Diversity

Alston & Bird visits more than 50 law school campuses and job fairs each year, including minority job fairs hosted by HNBA (Hispanic National Bar Association), NLGLA (National Lesbian & Gay Law Association) Career Fair and Lavender Law Conference, NLLSA (National Latina/o Law Student Association), BLSA (Black Law Students Association), the DuPont Minority and Southeastern Job Fairs and the Sunbelt Minority Recruitment Program. We also support numerous diverse student organizations at law schools around the country.

As part of the firm’s commitment to engaging our summer associates in our diversity efforts from day one, we hold several events each year in collaboration with the Attorney Hiring Department. One such event is a Meet Your Diversity Committee Lunch & Learn that allows summer associates to meet with the Regional Diversity Committee members in their offices in order to learn first-hand details behind the firm’s diversity program and strategic plan. We also begin our annual firm-wide summer associate retreat in Atlanta with a formal gathering at the Martin Luther King National Historic Site, a historically and culturally significant landmark that serves as an excellent introduction to the firm’s unyielding commitment to diversity.

In 2011, Alston & Bird began an annual tradition of hosting receptions for first-year law students in our various markets. These events are open to all students who are interested in learning more about our efforts in this area, and are co-hosted by the office Diversity Committees and the Attorney Hiring Department.

Pipeline Efforts

The On the Path to Law newsletter is published by Alston & Bird and distributed to law schools and diverse student organizations throughout the country. Its purpose is to help law students navigate their way through the interviewing and hiring processes. The newsletter features many of our diverse attorneys who share stories and advice from their own path to the law.

The firm participates in a number of pipeline programs in our various offices, including the Gate City Bar Association’s Justice Robert Benham Law Camp, the State Bar of Georgia Diversity Program’s Pipeline Project, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association’s annual pipeline event, Lighting the Path to Legal Education, the Florida State University Minority Business Society’s annual corporate tour and the Ballou High School in Washington, D.C.

The firm is a sponsor of the Mexican American Bar Foundation (MABF). MABF provides financial assistance to men and women of Chicano and Latino heritage in support of their pursuit of legal careers.

Alston & Bird LLP is also a contributor to the American Bar Association's Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund and a participant in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Legal Diversity Clerkship Program.

Retention of our attorneys is essential to the successful management of our diversity efforts. To achieve greater results in retention, we continue to evaluate employee benefit programs to support our diverse workforce. Examples of our benefits include: 

• Domestic partnership insurance benefits. 
• A stand-alone, state-of-the-art, near-site childcare center in Atlanta, which is available to all Alston & Bird employees. The firm recently purchased space in Bright Horizons’ child care centers in our New York, D.C. and Charlotte offices. All offices now provide back-up care for children on spring and summer breaks or for other emergencies. 
• The Network Access program, for all employees, provides access to 400+ Bright Horizons childcare centers across the country for full-time and backup childcare. In addition to providing center-based back-up care, the Back-Up Advantage Program offers in-home child care, in-home sick care and in-home elder care.

In 2006 after an internal study designed to increase the number of women in the firm’s partnership ranks, the firm adopted a formal Alternative Career Path Policy (ACP). The policy openly addresses the challenges of balancing the demands of family and career. The policy: (i) sets no duration or time limit to achieve partnership; (ii) recognizes that an associate may be considered for partnership, notwithstanding the fact that he/she is on an alternative schedule, and (iii) establishes a process by which an associate can gain access to information and guidance in making a proposal for an alternative schedule.

The firm also established best practices guidelines for planning maternity leave for practice group leaders and attorneys. Multiple support systems are in place for pregnancy, returning to work and new parent support.

The Women’s Initiative, a committee of the Diversity Steering Committee, is comprised of both women partners and senior associates from each office. The Women’s Initiative, chaired by a senior partner, provides internal and external opportunities and events for the women in the firm to meet, share experiences and build their careers. The group has formed an outreach network for women returning from maternity leave, comprised of other attorney moms, to assist in determining and avoiding possible issues that could come up in the transition and to provide emotional support during this difficult time.

The Practice Group Leader Diversity Initiative brings members of the firm’s Diversity Committee together with practice group leaders to gain input and to share information relative to each group’s diversity and mentoring efforts. This initiative takes place within the context of the firm’s bi-annual leadership meetings and fosters awareness of diversity issues at the group level.

To foster retention of all attorneys, in 2006 the firm implemented a more aggressive mentoring program responsible for helping younger lawyers develop personally and professionally and to attain their personal and professional goals. As part of this effort, each practice group leader is required to assign a mentor to each 1st, 2nd and 3rd-year associate in their group, as well as lateral associate hires. The firm allocates funding to mentors to defray a portion of the expenses associated with their efforts.

In 2006, the Diversity Committees instituted the Diversity Committee Liaison Program, a supplement to the firm’s mentoring program, whereby, committee members serve as informal liaisons with the firm’s minority and diverse attorneys. The liaison program serves as a feedback mechanism on the issues and concerns the diverse lawyers are experiencing, as well as letting us know what we are doing well and what we can be doing better.

Recognizing, celebrating and educating our lawyers and staff members regarding cultural differences.

During 2006, Alston & Bird served as co-counsel, with the ACLU and Lambda Defense, representing the plaintiffs in a case before the Fulton County Superior Court contesting the constitutionality as to whether “Amendment One” to the Georgia Constitution, passed in 2004, violated the single subject rule of the Georgia Constitution, because it deals simultaneously with the separate topics of same-sex marriage and civil rights unions. After a victory for the plaintiffs in the Superior Court, the appeal was heard by the Georgia Supreme Court, which reversed the Superior Court’s decision.

The firm played a key role in securing the personal historical papers of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through the Community Foundation of Atlanta, a consortium established to provide leadership and financing in purchasing the collection to be housed in Atlanta. This effort ensures that Atlanta, the birth place of Dr. King, will retain some of the most valuable historical documents pertaining to his life and work related to civil rights.

Additional firm memberships and sponsorships include:

• ABA Minority Counsel Program. 
• The firm is a signatory of the Action Plan of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County General Counsel and Managing Partners Diversity Initiative, the New York City Bar Statement of Diversity Principles, and the New York County Lawyers' Association Statement of Diversity Principles. 
• American Institute for Managing Diversity (AIMD). John Latham, the firm’s Diversity Partner, is the immediate past chair of the board of trustees of AIMD and still serves on its board. 
• Atlanta Large Law Firm Diversity Alliance & the Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium. 
• Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium. Our chief human resources officer recently presented as a panelist at their Fourth Annual Symposium. 
• The firm is a member of the California Minority Council Program (CMCP).

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion | Publications

Change in Motion | Publications