Diversity: Lewis and Roca LLP

Lewis and Roca's commitment to diversity is longstanding, and demonstrates our recognition of the value diversity brings to our firm and its clients. In 1971, we became the first mid-sized firm in any of the Rocky Mountain States to have a woman partner, Mary Schroeder, now Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Likewise, the current Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, is a former partner at Lewis and Roca.

Our commitment continued in June of 1992, when Lewis and Roca solidified its pledge to diversity when it became a signatory to the Arizona State Bar's "Statement of Goals" Program aimed at encouraging the hiring, promotion and retention of women and minority lawyers in the legal profession. To ensure that its commitment to diversity remains strong, Lewis and Roca established a formal Diversity Committee in 2005 and charged it with preserving and advancing the firm's historic commitments to diversity and the quality of life for firm lawyers and staff.

That tradition of commitment to diversity is also reflected in our management structure. Our immediate past Managing Partner is one of the only Hispanic lawyers in the country, and only person in Arizona, to have served as Managing Partner of a major law firm. Upon completion of his term as Managing Partner, he became the firm's first (and current) Chairman. Women and attorney partners of color lead or co-lead seven of our practice groups. The Litigation Department Chair, who is responsible for more than half of the firm's lawyers, and our Hiring Committee Chair are both headed by female partners. The firm's Diversity Committee is headed by a Latina woman partner, who was originally hired in 1997 as a first-year associate as a result of our long-standing participation in diversity job fairs and who was promoted through the ranks to equity partnership.

The firm also encourages and recognizes the value of providing professional growth opportunities for our lawyers. To this end, we provide flexible work arrangements, including part-time arrangements, and benefits to domestic partners in order to accommodate the needs of our diverse workforce. We believe this is the type of firm at which lawyers from all walks of life will want to practice, and that our clients will recognize and appreciate the culture and resulting quality of service at Lewis and Roca.

Lewis and Roca affords significant opportunities to women and minority attorneys. The goals for our diversity development programs are to:

• Increase diversity at the firm by recruiting new diverse candidates through our summer program and through lateral hiring;
• Retain, develop and promote existing diverse lawyers at the firm through personal and focused mentorship and training plans as part of our Lawyer Professional and Practice Development Program;
• Increase the pipeline of diverse candidates in the local law schools through scholarship, mentoring and training programs for diverse students; and
• Support and contribute to diversity efforts of the state and local bar organizations, law students associations and broader community.

Below are examples of some of the development programs specifically aimed to increase diversity in our firm, the legal profession and the broader community.

• Job Fairs. Lewis and Roca supports and participates in programs that facilitate the hiring of talented, diverse lawyers. We have been regular participants in the DuPont Legal Minority Job Fair since its inception and have hired attorneys recruited from the fair. We were proud to co-sponsor the first annual IMPACT Career Fair for law students and attorneys with disabilities in 2005.

• Writing Programs. We support the Minority Legal Writing Programs at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University Colleges of Law. Through these programs, we provide semester-long, paid internships in which students are placed at firms around the city, including Lewis and Roca. Students receive intensive writing training, one-on-one supervision and a broad range of educational and professional development opportunities within our firm.

• Judicial Intern Opportunity Program. In partnership with other Arizona firms, Lewis and Roca is among the inaugural sponsors of an exciting program for Arizona law students ¿ the Judicial Intern Opportunity Program, which matches minority and low-income students with federal and state judges for a six-week summer internship experience. This program, sponsored by the American Bar Association, has been successful in Chicago and Miami, and Lewis and Roca is honored to participate in supporting its expansion.

• Pipeline Program. Recognizing the need to increase the pipeline of diverse candidates graduating from law schools and to increase diversity in the corporate and legal communities of Arizona, Lewis and Roca is supporting The National Bar Association, Commercial Law Section's Diversity Pipeline Programs for minority law students attending Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Phoenix Law. The Pipeline Program is an intensive training program that mentors a class of students before they enter law school through graduation, providing a Pre-Law Prep Course, a 1st Year Trial Court Internship, a 2nd Year In-House Internship, a 2nd Year Life as a Lawyer Career Development and Management Boot Camp Course and a 3rd Year Give Back to High School Advocates Program.

• ADL Peer Training Program. Lewis and Roca led a Law Firm Initiative to fund The Anti-Defamation League - A World of Difference Institutes' Peer Training Program for two years at five local high schools. This year-long training program provides practical, experiential, hands-on training for middle school and high school students to develop skills to challenge prejudice and discrimination. These efforts are intended to improve the community in which minorities live.

• Arizona Women's Association Secrets of Success. Lewis and Roca is also proud to be among the inaugural sponsors of the Arizona Women Lawyers Association's new Secrets of Success program, an annual seminar for law students and young lawyers that provides insider tips for women on how to succeed in private practice. The program is designed to address the critical problem of attrition among women lawyers at large law firms and from the private practice of law by providing students and young lawyers with an orientation to the unwritten rules of success in private practice as well as tips for business development, presenting oneself professionally and work-life balance.

• Judicial Outreach Seminar. Recognizing that there is insufficient minority representation on the bench, Lewis and Roca, along with the Pima County Commission on Trial Court Appointments and the Arizona Minority Bar Association, organized a seminar to (1) teach attorneys about the judicial selection process and how best to approach it, and (2) reach out to minority lawyers and law students to encourage them to become judges and to inform them what they need to do now and in the future to become a judge.

• Contributions and Support of Minority Bars and Law Student Associations. Lewis and Roca believes in organizations that encourage and address the needs of its current and future diverse lawyers. As such, Lewis and Roca has supported events, scholarships and seminars for organizations accordingly, such as the Arizona State Minority Bar Convention and Scholarship Banquet, the Arizona Women Lawyers Association Wine and Cheese Reception and Lorna Lockwood Judicial Reception, Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Annual Comedy Show, National Native American Law Students Association and Chicano Latino Law Students Association.

• Community Support. Lewis and Roca is involved in the community. Currently, we have 51 attorneys who serve in leadership positions as directors and officers on the governing boards of over 90 nonprofit and governmental community agencies. To foster a more vibrant diverse community, Lewis and Roca has been a proud sponsor and contributor to organizations and events such as the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Phoenix Urban League, the YWCA Tribute to Women Luncheon, the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, Chicanos Por La Causa, the Arizona Women's Education and Employment Association, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Athena Awards, Tucson Commercial Real Estate Women, the Fresh Start Women's Foundation, the Arizona Women's Leadership Conference, the Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona, the Phoenix Women's Commission International Women's Day, the Phoenix Indian Center Gala, the Navajo Nation and the Spokane Tribe.

Our diversity efforts have been successful. Over the last year, we have increased the total number of women attorneys at our firm from 29.7% to 33.1% and the total number of minority attorneys from 5.8% to 11.0%. Attorneys of color now account for 4.3% of partners and 19.1% of associates. Women account for 21.5% of our partners and 47.1% of our associates. We remain committed to hire, retain and develop to partnership diverse summer associates, first-year associates and laterals.

With our support staff totaling 266 people and 60.87% of the firm headcount, it is necessary that our standards and ethics are mirrored not just by our attorneys, but our complete firm. With our foundation built firmly on the recognition and support of diversity within the workplace, our staff complements our diversity ideals. Over 80% of our support staff is composed of female members, with the minority staff making up 17% of the total personnel.