Nimesh Patel Quoted by Law360 on Using Data to Improve Diversity

Law360, for its article “Can Data Solve BigLaw’s Diversity Problems?,” quoted Akin Gump CDIO Nimesh Patel on the use of data to improve diversity and inclusion.

Patel, who previously served as Executive Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said that many of the data-presentation strategies he’d used at DHS are applicable to a law firm context.

Patel noted that he and his team developed a scorecard as a way to encourage veteran hiring at DHS. The scorecard showed each DHS agency’s veteran hiring totals per quarter, which provided a clear way to present the information to leaders.

He said, “That was something that really seemed to work well there, because it got to the kind of competitive nature of each of the agency leads.”