Initiative for change
The talent pool of Black corporate counsel has grown considerably in the US, but appointments at the most senior level remain rare. We speak to the leaders behind a movement for change.
In 2017, it started out as a challenge put forward by Ernest Tuckett, who [at the time was general counsel for the Americas region of a chemical company] is currently vice president and general counsel of Verisign, to his colleagues in the Black general counsel community. The goal was simple – increase the number of Black general counsel and chief legal officers in large corporations with the initial goal of increasing the number in Fortune 1000 companies from 38 to 50 by the year 2020, and from 50 to 100 by the year 2025. Aiming for an incremental increase to 5% and 10% Black representation in the most senior corporate legal roles in under ten years may sound like a modest target but, as Tuckett and his colleagues found out, in a profession like law even modest change can be hard to come by.
To gather momentum behind his initiative, in 2018 Tuckett teamed up with April Miller Boise, currently executive vice president and chief legal officer at Eaton Corp. Together they co-founded the Black General Counsel 2025 Initiative (BGC 2025), which has an advisory council of over 20 leading Black general counsel and corporate counsel leaders aiming to help high-quality Black in-house lawyers make the move into leadership positions.
