Diversity: Lindquist & Vennum PLLP

Lindquist & Vennum is committed to promoting gender equity and diversity throughout the firm. We take our diversity mission statement seriously and work daily to make it a living document through our actions:

The firm provides a workplace environment that fosters understanding, acceptance and respect among partners and employees of all races, gender, national origin, religion and sexual orientation.

Lindquist & Vennum appreciates and values the different skills and talents that each person brings to the firm. We hire, retain and promote diverse individuals.

The firm embraces the Association of Corporate Counsel's strong commitment to enhancing diversity in law firms (www.acca.com/practice/diversity.php) and strives to be among the firms that "positively distinguish themselves in this area" through the environment we foster and our hiring practices.

Lindquist & Vennum is proud to have been the first major firm in Minnesota to adopt the Minnesota State Bar Association's (MSBA) Best Practices Goals for Women in the Legal Profession. The best practices are intended to promote practices among both public and private legal employers that encourage employing and retaining women in the legal profession. The best practices arose from the Self-Audit for Gender Equity (SAGE) report compiled by the MSBA Women in the Legal Profession Committee. The purpose of the SAGE report was to find a way to promote and aid gender equity in Minnesota's legal profession.

The firm is a charter member of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a collaborative effort among the Twin Cities largest law firms and corporate legal departments to advance diversity in the Minneapolis and St. Paul legal communities. The group's mission is to provide significant resources to accelerate the efforts of its members to identify, recruit, advance and retain lawyers of color in the legal community. The Twin Cities Lawyers Group is also dedicated to promoting the area as a good place for lawyers of color to develop professionally and personally.

In recognition of our strides toward gender equity, the Minnesota Women Lawyers (MWL) honored us with their Leadership Award in 2004, which recognizes legal employers who strive to enhance the status, influence and effectiveness of women lawyers. MWL was established in 1972 to help secure the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession. Today, the organization has more than 1,200 members.

Our ongoing efforts to "provide a workplace environment that fosters understanding, acceptance and respect" was underscored by the national publication MultiCultural Law in 2005, which ranked Lindquist & Vennum tenth among law firms in the country for associates and first for Americans with disabilities. Our firm is a sponsor of www.mnlegaldiversity.org, an online resource designed to showcase Minnesota's diverse practitioners and law students across all practice areas. The site includes profiles of lawyers from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who choose to practice in Minnesota and highlights what Minnesota has to offer lawyers and law students in terms of culture, communities, organizations, activities and entertainment. The site is a collaboration of the Minnesota Minority Bar Summit, which consists of minority bar associations, area law schools and the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Lindquist & Vennum also supports the efforts of a number of organizations involved in diversity and gender equity issues, including:

• American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
• Black Women Lawyers Association
• Children's Law Center of Minnesota
• Council on Crime & Justice
• Fund for the Legal Aid Society
• Human Rights Campaign
• Latin America Educational Foundation
• Legal Rights Center
• Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
• Minnesota American Indian Bar Association
• Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers
• Minnesota Justice Foundation
• Minnesota Minority Recruitment Conference
• Minnesota Women Lawyers
• Page Education Foundation
• Sharing and Caring Hands
• Southeastern Minority Job Fair
• Twin Cities Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms