What firms once celebrated as a commitment to a diverse workforce with equitable opportunities has been met with pushback by the federal government and state-based jurisdictions alike. But that doesn’t mean the efforts have to be lost — and some organizations are signaling exactly that behind the scenes.
According to a 2026 survey of more than 2,200 employees in medium and large organizations, efforts to remove DEI appear more visible from the outside than what’s actually happening internally. The report, conducted by Catalyst, a women’s advancement nonprofit, and New York University Law, revealed that 55% of employees worked for companies that “signaled a public retreat from inclusion,” but only 34% said they actually reduced work in this area.
“What organizations say publicly about their inclusion initiatives doesn’t always tell the full story,” Christina Thomas, project director at the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at NYU Law, said in the press release. “Some of the disconnect is intentional: Organizations are responding to real legal and political pressure by changing their language and public posture. But the internal work is harder to undo. It’s embedded in people, processes and culture in ways that don’t shift as quickly as a public statement.”
While federal and state requirements continue to impact the way employers show up for employees — both internally and externally — inclusion doesn’t have to be a casualty of compliance. In fact, 80% of U.S. organizations surveyed by Catalyst and NYU remain committed to workplace inclusion efforts, a sign that workplaces aren’t abandoning their principles. They may, however, be evolving how they uphold them.
Embed Inclusion Efforts Across Firm Functions
Global DEI professional Marredia Crawford emphasizes the importance of integrating inclusion efforts across all functions of a firm rather than concentrating them within a single company initiative like hiring or recruitment. Embedding inclusion across firm efforts, from business development and practice group leadership to talent management and mentorship programs, helps ensure equitable access to professional development and growth opportunities throughout all areas of the organization.
Sometimes creating a more firm-wide accessible experience for colleagues can be as simple as meeting employee needs, such as providing captions in a global conference call setting or utilizing microphones and repeating questions in a crowded meeting room. “If we’re not impacting somebody’s day-to-day experience,” Crawford says, “we’ve already missed the mark.”
Build Cohort-Driven Programs
Due to ongoing political scrutiny surrounding DEI efforts that impact employees with protected characteristics, employers remain confused about the types of inclusive programming they can pursue. This is where cohort-driven programs present a viable solution. By creating mentorship programs or training with core competencies that apply to a particular cohort of attorneys or staff — for example, all third-year associates — your firm can provide valuable and equitable resources that provide everyone the same opportunity, Crawford says.
Embedding inclusion across firm efforts, from business development and practice group leadership to talent management and mentorship programs, helps ensure equitable access to professional development and growth opportunities throughout all areas of the organization.
Continue Compliance Audits
A June 2026 presentation hosted by the Illinois Human Rights Commission highlighted the importance of auditing internal programs and practices that may inadvertently limit membership or separate employees into groups based on defining and protected characteristics, such as race or sex. This can include initiatives like affinity or employee resource groups, fellowship or leadership programs, or even networking events — all integral parts of law firm and corporate culture. Understanding how to navigate these waters is especially critical during a time when law firms and private corporations have been targeted for certain workplace culture initiatives. But recent court challenges to these programs don’t mean they have to go.
The presentation noted that legal challenges targeting affinity groups and employee resource groups have failed in certain instances when these groups were open to all employees. It’s when participation has been limited by race, sex, or other protected characteristics that organizations have faced heightened legal exposure. This helps provide a roadmap for employers as they navigate this territory and consider their own affinity groups and employee resource groups.
