Initiatives

Some of the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives are briefly described below.

Broad Recruiting Efforts

• The Firm works with various minority and women student groups on law school campuses to sponsor programs and events.
  
• Our lawyers come from diverse backgrounds:
  
  
  • from 45 states,
    
  • from 35 different countries,
    
  • from over 200 different colleges and universities,
    
  • from 125 different law schools, and
    
  • speak fluently over 30 languages.

Participation in Firm Leadership

Women and LGBT partners and partners of color hold several leadership positions in the Firm, including serving on the Firm’s management committee and heading four offices:

• Alison Ressler is a member of the Firm’s management committee.
  
• Karen Seymour is the Firm’s Hiring Partner.
  
• David Braff is a member of the Firm’s management committee and heads the Litigation Group.
  
• Chun Wei heads the Hong Kong office.
  
• Robert Chu is co-managing partner of the Beijing office.
  
• Izumi Akai heads the Tokyo office.
  
• Vanessa Blackmore is co-managing partner of the London office.

Associate Development, Retention and Advancement

• The Firm has formal adviser programs in the General Practice and Litigation Groups, and our lawyers receive significant formal training throughout their advancement in the Firm. See the Professional Development page for related information.
  
• Our Women’s Initiative Committee works to enhance the experience of women in practice at the Firm through professional development, community service and work/life balance programs. See the Women’s Initiatives page for related information.
• The LGBT Network furthers the Firm’s commitment to the LGBT community as a whole and provides a nurturing social and professional community for LGBT individuals within the Firm. The Network facilitates S&C’s involvement in LGBT pro bono work and its support of LGBT organizations, helps with recruitment, and organizes professional, social and educational events.
• The Asian Associates Network and the Black and Latino Associates Network provide forums for seeking candid advice, sharing experiences and discussing work-related issues. The Networks also organize community service, professional development and social events, as well as recruiting activities.
• S&C maintains a Flex-Time Policy to encourage associates with child care or other family concerns to remain with the Firm while adjusting their working schedules to reflect their individual family needs. See the Family Matters page for related information.
• Our Associate Experience Committee is charged with monitoring, assessing and making recommendations regarding the Firm’s associate development initiatives, which include formal and informal mentoring, training, professional/practice experience and development and morale. The committee works closely with the Firm’s Diversity and Recruiting Committees. See the Professional Development page for related information.

Continuing Efforts to Foster Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Community

• In partnership with Goldman Sachs, the Firm offers select diverse law students, who have already accepted their offers at S&C, the opportunity to spend part of their summer working at the New York offices of Goldman Sachs.
• In 2006, the Firm, along with Goldman Sachs, co-hosted and inaugurated the “Pipeline Crisis: Winning Strategies for Young Black Men” forum in New York City. The forum has evolved into an initiative that focuses on the alarming decrease in the number of young black men entering the educational pipeline to law firms, investment banks and other professional careers. Follow-up forums were held in 2007 and 2008 and many additional law firms, financial institutions, educational institutions and community organizations have joined in this important initiative. Five working groups consisting of lawyers, bankers, academics and human service professionals are currently developing and implementing specific plans to address the following areas:
  • early childhood development;
  • public school education;
  • employment and economic development;
  • criminal justice, prison reform and reentry; and
  • opportunities for high achievers.
• The Firm is an active supporter of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. In both 2008 and 2009, the Firm hired five SEO interns for the summer before they started law school. The Firm has also hired many former SEO interns as summer and regular associates. Tracy Richelle High, a former SEO intern, became an S&C partner in 2008. She is a co-chair of the Women’s Initiative Committee and a member of the Firm’s Recruiting and Diversity Committees.
• S&C participates in many programs that offer internship, mentoring and development opportunities for high school, college and law school students of color, including the following:
  • Practicing Attorneys for Law Students (PALS)
  • Legal Outreach Program
  • Youth About Business (YAB)
• S&C was an original signatory of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s “Statement of Goals of New York Law Firms and Corporate Legal Departments for Increasing Minority Representation and Retention” and “Restatement and Reaffirmation of Goals for the Hiring, Retention, and Promotion of Attorneys of Color and the Retention and Promotion of Women.” S&C retired partner, Michael Cooper, was president of the Association when the original “Statement of Goals” was drafted.
• Our Diversity Committee has developed a diversity action plan to guide the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives over the next three years.
• The Firm hosts many programs and events focusing on women and minority lawyers and law students.
• Our lawyers participate in bar committee activities addressing issues of concern to women and minority lawyers in the profession and are encouraged to participate in professional development and diversity-related forums, seminars and conferences.

S&C Contributes to Many Scholarship Programs

• Two students in each entering class at Howard Law School are awarded $10,000 scholarships per year, funded by S&C, based on academic achievement and financial need.
• S&C has contributed $10,000 to the American Bar Association Minority Scholarship Program.
• S&C has contributed to several other scholarship programs, including the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, the Association of Black Women Attorneys minority law student scholarship and the Legal Outreach Program’s scholarship for graduating high school seniors.

The Firm has hired many former interns as summer and regular associates.

For further information, contact our Director of Diversity, Alphonzo Grant, 212-558-4000.