McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is committed to achieve the goals of diversity and inclusiveness. The Diversity Initiative is based on both moral and business imperatives, reflecting the values of the society in which we practice law. We believe that the promotion of diversity in the workplace, and the culture and understanding of differences that it supports, benefits all MLA lawyers and assists us in providing superior legal services to our clients.
The following principles are the foundation of this commitment:
Our belief is that recruiting, hiring, and developing a diverse work force makes MLA a stronger and more competitive law firm. Therefore, MLA is committed to attracting and retaining the best and brightest employees who reflect the diversity of our society. To accomplish this, MLA has established relationships with key universities, student and professional organizations, and has established an internal Diversity Committee.
2008 Highlights
OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS
Day Light Saving’s Time didn’t stop us from forging ahead with the firm’s diversity efforts this month. Diversity played a part in this year’s Boot Camp for our first-year class, which was held in the Atlanta office from October 5-8. New attorneys from our Atlanta, Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Denver offices participated in this intensive 3-day orientation and training program. One of the team-building assignments involved a hands-on training module regarding the issues and challenges facing law firms. Groups of 4 were asked to give a 30-minute presentation after meeting with a firm representative knowledgeable in a particular area from firm economics to professional development, marketing and diversity. Charlotte Combre led the discussion on Diversity. The final presentation was also followed up with a memo to Charlotte noting suggestions to further our firm wide diversity efforts, which our diversity committee members each received. Avi Stadler, whose Professional Development Dept. administered Boot Camp, felt the exercise went well and helped our new attorneys realize the important role that diversity plays at MLA.
The diversity committee was responsible for showcasing several highlights on the firm’s intranet home page since our last report, as well as in the firm’s 3rd Quarter Report which was also distributed this month. Highlights included the Korean American Bar Association’s San Diego Chapter’s Inaugural Dinner & Installation, the Vietnamese American Attorneys National Conference in San Francisco, the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s Law Camp week, and the San Diego office’s recent support and participation in the Couture for a Cause event.
This month we received a new survey request from the publication, Multicultural Law Magazine. We were asked to provide information for 2 surveys – one focused on women and the other on ethnic diversity.
The Washington, DC office hosted the annual Women of Color Collective (WOCC) 1L Mentor Program Kick-Off Reception. Twenty-six students are signed up this year for mentors (all women attorneys from the DC office) and nineteen were in attendance at the evening event held on October 1. Megan McGrath reported that the event was very successful (see future intranet highlight) and in the next few weeks the mentors and recruiting dept. will be participating in resume review with WOCC participants, mock interviews and an upcoming panel. Megan also mentioned that the office is also gearing up for a resume review for the George Washington University Law School Hispanic Law Students Association.
The Atlanta office participated in a number of diversity-related functions this month that not only included hosting Boot Camp, but participation by Diversity Committee Chair Charlotte Combre on a recent Atlanta Legal Recruiters Association annual Diversity Panel; Litigation partner Dara Mann’s participation in the Oct 1-3 Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC) Career Strategies Conference in Beverly Hills where the firm was a sponsor; the Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium’s (ALDC) Star Training Program which involved partners Joseph Blanco (who took over Tom Wardell’s ALDC Faculty position recently) and Charlotte Combre and associate Amy Fouts as presenters/instructors (Amy is now an ALDC Board member); and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) Professional Development Series where Charlotte led an Organizational Skills workshop.
On October 16-17, San Francisco associates Deb Cote, Arlene Barton, Felicia Feng and Hong Le were attendees of the CA Minority Counsel Program’s (CMCP) annual business development conference held at the Hotel Nikko. The firm was a Silver Sponsor of the event. During the corporate connections portion of the conference, Deb Cote met with representatives from Sempra, So Cal Edison, PG&E and American Airlines.
The MLA Diversity Committee met for its monthly meeting on Monday, October 27. Discussion included all of the above-mentioned items and included a review of the committee’s 2008 goals. The San Diego office reported that the firm received some recent PR since becoming a signatory to the SD County Bar Association’s Ethnic Relations Committee’s diversity pledge. Jae Park recently attended the SD County Bar Association’s “Dialogue on Diversity” program which was co-sponsored by CMCP and ACCA. In addition to its participation in the recent CMPC conference, the SF office hosted another cultural event in the office on October 22. Anna Maria Loya of La Raza Centro Legal spoke at a celebration/lunch commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month. The group is a principal legal advocacy organization for Latinos and Hispanics in the Bay Area.
Next month the diversity committee will hear reports from Charlotte on her participation at MCCA’s Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference being held on Nov 19 and Jae Park and Rupa Singh’s report on the annual NAPABA conference in Seattle being held Nov 19-23. We are also expecting to receive by our next meeting, our marketing department’s research on A Call to Action signatories. We also hope to begin our preparation for 2009 goals including our plan to launch a diversity scholarship next spring. Our next diversity committee meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 24 @ 2pm EST.
SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
September brings many law student candidates to the firm by way of our annual Fall On-Campus Recruiting Season. This year was no exception, even though our early recruiting season began officially on August 1 this year. The Atlanta, Washington, DC, Denver and Los Angeles offices are all participating this season. As previously reported, the season brings participation at several notable diversity-related job fairs. Jonathan Hunt represented us at the Southeastern Minority Job Fair in early August, Stephanie Lasker and Julie Inouye were interviewers at the Western Region BLSA (Black Law Students Association) Job Fair in mid-August, and this month we were represented by Joe Martinez and Dick Kaufman on September 11 in Denver at the 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Job Fair, and Paul Bird and Julie Inouye represented MLA at the annual nationally recognized Lavender Law Job Fair for GLBT students and laterals held in San Francisco.
Some of our current fall recruiting statistics include having seen callback candidates in the Atlanta office at a rate of 23% diversity, in Washington, DC at a rate of 19% diversity, and in Los Angeles at a rate of 26% diversity. Some law schools allow for pre-selection of candidates and others select for firms through a computerized lottery system. LA has made three offers thus far to 2L candidates, all of whom are diverse (with 2 acceptances as of Sept 30).
This month’s intranet highlight was posted on September 30 and honored the diversity committee’s own Tom Wardell. Tom founded the Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium (ALDC) in 2002 and has been its President, a Board Member and Training Instructor. While Tom will continue to support the ALDC and its efforts to promote and enhance diversity within the Atlanta legal community, he has recently passed some of the responsibility on to others at the firm. Hakim Hilliard, another member of our diversity committee, will continue as an ALDC Board member, while associate Amy Fouts will assume Tom’s role as a Board Member and Joseph Blanco will take over Tom’s faculty position for the STAR (strategic, advancement and retention) Lawyer Training Program. We congratulate Tom on his special relationship with ALDC and his continued support of diversity efforts at MLA and throughout the legal and corporate communities.
The diversity committee did not meet in August but at our September 29 meeting we welcomed our two newest members to their first meeting – Carol Crawford, Director of Human Resources, and Megan McGrath, Sr. Legal Recruitment Coordinator in Washington, DC.
