Recruitment of Diverse Attorneys
Recruitment Tools
Our recruitment efforts differ from the ordinary in several substantive ways.
First, the firm utilizes the services of diverse search firms in recruiting attorneys for lateral hiring. Use of firms which are more connected with diverse attorney populations increases our likelihood of successfully recruiting women, people of color and gay and lesbian attorneys. We also are committed to increasing our proportionate spending with minority and women-owned search firms. Most recently, our law school outreach program has fostered genuine relationships between participating individual Locke Lord attorneys, their law school alma maters and current students.
In addition, the firm not only attends job/networking fairs organized by local diverse bar associations and organizations, but also we are actively involved in organizing such events. We financially support diverse student organizations’ functions, and also participate directly by speaking and/or attending. We continue to participate in the Southeastern Minority Job Fair and the Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Job Fair. Additionally, Locke Lord acted as the host firm for the 2006 Cook County (Chicago) Bar Association’s annual job fair, served as an organizer of the 2007 fair and participates annually.
Recruitment Accountability
The diversity in newly recruited attorneys is due, in part, to our innovative recruitment tools and the firm’s structure. The hiring of first year attorneys is managed through the firm’s Law School Recruiting Coordinating Committee. The Recruiting Committee and National Diversity Committee work closely together, along with the Directors of Human Resources, Recruiting and Lateral Hiring, creating a “cross-training” network that considers diversity in every aspect of the hiring process. It is the explicit responsibility of the Recruiting Committee in conjunction with the Director of Recruiting, to ensure that our pool of candidates for attorney positions is appropriately diverse.