Global Diversity and Inclusion Hours Policy
The firm offers non-billable, credited hours to all lawyers for their time spent towards diversity and inclusion. The policy encourages our lawyers to have meaningful participation in diversity and inclusion efforts both within and outside the firm for the benefit of the firm and our clients.
Associate Engagement
We conduct a program of “stay interviews” with associates. These interviews focus on learning what the firm can do to keep associates engaged and integrated with the firm, and to identify any potential issues that might affect their decision to stay a part of our team. We believe candid input from associates is critical to determine where we should focus our efforts to ensure the most significant impact on our engagement and retention strategy.
Pathway to Success
Launched in 2020, we partner with Ms. JD to offer a 12-week business training and client-engagement program called Pathway to Success. The program focuses on high performing, experienced women associates and offers tailored market-facing training and exposure around business and market engagement for their advancement and career growth.
Offering live modules from in-house counsel speakers, we recognize that providing access to the philosophies and views of a diverse group of in-house counsel regarding effective strategies and best practices for business development and client engagement is critical on the path to partnership.
Ms. JD is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization dedicated to the success of aspiring and early career women lawyers. It was founded at Stanford Law School in 2006 by a group of female law students from Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley), Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, UT Austin, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and Yale. Today, Ms. JD is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of law students and recent graduates and supported by a small group of independent contractors.
Mentorship Programs
We regularly partner with clients and external organizations to offer a wide variety of mentoring programs for our lawyers. We also offer our own formal and informal mentoring and coaching programs that are intently tailored to the various groups among our lawyers. These programs help lawyers advance into partnership and leadership roles at the firm.
Lawyer Retreats
The firmwide Diversity Committee sponsored the firm's first Diverse Lawyers' Retreat in 2022. US diverse lawyers, allies, and diversity and inclusion champions across our offices and practices were invited. The retreat offered in-person conversations about how our shared experiences can and should impact our client engagement and business development activities. The theme of the retreat was “Building Communities and Businesses Together,” and featured both external and internal market networking sessions, and both professional development- and client engagement-focused sessions.
Internal Communities
Across the global platform, our Women in the Profession Committee, Diversity Committee, LGBTQ+ Subcommittee, Disability Inclusion Taskforce, and Veterans Taskforce refine and create new programs and policies that reinforce our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our firmwide and local committees, subcommittee, and taskforces partner with offices across the firm to celebrate and honor the varied cultural backgrounds and heritages of our colleagues and friends each year.
Inclusive Support and Benefits
The firm has made impressionable efforts to be thoughtful of our people’s needs in and outside of the firm and to be a leader in our benefits. Our leadership regularly reviews and enhances our gender neutral Parental Leave Policy to aptly address the needs of our colleagues. In the United States, we offer up to 24 weeks of leave to our employed lawyers. Furthermore, we added a miscarriage provision to support our colleagues in the unfortunate event of a miscarriage at any time during the pregnancy.
We have expanded our benefits to offer an inclusive family formation and fertility health benefit for our personnel and their spouses and domestic partners, and we have enhanced our transgender health benefits in all of our firm medical plans. Our family formation and fertility health benefit offers our people access to exclusive resources to make fertility care more accessible and affordable for all. Participation in the firm’s medical plans and medical diagnosis are not required to receive this firm benefit.