We had a number of committee members report on programs and opportunities they or members of their offices participated in since our last meeting in late July. Those included:
▪ Avi Stadler reporting on his participation in the American Institute for Managing Diversity’s Diversity Management Series for Law Firm Leaders. Avi also reported that at our upcoming Boot Camp on Oct 4-7 for the new MLA first-year associate class, there will be a diversity-related training exercise.
▪ Carol Crawford discussed some of our non-attorney (staff) diversity stats (89% female, 48% ethnically diverse) and professional staff (mgrs & directors) diversity stats (50% female, 33% ethnically diverse). Carol also reported on a recent amendment to our 401(k) plan that will soon allow for a benefit previously only allowed for married couples, which will now benefit same sex partners and domestic partners who are unmarried. The issue came to the attention of diversity committee members and was brought to administration’s attention with a positive resolution.
▪ Jennifer Queen reported on a recent discussion with the Chief Diversity Officer at Home Depot, which was an offshoot of our summer in-house lawyer diversity panel presentation in Atlanta that included former Atlanta associate Briley Brisendine, now an in-house lawyer for Home Depot. Charlotte Combre and Jennifer spoke with Gloria Johnson Goines, who they also learned authored the well-known “A Call to Action” on behalf of her previous employer, Bell South. When asked if Home Depot currently tracked the hours of its diverse law firm attorneys handling their cases, she responded they do not at present but something they may consider in the future (you will recall that the firm recently looked into a tool that could be added to our current Redwood Analytics system that can track those hours). They learned that Ms. Goines holds occasional Diversity Roundtable discussions and we hope to continue to develop our relationship w/ her by participating in one of those and/or include her as a speaker at one of our firm wide partners meetings or diversity-related programs in the future.
▪ Deb Cote’s report from San Francisco: On August 15-16 Hong Le and Trung Quach participated in the 3rd Annual National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys (NCVAA); Paul Bird joined Julie Inouye at the Lavender Law Job Fair on Sept 4; on September 23 Rabbi Stephen Pearce of Congregation Emanu-El gave a short talk during lunch about the origins and significance of the Rosh Hashanah holiday to 20+ office participants (co-sponsored by the diversity and associates committees); and Natalie Nuttall, Natalie Holden, Lynne Blair and Deb Cote attended the Queen’s Bench women’s mixer & dinner on Sept 24.
▪ Megan McGrath’s report from Washington, DC included: The Georgetown Law Students Diversity Reception held on Aug 21 and the upcoming Women of Color Collective’s Kick-Off Reception to be held on Oct 1 in the office from 6-8pm. Tami Azorsky also reported on the successful Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s Law Camp participation by 12 volunteers who assisted in prep for the Mock Trial the Camp had in July.
▪ Sayako Matsuzaki reported for Atlanta on participation in the SE Minority Job Fair (11 students seen, 2 callbacks).
▪ Julie Inouye reported on Denver’s participation in the Rocky Mtn Job Fair this month; Jae Park’s participation in the recent SD Korean American Bar Association’s Inaugural Dinner and Installation, as well as plans for Jae and Rupa Singh to attend the upcoming NAPABA Conference in Seattle WA in mid-November; and LA’s strong diversity stats during fall recruiting season in addition to an update on both Lavender Law and BLSA Job Fair participation. Resumes of interested candidates for LA, SD, SF, DN, ATL and DC from Lavender Law were distributed for review after the job fair.
The next diversity committee meeting is scheduled to take place on October 27 @ 2pm EST.
AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS
August began with the firm’s participation at the 2008 Southeastern Minority Job Fair (SEMJF) on Friday, August 1 in Atlanta. The Southeastern Minority Job Fair provides interviewing opportunities to minority students from over fifty law schools across the country. More than 136 employers interviewed students at last years' fair and this year SEMJF exceeded that number. Jonathan Hunt represented the firm. Contact Sayako Matsuzaki, Atlanta Manager of Legal Recruitment for additional information.
Speaking of job fairs, the Western Region Black Law Students Association Job Fair (WRBLSA) took place on Saturday, August 23. This year, the fair was held on the UCLA Law School campus. Stephanie Lasker and Julie Inouye represented the firm.
September will bring MLA’s participation at both the national Lavender Law Job Fair/Conference being held in San Francisco on September 3-6 as well as the 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Fair in Denver on September 11. This is the second year the firm is acting as a sponsor of both events. Paul Bird, a litigation associate in our SF office and Julie Inouye, West Coast Recruitment Manager, will represent MLA at the Lavender Law Job Fair.
Our plans to launch MLA’s first diversity scholarship have been postponed for fall 2008. We are in the process of completing our due diligence and will report shortly on plans for a 2009 launch.
During last month’s diversity committee meeting, Charlotte brought up that beyond the usual sponsorship ads we create for diverse publications and event programs, we should start to consider branching out to various types of other publications that offer special diversity issues. Our first example is the Atlanta Business Chronicle, which published a diversity supplement on August 8. Members of the committee plan to meet with our new Marketing Director to discuss other ways in which the firm can highlight its commitment to diversity to potential recruits and clients.
On August 17, the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities held its annual conference in Crystal City, Virginia. The firm was a sponsor of this event.
This month’s intranet highlights posted on August 29, focused on our recent participation at the Human Rights Campaign Gala Dinner held on July 27. The firm was a table sponsor and 10 MLA attorneys/guests from the San Francisco office were in attendance. Deb Cote, a member of the diversity committee, felt it was great for firm visibility, allowed the attorneys present to make additional corporate connections and learn more about GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender) issues, and was enriching, inspiring and enlightening.
The diversity committee’s monthly meeting will be held on Monday, September 29 @ 2pm EDT. For more information, please contact Julie Inouye @ x46148.
JULY HIGHLIGHTS
On July 23, the firm presented an In-House Counsel panel in the Atlanta Office entitled Clients Speak Out: Diversity Adds Value (see Aug 1 intranet highlight). Panelists included Chiquita Johnson (Augusta Richmond County), Kara Ong (AT&T Mobility) and Briley Brisendine (Home Depot and former MLA corporate associate). These clients discussed the value of inclusiveness in their own companies and agencies, as well as in outside counsel. They provided insight as to why and how they expect law firms to be diverse and discussed programs implemented within their organizations and the lessons learned throughout their careers. Participants were encouraged to ask questions regarding diversity initiatives and left with a better understanding of the value of a diverse professional organization. Attorneys Petrina Hall (Diversity Committee member), Monique Gonzalez and Amy Fouts organized and participated in the event as speakers/moderators with preparatory assistance from Sayako Matsuzaki and Terry Hendley. Charlotte Combre (Diversity Committee Chair) introduced the program to a large Atlanta audience. The program was attended by interested attorneys and summer associates with video and teleconferencing made available to Washington, DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Copies of the written materials are still available.
