Category: PDJ

By Regina Speed-Bost, Partner, Schiff Hardin, LLP ALTHOUGH THE AMERICAN legal system has directly addressed the barriers that exist for diverse workers, sadly the legal profession has been slow to adopt the very changes that laws we help shape are intended to bring. Yet, as with any profession, time and circumstance have changed the practice… Read the full article

By Lecia Johnson, Shareholder, Godfrey & Kahn, SC In recent years, laws have been clarified and expanded to reflect the evolving family structures of employees. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued an Administrator’s Interpretation under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which clarifies that family leave is available not only… Read the full article

By William J. Snipes, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP THE COMMITMENT OF our clients to principles of diversity and inclusion has been instrumental in helping to change the status quo. For more than a decade, there has been a growing trend in the number of clients proactively seeking to ensure that a diverse mix of… Read the full article

By Evie Jeang, Managing Partner, Ideal Legal Group, Inc. Politics have played a large role in pushing immigration reform, however many people still don’t know the hard facts about immigration, making legitimate and longstanding reform more difficult to achieve. I regularly represent illegal immigrants seeking to gain U.S. citizenship, and know firsthand the complexities and… Read the full article

By Stacy L. Douglas, Partner, Los Angeles, Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP The low percentage of women partners at American law firms is a much-discussed topic. Recent surveys conducted by The National Association of Women Lawyers and the National Law Journal report the percentage of women partners in the country’s largest law firms has… Read the full article

By Elizabeth Williams-Riley, President and CEO, American Conference on Diversity FROM THE REPEAL of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to the New York City law that makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against unemployed applicants, the law is paving the way to create more inclusive workplaces for our ever-diversifying nation. Drastic economic challenges—high unemployment rates… Read the full article

By Nicholas Even, Partner and Co-Chair, Attorney Diversity Committee, Haynes and Boone, LLP AT HAYNES AND BOONES, diversity on our legal teams renders better results for our clients. Our Diversity Committee is comprised of twenty-one partners, thirty-three senior attorneys and associates, and nine key staff members. We meet as a group monthly, but also work… Read the full article

EVER WONDER HOW working women fare under the law in China and India, the world’s most populous countries? According to two recently published Catalyst tools, China: The Legal Framework for Women and Work and India: The Legal Framework for Women and Work, women in both countries have many rights on paper—and relatively few in practice,… Read the full article

As 50th Anniversary of MLK’s March on Washington Nears, “The Movement” Now Focuses on Economic Freedoms   With the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic March on Washington in August, now is not only the time for reflection on the progress that was made by Dr. King’s movement, but to look… Read the full article

By Mason Donovan and Mark Kaplan To truly make a difference with diversity and inclusion initiatives, it requires focus, investment, and energy. All too often this investment has a very short-term impact without a solid foundation to maintain movement. It is thus imperative for organizations investing in creating inclusive cultures to build a strategy that… Read the full article