Confronting Origination Credit: Why GCs Need To Speak Up

Law firms’ long-standing practice of awarding origination credit and compensation to attorneys who help bring in new business is perceived by many as a barrier to diversity. In this Expert Analysis series, members of the legal industry offer ways to tackle the problem.

The assignment of law firm origination credit is deeply entrenched, negatively affecting women and other attorneys from historically underrepresented communities. This issue first came to light for me in 2007, when I joined the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s board of directors, shortly after becoming global general counsel of Gap Inc.

We started asking our outside law firms not just about hours billed on our account by attorneys from underrepresented groups, but also about origination credit for our account, largely inspired by work Walmart Inc. had started shortly before, which I learned about through the MCCA board.

Unfairness in the allocation of origination credit came to light for some of the legal profession in general in 2010, with the publication of findings from a survey sponsored by MCCA and the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, conducted by MCCA and the Project for Attorney Retention at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Following its publication, findings from the “New Millennium, Same Glass Ceiling?” report were discussed at a meeting that brought together about 50 corporate general counsel and 50 law firm chairs and managing partners.