Last month, we reported on the progress the Subcommittee has been making on the creation of MLA’s first diversity scholarship. While we continue to make progress towards defining the scholarship parameters, we must report that we will not be ready to officially launch the program until 2009. Please stay tuned for updates.
Recently, the Recruitment and Professional Development departments combined their efforts to offer a special assignment for all summer associates, known as the “Summer Challenge”. As described in a recent Intranet highlight, working with designated Resource Partners Jessica Abrahams, Lora Brzezynski, Charlotte Combre, Susan Mitchell and Bill Stevens, the Summer Associates used a "learn by doing" approach to accomplish a number of goals. First, the Summer Challenge provided all Summer Associates an opportunity to participate in activities that are integral facets of the practice of law such as developing strategies to address a client's problem; locating the resources needed to implement that strategy; ascertaining legal issues and suggested answers; preparing a budget that projects possible implementation costs; and making an effective client pitch. One fact the summer associates were given regarding their fictitious client, was that they were a signatory to the well-known corporate diversity initiative, “A Call for Action”. The Challenge provided its participants an opportunity to really learn about and understand MLA -- what we do, our experience, and who within the Firm has that experience. In that vein, teams did research not only on “A Call to Action”, but also on MLA’s own diversity program and ways in which the client’s proposed MLA team could help enhance diversity efforts in the future. The Washington, DC team of Bumrae Cho, Stephanie Ellis, Andrew Robertson, and Adam Zwecker were the winners of the first MLA Summer Challenge. There are 2 additional teams made up of students who came on board later in the summer and the additional winning team from that group will be announced before August 8 when the last of our summer class departs for law school.
July was a busy month with our strong volunteer involvement (Gold Sponsorship) in the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s Law Camp week (wk of July 6 and spearheaded by Tami Azorsky) and the Human Rights Campaign Dinner Event in San Francisco (held on Sat, July 26 and organized by Deb Cote) where we filled a table for 10 with SF attorneys and their guests. Highlights of the June 28 GABWA Glitter Gala were featured in a July 28 intranet highlight. Both the HNBF and HRC events will also have follow-up intranet highlights shortly, so please stay tuned.
This month, we were pleased to welcome new member Carol Crawford, Director of Human Resources, to the firm wide diversity committee.
On July 29, several members of the diversity committee, along with Accounting Dept. representatives viewed a demo presentation by Redwood Analytics on software that captures diversity data and can cross reference information currently tracked through our Human Resources database. As we continue to receive a growing number of inquiries from current and potential clients regarding diversity statistics (individuals working on matters as well as hours billed) the potential use of this software module is just one more way in which the firm could capture diversity-related data more efficiently and shows how much more important this data is to a growing number of corporations hiring outside counsel.
On the survey front, our Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Programs and HRC Corporate Equity Index Surveys were completed and submitted to the respective organizations in July. If you are interested in receiving a copy of either survey, please contact Julie Inouye in Los Angeles @ x46148.
In addition to discussing all the items noted above at our monthly diversity committee meeting held on Mon, July 28, several additional items were covered including our recent sponsorship of the upcoming NALSWD conference for disabled law students being held in Crystal City VA on August 15; our recent posting of 3 attorney job openings on MCCA’s Hot Jobs website; and the committee’s continued efforts to identify a new brand (graphic images) for its sponsorship advertisements. Our August meeting will be held on Monday, August 25.
JUNE HIGHLIGHTS
The full report from the National Law Journal’s Diversity Scorecard is out, and McKenna Long & Aldridge ranked 52 of 255 firms surveyed this year. We had a reported 15.5% minority attorneys in the U.S. In 2007, the firm ranked 56 with a 14.2% score. Other statistics noted this year for MLA include 6.8% U.S. partners. We’re hoping to crack a top 50 ranking in 2009!
In June, we were busy preparing ad copy for several upcoming sponsorships including the October Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC) Annual Business Conference being held in Beverly Hills this year (they believe in early deadlines!), the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) June 28 Gala Glitter Dinner Event for which we were a Sustainer Sponsor and hosted a table, and a new event where we will be sponsoring a table for 10 – the Human Rights Campaign Annual Awards & Dinner Event on July 28 in San Francisco. Speaking of advertisements, our marketing department has identified several new graphic/photo backgrounds for the diversity committee to consider due to the replacement of our old key graphic used for 2007 sponsorships. We hope to showcase 1 or 2 of the new graphics by the end of summer.
On the law school front, offices are preparing for the arrival of an early on-campus interview season in mid-August. We have just registered for this year’s annual Western Region BLSA Job Fair being held on Saturday, August 23 at UCLA. We will be assigning interviewers for the event, shortly.
June kept us quite busy with two large survey requests. As many of you know, we have continued our strong support as an Underwriter of the Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Programs Directory since its inception 4 years ago. We are in the process of completing the 2009 survey. Charlotte Combre, Jennifer Queen and Julie Inouye are scheduled to meet with MLA Chairman Jeff Haidet to review our responses to this year’s survey prior to its submission in mid-July.
During the week of June 23, Julie Inouye was in our Denver office and had the opportunity to meet with Career Services representatives from the University of Colorado and the University of Denver, and make them aware of our upcoming diversity scholarship(s). They were excited to hear that their students would be eligible. Julie also met with Colorado Campaign for Inclusive Excellence Director Kathleen Nalty. CIEE will be hosting three CLE programs in the next month, and we are hoping that a representative from the Denver office will be able to attend at least one program. We are also considering participation in the upcoming Sept 12 Second Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Fair.
Our Human Resources Department announced this month that the EEOC has just revised its previously established ethnic categories and is eliminating one category, “Asian/Pacific Islander” and creating three new categories – “Asian”, “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” and “Two or more races”. San Francisco associates recently met with diversity committee representative Deb Cote, to discuss ways in which they could become more involved in the firm’s diversity efforts. The LA office just completed participation in their annual pipeline program through the Constitutional Rights Foundation, by hiring a high school intern for six weeks, Yesenia Sandoval, a sophomore at Garfield High School. She aspires to be a lawyer, and would be a first generation attorney like several of our past interns. Several weeks ago, he Director of the CRF Program, which mentors inner city youth, came to the LA office to evaluate our intern and also discussed the possibility of a stronger alliance w/ the organization by assisting in the further development of CRF’s existing alumni program.
Last but certainly not least, our diversity scholarship subcommittee has fine-tuned the plans for our first scholarship to be launched at law schools next month. We are very excited about presenting our final plans to the full diversity committee for a final vote before promoting the scholarship at selected law schools, through Career Services offices and diverse student organizations, on our website and internally on the intranet. We will offer up to $15,000 in scholarships in connection with the firm’s summer associate program. Stay tuned for additional details!
MAY HIGHLIGHTS
In May the diversity committee was busy focusing on the creation of our first MLA Diversity Scholarship. We are excited to report that our first diversity scholarship subcommittee meeting was held on Tuesday, May 27. In attendance were Co-Chairs Michael Boucher & Petrina Hall, attorneys Mark Meagher, Margaret Johnson and Camilla Lee, and recruitment department members Jennifer Queen, Dan Conway, Sayako Matsuzaki and Julie Inouye.
