning” of 2020-2021, and describes law firms’ efforts to promote DEI and lawyer well-being. She notes that DEI and lawyer well-being have traveled on two separate tracks in the legal profession, but that it is time these two efforts coalesce in order to advance women of color in the legal profession. She offers some suggestions for steps law firms can take to link DEI and lawyer well-being.

Katrina Lee, Solving for Law Firm Inclusion: The Necessity of Lawyer Well-Being, 24 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 323 (2022) [Full text through SSRN]