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Inspired by a
Wall Street Journal article about the efforts of Sister
Anne DeConcini of the Sisters of Mercy and organizations in
advocating greater diversity among corporate directors, our
firm decided to enhance and make available a resource we
already have: A pool of diverse, excellent candidates who are
interested in serving on America’s corporate boards. Our
project, the Corporate Directors Diversity Project, will begin
in March of 2004 and will provide to corporate directors and
shareholders, free of charge, information about
talented attorneys who want to serve as corporate directors
and whose qualifications equal or rival those of directors
currently serving on the boards of America’s
corporations.
Most recently,
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission promulgated a new
rule (17 CFR Parts 228, 229, 240, 249, 270 and 274, effective
January 1, 2004) requiring greater transparency in the
nomination process for corporate directors. We were
disappointed, however, that the new rule stopped short of
requiring corporations to state the degree to which they
consider diversity in nominating directors. Our hope is
that forward-thinking corporations and shareholders will use
our resource to increase diversity at the highest level in
America’s corporations.
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