While the focus of the article is on racial and ethnic discrimination, the policy also encompasses efforts to counter gender-based discrimination. Gender and race discrimination have existed since the beginning of the legal profession. The first woman to graduate from Harvard Law School was a member of the class of 1953. Stanford's first African-American law student graduated in 1968. Discrimination continues in ways both overt and subtle.
Minorities are still the last to be hired and the first to be asked to leave.
Women fare better, but not much. Female minorities suffer the brunt of dual discrimination. A story relayed to me directly by a participant crystallized the creation of the retention policy described in this article. This story highlights the problem and conveys better than statistics the effect of discrimination in the legal marketplace. He played an associate in a case in which the inside lawyer tells the partner to make sure that he does not assign a minority to the case.