The commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at Adams and Reese is not simply about doing the right thing. It is also integral to demonstrating daily our firm’s core values of providing excellence in client service, understanding who our clients are and what drives them, striving for outstanding results, and developing relationships based on trust. We believe these values, generally held by our clients as well in their own contexts, are actually enabled by a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI is about understanding and appreciating differences and then focusing our relationships on our common core values as humans.
We invest in our people, helping all individuals truly succeed at our law firm because doing so makes us a better firm, better equipped to meet the needs of today’s clients, and reflect not only who they are, but who our own communities are. Our commitment to DEI means we will never be narrow of focus or restricted to limited points of view. It also means each person at Adams and Reese knows they can succeed here. We believe all our people should be given every opportunity to do substantive work and advance their careers based on their unique backgrounds and their personal and professional aspirations. That belief helps us obtain, promote, and retain the best talent.
We believe that while diversity is often thought of in somewhat narrow terms – sometimes based on statutory language – diversity includes more than just women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals; it also includes all races, ethnicities, genders, generations, working parents, and more. The reality is a diverse team of professionals, considered broadly, providing their perspectives on a client matter can’t help but enhance the counsel and representation we provide as we work to advance our client’s interests. Our clients clearly understand and value this.
We Walk the Talk
At Adams and Reese, we don’t pay lip service to DEI. While some firms may talk a good game, we’ve been busy since the 1980s, when we first formed our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Since then, we have been constantly evaluating what we are doing to ensure that our efforts align with what our colleagues and clients value, want, and need; and with the firm’s strategic plan and our “people first” philosophy. Over the decades, we have put in place programs that actively promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by striving to advance talented attorneys into firm leadership roles, by inclusively recruiting new lawyers and lateral hires from diverse populations, and by supporting and encouraging diverse populations of law students and younger students to consider careers in law.
Mansfield Certified
Adams and Reese is proud to have achieved Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certification, reflecting not only our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but recognizing our concrete achievements in closing diversity gaps within its own leadership and, by extension, in the legal profession. The goal of Mansfield Rule 5.0 is to boost the representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in law firm leadership by broadening the pool of candidates considered for these opportunities. It has become the standard by which law firms track and measure that they have affirmatively considered at least 30% women and lawyers from historically underrepresented groups for top leadership roles, senior-level lateral hiring, promotions into the equity partnership, and participation in client pitch meetings. Certification means that Adams and Reese has met these goals.
The firm is also a participant in Mansfield Rule 6.0, the latest iteration, which expands the scope of firm leadership diversity while also increasing rigor with input from an advisory group of diversity leaders. Rule 6.0 participants who strive to be so certified must also consider 30% underrepresented talent for C-suite roles. Firms are asked to share lessons learned with each other through monthly knowledge sharing forums, they must create and publish job descriptions for leadership roles, and they must continue to meet routine check-in, data-collection, and reporting milestones.
Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD)
Adams and Reese is a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), an organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and general counsel of major corporations or Managing Partners of the nation’s leading law firms. Founded in 2009, LCLD requires all of its leaders to make a “pledge” on its website to advance DEI efforts and uphold a commitment to lead by example, talk action, and challenge their fellow colleagues to prepare future generations of diverse talent for the highest professions of leadership. Throughout the year, LCLD hosts action programs, such as Pathfinders and Fellows, to inspire, nurture, and develop the diverse talent within member organizations, advancing a more diverse generation of attorneys to positions of leadership.
Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)
Adams and Reese is a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), a networking advisory coalition of more than 250 law firms and corporations advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, by championing the hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse attorneys. MCCA was founded in 1997 and has funded scholarships for beginning lawyers, coached executives further along in their careers, and published industry-leading demographic information to spearhead accountable change in corporate America. Through thought leadership, professional development programs, MCCA empowers partners, members, and leading attorneys at law firms and corporation’s GC departments to have opportunities for advancement. Several longstanding MCCA initiatives include the MCCA Diversity Scorecard, Fortune 1000 General Counsel Survey, and Law Firm Diversity Database.
