3. RECOMMENDATIONS
   1. Recommendations for Employers

     Equal treatment for gay and lesbian lawyers in the legal workplace is not likely to be achieved unless top management explicitly makes a commitment to ensure such treatment. Such a commitment, if it is to be effective, will require more than simply adopting anti-discrimination and domestic partnership policies. It will mean making such policies known to all lawyers and vigorously enforcing them. It will mean adopting mechanisms to ensure that gay and lesbian lawyers are not discriminated against in hiring, work assignments, advancement, retention or compensation. In addition, as discussed below, it will also mean taking positive steps to ensure that gay and lesbian lawyers are made to feel as comfortable in the workplace as their heterosexual colleagues. Management must lead by example to demonstrate that discrimination against and harassment of gays and lesbians has no place in their organizations.

The recommendations below point to specific actions that legal employers can take to ensure such equal treatment.35 The goal of “equality” is not infused with hidden meanings. These recommendations are not intended to result in “preferences,” “quotas” or “affirmative action.” They simply seek to ensure that gay and lesbian lawyers are treated no differently than their heterosexual counterparts on the basis of their sexual orientation.

The implementation of the recommendations and thereby the creation of a hospitable (in this context “gay friendly”) workplace in general can have positive effects on gay and lesbian lawyers as well as their legal employers. When treated with equality and respect, gay and lesbian lawyers, if not already openly so, will likely feel more comfortable being open about their sexual orientation with colleagues. Lawyers who are comfortable in their workplaces are likely to work harder, be more productive, and stay longer at their places of employment, all to the benefit of their employers. A gay-friendly workplace, known by others to be such, is likely also to be important to the recruitment of top level talent from law schools and from judicial clerkships, as well as laterally. As discussed above, as increasing numbers of openly gay men and lesbians assume leadership positions in the private and public sectors, a bias-free workplace will become increasingly important to a firm's competitiveness and ability to obtain clients.36

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35. The recommendations are intended to be applicable to all legal employers, regardless of size. Nevertheless, very small legal employers often do not have formal written policies for health care, leave or other benefits. In those cases, the principle of equality for all lawyers may be implemented perhaps less formally but no less surely.
36. The advantages to employers of not discriminating against gay and lesbian employees are explored in greater depth in Alistair D. Williamson, James D. Woods, William M. O'Barr, Michael R.Losey & Elizabeth McNamara, Is this the Right Time to Come Out?, HARV. BUS. REV., July-Aug. 1993, at 18-28.