The first scholarship subcommittee meeting helped us to focus on all the details required to launch our first MLA scholarship program this fall. Our earlier research allowed us to define some important guidelines that include offering up to 3 scholarships to 2L students (only) who will be participating in the upcoming on-campus recruiting season which for most schools starts early this year in August. We have chosen not to limit the number of schools we consider candidates from, but would like to target certain schools based on regions where we have offices. We agreed that candidates would be required to participate in our summer program. Each scholarship award will be $5000. Our scholarship will be open to Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and/or Transgender (GLBT) and ethnically diverse students. Additional issues the subcommittee will need to determine are 1) contents of a complete application packet (application form, undergrad and law school transcripts, essay or personal statement, interview, references, etc),; 2) application deadline; 3) how the scholarship awardees will be determined (academics, leadership, community involvement, etc); and 4) procedural mechanics (will entire subcommittee review all resumes, etc.)
Our full diversity committee meeting took place approximately one week after the above meeting on Monday, June 2. Charlotte Combre gave a budget report and announced a couple of recent sponsorship requests which included a Sustainer Sponsorship for the upcoming June 28 Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) Glitter Gala & Auction and a Bronze sponsorship for the upcoming fall (Oct 1-3) Corporate Counsel of Women of Color (CCWC) Annual Career Strategies Conference to be held in Beverly Hills, CA and attended by MLA partner Dara Mann. Julie Inouye announced an upcoming Vietnamese Lawyers Conference on August 15-16 in San Francisco, which will be attended by litigation associates Hong Le and Trung Quach. Tami Azorsky discussed the recent Women’s Bar Association of DC’s dinner event where the firm was a Benefactor Level sponsor of the event and filled a full table (of ten women, we might add). That evening, the WBA Torch Bearer Award was presented to Justice Ginsberg, whose husband introduced her. Previous Award recipients have included Janet Reno and Sandra Day O’Connor. Tami was also asked to describe a recent presentation she made to our summer associates at the annual Summer Retreat held in Cambridge MD on May 30-31 at the Chesapeake Hyatt. During an after-dinner discussion that was started off by Phil Bradley (Hiring & Professional Development Partner and the Litigation Department Co-Chair) about community service and pro bono involvement, Tami discussed the firm’s diversity efforts and her leadership of the firm’s diversity committee from 2003-2007 as well as her personal commitment to diversity in her own community.
Upcoming diversity participation includes the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s Law Camp in Washington DC which Tami Azorsky is spearheading our Gold Sponsorship. Law camp is held each year to encourage high school students to consider a career in law and to help them understand that such a career requires them to begin to excel now. Students stay at Georgetown University and have the opportunity to meet with lawyers from government and private sector as well as members of Congress. The volunteers Tami solicits from MLA will participate in two ways – A few will participate in a presentation on July 7 on what it means to have a legal career. Other volunteers would lead a class on “Understanding Your Case”, and additional volunteers would meet w/ trial teams to help them prep. The Atlanta office will be hosting an upcoming summer associate lunch and learn which will be devoted to the importance of law firm diversity and will include a panel of clients discussing their efforts in this regard. The program will be offered to all other summer associates via video-conference.
Before closing the meeting, Charlotte announced that the committee was able to assist Rupa Singh’s recent request for historical information to assist Sempra with the development of their own diversity program. The firm will also be a signatory to the SD Diversity Pledge (on behalf of the SD office). Charlotte encouraged committee members and non members to seek participation within diverse organizations and activities v. conference sponsorships in name and financial support only. Charlotte will report back at our next meeting on Mark Meagher’s earlier suggestion that diversity be a standing agenda item at future annual partners meeting, including the one coming up this September in Arizona.
The subcommittee’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 17. The next full diversity committee meeting will be held on Monday, June 30.
APRIL HIGHLIGHTS
Spring has sprung, and we find ourselves busy completing a number of inquiries from clients and diversity-related organizations requesting the completion of surveys and questionnaires this month. We work with responsible partners for particular clients, the Human Resources Dept. and the Accounting Dept. when assisting with client requests because the information needed is often a combination of firm wide attorney and staff numbers, as well as client-specific attorney and legal support billable hours. We also provide information on past, present and future MLA diversity-related sponsorships, participation and outreach.
The diversity committee met on Monday, April 28 for its monthly meeting. The full agenda included a Budget Report from the Chair and an announcement of recent committee member changes. Charlotte Combre informed us that Donna Donlon will be stepping down after her nearly 5 years of service on the committee. Donna is currently both the Washington, DC hiring partner and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors this year. Charlotte introduced newest member, Washington, DC litigation associate Camilla Lee to the committee. Camilla has already had active involvement in the Georgetown Women of Color Collective 1L Mentor program.
Julie Inouye reported on recent April activities/sponsorships which included:
1) Recent participation at the NALP Education Conference in Toronto on April 23-25 by 4 of our members, Jennifer Queen, Dan Conway, Sayako Matsuzaki and Julie. Julie reported on the number and different types of diversity-related break-out sessions offered at this year’s conference.
2) Survey completion for MCCA, NAWL, Hildebrandt & one of our clients.
3) Report given on our recent participation and sponsorship of the 7th Annual MALDEF Awards Dinner. Atlanta partner and MALDEF Board member Luis Aguilar was in attendance at the firm’s table in addition to Jesse Spikes and other invited guests/clients.
4) Mark Meagher reported on the Denver office’s participation in the 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Summit, held on March 19 at the Denver University Sturm College of Law campus. Participants of the all day event included associates Roni Melamed and Joe Martinez, who split the day’s seminars and sent Mark a comprehensive memo on their experiences which were forwarded to committee members (available upon request).
5) Newest diversity committee member Camilla Lee reported on the March 25 Georgetown Women of Color Collective 1L Mentor Program’s Symposium & Dinner. Camilla and Kristin Landis were two of the dinner’s roundtable discussion leaders, and partner Shari Klevens was one of the Symposium’s panelists.
Before we were updated on 2008 summer associate program statistics by Sayako Matsuzaki, Charlotte Combre suggested we include a diversity theme to one of our summer “lunch and learn” training sessions for summer associates. Julie Inouye discussed a corporate survey that we had been asked by our HR Dept to participate in this summer called the Corporate Equality Index. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Americans is the creator of this survey which is distributed to the AmLaw 200 and hundreds of corporations across the U.S. Our committee recommended we move forward to complete this survey with assistance from our HR Dept. Rupa Singh discussed the San Diego Bar Diversity Pledge which is a new initiative announced at the end of 2007 (copies available). Goals of the Pledge relate to diversity issues including recruiting, retention, promotion and leadership. Charlotte will be discussing this with management in terms of who would act as the actual signer of the Pledge, and report back to Rupa and the committee.
