A Culture of Diversity
"A commitment to diversity comes naturally to a firm built on a tradition of excellence, teamwork and mutual respect. As we become more diverse, we're better positioned to serve our clients and offer our colleagues a more interesting place to practice. It's a win-win proposition."
—Thomas G. Morgan, Chairman, Management Committee
Faegre & Benson defines diversity broadly to include all the different life experiences that we find in our workforce and among our clients and communities: age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, economic background and many other characteristics.
Our Commitment
We are committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce and to providing an inclusive environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. We place a particular focus on increasing our representation of women, people of different races and ethnicity, and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) individuals. We aim to recruit and retain a diverse team of lawyers and staff, and to advance their careers and fulfill their leadership potential.
We strive to incorporate diversity efforts into the daily practice of our firm. Our diversity committee sponsors firmwide diversity programs and works to ensure that our policies, events and business models reflect our values and commitment.
Our Diversity Committee
The committee is chaired by partner Leslie A. Fields, and it includes partners, associates and staff from multiple offices. Andrew G. Humphrey, a member of our firm's management committee, serves as diversity partner to provide top-level accountability for the results of our diversity efforts. Diversity Manager Carolyn M. Sandberg, Diversity Coordinator B. Chau Espenson and Diversity Specialist Kristen L. Hunter provide staff support to implement diversity initiatives, events and programs.
Results, Not Just Good Intentions
While we believe we have come a long way in creating a culture of diversity, we know that there is much work to be done not only in building a diverse workforce, but also in helping diverse individuals achieve their potential within the firm. We measure success by charting our internal demographics, benchmarking our own demographics in relation to those of our communities and our competitors and—most importantly—assessing long-term retention and advancement among our lawyer and staff populations.
Building Awareness
We recognize that nurturing a culture of diversity in our firm is more than policy statements and written goals. It requires continuous effort, focus and action to build awareness of the value of diversity for our firm and its clients. We build awareness through diversity-related programming throughout the year.
Each year, we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by inviting noteworthy speakers to focus on his legacy. We have designated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a firm-paid holiday and were among the first law firms in our market to do so.
Our internal programming includes an annual firmwide diversity presentation. In 2004, a panel discussed the lasting impact and future of school desegregation commemorating the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. In 2005, the theme was "Future Vision: Diversity 2020" and a panel of clients and community leaders examined diversity-related trends and strategies for maintaining an inclusive workplace. In 2006, the diversity consultant we hired to conduct a firmwide diversity assessment presented her findings. The year 2007 marked the 150th anniversary of the Dred Scott decision, and we hosted nationally renowned speaker Professor Paul Finkelman who discussed the ongoing effects and relevancy of the landmark 1857 U.S. Supreme Court decision. In 2008, we hosted Bill Proudman, founder of White Men as Full Diversity Partners® and a nationally recognized diversity consultant. He spoke on the topic "Diversity for White Men and Everyone Else: Exploring Partnerships, Inclusion and Privilege."
Our firm also builds awareness by sponsoring several employee affinity groups, a book club focusing on diversity-related literature, and an annual diversity film festival. We instituted a women's lunch program to encourage senior women attorneys in the firm to network with and mentor younger women attorneys during one-on-one meetings. We host a reception at which our racially and ethnically diverse lawyers have an opportunity to network with diverse clients, corporate counsel, judges and business owners and to form mentoring relationships.
Partnering for Diversity
Building a culture of diversity is not something that any one individual, or any one firm, achieves on its own. That's why we have built collaborative relationships with clients, professional associations and community organizations to focus on diversity issues.
We regularly work on internal and external diversity programs with representatives of our clients, including businesses such as Capital One, Cargill, DuPont, General Mills, Principal Financial, Xcel Energy and others that have been pioneers on the issue of diversity. We routinely participate in conferences sponsored by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). We sponsor popular annual women's events, which attract hundreds of women leaders in Minnesota and Colorado, and we provide charitable support for nonprofit organizations focused on the needs of women.
