Overview
At King & Spalding, we recognize that diversity is more than just a buzz word, it is an integral part of our culture. We believe that the diversity of our firm significantly enhances our ability to provide the highest quality legal services to our clients. We strive to create a collaborative environment that benefits from the sharing of experiences, ideas and unique qualities that each of our lawyers brings to the firm.
The best talent is diverse in many ways, including gender, race, sexual orientation and national origin. King & Spalding is committed to attracting, retaining and promoting diversity throughout the firm.
- As of January 1, 2009, 4.9% of our partners and 16.6% of our associates identify themselves as minorities and 19.3% of our partners and 46.2% of our associates are female.
- According to NALP, the average representation rates in law firms with more than 700 attorneys is 5.9% minority partners and 19.1% minority associates and 18.7% women partners and 45.3% women associates.
- For the fifth consecutive year, King & Spalding was highlighted in Multicultural Law magazine’s list of the top 100 law firms for diversity. The firm also ranked as a top law firm for women and a top law firm for African-Americans. We are proud of this and the many honors we have received in recognition of our ongoing diversity efforts.
Of course, we recognize that diversity and inclusion are about more than numbers. Because diversity is one of the firm's core values, it is supported by a standing committee that leads the firm's diversity and inclusion efforts.
- The Diversity Committee includes partners, counsel and associates from across the firm and the members represent differences in ethnicity, race, gender, lifestyles, backgrounds and viewpoints.
- The Committee works closely with our Recruiting and Professional Development departments to ensure that we are attracting and retaining a broad pool of minority and women attorneys.
- The Committee is led by a Partner who devotes 60% of her time to the firm's diversity efforts and reports directly to the Chairman of the firm and the firm's Policy Committee.
- Dick Cirillo serves as the Policy Committee Liaison to the Diversity Committee. Each partner in the firm has committed to spend a minimum of 15 hours working on diversity and inclusion efforts. In 2008, our partners devoted more than 2800 hours to diversity efforts. This is in addition to the time spent on associate professional development activities.
- Among many programs and initiatives, the Diversity Committee sponsors the firm's annual Minority Retreat, which focuses on our continued commitment to provide a diverse workplace in which all attorneys can grow and succeed. The retreat typically includes workshops on mentoring, law firm economics, creating a professional development plan and personal development.
