Crowell & Moring Releases Diversity & Inclusion Report

Updates Firm’s Sponsorship 2.0 Initiative, Women’s Leadership Initiative, Pro Bono Program, and More

Washington, D.C. — June 27, 2019: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce the release of its “Diversity & Inclusion Report,” which highlights a number of the firm’s diversity and inclusion successes and initiatives throughout the past year. The report details a number of the programs that the firm has implemented in order to ensure that it offers a welcoming and inclusive workplace to employees of all backgrounds, including sponsorship programs that invest in the professional development and success of female and diverse attorneys, strategic initiatives that help recruit, retain, and promote female and diverse lawyers, and the firm’s adoption of the Mansfield Rule 2.0 initiative.

The report features programs and initiatives completed in 2018 and previews some of the efforts underway this year. Coverage includes:

• The National Women’s History Month Client Event and Panel Discussion which brought together more than 300 clients, firm lawyers, and staff in Washington, D.C. for a lively panel discussion about the development and advancement of women and lawyers of color in the workplace. 
• Sponsorship 2.0, the firm’s award-winning professional development initiative, launched a formal program in collaboration with the Nebo Company and Georgetown University’s Institute of Transformational Leadership Founding Director Kate Ebner.
• Diversity Speaker Series events featured distinguished speakers of various cultures and backgrounds. Speaker selections often coincided with cultural heritage months, such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Disability Employment Awareness Month, and Native American Heritage Month.
• Summer Associate Diversity Dinners in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orange County offices brought together each office’s summer associates, diverse lawyers, staff members, and their families for an evening of casual dining and discussion.
• Women’s Leadership Initiative sponsored professional development programming aligned with its mission of recruiting, advancing, and retaining a community of talented women lawyers. 
• Diversity focused pro bono efforts helped to advance diversity more broadly through legal representation. For example, we secured asylum for a Salvadoran man who had experienced atrocities and violence on numerous occasions at the hands of a violent MS-13 gang leader because of his gender-nonconforming behavior.

Ellen Moran Dwyer, Crowell & Moring’s executive committee chair, is profiled for her work as a member of the board of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). The report also shares how the firm joined the Mansfield Rule 2.0 initiative in 2018, which challenges law firms to affirmatively consider at least 30 percent women lawyers, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and lawyers of color for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, and senior lateral attorney hires.

“Crowell & Moring was founded four decades ago in an era when large law firms regrettably featured virtually no gender, racial, or ethnic diversity,” wrote Crowell & Moring chair Philip T. Inglima in the report’s opening message. “We are proud to have made both symbolic and substantive progress in that regard. Yet, we know that increasing diversity within the profession and our firm over the past 40 years has been too modest for anyone to declare victory... We will continue exploring and embracing innovations and approaches that will ensure Crowell & Moring becomes the very best it can be by improving diversity and inclusiveness in our workplace.”

Other features include updates surrounding Crowell & Moring’s 40th anniversary; community alliances; promotions and honors among women, lawyers of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyers; and the firm’s many affinity and inclusion networks, including the Hispanic Lawyers Affinity Group, the Asian American and Pacific Islander Affinity Group, the African American Affinity Group, the LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, and the Balanced Hours Affinity Group.

“At Crowell & Moring, we value and foster a culture of inclusivity and respecting the unique talents and perspectives of our entire Crowell family—including clients, attorneys, staff, business partners, and alumni. That culture makes our law firm a place where people want to work and achieve. And it enables us to use the diversity of thought and talent of our teams as a catalyst to provide the best advice, leadership, and service in teaming with our clients,” said John S. Gibson, Crowell & Moring Management Board member and Diversity Council Steering Committee co-chair.

“On the pages of this report, we hope you will see how Crowell & Moring is working to build upon our strong track record of recruiting women and lawyers from diverse backgrounds and ensuring that they have the opportunities, tools, and support to thrive and lead. Central to our efforts is our belief that bringing a talent development focus to diversity and inclusion will produce meaningful and transformative progress at our firm and for our individual attorneys,” said Kirsten L. Nathanson, Crowell & Moring Management Board member and former co-chair of the Diversity Council Steering Committee.

Crowell & Moring partner and Diversity Council co-chair Juan A. Arteaga said, “Diversity is a core value of Crowell & Moring, and we are working to ensure that this value touches and drives every aspect of our business—from how we recruit and develop talent to how we grow client relationships, staff matters, and lead our practices.”

“As we look ahead, we will be advancing many of the programs detailed in our report, and we anticipate developing new initiatives that are as innovative as the people who make up our firm,” said Don Smith, senior director of talent & inclusion and a member of the Diversity Council.

About Crowell & Moring LLP

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with approximately 550 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, London, and Brussels.