Pat Gillette on Diversity in the Board Room
The mediator has been speaking about diversity for 40+ years, and has reasons for optimism
Super Lawyers online-exclusive
on July 5, 2017
Updated on October 13, 2022
When she’s not mediating cases with JAMS in San Francisco, Pat Gillette is probably speaking about diversity—she does so at about 40 events per year. She worked as an employment lawyer for more than 40 years, watching as corporations made more progress than law firms, which still have a long way to go in her view. She has reasons for hope, however, as she explains here.
Gillette’s story was also featured in the 2017 issue of Northern California Super Lawyers.
“I had a guy who’s the chair of a major firm stand up in a room with 100 people and say, ‘Why should I care about this? I’ve got 100 white males I can hire any day. Why should I care about diversity?’ … It’s not that [women] aren’t capable; it’s that they’re not being given the opportunity—because white men are making the decisions.”
Pat Gillette
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