Commitment to Diversity
Goodwin Procter has long been committed to creating a diverse workplace that reflects today's society. Inherent in our firm's core values is a belief that every attorney and staff member deserves a supportive, meritocratic environment in which people of all backgrounds are given the opportunity to excel and thrive. This vision is interwoven in our recruitment, hiring and training practices, and enhanced through our participation in various organizations and programs devoted to the promotion of a broadly inclusive community. Our commitment to diversity is reflected in our actions as a firm, as well as in the actions of our attorneys and the varied roles they undertake at the firm, in the community, and beyond.
To further our commitment to diversity, Goodwin Procter established a 27-member Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity (the "CRED"). The CRED is composed of all partners of color, as well as other partners and senior professional staff committed to enhancing diversity at Goodwin Procter, including a member of our firm's Executive Committee, our firm-wide Hiring Committee Chairman, our Chief Human Resources Officer, our Chief Marketing Officer, our Director of Lateral Partner Hiring and Integration, and our Director of Professional Development. Diversity leadership is also enhanced by the hands-on involvement of a Manager of Professional Development and Training who spends 50% of her time leading and facilitating diversity-related matters. Recruiting of diverse attorneys is led by a Legal Recruiting Manager specifically designated as the diversity liaison for recruiting. She is also an administrative member of the CRED and leads the firm's diversity recruiting efforts with significant involvement from the firm's Hiring Partner, the Director of Legal Recruitment, and other recruiting managers.
In 2006, the CRED created a business plan to define its mission, goals, and strategy for enhancing diversity at the firm, including hiring, recruiting, retaining and promoting diverse attorneys. Our firm management enthusiastically adopted the plan, which establishes diversity as a strategic business priority and discusses the value that diversity adds to the firm's business environment.
To help us accomplish the diversity goals outlined in our business plan, we also formed an Associates Subcommittee to the CRED in 2006. The Subcommittee includes minority and non-minority attorneys from all offices, who actively plan diversity career development programs and organize a variety of social networking opportunities for our attorneys of color. The Associates Subcommittee is also heavily involved with recruiting and retention of diverse associates.
We are committed to attracting highly talented law students and attorneys of color, and to retaining this talent through strategic professional development and mentoring. We have a CRED subcommittee organized to help ensure that we are providing associates of color with helpful mentoring and professional development resources. Additionally, every year, the CRED reviews and monitors the performance of all associates of color in the firm, and works to provide opportunities for these associates to excel.
Representative Diversity Initiatives
For People of Color
- In 2005, we established the Goodwin Diversity Fellowships, which provide grants of $15,000 each to three outstanding second-year law students of color. As a testimony to our commitment to diversity, we expanded this program in 2006 by awarding five $15,000 fellowships.
- Each year, we convene our attorneys and summer associates of color for a special professional development and networking program. In 2007, the program included a negotiation seminar for our diverse associates and summer associates, as well as a cocktail reception and small group dinners for associates, summer associates, and partners of color and additional CRED members. In 2006, the program featured a similar reception and dinner, preceded by a highly interactive career management workshop, led by Werten Bellamy of Stakeholders, Inc.
- In New York and Washington, D.C., Goodwin Procter co-sponsors the Minority Networking Series, which provides our associates a forum each calendar quarter to network with hundreds of other attorneys and professionals of color. In March 2007, with the help of our Boston associates, we organized our first annual Spring Networking Event, where we convened hundreds of professionals of color together with our attorneys of color for an evening of networking and discussions. We specifically tasked our associates with taking the lead in developing the invitation lists and reaching out to the contacts of our more senior lawyers, in order to provide them with hands-on networking experience.
- Goodwin Procter annually sponsors an associate of color to participate in The Partnership, Inc.'s Boston Fellows Program, a one-year leadership program designed for diverse associates. Over 25 of the firm's associates have served as fellows and many participate in the program's alumni organization.
- Goodwin Procter partners with Legal Outreach, Inc. , a nonprofit organization that prepares youth from underserved communities in New York City to compete at high academic levels. Each year, we participate in the Summer Law Internship Program. The purpose of the summer program is to place motivated ninth-grade students from underserved communities into law firms and corporations for the purpose of exposing them to professional practices and professionals who can support their aspirations and enhance their desires to pursue higher education and professional careers. The attorney who brought this program to the attention of Goodwin Procter was, himself, a product of this program. Most recently, we were also a sponsor of Legal Outreach's College-to-Law School Pipeline Program.
Representative Diversity Initiatives
For Women and the GLBT Community
- Goodwin Procter has a long history of promoting and supporting women in leadership roles -- both within our firm and in the business community. Our Chairman and Managing Partner, Regina Pisa, was the first female managing partner at a major Boston law firm. Today, she is one of only two female managing partners at an AmLaw 100 law firm.
- The firm has taken a leadership role in addressing issues that affect women in the workplace. Our partners, counsel and associates actively participate in many organizations and events dedicated to helping women achieve professional success. In 2007, we sponsored the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus Good Guys Award Luncheon, in honor of Goodwin Procter Partner Paul Lee who received the Good Guys Award for his ongoing commitment to achieving parity for women.
