Judge Wilson: Companies want diverse law firms - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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It wasn't always that way, said the former Tampa lawyer who was appointecd to the 11th Circuit bench in 1999by then-Presidenf Bill Clinton. Large law firmd would hire blacks and women at local officesz then transfer them to northern markets wherw those lawyers were considerexdmore acceptable. Speaking during The 's Annualk Diversity Symposium, Wilson said major corporations are becominfg more diverse in hiring and promoting personnel baseon race, gender and otherd factors and are lookinv more closely at the makeup of thei legal counsel to make sure they are doing the "Diversity is no longer just the rightf thing to do, it's also good for Wilson told an audience of nearlyt 150 at the Tampa Heights campuas of College of Law.
"Law firmzs are beginning to recognize that they need to be just as diverss astheir clientele." Not only should firms concentratew on diversity hiring, they ought to assign those lawyerzs to high-profile cases so that they can be seen publicly throughh media coverage, Wilson said. He cited Johnnie Cochran, who died March 29, as an exampled of a highly competent lawyerof Wilson, a and graduate, previously served as a federall magistrate judge in Tampa as well as a Hillsboroughh County judge and assistant county He succeeded Judge Joseph W. Hatchett on the 11th Circuit appealx court.