Reed Smith LLP

Reed Smith Strongly Supports and Endorses ABA Resolution 113

Firm’s Long-Standing Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion Mirrors Resolution’s Focus on Urging Legal Service Providers to Expand Opportunities for Diverse Attorneys

Home Neuigkeiten Reed Smith Strongly Supports and Endorses ABA Resolution 113

LOS ANGELES (March 27, 2017) Global law firm Reed Smith LLP is proud to support and endorse ABA Resolution 113 that “urges all providers of legal services, including law firms and corporations, to expand and create opportunities at all levels of responsibility for diverse attorneys.” The resolution also encourages clients to direct a greater percentage of the legal services they purchase to diverse attorneys.

“Reed Smith is – and has always been – firmly committed to diversity and inclusion,” said Reed Smith’s Global Managing Partner Sandy Thomas. “The ABA has taken a great step toward helping the legal profession become more diverse and more reflective of the world in which we live and work. We know that that diverse organizations perform better and end up with better outcomes. Our diverse attorney population allows us to assemble outstanding teams that deliver superior results to our clients.”

According to John Iino, Global Chair, Diversity & Inclusion, “While Reed Smith’s Diversity & Inclusion programs focus on recruiting, promotion and retention of diverse attorneys, our overriding mission is to transform our culture into a culture of inclusion.” Some of the firm’s recent Diversity & Inclusion-focused advancements include:

  • The firm recently added several 1L diversity fellowships, partnering with clients in Northern and Southern California and Pittsburgh to bring diverse 1L law students to the firm’s summer programs. These new fellowships are is in addition to the existing fellowships currently in place in New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
  • In 2016, the firm renamed its Diverse Scholars Program to honor late partner and Director of Global Diversity & Inclusion Deborah Broyles. The Deborah J. Broyles Diverse Scholars Program provides $20,000 awards and summer associate positions to two law students who have demonstrated academic excellence and commitment to diversity and inclusion.
  • The firm’s Management Bonus Plan for Office Managing Partners and Practice Group Leaders includes metrics to measure progress on diversity and inclusion goals. These firm leaders will receive regular reports on specific, diversity-related metrics.
  • Marlen Whitley, a partner in the firm’s Houston office, has been appointed the first Executive Director of Diversity Recruiting. In this role, Whitley will focus on all aspects of recruiting diverse talent.
  • In 2016, the firm established six affinity groups, including those for African Americans (Sustaining and Training African American Attorneys at Reed Smith [STAARS]); Asian Americans; Hispanic/Latino Americans; LGBTQ attorneys (PRISM); disabled attorneys (Looking for Excellence and Advancement of Attorneys with Disability at Reed Smith [LEADRS]); and veterans.
  • Reed Smith has provided for domestic partner benefits and the "gross-up" pay benefit for our LGBT employees to mitigate the impact of federal law that treats money spent by an employee for his/her domestic partner's medical insurance as taxable income, while that paid for a spouse's medical insurance is not.
  • The firm has a vibrant Women's Initiative Network (WINRS) to promote the successful development and advancement of women lawyers.
  • On March 21, 2017, Reed Smith hosted a program in its New York office entitled, “Seeking Fairness: How Implicit Biases Can Undermine Today’s Companies.”

About Reed Smith

Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers in 26 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute-resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, entertainment and media, shipping and transport, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing, technology, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.

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