- In 2006, Goodwin Procter co-sponsored the Women & Wine Networking Event to provide an opportunity for women attorneys to network with business leaders in Boston, and to support the advancement of women in the larger community.
- In 2006, Goodwin Procter invited HerVoices to address the firm¿s attorneys as part of a cultural enrichment opportunity and an intra-firm networking event. HerVoices is a non-profit organization that shares the experiences of culturally diverse women in their own words to create greater awareness and sensitivity around their experiences.
- Goodwin Procter sponsored the 8th Annual Horizons for Homeless Women's Networking Breakfast in fall 2006, which sought to increase opportunities for homeless and disadvantaged women in a networking forum with women attorneys.
- Goodwin Procter also supported the following women's events and conferences: the California Diversity Council Women in Leadership Symposium; Springboard's Growth Capital Workshop; the Simmons School of Management Leadership Conference; the New England Women in Real Estate; the Women's Bar Association; the New York Catalyst Awards; the Center for Women & Enterprise; The Commonwealth Institute and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
- In Fall 2006 and 2007, we sponsored the annual Lavender Law Job Fair, a three-day event designed to allow GLBT law students and attorneys to interact in a GLBT-friendly environment. Goodwin Procter's participation in the Lavender Law Job Fair reflects our commitment to providing an inclusive, welcoming environment for GLBT candidates and attorneys. Also, the firm annually is a co-sponsor of the ACLU/LGBT & AIDS Project annual summer reception in New York, and in 2007, hosted an attorney from the Project to address our New York office attorneys and summer associates on "The Changing Face of the HIV Epidemic: Where Are They Now."
Representative Diversity Sponsorships and Involvement
- Goodwin Procter's 2007 diversity sponsorships include: the First Annual California Diversity and Leadership Conference; the Northeast Black Law Students Association Job Fair; the American Bar Association¿s National Conference for the Minority Lawyer; The Partnership, Inc. Gala Event; the ACLU/LGBT & AIDS Project Summer Attorney Reception; the Eleventh Annual Latino Law and Public Policy Conference; a Job Fair and Networking Event for students of color at Harvard University; the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association New England Regional Conference; Howard University School of Law's La Alianza's Adelante Awards; the Asian Pacific American Bar Association's Annual Washington, D.C. Benefit Dinner; the Harvard Black Law Students Association Spring Conference and Job Fair; Harvard Law School's Thirteenth National Asian Pacific American Conference on Law and Public Policy; the Kanter/Myers: Race and Ethnicity in the Large Law Firm Conference, Opus Three; the Spirit of Excellence Award Luncheon, in honor of Goodwin Procter Partner Paul Lee who received the 2007 Spirit of Excellence Award; the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Annual Excellence in the Law Reception, in honor of Paul Lee who received the Diversity Heroes Award; and the Boston Lawyers Group Annual Mentor Program Dinner.
- Goodwin Procter was one of the first major Boston-based law firms to elect an African-American associate to its partnership. As a partner at the firm, he was elected president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and president of the Boston Bar Association. In celebration of the latter event, the firm established the Richard A. Soden Law and Justice Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to Boston public school graduates interested in pursuing careers in law and community service.
- Our first Asian-American partner served as president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, was founder and first president of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts and currently serves on the Governance Commission of the American Bar Association.
- Goodwin Procter is a founding member and active participant in the Boston Lawyers Group (formerly the Boston Law Firm Group), providing program space and financial support. The organization is known nationally for its efforts in the recruitment and retention of minority attorneys at major Boston law firms.
- We have provided significant support to the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA) and the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys Association. Our involvement with the MBLA dates back to its incorporation in the early 1970s, when one of our partners was among its founders. He subsequently became president of the MBLA and was the first partner from a major law firm to serve in that role.
- Our association with the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys (MAHA) was inaugurated with a donation to support MAHA's efforts to persuade more Hispanics to pursue careers in law. That support also assisted in the development of MAHA's infrastructure. One of our partners is an active participant in MAHA, as well as in the Hispanic National Bar Association.
- One of our Asian-American partners has served as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association, serving as one of two minority-at-large representatives, while an African-American partner has served as a member of the House of Delegates. Members of the firm have also served on various other American Bar Association commissions, committees and advisory councils, including the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, the Association's Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity and the Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession.
Members of the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity ("CRED")
Marijane Benner Browne
Wilfred J. Benoit
Roberto M. Braceras
Wayne A. Budd
Kevin M. Dennis
J. Anthony Downs
Allison V. Friend
Joanne M. Gray
Emanuel C. Grillo
Paul W. Hespel
Michael J. Kendall
Satish M. Kini
Lisa S. Kirby
Paul W. Lee
Anne Malloy Tucker
Donald J. Munro
Lizette M. Perez-Deisboeck
Tuan A. Pham
Jill Reilly
Shepard M. Remis
Stefanie Shackelford
Mark Smith
Richard A. Soden
Patrick Thompson
Marian A. Tse
V. Carl Walker
Scott A. Westfahl
