Rubén Muñoz Speaks with The Legal Intelligencer for Roundtable Discussion on Law Firm Diversity

Akin Gump intellectual property partner Rubén Muñoz, who serves as partner in charge of the firm’s Philadelphia office, participated in The Legal Intelligencer’s “2019 Roundtable Discussion on Diversity and Inclusion Efforts.” The biannual discussion, according to the publication, is an attempt “to propose concrete solutions for the issues the legal profession faces in recruiting, hiring and retaining diverse attorneys.” Panelists, who were invited to participate, offered their suggestions on steps law firms can take to attract, retain and maintain a pipeline of diverse attorneys.

Muñoz addressed the topic of how diversity can have a lasting impact at a law firm, observing that it should be a cultural issue. “It is not just putting one person in charge, and that’s it. It has got to come from the top, and all the way to the bottom.” In addition, he said, there has to be a structure in place to support the diversity efforts.

Muñoz also pointed out that diversity is not just a “bottom line” issue for a firm, but should matter to each individual’s own bottom line, because “then you have everybody involved in one single goal going forward.”

The discussion concluded with a look at how to evaluate diversity initiatives in the future. Muñoz stressed the importance of crystallizing “the business case for diversity in the law firm setting.”