Diversity: Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Our commitment to diversity at Drinker Biddle reflects our belief that by more accurately reflecting our clients and our communities, we are more effectively positioned to understand their needs and objectives, in all their many facets. Creativity, innovation, cooperation and mutual respect are the natural result of an environment in which individual contributions are valued, where biases based on race, gender and other factors are absent, and legal knowledge combines with unique world views. The merger of Drinker Biddle & Reath and Gardner Carton & Douglas at the beginning of 2007 further enhanced and strengthened a long tradition of recruiting and hiring women and minorities.

Our Firmwide Diversity Committee is charged with ensuring our firm reflects the rich diversity of the communities and clients we serve. As such, one of the committee's primary objectives is to proactively recruit, retain, promote to partner and foster the professional development of talented minority lawyers. The committee is co-chaired by Drinker Biddle's chairman, Alfred Putnam, and Jesse Ruiz, one of the country's most energetic and talented Latino lawyers. More broadly, the committee is charged with implementing various programs and processes in the Diversity Strategic Plan, including (but not limited to) recruiting, retention, assignment management and overall associate development. In short, the committee plays a central role in the firm's ongoing efforts to create one of the most admired workplaces in America.

The firm's commitment to diversity is demonstrated by its many efforts to recruit minority law school graduates and experienced lawyers. We regularly help coordinate and participate in a number of minority attorney recruitment programs. Members of our hiring committee and recruitment staff travel to law schools around the country, meeting with first-year minority students to increase interest in the firm's Summer Associate program and conducting interviews with graduating students for our associate positions.

Further, the firm regularly offers time, money and other resources to help support and encourage minority students as they pursue their educational and professional goals. We work with student groups at various law schools to provide mentoring and financial assistance. We sponsor scholarships given annually to deserving minority law students by the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois and the Cook County Bar Association, and we sponsor scholarships and paid internships for deserving minority students at the newly formed Drexel University School of Law in Philadelphia.

In addition, resources are dedicated to ensure that our diversity commitment is reflected in our hiring practices. A few of our efforts include participating in minority job fairs nationally (Vault Job Fair, Cook County Minority Job Fair, Philadelphia Area Minority Job Fair, etc.), committing to hire at least one summer associate through a minority-focused organization (Philadelphia Diversity Law Group), ensuring that our firm's "Core Interviewer" group has a diverse constituency, insisting upon diverse representation in interview schedules, financially supporting minority law student organizations nationally (Black Lawyers Student Association, Latin American Student Association, ALIANZA), placing job postings on websites targeted to a diverse lawyer audience (Minority Corporate Counsel Association ("MCCA"), Hot Jobs.com, etc.) and holding outreach activities to meet minority candidates and foster minority hiring practices in various cities in which we maintain offices.

Once a lawyer has joined our firm, our work is far from complete. A stable, supportive environment is critical to encouraging the exploration of professional interests and the ongoing development of legal skills. The firm has established varied mentoring programs: a peer integration mentor is assigned for every new associate's first year at the firm, a Diversity Committee Watch Program has been put into place (minority associates are tracked to ensure that they are given ample opportunity to work on our most significant matters and clients) and a voluntary "opt-in" mentor program in which associates select their own mentors among partners has been initiated.

The committee is currently focused on the development of additional ways to target and address issues specific to our minority associates and partners. As a firm, we understand the value of relationships -- with clients and peers -- to a successful career in law. Therefore, we assist our minority lawyers in building a sustained client base and in developing important networks with other legal professionals.