Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2017 Why Diversity Matters
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“Meet your clients on the field Our Core Values of shared values. We have a conviction at Reed Smith right in our core, that the more diverse our Integrity - Quality - Teamwork talent base is, the more inclusive our culture is, the better we are Respect - Performance able to serve our clients.” Sandy Thomas, global managing Innovation - Improvement partner At Reed Smith, we are passionate about diversity and inclusion. Our core values are at the heart of everything we do; they represent who we are and who we want to be. “I believe in the power of change. “The events in Charlottesville in 2017, as well as We are here to transform our culture those in Barcelona, gave our global firm a chance into a culture of inclusion where to consider our core values and recommit to them – we value, reward and respect values that include respect and inclusion. Of course, everyone’s diversity. The most we are a commercial enterprise, but we are also a dynamic and innovative law firm partnership and a team of 3,000 individuals of all should also be the most diverse backgrounds, creeds, and colors. What makes us and inclusive.” strong is the diversity within our ranks. In my view, John Iino, chief diversity officer the appropriate response to the horrible events in Charlottesville and Barcelona, is to condemn – forthrightly and without qualification – those who would divide us based on hatred. Those who sow discord in our communities are simply wrong and it is antithetical to the way we want to live our professional lives at Reed Smith, working together and supporting each “The power of women in leadership other. And in response we can work every day to make is proven in their ability to drive Reed Smith a model of our core values, a firm built on innovation, performance and and strengthened by our differences. We know that profitability. Reed Smith is leading when we come to work every day, striving to be our the way in gender balance and best selves, hatred and division have no place.” equality.” Sara Begley, global chair, WINRS Alexander “Sandy” Thomas, global managing partner ContentsContents Diversity and inclusion 4 Why diversity matters 5 Our D&I program 6 Innovative programming 7 Recruitment, mentoring and promotion 11 2017 Diversity Summit 19 Affinity groups and other networks 23 LGBT+ and PRISM . 23 Hispanic/Latino affinity group (UNIDOS) . 28 Asian American affinity group . 31 STAARS . 33 Veterans (RS Vets) . 36 LEADRS . 37 WINRS 41 Talent spotlight 46 Allies and champions 51 Driving progress through partnerships 54 Our commitment 55 Diversity & Inclusion committee 58 Diversity and inclusion We don’t want to be just known for our diversity; we want to be leaders in driving the progress of diversity and inclusion We have a deep dedication to diversity and inclusion and have cultivated a working environment where we value, reward, respect and celebrate everyone’s diversity, hiring the very best talent, which makes us a stronger workforce and ultimately leads to the best results for our clients. As a global law firm, our senior leaders are committed to driving change and valuing the strength of our diversity around the world. Our approach is proactive rather than reactive. We don’t wait for our clients to request more diversity; instead, we take the lead with our organization-wide diversity and inclusion framework. For more than 15 years, we have had an enterprise-wide and formal Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) program in place, led by our chief diversity officer and supported by the firmwide committee. We are focused on driving change through incentives for our practice and industry group leaders, and office managing partners; our hiring committees; and the promotion process led by our global department chairs. Global 2020 strategy There are four pillars to our firmwide 2020 strategic plan; one of the pillars is strengthening and diversifying talent. Align financial Grow client performance “That signals our commitment to D&I relationships to quality to the entire partnership. I know we have support from the senior leaders for everything we’re trying to do. Whoever Retention, I talk to, I can always point to the fact development Strengthen and brand and that this is one of the four pillars of our productivity of reputation diverse talent firmwide strategic plan and the global managing partner is behind it.” John Iino, chief diversity officer 4 | Diversity and inclusion Annual report 2017 Why diversity matters Diversity and inclusion matters because it’s simply the right thing to do, it matters to our clients and it’s good for our business There is growing awareness of the fact that diverse companies achieve better results. Many successful companies view diversity and inclusion as essential to business performance and growth. McKinsey & Co. examined the financial data of more than 