Caren Ulrich Stacy

Caren Ulrich Stacy

Founder, Legal Talent Lab & OnRamp Fellowship and Adjunct Professor, Denver College of Law

Caren Ulrich Stacy is a talent management expert with more than 20 years of experience in lawyer recruitment, development, and diversity. After serving as the head of talent for several top law firms, including Arnold & Porter, Weil Gotshal, and Cooley, Caren co-founded a start-up company that pioneered a data-driven “Moneyball” approach to lawyer recruitment and executed the first large-scale empirical study to uncover the traits and behaviors of successful rainmakers.

Caren is currently the managing partner of the Legal Talent Lab, which creates and invests in innovative talent management and diversity initiatives that improve the legal profession. The Lab’s hallmark project – the OnRamp Fellowship – has helped boost diversity in law firms as the first “Returnship” ever launched in the legal profession for women lawyers. Other current projects include:

  • TakeALittleAction.com – Highlighting individuals and initiatives that advance women in law, tech, science, finance, and other industries to encourage support of their efforts
  • Law Firm Culture Analysis – Facilitating the first empirical study with AmLaw 200 law firms to better understand the firms’ overall cultures as well as the micro-cultures that exist in each practice group/office
  • The Judicial Diversity Initiative – Providing diverse lawyers with details on how to apply for state judgeships and a listing of current openings across the U.S.
  • WomenLegalExperts.com – Promoting successful women lawyers across the country who have been identified as experts in their field by Chambers and BTI

Because of Caren’s innovative and entrepreneurial efforts, she was awarded the National Association of Legal Professionals (NALP) Mark of Distinction in 2009, the coveted InnovAction Award by the College of Law Practice Management in 2014, and the Ms. JD “Strength in Numbers” Award in 2015. In addition, Caren was elected in 2010 as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management – an honor awarded to fewer than 200 individuals in the country – and appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Commission on Improving the Legal Profession in 2013.

In addition to her day job, Caren teaches as an adjunct professor for the University of Denver College of Law and serves on the Judicial Performance Commission (evaluation of judges in the 20th District in Boulder, Colorado). She is also the founder and editor of TalentThinkTank.com, a collaborative blog with more than 25 talent management experts. Over the past two decades, she has contributed to more than 250 talent management presentations and publications and authored several highly regarded books, including Loyalty by Design: A Practical Guide for Developing an Effective Attorney Integration Program.