Thinking Differently: Supporting Neurodiverse Employees

Thinking Differently: Supporting Neurodiverse Employees on In-House Legal Teams

Brought to you by the CLOC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Council

Even with the increasing focus on diversity in the past decade, workplace diversity efforts often fall short when it comes to neurodiversity. With 15-20% of the population exhibiting some form of neurodivergence and with no plans to support these employees, companies are failing to support a significant part of their employee population, and neurodivergent employees are often remaining underemployed and underutilized.   

Plainly told, companies (and their legal teams) are not leveraging all of their employees to their full potential. And at a time when legal teams are being asked to do more with less while still innovating and maintaining productivity, neurodivergent employees represent a key advantage to solving these problems. It’s likely that legal teams already have neurodivergent employees on their payroll - now is the time to leverage this untapped talent and help them lean in on how their brains function best.  

In this session, you'll hear Krysta Johnson, an autistic legal operations professional, describe her experiences in the legal workplace firsthand, and how legal ops, managers, and leadership can best support neurodivergent employees, including understanding:

• What it means to be neurodivergent
• The importance of neurodiversity in the legal field
• The benefits of having neurodivergent employees in the legal field
• How to foster and maintain an accessible environment for all