1,000 major companies across 12 countries, as well as the gender and ethnic makeup of their workforces. The findings highlighted that companies with diverse executive “PNC’s emphasis on teams posted bigger profit margins than their rivals, compared with diversity is borne from companies with relatively little diversity in their senior positions. the fundamental belief that diverse teams are • Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity more creative, innovative, are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their and simply produce respective national industry medians. better results. At PNC, it • Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent is a business imperative more likely to have financial returns above their respective that we not only recruit, national industry medians. retain and develop a diverse workforce Catalyst took a look at Fortune 500 companies with women on their within the walls of our board of directors and found that these companies had a higher institution, but that we return on equity by at least 53 percent, were superior in sales by at partner with law firms least 42 percent, and had a higher ROI, to the tune of 66 percent. who embrace these same values, and service HP declared Facebook MetLife General our organization with it would begin announced it Counsel Ricardo diverse teams.” withholding up would be requiring Anzaldua sat down to 10 percent of outside counsel to with 75 law firms to Alicia Powell, chair, legal invoiced fees from field teams with at help them create a department diversity & law firms that least 33 percent formal plan to retain inclusion council, managing don’t meet certain women and ethnic and promote diverse chief council - asset diversity criteria. minorities. talent or risk losing management group, PNC MetLife’s business. Diversity and inclusion Annual report 2017 | 5 Our D&I program “Diversity is being invited Our mission is focused on the recruitment, retention, and to the party. Inclusion is professional development of our diverse lawyers. We are being asked to dance.” transforming our culture through “tone at the top” messaging Vernaˉ Myers, diversity expert within and innovative training, mentoring and sponsorship the legal profession and prolific programming focused on inclusive behavior and actions. TED.com speaker We support our diverse lawyers through our affinity groups and other networks, African American/Black, Asian American, Disabled, Hispanic/Latino, BAME, LGBT+, and Veterans, as well as our Women’s Initiative Network of Reed Smith (WINRS). 2017 GE Global Law & Policy Outside Counsel Diversity & Inclusion Award We were proud Our exemplary Diversity & Inclusion program, along with our related efforts and tangible results, to be ranked as was selected as the best from among 20 law number 29 on firms invited to participate. the Inclusive Top 50 UK GE specifically noted partner Daniel Winterfeldt’s ground- Employers list 2017 breaking work with the InterLaw Diversity Forum (which he founded in 2008) and InterLaw’s Apollo Project. Daniel The list was compiled by a was invited to give a one-hour keynote address at an event dedicated panel of judges. where Reed Smith received the award. Organizations were scored on their performance in a range of areas within the diversity arena. This exclusive resource has identified the true leaders in this field, focusing on representation at management, senior, executive and board level. “Our relationship with GE is one of our most valued, and we are extremely proud to be one of its ‘go-to’ law firms. We are grateful for the opportunity to work together toward generating meaningful impact that demonstrates the value of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.” Constantine Karides, relationship partner for GE 6 | Diversity and inclusion Annual report 2017 Innovative programming Diversity in RFPs Our new RFP protocol continues our goal of creating a culture of inclusion. The importance of this issue to our clients means that we have to be able to field a diverse and inclusive team on their matters. To that end, in consultation with our Executive Committee, our chief marketing officer, and our chief diversity officer, we have launched a protocol by which we review the composition of our teams being proposed in various client panel appointments and RFPs. While we are not specific as to what is considered “diverse and inclusive” for any proposed team, we believe that by intentionally focusing on the diversity of our teams, we will be fielding the most appropriate team for our clients. PGL and OMP scorecards In 2017, we began circulating scorecards for each of our practice groups and offices, measuring diversity metrics for each group and office, including headcount by title, YTD attrition, YTD hires and YTD promotions. Our goal is that the scorecards will incentivize and motivate our leaders to focus on the recruiting, retention and promotion of diverse lawyers within their office/group.