We encourage our lawyers to participate in community events and local and national bar associations in all of our offices. Our lawyers are active in the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, the Federal Bar Association Diversity Committee, the Hispanic Bar Association, the Iowa Asian Alliance, the Lavender Bar Association, the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers, the Minnesota Black Women Lawyers Network, the Minnesota State Bar Association Diversity Committee, Minnesota Women Lawyers, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association, the Sam Cary Bar Association and the United States Law Firm Group Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. In addition, many of our attorneys are in leadership positions in these organizations.
We are a founding member of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a consortium of leading Twin Cities law firms and corporations dedicated to attracting, recruiting, advancing and retaining attorneys of color in the Twin Cities legal community. We are also a founding member of the Colorado Campaign for Inclusive Excellence, an organization with similar goals in the Colorado legal community.
Building a Diverse Team
To provide opportunities for diverse lawyers, first we must attract them to join our firm. To that end, we conduct an aggressive outreach program to encourage diverse candidates who might not otherwise consider a non-coastal law firm. We conduct numerous on-campus informational and networking meetings at law schools around the country to introduce racially and ethnically diverse and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) lawyers to our firm. We also participate in a wide variety of diversity-related job fairs.
Diversity Scholarships
Our firm has established a scholarship program aimed at encouraging and supporting diversity in the legal profession by awarding $12,000 annually to each recipient to help pay for their final years of law school. Scholarship recipients will work as summer associates between their first and second year of law school. A key element of the scholarship program is a comprehensive mentorship designed to help recipients transition from student to practicing lawyer.
Our firm also established the Joe Montano Scholarship at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver. The scholarship offers financial support to law students from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds in honor of former Faegre & Benson partner Joe Montano, the first Hispanic partner of a large downtown Denver law firm.
We regularly provide financial support to scholarship funds for racially and ethnically diverse students. These have included the Sam Cary Endowment Fund and the Frederick L. McGhee Memorial Scholarship, among others. The McGhee Scholarship was established by the Twin Cities Committee on Minority Lawyers in Large Law Firms.
Mentoring
We have found that a sense of belonging and community is key to retaining the best lawyers and staff. One of the ways our firm fosters that sense of belonging is through our formal, multidimensional associate mentoring program. Our diversity committee and diversity staff contribute to and support our associate mentoring program.
We also encourage, facilitate and reward less formal mentoring. Through a series of lunches and informal activities, our racially and ethnically diverse lawyers help orient the racially and ethnically diverse summer associates to the firm and the legal community. This effort also fosters ongoing and long-term mentoring relationships and opportunities. We also promote internal networking lunches and groups among our women attorneys, racially and ethnically diverse lawyers and GLBT lawyers and staff.
Staff Recruiting
Our support for a diverse workforce also extends to our administrative staff. We advertise all positions in local publications that serve minority communities. In 1992, we started an innovative training program for graduates of technical schools in the Twin Cities area to provide them the opportunity to become legal administrative assistants at our firm. Well over 20 percent of the trainees who have participated in this program are members of racially and ethnically diverse populations.
A Full Spectrum of Talent
We aim to create a partnership and a workforce that reflects the full spectrum of talent available, and we aim to attract ever-increasing numbers of women, racial and ethnic minorities and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) individuals to our firm. We have been ranked by MultiCultural Law magazine as a top 100 law firm for diversity (2005–2009) and women (2007–2009).
Women
For many years, we have worked to attract more women lawyers to our firm and to make Faegre & Benson a destination for women in the law—a place where women have more opportunities and more support in becoming successful partners and leaders.
We have women in every leadership role at our firm—as a member of the management committee, group head, administrative partner and committee chair. More than half of our administrative directors are women. Our representation of women partners and associates has consistently exceeded the national averages of large law firms and of other major law firms in the regions we serve. Today, more than half of our associates are women.
Our women lawyers are also among the most prominent members of the business and legal communities, and leaders of nonprofit organizations, in all of the regions we serve. One of our former partners (now a judge) served as co-chair of the Self Audit for Gender Equity (SAGE), a program of the Minnesota State Bar Association Committee on Women in the Legal Profession that involved all of the state's major law firms.
