Kim Bonnar was quoted in the article titled “How Systemizing Law Firm Work Allocation Enhances Diversity Efforts and Overcomes Affinity Bias,” published by Canadian Lawyer.
Writes Aidan McNab: “To overcome the inequality of opportunity inherent in traditional work allocation, law firms are designing systems that eliminate bias and chance and ensure associates have comparable experiences.”
Kim notes that while it is human instinct to prefer those with whom one has commonalities, it leads to problematic outcomes in work allocation. At Cassels, this has led to the implementation of a work allocation system that borrows “pieces that fit with the firm’s culture from the systems in legal and other professional services organizations.”