At Davis & Gilbert, we attribute much of our success to the longstanding value and commitment we have placed on teamwork, excellence and client focus. We continually examine where we are – both as a firm and as a collection of individuals – and where we would like to see the firm in the future. Looking forward, the firm recognizes that we must commit to fostering a more diverse and inclusive workplace. In making this commitment, we will position ourselves to recruit and retain the best and brightest people and bring the widest range of ideas, experiences and approaches to bear on the issues facing our clients. This commitment also means that we must ensure that diversity manifests itself in our firm everyday:

• In the respectful and collegial way we treat each other, our clients and members of the community;
• In hiring without regard to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, or disability;
• In facilitating career development;
• In the options we create to help balance work requirements and family commitments;
• In the way we make our workplace more interesting and enjoyable because different talents and perspectives stimulate our thinking; and
• In the way we examine everything we do.

BACKGROUND

The business community has made a call to action to law firms by requiring firms to increase diversity among their ranks, including at the associate and partner level. As discussed below, we are heeding that call.  Happily, however, we can already say that we are far more diverse today than we were even just a few years ago.

Signatories:  In 2003, the New York City Bar Association asked the area legal community to commit to diversity goals, and Davis & Gilbert responded by becoming one of the original signatories to the Association’s "Statement of Goals of New York Law Firms and Corporate Legal Departments For Increasing Minority Representation and Retention." Likewise, Davis & Gilbert is a signatory to the Diversity Statement of the New York County Lawyers' Association.

Community and Professional Activities:  We encourage attorney involvement in professional and community-based diversity organizations.

• One of our partners is on the board of Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York statewide civil rights organization committed to achieving equality and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers and their families.
• The firm sponsored and attended Corporate Counsel Women of Color’s 1st Annual Career Strategies Conference, the first event of its kind uniting senior corporate women attorneys of color for the purpose of networking, collaborating and strategizing about career advancement.
• Firm attorneys currently are members of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA) and have sponsored and participated in panels run by BESLA. 
• In addition, attorneys are members of the National Bar Association, one of the oldest minority bar associations for African-American attorneys.
• Attorneys in the firm are actively involved in organizations devoted to combating domestic violence and seeking to further the legal rights of South Asian women in the United States with the firm providing both pro bono legal services and financial sponsorship and support.
• Female attorneys in the firm are active members in, and the firm sponsors programs and events for, networking organizations that supports the flexible and/or reduced schedules of working mothers.
• The firm sponsors programs and events offered by the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, in which female attorneys in the firm are active members. The firm also sponsored the New York County Lawyers’ Association 90th Annual Bar Dinner celebrating Outstanding Women of the Bar.
• Attorneys in the firm attend diversity workshops and annual conferences sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Minority Corporate Counsel.
• The firm will sponsor and attend New York County Lawyers’ Association “91st Annual Dinner Celebrating Jurists and Lawyers of Color”.

Insurance Benefits: The firm provides domestic partnership medical insurance benefits to attorneys and their same sex partners.

Work-Life Programs: Davis & Gilbert provides family-friendly benefits and workplace policies that address such issues as FMLA leave, flex-time, part-time employment, and other ways to help balance family and work life.  We have promoted several female attorneys who work part time to partner and counsel.

THE D&G DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

The firm has established a Diversity Committee that reports to the firm’s executive management.  The Committee is itself diverse and comprised of attorneys of all seniority levels from various departments.  The Committee’s mandate is to review the firm’s existing diversity practices and recommend specific, realistic strategies and policies for enhancing and strengthening the firm’s diversity efforts.

In the May and September 2006 issues of Diversity Inc. magazine, members of the Committee shared their views on diversity and flexible work arrangements.

NEW INITIATIVES

The Diversity Committee meets on a regular basis to discuss initiatives and propose and effect plans that will promote diversity goals within the firm.  Much of the Committee’s work focuses on the following:

• Recruiting Talent:  Increasing opportunities to hire minority, women, LGBT and other diverse attorneys
• Retaining Talent:
  – Facilitating access to clients and assigning matters that will help diverse attorneys thrive in the firm.
  – Strengthening policies that allow for family-friendly work arrangements
• Increasing Diversity Awareness Firm-wide: Providing diversity awareness training and educational programs, often with assistance from outside diversity experts
• Coordinating Greater Community Outreach: Supporting and actively participating in key bar and legal associations, business organizations and groups that are focused on specific diverse constituencies or general diversity goals

A TOP-LEVEL PRIORITY

Howard Rubin heads The Diversity Committee.  Mr. Rubin is a member of the firm’s executive management team and co-chair of its Labor and Employment Group. His active and ongoing Committee participation ensures a commitment by senior-level firm management to continued progress in cultivating a diverse workplace at Davis & Gilbert.

AN ONGOING PROCESS

More than viewing diversity as strategically important, the leadership of Davis & Gilbert firmly believes it is the right thing to do and is committed to an ongoing process with no endpoint.  We will regularly update our progress here.