Our firm values, prioritizes, and promotes inclusion. Husch Blackwell cultivates environments in which all individuals and groups feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. We believe that this is essential to the quality of our client service, the personal and professional satisfaction of our lawyers and business professionals, and our relationships within the communities we serve.
In addition to the women’s initiative and our pipeline, recruiting, and sponsorship efforts, we’ve taken a number of steps to ensure inclusion happens in practice and not just in theory. Some of these strategies include:
- Diversity and Inclusion Education: The firm offers various training opportunities on diversity and inclusion topics, including unconscious bias and cultural competency, and all attorneys and business professionals are required to take part.
- Professional and Client Development Programs: The firm regularly sponsors participation of diverse attorneys in a number of external business development and leadership workshops, such as the Chart Your Own Course conference, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association annual meeting, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity programming, and the Corporate Counsel Women of Color conference.
- Compensation Audit: The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee commissioned two studies to determine if there was any inappropriate disparity in pay within different attorney groups at Husch Blackwell. In both cases, the detailed studies, conducted by an independent third party, concluded there was “no statistical evidence of adverse impact” regarding compensation.
- Firm-wide Diversity Retreat: We host a biennial firm-wide retreat for Attorneys of Color and LGBTQ Attorneys. The event includes professional development, client development and personal development workshops. Additionally, the retreat offers the opportunity to network and to build community and belonging, which are key elements of successful retention efforts. Our 2022 retreat served as part of our first-ever Inclusion Month that welcomed everyone in the firm into our DE&I work, together.
- Diversity Champion Award: The award, launched in 2019, recognizes and incentivizes firm leadership’s role in driving DE&I. Bi-annually, a firm attorney is recognized for significant contributions to the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion within Husch Blackwell. The award has generated conversations around leadership’s involvement in DE&I efforts, with attorneys increasingly interested in how to help drive inclusion.
- Inclusion Index: Launched in 2019, the index is designed to assist in driving a more diverse and inclusive culture at Husch Blackwell. The index quantifies the integration of women, attorneys of color, and LGBTQ attorneys on matters and is reported to attorneys managing those accounts to assist them with assessing their utilization of diverse attorneys on their matters and in comparison with the firm’s percentage of diverse attorneys.
We’re proud to have been independently recognized for our DE&I efforts. Husch Blackwell has earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index (CEI) every year since 2016. The CEI evaluates LGBTQ-related workplace policies and practices such as non-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBTQ community.
Husch Blackwell has also been designated as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality, one of only 840 businesses nationwide to earn the designation in 2022. In addition, we’ve been named three times as one of the “Best Law Firms for Women” by Working Mother magazine in recognition of firm policies and initiatives that promote leadership and work-life balance for women attorneys.
Husch Blackwell has also achieved the Mansfield Certification Plus designation for the fourth consecutive year, a program operated by Diversity Lab, an entity that verifies law firm hiring practices across the U.S. To receive Mansfield Certification, law firms must consider at least 30% women, attorneys of color, or LGBTQ attorneys for 70% or more of the firm’s leadership positions. The “Plus” designation acknowledges that the firm has reached a 30% threshold of underrepresented groups in leadership roles. As a certified firm, Husch Blackwell completed a rigorous 12-month collaboration with Diversity Lab including built-in measurement, transparency, and accountability. Through our participation, we demonstrated an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and are making meaningful progress on diversifying law firm leadership.