About Microsoft’s Law Firm Diversity Program
Since 2008, we have continuously worked with our law firm partners to refine Microsoft’s Law Firm Diversity Program to reflect the legal profession's diversity priorities and incentivize progress. This has included expanding the program's scope to include attorneys with disabilities and Veterans and instituting an annual meeting between diversity leaders in CELA and our PPP firms to share best practices.
In July 2015, we introduced a new set of program rules and metrics to focus on diversity in law firm leadership. Participating firms have the opportunity to earn an annual bonus of up to two percent of the legal fees billed to the company based on their performance in increasing diversity in three aspects of a firm’s leadership: (1) leading the management of the law firm; (2) leading the law firm’s relationship with Microsoft; and (3) leading Microsoft’s legal matters.
Below you will find materials outlining the creation of the program and its evolution.