Alston & Bird has been a leader in law firm diversity for many years, paving the way with groundbreaking initiatives and programs to recruit, retain, mentor and promote diversity in our own firm and in the industry as a whole.

Firm Leadership

Diverse partners serve in leadership roles within Alston & Bird as members of the Partners’ Committee, practice groups leaders, client team leaders and committee chairs. Today, six key practices are led by women or minority partners: Environmental & Land Development, Corporate Transactions & Securities, Labor & Employment, Products Liability, Real Estate Finance & Investments and REITs.

Additional roles of note include:

• Donna Bergeson, a partner in the firm’s Health Care practice, was elected to serve on the Partner’s Committee.
• Janine Brown, a partner in the firm’s Corporate and Technology practices, was appointed as the firm’s first Partner-In-Charge of the Atlanta office and is the first woman to hold this position in any of the firm’s locations.
• In 2001, Alston & Bird elected its first woman as chair of the Partner’s Committee, the firms governing body. Both major newspapers in Atlanta covered the election and the role of women in law. A second female partner, Jane Thorpe, was elected to the body in 2002.
• Bernard Taylor, an African-American partner and a highly regarded litigator, was elected chair of the Partners’ Committee in 2003, again drawing coverage from the major media. Bernard is also a member of the Georgia Chapter of 100 Black Men of America, an organization with a mission to improve the quality of life of their communities and enhance educational and economic opportunities for all African Americans.
  
• The Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia honored Alston & Bird with its Outstanding Service to the Gay and Lesbian Community award in 2000.
• Ben Johnson, former managing partner, was the recipient of the American Jewish Committee’s Institute of Human Relations Award, recognizing Ben for his community activism and leadership in the battle against all forms of bigotry and discrimination and for his lifelong effort to promote human rights, in 2001.
• Cari Dawson was featured in the Spring Edition of MultiCultural Law magazine’s People on the Move (2006); recognized as a Georgia Rising Star in Super Lawyer magazine (2005); and named as a Georgia Super Lawyer by Atlanta magazine (2004). She was also selected as one of the Top 50 Up and Comers Under 40 by Atlanta Business Chronicle (2004) and one of the top 16 lawyers under 40 in the Fulton County Daily Report’s annual “On the Rise” issue (2003).
• Alston & Bird partner Lawrie Demorest is immediate past co-chair of the national board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign.
• Diversity Partner John Latham is chair of the board of trustees of the American Institute for Managing Diversity, a nonprofit diversity think tank. AIMD provides strategies, educational programs and materials on diversity and diversity management. Alston & Bird played an instrumental role in establishing the organization more than 20 years ago.
• As a direct result of participation in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), Alston & Bird partner Kevin Lyn took on the role of establishing a NAPABA membership structure for North Carolina and is assisting Tennessee in forming a similar organization. Kevin serves as the president of the North Carolina Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
• Alston & Bird Partner, Jeff Swart, serves as immediate past president of the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia.
• Alston & Bird Partner, Lisa Gilford is the President of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL).

August 31, 2010	Alston & Bird Ranked 16th in Diversity in 2011 Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms
June 18, 2010	Alston & Bird Co-Hosts Ballou Scholarship Winners
October 6, 2009	Alston & Bird Assists with Research Related to Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009
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