 One message came through loud and clear at the luncheon panel here at the Marketing Partner Forum in Orlando: diversity counts now.
Lloyd Johnson, publisher of Chief Legal Executive, opened the panel with some statistics: in 1996 there were 40 women general counsel and 5 minority GCs at Fortune 500 companies. In 2003 there were 120 women GCs and 20 minority GCs. "If you show up at a pitch with an all-white male team, it's a big mistake," said Catherine Lamboley, GC of Shell Oil.
And there's a new buzzword: inclusion.
Lamboley said that 3 years ago, Shell began focusing on the 45 law firms it works with and began examining their inclusion programs, to see if there were retention, mentoring and leadership programs. They took demographic surveys of the law firms, and gave them a report card on their diversity, and told them how the firm compared to competitors. "We no longer do business with a couple of law firms because they were simply giving lip service to diversity," Lamboley said.
Michelle Mayes, GC of Pitney Bowes, said that a survey of conference attendees revealed that 52% said their firm has lost business, or faced losing business, as a result of not hiring minority lawyers.
"Diversity is a moving target," she warned, noting that Latinos now are a larger group than African-Americans.
 Mayes offered "Seven C's" for what Pitney Bowes looks for in law firms:
1. Communication skills - lawyers can't be talking all the time; they can learn anything that way.
2. Competence - what the law firm can do
3. Credibility - revealing what the firm cannot do. "There nothing more irritating than a firm that oversells itself," she said.
4. Chemistry - every law firm is not a good fit for every corporation
5. Computer-savvy - how is the law firm leveraging its knowledge and using technology to get information from the client.
6. Commitment - to diversity
7. Cost-Effectiveness.
N. Cornell Boggs III, the new GC of Tyco said his firm is sending out RFPs to the 700 law firms the company uses. "One of the things we're really going to look at is diversity," he said. "We want to see if the law firm understands the concept of inclusion, in age, race and gender. We're not bashing white males. We want teams that work with us to be composed from a wide pool."
He offered 3 tips for law firms seeking to get Tyco's business:
1. "No more window dressing." The presenters at the pitch should be the lawyers who will actually work on the company's matters.
2. A good pipeline. Tyco wants to see minorities in summer hires up to equity partners. "We want to see students hired from a variety of places, including all ethnic backgrounds."
3. Market your inclusion. He said, "Your marketing materials should showcase your rainbow of people."
During the luncheon, I sat next to a senior white male partner at a 400-lawyer national law firm. He said his firm kept hiring minorities and women, but the firm's clients kept poaching them. He said the firm finally had to reach an agreement with a big computer software company not to hire away any of the firm's associates.
Boggs emphasized that you can find minority lawyers everywhere. "It's a my that you can't find minority lawyers in all parts of the country." Mayes chimed in, "it's easy to say 'minorities don't live in Minneapolis because it's too cold. That's one of the excuses I've actually heard."
10:58:47 AM 
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The most colorful presentation at the Marketing Partner Forum so far was the panel of in-house counsel, who discussed what a law firm would look like if *they* designed it.