It should be noted that member Mark Meagher brought up the importance of keeping the issue of diversity in front of the partnership. We were reminded of diversity consultant Verna Myers’ excellent program at the 2005 Partners Meeting. It was determined that Mark, Charlotte and Avi Stadler would set up a meeting with Dan Anderson, Director of Administration, to discuss having another diversity-related program at the upcoming partners meeting in Arizona this September.
Additional diversity scholarship research that Dan Conway prepared was distributed prior to the meeting. We briefly discussed the data and agreed to create a Diversity Scholarship Subcommittee, made up of all recruiting dept admin staff and Michael Boucher, Camilla Lee, Margaret Johnson and Rupa Singh. We agreed to continue our discussion of an MLA diversity scholarship at our next meeting.
Partners remained on the line to discuss the Utilization Report before our meeting was adjourned.
Our next committee meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 27 @ 2pm EDT.
MARCH HIGHLIGHTS
This month’s diversity committee meeting was held on Monday, March 24. Charlotte Combre was unable to attend the meeting so Tami Azorsky chaired by giving a budget report followed by Julie Inouye’s report on recent March highlights which included a recent RFP that required an extensive response to diversity-related questions, and participation in a Los Angeles law school diversity reception and Denver diversity summit. Discussion by committee members included:
Rupa Singh reported on the SD office’s recent “Trifecta” sponsorship in support of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, a non-profit bar association dedicated to the professional development of women in which many San Diego attorneys are active. The SD office budget, along w/ the diversity committee’s budget, joined forces to provide a $3000 sponsorship towards three upcoming events for the Club. Rupa will keep us informed throughout the year as those events take place.
Mark Meagher will report at next month’s meeting about the Denver office’s participation in the 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Summit, held on March 19 at the Denver University Sturm College of Law campus. Participants of the all day event included associates Roni Melamed and Joe Martinez, who split the day’s seminars.
Margaret Johnson reported on the LA Office’s participation on March 19 at the 3rd Annual UCLA Diversity Reception. Margaret, Julie Inouye (Sr. Manager of Legal Recruitment) and Stacey Johnson (Recruitment Assistant) were the firm’s representatives staffing the MLA Table. In addition to speaking with a number of current and prospective law students, the trio had an opportunity to speak with UCLA Law School Career Center Deans and counsel students on future law firm employment. One of our 2008 Washington DC 1L summer associates, Jay Huh attended the event. Margaret has followed up with a couple of students she met at the Reception and has begun discussions with the asian law students organization regarding the possibility of partnering to create a mock interview program. The evening’s favorite giveaway (if we do say so ourselves) was our diversity-themed bag that we handed out to many students – the blue and black heavy nylon handled tote bag has the MLA logo and the statement, Diversity is a Value at McKenna Long & Aldridge on the front. This is the first time we have distributed our diversity-specific giveaway and they were very popular. Our participation at the UCLA event will be the feature of our March intranet diversity highlight.
Tom Wardell discussed his recent presentation (also on March 19) on Document Interpretation in Atlanta, which was a training program for junior-level lawyers sponsored by the ALDC (Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium), of which Tom is a founding member.
Donna Donlon reported that a March Women of Color Collective event had to be postponed recently but had been rescheduled to take place on March 25 so she will provide a full report at next month’s meeting. All in all, another busy month for diversity-related events.
Tami suggested that by our next meeting, we should have a report from the Recruiting Department outlining a plan for a possible MLA Diversity Scholarship.
The firm has had quite a few new lateral hires this month, so our committee members have been busy connecting with our new attorneys and providing them all with information about the committee’s ongoing efforts.
Our next committee meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, April 28 @ 2pm EDT.
FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS
We are pleased to add two new members to our firm wide diversity committee this month. They are Deborah Cote, litigation associate in our San Francisco office and Avi Stadler, our Associate Director of Professional Development, resident in our Atlanta Office. At this month’s committee meeting held on Monday, February 25, we were informed that Tami Azorsky will be stepping down as committee chair after holding the post since 2003. Tami announced that Charlotte Combre, Atlanta health care litigation partner would be taking over as chair. We congratulate Charlotte on her new post and thank Tami for her 5 years of devotion to creating this committee’s long term vision, supporting all of its many accomplishments and visibility both inside and outside of the firm and for her continued support of our diversity-related efforts and goals. The good news is that Tami has agreed to stay on as a committee member through ’07.
Since our January meeting, the recruitment department continued its fact-finding efforts to gather additional information regarding diversity scholarships. Their focus was to make contact with Deans at local law school career centers to assist our committee in identifying some of the mechanics and best practices for regional and national diversity scholarships currently being offered by firms. The research continues, and our database of best practices is growing. In addition to confirming funding for such a scholarship at MLA, the committee’s next step would be to define our own scholarship guidelines and procedures.
Dan Conway presented the committee with a number of great examples of in-house diversity-related social events that he had not only researched but experienced at his previous firm. Specific examples included a future Lunar New Year tie in during February; incorporating a speaker from our contacts with the Hispanic Bar Foundation during Hispanic Heritage Month in September, Cesar Chavez Day in March or Cinco De Mayo in May; utilizing a history of Martin Luther King, Jr. sent via e-mail or use of documentaries on Dr. King next January in commemoration of Martin Luther King Day or during Black History Month in February; incorporating Take Our Daughters to Work Day in April; sending an e-mail on the history of GLBT or having a luncheon speaker from PFLAG during National Lesbian and Gay History Month in October; and/or recognizing National Disability Employment Awareness Week in October. The committee determined that incorporating this type of themed cultural events/recognition perhaps in conjunction with existing/upcoming social events at the firm in all offices would be a good idea.
Recent activities and sponsorship in February included our recent participation in The Hildebrandt Institute’s Retaining Women in the Legal Profession Survey and our response to a major client’s request for diverse attorney fees paid in 2007; Platinum sponsorship of the Feb 27 Emory Law School BLSA 25th Anniversary Scholarship which was also showcased as our February 29 Monthly Intranet Diversity Highlight and noted BLSA scholarship recipient Jason Esteves who will be a 2008 summer associate in our Atlanta office (also in attendance at the event were Jeremy Berry, Sharice Owens and committee member Sayako Matsuzaki); and annual renewal of our California Minority Counsel Program dues as we look forward to participation by three of our offices (LA, SF, SD) at the upcoming annual business development conference to be held in San Francisco this fall.
Our next diversity committee meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, March 24.
JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS
Happy New Year! Our first diversity committee meeting of 2008 took place on Monday, January 28. New committee members include Sayako Matsuzaki, Manager of Legal Recruitment in Atlanta and Charlotte Combre, Health Care Litigation Partner in Atlanta.
Julie Inouye reported recent activities since our last formal meeting in late November. Among the year-end commitments the committee made to sponsorships, we included the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys’ Installation Dinner (Petrina Hall attended the function), the Georgia Bar Diversity Program Business Development Symposium (the Firm was a Sponsor and hosted a table at the event) and the Georgia Bar Women & Minorities in the Profession Committee’s 2008 Commitment to Equality Awards Cocktail Reception (Gold Sponsorship).
