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The RMN Agency:
A Legal Recruiting Agency Dedicated to Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
By Bonnie Youn and Taylor Newsome
In the legal industry of today and tomorrow,
firms and corporations understand
that Diversity, Inclusion and
Belonging (DIB) initiatives are key to
hiring and retaining top talent.
We know that diversity is good for
business. Paulette Brown, Past President
of the ABA and the first African American
woman to ever serve in that position,
recently remarked on what studies
demonstrate to be true: “[C]companies
with women on their Board of Directors
outperform those with all-male boards.
Companies with more racial diversity
outperform companies with less, and
law firms with greater diversity outperform
firms with less diversity, even controlling
for other variables.”
Yet today, the legal profession is still
one of the least diverse of all comparable
professions. Less than 10 percent
of top Biglaw rainmakers are women or
minorities. If the trend continues, then
law firm leadership will not continue to
evolve. At BigLaw, women account for
only 17% of equity partners, and only 7
of the nation’s 100 largest firms have a
woman as chairman or managing partner.
Although blacks, Latinos, Asian
Americans and Native Americans now
constitute about a third of the population
and a fifth of law school graduates,
they make up fewer than 7 percent of law
firm partners and 9 percent of general
counsels of large corporations. In major
law firms, only 3 percent of associates
and less than 2 percent of partners are
African Americans.
At The RMN Agency, DIB is not just a
buzzword—we epitomize it. Take a look
at who we are:
• Our President Raj Nichani, a former
BigLaw attorney, began RMN as a
dream—to become a premier boutique
legal recruiting agency so that we could
proactively make a difference in the
legal industry. He is a former President
and current Boardmember of the
Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar
Association and a past Boardmember
of the South Asian Bar Association of
Georgia.
• Jane Morrison, Head of Business
Development, served as Admissions
Director at two private schools and successfully
fulfilled a mandate to increase
student diversity. Jane worked with
Educational Testing Service to revise
standardized tests to be more reflective
of the life experiences of a diverse
student population. She also worked
the Girl Scouts to recruit a more diverse
membership by training recruiters and
creating marketing materials written in
seven different languages.
• Waqar Khawaja, Sr. Legal Recruiter,
graduated from Mercer University
Law School in 2011. A first generation
Pakistani American, Waqar and his
friends founded a non-profit sports
foundation welcoming to children of all
diverse backgrounds to nurture their
sports ambitions.
• Bonnie Youn, Sr. Legal Recruiter,
practiced immigration law for nearly
two decades before joining RMN. Ethnically
Korean but born in the Philippines,
she is passionate about supporting
immigrants and the advancement
of minorities in the legal and political
fields. Like Raj Nichani, she has also
served as Past President and Board
member of the Georgia Asian Pacific
American Bar Association, and has
chaired events to bring Asian American
Legislative Day to the Georgia Capitol.
• Sara Hamilton, Sr. Legal Recruiter,
graduated from Emory Law and maintains
her practice in Labor & Employment
in a BigLaw firm. She is a Korean
American adoptee, and is one of the
founding officers of the Korean American
Bar Association of Georgia, where
she serves on the Board.
• Teylor Newsome, Legal Recruiter,
graduated from Clemson University in
May 2016. She is an active member of
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the oldest
Greek-letter organization founded by
African American college women.
• Cleo Sloan, Legal Recruiter, is a recent
graduate of Johns Hopkins University’s
M.A. in Museum Studies program
and is passionate about Art Business,
Museum, and Cultural Heritage Law.
She also studied abroad, receiving her
Bachelor’s degree at the University of
Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines,
attending an art business program at
Oxford University in London and Paris,
and completing an independent study
program in High Italian Renaissance
in Italy. She is an active board member
and serves as a regional councilor of
international fraternal benefits organization,
Foresters Financial.
• Matt Busch began as an administrative
assistant to Raj, and has since been
elevated to our facility office manager.
Matt has been active in LGBTQ issues,
and maintains his strong ties in the
local Atlanta theater community.
Our staff fully reflects our commitment
to DIB. Every piece of the puzzle
matters because diversity extends
beyond the visible surface of ethnic
background and gender, but a whole
spectrum of factors, including but not
limited to socioeconomic status, age,
nontraditional careers, sexual orientation,
religion, or disability.
Nationally renowned diversity and inclusion
leader Pauline Higgins once observed:
“Diversity is being invited to the
party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
RMN is committed to help you get out
on the dance floor and strut your stuff!
References
1. May 15, 2016: 4 Ideas For Advancing
Diversity And Inclusion In The
Legal Profession, http://abovethelaw.
com/2016/05/4-ideas-for-advancing-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-legal-profession/
VOL. 6 ISSUE 1 ATLANTA ATTORNEY MAGAZINE | 23