We know that our lawyers' lives do not begin or end in the office. Many of our benefits and policies are designed to make it easier for all of our lawyers to balance their demanding legal practices with the demands of raising families and contributing to their communities. For example, we offer liberal policies for child-care leave, flexible working schedules, and reduced-time work. For almost a decade, we have made it possible to become a partner while working a reduced-time schedule, and to continue to work reduced-time schedules after becoming a partner.
Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Faegre & Benson has placed a special focus on increasing its population of lawyers and staff from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. This includes nationwide recruiting efforts directed at law students and lateral candidates from African-American, Asian, Hispanic and Indian backgrounds.
In support of these recruiting efforts, we helped to draft and we signed the Colorado Pledge to Diversity. Law firms which have signed the Pledge sponsor annual receptions for racially and ethnically diverse and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) law students, provide interview training, book scholarships and presentations at law schools. Recently, the Pledge Group created a summer clerk program for first-year racially and ethnically diverse law students at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado.
In addition, we are among the large law firm leaders in forming a new Minnesota initiative: Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a program designed to attract racially and ethnically diverse lawyers to the Twin Cities area.
These efforts are showing tangible results. In 2008, 23 percent of our summer associates were racially and ethnically diverse. Overall, 15 percent of our associates are from diverse backgrounds. These numbers represent steady progress over the past five years and exceed the averages in our principal recruiting markets of Minneapolis and Denver.
The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) awarded us the Thomas Sager Award for the Midwest Region in 2004. This prestigious award recognized our commitment to the hiring, retention and promotion of women and minorities.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender
GLBT issues are fully integrated into our diversity efforts at Faegre & Benson. Our equal employment opportunity policy includes both sexual orientation and gender identity, and we include GLBT couples and families in our benefits programs.
We are committed to nurturing a welcoming workplace for GLBT lawyers and administrative staff. GLBT issues are covered in our workplace diversity training. We have an active GLBT diversity group composed of administrative staff. Our diversity committee and GLBT diversity group host a firm-wide Pride celebration each year and participate in local Pride activities. We include GLBT issues in our general diversity programming, including panel discussions and event-specific presentations.
Faegre & Benson's law school recruiters engage in concerted outreach to GLBT candidates. We are a regular sponsor of the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association's Lavender Law Conference. We also meet regularly with GLBT student groups at a variety of law schools.
Our firm supports the larger GLBT community by providing financial support to organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign. Our lawyers also provide services to organizations including Avenues for Homeless Youth, a Minneapolis nonprofit organization that runs a host home program which provides stable and safe housing and support services for GLBT youth; District 202, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that offers resources for GLBT youth; Philanthrofund, a nonprofit group that funds GLBT initiatives throughout the Midwest; and the Point Foundation, a public charity that awards scholarships to gay and lesbian youths who have been disowned by their families after coming out. Faegre & Benson lawyers have also been involved in noteworthy litigation involving GLBT rights. Recently, for example, lawyers in our firm authored an amicus brief in Varnum v. Brien, a case seeking the right for same-sex couples to marry in Iowa.
Faegre & Benson is proud to be among only a small number of employers nationwide, and one of just a few large law firms, to have achieved a 100 percent ranking on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index (2004–2009).
Awards
Our most recent rankings and awards include:
- A top 100 law firm for diversity (MultiCultural Law, 2005–2009) and women (MultiCultural Law, 2005–2009)
- Received a perfect score (100 percent) by the Human Rights Campaign in its annual Corporate Equality Index, measuring how U.S. companies treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees and clients (2004–2009)
- Named one of the "Best Places to Work" (Human Rights Campaign, 2007–2009)
- Second among U.S. law firms on Diversity & the Bar's list of Leading Law Firms for Women Equity Partners (2007)
- Among top ten family-friendly firms (Yale Law Women, 2007)
- Partner Charles S. Ferrell received the "Hennepin County Bar Association Diversity Award" (2007)