This month, the committee has already received requests for several diversity-related surveys. They include the 2008 National Law Journal’s Diversity Scorecard, MCCA’s New Diverse Partners List of 2007, and an AT&T Mobility client survey regarding fees billed in 2007 that reflect work performed by minority, women and disabled veteran attorneys and paralegals. The firm also announced on its Intranet Highlights that committee member Rupa Singh was appointed to the CA State Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission beginning this February, and Jae Park was installed as Incoming Board Vice President for the Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego (installation ceremony co-sponsored by the firm).
The majority of our first meeting of the year consisted of discussion regarding our 2007 committee goals met and to be continued, and 2008 goals to be created. We have seen the momentum of this committee continue to grow and are very excited about the new year. We put together a tentative list of ten new goals that we are fine tuning and will publicize next month.
In the meantime, a brief synopsis of goals achieved in 2007 are as follows:
1) Improved Internal PR with the establishment of our welcome messages by the Committee Chair and follow-up visits to all new attorneys by a member of our diversity committee, Monthly Intranet Highlights showcasing our diversity efforts (with key assistance from our Business Communications Coordinator, Beth Harris) and Development of new In-house Programs, with the creation of the Women’s Career Development Group in Atlanta which we hope will be mirrored by other offices;
2) Improved External PR with regular updates to our website diversity section, discussions and research underway to consider the feasibility of a Diversity Scholarship, and elevated participation outside of the office which included participation in Lavender Law in Chicago and the first Rocky Mountain Diversity Conference/Job Fair in Denver;
3) Expansion of Law School Outreach with San Diego’s recent sponsorship of a University of San Diego Diversity Committee event and Washington, DC’s Hispanic Law Students Association (HLSA) Resume Review program;
4) Utilizing a Better Mechanism for Monitoring Associate Assignments by continuing the review (by partners only) of the Utilization Report at each meeting; and
5) Identifying New Diversity Committee Members with an emphasis on adding associates.
One of our 2007 goals that we began discussing late in the year but are continuing to research and consider implementing in 2008, is the possible creation of an MLA Diversity Scholarship that would be awarded to 2L students. Research on scholarships awarded by some 40 national law firms has already been collected. Our future research will include one-on-one discussions by our recruitment staff with representatives from law school career centers. We are interested in best practices and are especially interested in knowing if scholarship programs currently available have really met the goals that firms set out to achieve and that their processes are efficient in conjunction with student-law firm-law school. Pending 2008 budget approvals will greatly impact our ability to promote this type of program in the coming year.
We are enthusiastic about our 2008 goals and made an important decision to have the committee meet monthly this year. In order to keep our momentum and commitment to achieving these goals a top priority, we felt our former schedule of meeting every other month just wasn’t enough! The committee will reconvene on Monday, February 25 @ 2pm EST. We look forward to sharing our finalized list of 2008 goals with you after that meeting, so please stay tuned.
2007 HIGHLIGHTS
DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
The following compilation of the year in review was taken from the firm’s December 19, 2007 intranet homepage message, "MLA Diversity Committee Wraps Up Successful Year". Thanks to all who helped make it happen. The Committee would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a joyous holiday season and a wonderful new year filled with diversity! Catch our new goals and accomplishments in 2008.
2007 has proven to be a very rewarding and active year for the MLA Diversity Committee. Throughout the year, Committee members Tami Azorsky (Chairperson), Michael Boucher, Dan Conway, Donna Donlon, Michael Freed, Petrina Hall, Hakim Hilliard, Chris Humphreys, Julie Inouye, Margaret Johnson, Maggie Joslin, Mimi Lee, Mark Meagher, Jennifer Queen, Diana Ross-Butler, Rupa Singh, and Tom Wardell have raised MLA's diversity profile by continuing to establish relationships with key universities/students and professional organizations through sponsorship and membership. The Firm has also garnered several awards and leadership appointments, and has created a diversity brochure for recruiting efforts.
Below are a few highlights of the Diversity Committee's successful year, organized by quarter:
First Quarter
The Committee began the year by announcing that MLA's diversity statistics, when compared to national averages as obtained by the National Association of Law Placement, ranked either above or on par in all categories including minority partners/associates/summer associates and women partners/associates/summer associates. It also determined its annual goals, including (1) establishing affinity groups, (2) improving internal PR, (3) continuing and expanding law school outreach, and (4) identifying unique professional opportunities.
Measures taken to meet these goals included organizing and co-sponsoring the Board of Directors Network Women of Color Luncheon (Ann-Marie McGaughey, Chris Frey); co-sponsoring and participating in the Second Annual UCLA Law Firm Diversity Reception (Margaret Johnson, Jean-Paul Menard, Julie Inouye); and held a reception for the 2006-2007 MLA and Georgetown University Women of Color Collective Mentor Program, the organization the firm co-founded at the law school for 1L students and continues to provide between 10-25 women of color mentors for each year.
Second Quarter
During second quarter, several Firm members received appointments to leadership positions and accepted awards for their outstanding contributions to the diversity cause. Jae Park received a one-year appointment to the Board of Directors for the Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego, and Rupa Singh won the San Diego County Bar Association's Outstanding Diversity Award.
The Firm also participated in and served as sponsors for several diversity-related events, including the National Pan Asian Bar Association Fourth Annual Regional Conference in San Diego (Bob Brewer, Bob Cocchia, Gary Brucker, Rupa Singh); the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sixth Annual Atlanta Awards Dinner (Luis Aguilar); and the DRI Diversity for Success Conference in Chicago (Mimi Lee).
Third Quarter
The third quarter launched MLA's first formal diversity brochure to be distributed at on-campus recruiting events, minority job fairs, and other diversity-related programs and conferences. Other highlights included participating in and acting as sponsors for the California Minority Counsel Program's 18th Annual Business Development Conference: "Stars of Diversity" (Mimi Lee, Gary Brucker, Rupa Singh, Jae Park, Amy Deng, and Cole Sheridan, with pre-conference assistance from Leslie Brown); the inaugural Rocky Mountain Legal Diversity Summit and the 7th Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Fair (Terri Rithner, Carol Neubauer); and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys annual Glitter and Gala Auction (Hakim Hilliard, Petrina Hall, Janelle Jones).
Fourth Quarter
The Committee finished the year by continuing its strong participation and sponsorship of many programs. A few included the 3rd Annual Diversity Management Series for Law Firm Leaders in Atlanta (Tom Wardell, Phil Bradley); the Corporate Counsel Women of Color's Fostering Diversity in the Legal Profession 3rd Annual Conference in New York City (Mimi Lee); and the Minority Corporate Counsel Associations' Dialogue on Diversity program in San Diego (Jae Park, Rupa Singh). The Firm also hosted a luncheon for the Hispanic National Bar Foundation in the Washington office as part of the organization's Senate Latino Youth Summit orientation event (Dan Conway, Ray Aragon, Jamie Whitaker Campbell, Jason Hall, Christopher Baker, Camilla Lee, Donna Donlon, Shari Klevens).
