MLA Creates In-House Diversity & Inclusion Committee

New group, comprised of 11 MLA leaders, will focus on developing a more inclusive legal community

HANOVER, MD (September 19, 2023)—Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA), the world’s largest legal search firm, has created its own internal in-house counsel recruitment committee focused on educating and building more diverse in-house legal departments.

“The In-House Diversity & Inclusion Committee is dedicated to changing the face of in-house legal teams one placement at a time,” said Melba Hughes, Partner, Executive Director & National In-House Diversity Practice Leader. “In 2022, MLA’s In-House Counsel Recruiting team placed over 650 legal executives across the globe, 61% of whom were diverse executives – either female and/or underrepresented minorities. Furthermore, in the U.S., 115 of those placements were at the general counsel level, and 59% of this group was diverse.”

The committee is taking a two-fold approach to diversifying the profession: Internally, it is devoting its time to providing training around unconscious bias, understanding, disrupting barriers to DEI, and methods for hiring and retaining diverse talent. Simultaneously, it is coaching clients on unbiased interviewing techniques, presenting them with diverse candidate slates and encouraging their participation with diverse organizations within their local communities.

The In-House Diversity & Inclusion Committee is composed of 11 members across MLA’s In-House Counsel Recruiting and Executive Leadership teams: Barrett Avigdor, Edina Beasley, Lee Berger, Heather Fine, Melba Hughes, Margot Jackson, Jay Kim, Chad Marlow, Greg Richter, Dian Milligan, and Jennifer Silver. Each of these champions is active in the legal community and committed to the advancement of diverse and underrepresented lawyers across the legal profession.