• by Tony Silber , Staff Writer, June 14, 2022

When it comes to media-company brand extensions, the discussion often comes around to data, especially in B2B media.

There are at least three types of media data. One kind is what publishers need to conform to burgeoning new privacy laws. A second is data your company amasses in order to market your products more effectively: conference registrations, subscriptions and the like.

A third kind is proprietary information you can sell to your served markets. For executives focused on topline growth, that’s the most intriguing type. Successful practitioners look for what the market needs and isn’t getting. How do your customers use data-based information and insights to achieve market share and grow? What decision points and insights does the market value?

Some are driven by journalism, while others are driven by data intelligence and insights as a recurring revenue stream. Again, the question is, “Can you establish a data set that the market values, and produce a recurring revenue stream based on that value?”

For example, maybe an agricultural publisher has proprietary information about poultry pricing. It could even be open-source public data that can be packaged in new and unique ways. The government sector publisher GovExec takes public data that’s about government purchasing, and serves it up in ways that the market finds valuable.

All of which brings me to ALM Media’s announcement last week of a revamped Diversity Scorecard for 2022, which is now available to Law.com Pro members and Law.com Compass subscribers. The scorecard provides a detailed look at the percentage of ethnically and racially diverse equity partners, non-equity partners, associates, and other full-time equivalent attorneys at Am Law 200 and NLJ 250 firms. It also measures the diversity of leadership positions within those firms.

ALM collaborated with diversity and inclusion professionals in law firms, legal departments, and consulting firms for help in evolving the methodology and scoring. In addition, firms are now ranked and scored on each ethnicity classification based on the percentage of U.S.-based ethnic minority lawyers in each role.

“The goal of this year’s revised methodology was to both more finely detail census information as well as track inclusion through looking at the percentages of diverse lawyers in various leadership positions,” said Gina Passarella, Editor in Chief of The American Lawyer and ALM’s Global Legal Brands. “Methodology aside, after years of modest gains in diversity numbers, it was heartening to see some of the biggest rises in overall diversity the profession has seen in years. ALM’s goal, through data and reporting, will be to continue to highlight the progress across the industry not just on diversity, but on inclusion and belonging.”

The scorecard revealed that the number of U.S. ethnically and racially diverse attorneys grew from 18.5% in 2020 to 20.2% in 2021. In 2021, 10.4% of U.S. equity partners and 23.6% of U.S. nonequity partners/associates/other attorneys were ethnically and racially diverse. Women attorneys of color account for 3.4% of equity partners and 13.1% of all other full-time equivalent lawyers in Am Law 200 & NLJ 250 firms, according to the report.

All in all, great results for a timely topic, and a great brand extension for ALM.