Diversity and Inclusion Programs and Efforts

Sheppard Mullin has a long-standing commitment to both increasing and sustaining diversity in the legal profession. The Firm's Diversity Committee was established in the early 1990s to address a variety of critically important issues facing the legal profession and has sponsored numerous initiatives and programs to help fulfill our mission. Sheppard Mullin is committed to providing quality training, mentoring, and opportunities for growth and business development to all of our attorneys, and especially understands the importance of these activities for diverse attorneys.

Because the Firm actively seeks to hire and maintain a team of attorneys that is both the best of the brightest and as diverse as the world in which we practice, we created a new role at Sheppard Mullin – Manager of Diversity & Inclusion. The full-time Diversity & Inclusion Manager works closely with the Diversity & Inclusion Committee and its Chair to manage and support the Firm's existing diversity and inclusion efforts and develop new internal and external initiatives.

Sheppard Mullin recognizes the importance of diverse leadership:

• The Firm's Executive Committee, Office Administrative Partners (OAPs), and practice group leaders include women.   
• An African-American woman partner chairs the Firm's Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which includes three additional partners of color, two associates of color, seven women attorneys and an openly gay male partner.
• A minority woman partner is Deputy General Counsel of the Firm, and three women attorneys are members of the Firm's general counsel's office.
• A woman partner and a male partner of color sit on the Firm's Compensation Committee; a woman partner serves on the Investment Committee; and a minority woman partner sits on the Firm's Retirement Committee.
• The Firm's International Practice Committee includes an openly gay male partner, a woman partner and a minority male partner.
• Firm-wide Recruiting Committees include women attorneys, attorneys of color and an openly gay attorney.

Sheppard Mullin has a number of very active, attorney-led affinity groups. The Firm encourages attorneys to form affinity groups around common interests:

• Sheppard Mullin Women Lawyers Group – Individual office groups meet monthly and provide women attorneys with leadership opportunities and ongoing support. They also develop  monthly activities and host special client and business development events. 
• Women Attorneys Leadership Council – The firm-wide Women Lawyers Group leaders meet quarterly via teleconference to discuss programs, share experiences and address issues. The group also keeps abreast of best practices for women attorneys and provides important feedback to Firm leadership.
• Diversity & Inclusion Attorney Network – The firm-wide group for attorneys of color serves as an ongoing network of support for its members and as a voice to Firm leadership. Their goals include creating professional development programs, planning activities for client development, and connecting with external legal and community organizations serving attorneys and people of color.
• Out At Sheppard - The firm-wide LGBT attorneys group meets monthly to provide support for its members and give feedback to Firm leadership on relevant issues. The group also plans client and business development activities and connects with external local and national LGBT organizations. 
• The Associates Forum – Designed to provide firm-wide input and feedback to Firm management on important issues, the Associates Forum also provides relevant feedback for the Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Other internal diversity and inclusion initiatives and relevant policies and benefits include:

• Diversity & Inclusion Award – This initiative enables deserving attorneys to receive recognition for leadership and sustained involvement in Firm or legal profession diversity and inclusion efforts. A financial donation is made by the Firm to a diversity-related organization in the award recipient's honor.
• Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Hours Credit – All attorneys are encouraged to become actively involved in diversity and inclusion efforts, and associates may receive up to 50 hours credit for approved leadership activities.
• Flexible Work Arrangement Policy – The policy was designed for Associates requesting part-time work arrangements due to family, health or other personal reasons. 
• Back-up Childcare and Eldercare – This benefit is available to both attorneys and staff.

Through its attorneys, the Firm has access to a broad network of diverse lawyers and organizations as a result of their widespread participation in bar association and professional programs and activities. Some of the Firm's external activities include:

• Diversity Programs: The Firm sponsors and participates in the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, the ABA Minority Counsel Program, the ABA Commission on Women, and the California Minority Counsel Program, as well as diversity-oriented programs of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and Corporate Counsel Women of Color. Our attorneys have served as panelists at diversity programs sponsored by the ABA; Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York and other major bar associations; and other organizations.  Two of our attorneys serve on Lambda Legal regional committees. The Firm's Chairman represented the firm at the 2008 Call To Action Summit, as well as a major diversity summit sponsored by the ABA.  A woman OAP was a featured speaker at a national conference on "Retaining & Developing Women Lawyers".

• Bar Associations: For many years, our attorneys have been active in the National Bar Association, Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Lambda Legal, National Lesbian & Gay Law Association, Lavender Law Job Fair, Mexican-American Bar Association, California Association of Black Lawyers, Charles Houston Bar Association, Queens Bench, Asian Law Caucus, Langston Bar Association, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, among others. The San Francisco office managing partner, a woman, is a board member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, and another San Francisco attorney is a past president of the Queen's Bench. A San Diego woman partner sits on the board of the San Diego Bar Association. An Orange County woman associate is the immediate past president of the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association, and another Orange County associate is on the Orange County Bar Association's Diversity Task Force. The Firm's Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair also serves on the Diversity Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and is the President of the Los Angeles Black Women Lawyers Foundation.

• Sponsorships: The Firm was a sponsor of the ABA Commission on Women's "Women of Color Research Initiative," a study of the retention of women attorneys of color in law firms.

• The Firm helped underwrite the production of the motion picture entitled "Soul of Justice: The Life and Times of Thelton Henderson." The film chronicles the life of respected African-American jurist Thelton Henderson, a crusading civil rights litigator and role model.

• Each March, the Firm sponsors, and a number of its attorneys, staff and clients attend, the Annual Lanterns Award Luncheon, a mentoring program for Los Angeles area high school girls organized jointly by the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and the Latina Lawyers Association.

• The Firm has sponsored and its attorneys have been active in various community organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, Inwood House, Bilingual Foundation for the Arts, Equal Rights Advocates, Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, Hispanic Heritage Month, San Francisco Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Jewish Hospice Project, Orange County Hispanic Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) and the Arthritis Foundation.

We have been recognized for our efforts by:

• Multicultural Law magazine, which has named Sheppard Mullin as one of the "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity" in 2009 and for five consecutive years since 2005, as well as the "Top 50 Law Firms for Partners", the "Top 100 Law Firms for Women", and the "Top 25 Law Firms for Hispanics" in 2007. In 2006, the firm was ranked similarly for associates and for disabled Americans.
• The 2009 "Diversity Scorecard" published by the Minority Law Journal, which lists Sheppard Mullin among the top 100 law firms in the country when it comes to diversity.
• Receiving the first Law Firm Award from the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation for our strong commitment to the promotion of community and pro bono activities.
• Sheppard Mullin was named one of the state's Top Law Firm's for Equality 2010 by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.  The recognition was published in the January issue of California Lawyer.