In order to provide leadership, structure and accountability to our diversity efforts, an overarching Diversity Steering Committee was formed. The Diversity Steering Committee provides direction and oversight to Regional Diversity Committees that, in turn, implement ideas and programs in each office. A Diversity Task Force works with the Diversity Steering Committee and the Regional Diversity Committees to promote diversity awareness through events, recognition and celebrations.
The initiatives proposed and encouraged by the Diversity Steering Committee strive to bring awareness and understanding of differences to our employees, recognize, utilize and celebrate differences, and cultivate the pipeline of women, minorities and members of the LGBT community interested in the legal profession, and promote the retention and advancement of all employees.
Diversity Steering Committee
The Diversity Steering Committee is chaired by a senior partner, who answers directly to the managing partner, and who is responsible for supporting and enhancing the firm’s diversity efforts. The chair and the steering committee members are dedicated to enabling meaningful, long-term changes that ensure that the firm is second to none in attracting, developing, nourishing and retaining the most talented professionals without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, creed, sexual orientation, age, or social or geographic background.
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Each of our practice group leaders are held accountable by the firm’s management for the diversity enhancement efforts of his or her practice group. The success or failure of these efforts impacts the evaluation of our practice group leaders.
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Alston & Bird employs a full-time diversity manager, dedicated to supporting the diversity efforts of the firm.
Diversity Chair
John Latham serves as the chairman of the firm’s Diversity Committee. He works with the committee, comprised of attorneys and staff from all of our offices, to support and foster diversity initiatives throughout the firm. John is a member of the Atlanta Large Law Firm Diversity Alliance Steering Committee, the Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for Managing Diversity. In 2004, John and Alston & Bird received the State Bar of Georgia’s Commitment to Equality Award.
Regional Diversity Committees
While the Diversity Steering Committee provides overarching goals and guidance, each office has attorneys and staff members who serve on Regional Diversity Committees. The regional committees work to implement programs, events and sponsorships relevant to their respective locations.
Regional Diversity Chairs
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Angela Payne James
IP Litigation
Atlanta
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Emily W. Mao
Tax
Washington, D.C.
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Dennis O. Garris
Corporate Transactions & Securities
Washington, D.C.
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Porfirio F. Ramirez, Jr.
Financial Services & Products
New York
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James S. Hutchinson
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
New York
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Blas P. Arroyo
IP Litigation
North Carolina
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Anne M. Tompkins
Litigation and Trial
Practice
North Carolina |
Darren C. Hauck
Mergers & Acquisitions
Dallas |
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Deborah Yoon Jones
Litigation and Trial
Practice
California |
Jesse M. Jauregui
Labor & Employment, Litigation & Trial Practice
California
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Diversity Task Force
To celebrate diversity, the firm hosts presentations for all employees to broaden an understanding of differences, the challenges others have faced and their courage to bring change and acceptance of differences. The Diversity Task Force is instrumental in bringing these programs to the firm. Recent programs have included:
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Master Sergeant William T. Simmons, one of the Tuskegee airmen – part of the 332nd fighter group during World War II, spoke about the Tuskegee airmen and the group’s courage and perseverance.
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The Diversity Task Force presented “Sweet Auburn – Street of Pride,” a documentary chronicling the history of Auburn Avenue in Atlanta in the early 1900’s, narrated by Cicely Tyson and Julian Bond. The movie was followed by a visit with residents of the Auburn Senior Center, who shared their personal experiences of growing up on Auburn Avenue in its heyday.
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Doug Jones, prosecutor for the 16th Street Church bombings in Birmingham, Alabama, shared his experiences with this significant event in the history of racial prejudice in the United States.
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Judge Betty Weinberg-Ellerin, shared her journey as a female attorney, and becoming the first women judge in the Appellate Division of the New York State Court System.
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Matt Coles, national director of the ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay Rights and AIDS project, visited the Atlanta office and led a discussion about thinking strategically in the litigation of cases that have an impact on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
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Sachi Koto, former news anchor for CNN Headline News, spoke about her life and career as a third-generation Japanese American growing up in Atlanta.
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In celebration of Asian-Pacific American Heritage month, Trinh Huynh, associate in the Construction practice group, shared her experience of coming to America as a 4-year old refugee from Vietnam. The presentation also included educational information, pictures, artifacts and food of Vietnamese culture, followed by a question and answer period.
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October 6, 2009
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September 14, 2009
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September 1, 2009
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