It seems to me that it's during tough times--like a recession--that you find out what an organization's priorities really are.  I've been concerned that during this particular downturn, as law firms face the need to tighten belts, we would witness a scaling back in many firms' diversity efforts.  It will be interesting to see what our various surveys on law firm demographics show when we publish them during 2010 -- my guess is that we'll see that some firms have gone in reverse and have undone the gains that we've been tracking over the past several years.  But I'm also sure that others will have held on to their gains in diversity and inclusion, finding ways to reduce expenses without targeting women and minority associates, or cutting back on inclusion programs.  Then we'll know which firms saw their diversity programs as window-dressing for good times only, and which ones were serious.

The same, of course, holds true for ALM.  We have had a commitment to using our news pages and other venues to promote diversity within the legal profession, and I have been very proud of the work we have done.  Notwithstanding our own expense reduction efforts, I would not want to see us scaling back those surveys and news reports which shine a bright light on this important issue.  Quite the contrary, I want to see our websites and publications used to focus even more attention on diversity, to encourage firms to do a better job hiring, retaining, mentoring and promoting their women and minority employees.

And so I was particularly pleased this week to learn that The Legal Intelligencer in Philadelphia has been recognized by The Barrister's Association of Philadelphia to receive the Outstanding Organization Award at their 2010 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast "in recognition of its efforts to promote gender and racial diversity in the legal profession".  The note went on to say, "Your organization has made exceptional efforts to challenge the status quo  through journalism by providing the Philadelphia legal community with news coverage of diversity topics that are overlooked by the mainstream media".

Congratulations to Hank Grezlak and his staff for this wonderful recognition and for keeping true to an important part of our core values.