The Firm congratulates the Diversity Committee for its commitment to promote and encourage diversity within the Firm, the legal profession, and the community at large.
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
Our last diversity committee meeting of 2007 took place on Monday, November 26. Topics of discussion included a quick review of budget issues (yes, we’ve put almost every last dollar to good use), a review of diversity statistics from our fall recruiting season, our recent participation and sponsorship of the NAPABA National Conference in Las Vegas, and a continuation of our discussion regarding the feasibility of a diversity scholarship at MLA. We will continue to do more diligence research on what other firms and law schools are offering in the way of scholarships and how some firms are partnering with law schools to administer them. Tami Azorsky reiterated that it was imperative to identify clear criteria, a step-by-step process and full ownership for such a scholarship program to be successful, raise the firm’s profile and benefit the right candidates. We did agree if we were to move forward, to focus on 2L students. It was noted that more and more firms are offering generous scholarships to 1L and 2L candidates, making the competition to identify and hire top diverse candidates even more competitive. While the committee has decided to continue to seek additional information before making a final decision, we are in agreement that we must continue to cultivate our participation in other ways on law school campuses in order to attract top diverse candidates. We are also excited to report that SF partner and committee member Mimi Lee has made a re-connection to a Hastings Law School opportunity that we are hoping to pursue in 2008, and LA associate and committee member Margaret Johnson has recently made contact with USC and UCLA to discuss bringing MLA’s writing skills program, already presented in Atlanta and DC, to law students in Southern California.
SD committee member and senior associate Rupa Singh reported on the firm’s participation at the NAPABA Conference which took place on November 15-18 in Las Vegas. Jae Park of our SD office and Mimi Lee were also in attendance. Our participants were able to network w/ potential new clients, visit with current client representatives, and renew acquaintances and friendships among NAPABA’s growing membership.
Recently, we have been asked to submit diversity materials to be included in the upcoming "MLA University" which will be introduced on the intranet soon. Please see our November intranet spotlight featuring Georgetown’s Women of Color Collective 1L Mentor Program, created by women attorneys in our DC office. Those highlighted included diversity committee members Donna Donlon and Tami Azorsky who created the program in 2004, and Camilla Lee who is the current program chair.
A brief statistical overview of the fall recruiting season by Julie Inouye showed Atlanta with 1 ethnically diverse summer associate of 7 (w/ 3 offers still pending) and 4 acceptances for fall 2008 w/ 25% diversity (and 2 outstanding offers). Los Angeles has 3 summer associates (with 1 pending diverse candidate) and 3 acceptances for fall w/ 33% diversity. DC has 1 diverse summer associate of 5 (w/ 3 offers still pending) and expects a fall class of 5 acceptances w/ 20% diversity. Our Denver office has hired 1 summer associate and will look to identify one additional student in the spring to add to the small summer class, as well as 1 fall class member (no ethnic diversity). San Diego and San Francisco have decided not to have summer programs and expect no fall entering class members. We will tally the final summer diversity statistics after our NALP December 1 deadline.
This month we received requests from 2 current clients for information showing the firm’s commitment to diversity. We are finding that each company requests different and/or specific information, so no two responses are ever alike. We are proud of our growing diversity participation and commitment and are always ready to share that information with interested clients.
DC partner and HPD committee member Lora Brzezynski reported to members of the diversity committee that MLA was ranked 11th in the Nov 5, 2007 edition of the Legal Times for "Who has the most minorities" with 15.91% of our attorneys being minorities. The firm also ranked 23rd for "Who has the most women" with 31.82% of our attorneys being women. Lora noted overall, that both rankings were very impressive. We will be submitting 2007 diversity figures to the Minority Law Journal shortly, for their annual Diversity Scorecard. ALM Research also recently produced 2006 figures that show MLA rated #56 of 209 firms responding with 14.20% minority lawyers. For additional details, go to almresearch@alm.com.
OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS
The 3rd Annual Diversity Management Series for Law Firm Leaders, hosted by the American Institute for Managing Diversity, Inc. and the Atlanta Large Law Firm Diversity Alliance took place on October 3 & 4 at the State Bar of Georgia offices in Atlanta. The firm was a proud sponsor of this 2-day program which included a panel discussion with general counsel and senior counsel from Fortune 500 Corporations including Wal-Mart, Delta, TBS, The Coca Cola company and Newell Rubbermaid. A networking reception took place with Alliance firms, participants, alumni and invited guests on the first evening. For additional information you can visit their website @ www.aimd.org. Tom Wardell or Phil Bradley are also available to answer questions you may have about this program or the organizations noted above.
Also held in early October, the Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC) celebrated their 3rd annual conference in NYC, “Fostering Diversity in the Legal Profession”. The firm was a sponsor of the event, and SF partner Mimi Lee was in attendance. The program included an array of topics, including ethics, diversity, executive search strategies, business drivers, issues of Election 2008, financial wellness, and living life to the fullest!
On October 16th, the firm hosted a luncheon for the Hispanic National Bar Foundation. As many of you know, the firm donates space to the HNBF in our DC office. The luncheon was part of the organization’s Senate Latino Youth Summit orientation event. Ten nationally selected students were participants of the orientation on the policy making process in preparation for their 2-day Summit. Dan Conway organized a group of MLA attorneys to attend the luncheon, which was held in the Chesapeake Conference Room. The diversity committee has continued to build an alliance with the HBNF, so look for additional support and participation in the coming months.
As we mentioned in last month’s highlights, the firm was a sponsor and participant in late September of the Inaugural Rocky Mountain Legal Diversity Summit and 7th Annual Legal Career Fair in Denver. Terri Rithner, DN corporate associate, and legal secretary Carol Neubauer, who also doubles as the recruiting dept’s valuable assistant in DN, were the firm’s representatives. On October 25, the firm intranet home page highlighted our involvement in that event. Please refer to the intranet Archives for additional information. We will continue to showcase our diversity participation on the home page each month, so stay tuned.
As a follow-up to our participation at last month’s CA Minority Counsel Program annual business development conference, Mimi Lee reported that the firm was invited to participate in a proposal for work with the UC Regents, which is a direct off shoot of our participation in the Corporate Connections portion of the conference. The Regents are reviewing their defense counsel panels for Employment and General and Auto liability lawsuits in Southern California (Riverside, Irvine & San Diego campuses. Mimi Lee, with assistance from Rupa Singh, Jae Park and Gary Brucker, submitted our proposal on October 12. We will keep you informed on the outcome.
Our next diversity committee meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 26.
SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
We hope you noted this month’s diversity-related intranet message posted on September 24 (view homepage Archives). As we mentioned last month, the California Minority Counsel Program held its 18th Annual Business Development Conference in LA at the Downtown Marriott on September 12. Firm representatives included San Diego associates Rupa Singh, Gary Brucker and Jae Park, Los Angeles associates Amy Deng and Cole Sheridan, and San Francisco partner Mimi Lee. All of our participants participated in the Corporate Connections portion of the day, taking advantage of the opportunity to interview with in-house counsel from Wells Fargo Bank, The University of California, Clorox Company, and Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. Follow-up including participation in an upcoming University of California RFP made this experience a great opportunity, especially for the more junior associates participating in this year’s event. It was a true team effort, including a helpful prep session given by Litigation Department Business Development Manager Leslie Brown, prior to the conference. The photo of our six participants was the icing on the cake – posing with LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The diversity committee met on September 24 for one of its pre-scheduled meetings. Discussion included a budget update, distribution of our new Diversity Brochure, diversity statistics from our recent summer and fall entering class, additional assignment of duties to meet our 2007 goals, reports on recent participation including Dan Conway’s and Anthony Morris’ participation in the recent Lavender Law Job Fair held earlier this month in Chicago, and the firm’s sponsorship and participation in the Inaugural Rocky Mountain Legal Diversity Summit & Job Fair held on September 20-21 in Denver. MLA participants included Terri Rithner, Mark Meagher and Carol Neubauer.
This month we were a Silver Circle Sponsor of the NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner held in Atlanta on Saturday, September 22 at the Hyatt Regency. This year’s dinner was especially meaningful, as Dr. Asa Hilliard, who recently passed away, was honored at the event. Dr. Hilliard was diversity committee member Hakim Hilliard’s well-known father. Attendees of the event included Hakim, Diana Ross-Butler, Petrina Hall and Lauren Bellamy.
Diana Ross-Butler, Hakim Hilliard and Petrina Hall also participated on September 26 in the State Bar of Georgia Diversity Program, Fueling the Pipeline: Solutions to Continue Diversifying the Profession – 15th Annual Fall CLE & Luncheon. The firm was a Silver Sponsor of the all day event held at the State Bar Building.
On September 19, we submitted our final proof and 1-page underwriter/sponsor advertisements for the 2008 Vault/MCCA Diversity Programs Directory. We are looking forward to seeing the updated version of the publication at the end of the year. We will actually be featuring 2 of our newer diversity ads presented recently by our marketing department’s creative team.
Earlier this month we made a commitment to act as a Bronze Sponsor of the upcoming NAPABA National Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada which is scheduled to take place on November 15-18. Mimi Lee, Rupa Singh and Jae Park will be MLA representatives at the conference. Mimi and Rupa are members of the diversity committee.
AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS
Our new diversity brochure has arrived! We are already distributing this 4-page color brochure to fall law student and lateral candidates. A special thanks to Beth Harris, Business Communications Coordinator, for being so integral to the development and process of creating our first formal diversity-focused brochure. Please contact any of the recruitment department staff for a copy.
This month we have signed on as a sponsor of the Emory Hispanic Law Society’s 4th Annual Wine and Cheese Networking Event to be held on Sept 20th. Partners Luis Aguilar and Jim Levine have represented the firm at this event in prior years.
In DC, the firm sponsored t-shirts for2007-8 members of the local GWU Hispanic Law Students Association. This year, the annual t-shirt will promote “Siempre Unidos” (translated “Always United”). Diversity Committee Chair Tami Azorsky was presented with a t-shirt by the organization’s Vice-President, Arsenio Rodriguez.
Just as our 2007 program ended last month, several diversity-related events were attended by MLA attorneys this month in search of identifying additional diverse candidates for our upcoming 2008 summer programs. The DC office sponsored a Georgetown Law School Diversity Reception on August 28 at B. Smith’s Restaurant in Union Station. Dan Conway, Sr. Mgr. of Legal Recruitment, reported that we had a great turnout from both students and MLA attorneys. The Southeastern and Western Region BLSA Job Fairs were attended in addition to the upcoming National Lavender Law Job Fair which will be held in early Sept. in Chicago.
In mid-August, Diana Ross-Butler assisted partner Charles Wilson in preparing a diversity plan for an RFP for client Waste Management. We also assisted Sr. Advisor Dan Baskerville and the Human Resources Department with an update to our Equal Employment Opportunity Policy which includes some of the firm’s diversity statistics and information. We would also like to thank those of you who completed the voluntary EEO survey request distributed to all attorneys earlier this month. This survey will now be distributed to all new attorneys who join the firm and will assist us in capturing information regarding ethnic diversity and sexual orientation. We find that a growing number of diversity-related surveys, directories, RFP’s and existing corporate clients are requesting this information in an effort to confirm MLA’s commitment to diversity.
As members of the LA, SF and SD offices plan to attend the upcoming CA Minority Counsel Program’s annual Business Development Conference in Los Angeles in mid-Sept, we will be working with our marketing department to help prep for the Corporate Connections portion of the day which will include participants meeting with several in-house counsel from CMCP’s membership, in introducing our diverse attorneys with potential business development opportunities.
JULY HIGHLIGHTS
This month, the diversity committee began working closely with the firm’s Internal Communications Department to insure that diversity-related highlights are posted on our intranet home page at least once a month. We are also working with the department to develop our first diversity collateral piece to be distributed during fall on-campus recruiting season and at minority job fairs and programs where the firm will be represented. The brochure’s “look” will be similar to the firm’s Quarterly Reports, but smaller. As many of you know, the 2007 Second Quarter Report’s theme was “Our Strength Is In Our Diversity”.
We are pleased to report that we just signed on as a sponsor of the Inaugural Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Summit and the 5th Annual Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Fair being held in Denver on September 20 at INVESCO Field at Mile High. Mark Meagher, Denver Office Managing Partner and diversity committee member is slated to represent the firm at the Summit. We hope to have more involvement in future Summits as the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, along with the DU and CU law schools develop their program further.
On July 14, the firm was a sponsor of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) Glitter Gala. Petrina Hall, Janelle Jones and Hakim Hilliard represented the firm at this annual event. Stay tuned for an upcoming intranet message on the evening’s program.
The diversity committee met on July 23 for its regular meeting. Agenda items included a discussion by Tami Azorsky and Atlanta partner Carol Geiger, who recently attended conferences on the topic of retaining women lawyers. Julie Roberts, Professional Development Manager, reviewed the firm’s mentor program. Discussion also included a recap of recent participation by committee members at diversity conferences including the DRI Conference in Chicago attended by Mimi Lee and recent NASABA and NAPABA conferences attended by Rupa Singh. We are finalizing our draft of the 2008 Vault/MCCA Diversity Programs Directory, and will be circulating a new survey to capture data on MLA diverse attorneys in the very near future. The firm has been an Underwriter for this publication since its inception 3 years ago. The committee is also fine-tuning its “welcome” message to new attorneys joining the firm. We are also very pleased to announce new member Petrina Hall, Atlanta associate, to the committee.
Next month, we will provide a rundown of diversity-related participation during the upcoming fall recruiting season on law school campuses.
Program Sponsorships
Law School Program
Organization Memberships, Affiliations & Participation
Honors, Awars & Appointments
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