Overview
Diversity at Ballard Spahr
An Active Investment in Our Workplace and Our Future
Many law firms call diversity a core value. At Ballard Spahr it is part of our daily practice as a “Call to Action.” We know that we are better—stronger, livelier, tougher, and ultimately more perceptive in our judgments and far-reaching in our achievements—for being diverse. Our commitment to diversity requires daily action and brings daily rewards, as we work to foster inclusiveness for people of all races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations. That enhances the environment we create for our collective efforts and life together as lawyers, citizens, and advocates for our clients. We believe that we have created a workplace in which mutual respect is paramount, as an investment in our future.
Our commitment to diversity is built on a foundation of visible success. Ballard’s first female and African American partners were admitted to the partnership in 1971 and 1975, respectively. And two of our eleven offices are managed by female partners, one of whom is African American. In 2002, Ballard Spahr’s governing board adopted the recommendations of a diversity consultant to enhance diversity and inclusiveness at the firm. Our Diversity Committee is currently co-chaired by two of our female partners. Its 22 members include minority attorneys, at all levels and from all offices, as well as firm leaders: the chairs of firm committees on recruitment, hiring, mentoring, and professional development, the partner in charge of the firm’s strategic planning efforts, and members of the firm’s senior management team and board.
Diversity thrives at Ballard Spahr by engaging our lawyers through such vehicles as the Women’s Marketing Initiative and the Minority Associates Group. Founded in 2002 by interested female partners, the Women’s Marketing Initiative promotes women lawyers firmwide and increases their visibility in marketing to female executives and business owners. The Minority Associates Group sponsors monthly luncheons at which minority non-partner lawyers in all of our offices gather to discuss topics related to diversity and professional development.
Through the active involvement of our lawyers at all levels, we invest in diversity in ways that enhance our strengths and accomplishments and provide our current and future clients with more effective representation. Here are some of the recent ways that we have actively carried out this commitment:
Leading major organizations and initiatives related to diversity. One of our female partners serves as Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Minority Counsel Program (MCP) and has served as pastpresident of the Barristers’ Association, Inc. (the local National Bar Association affiliate); and a former Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association Committee on Minorities in the Profession. She also recently was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell to his Standing Advisory Committee on Minority and Women Business Opportunities.
Hosting the DuPont Minority Counsel Conference. During the June 2005 conference, Ballard Spahr hosted events and provided speakers, including a number of our lawyers of color – who networked with minority lawyers and law students from across the country. Ballard Spahr is an eight-time recipient of DuPont’s Meeting the Challenge Award, which recognizes, among other accomplishments, the firm’s diversity efforts.
Partnering with community organizations on a pipeline program. In June 2006, Ballard Spahr announced an innovative partnership with the School District of Philadelphia and the National Constitution Center to support a new high school with a civics and law focus. Constitution High, a magnet school in Center City Philadelphia, will enroll a diverse and select group of students who are interested in pursuing legal and public policy careers. Through this initiative--one of the first pipeline projects in the nation sponsored by a law firm--we hope to increase the number of minority students who choose careers in the legal profession. Two of our partners will serve on the school's advisory board, and many other lawyers at all levels will volunteer to assist the school's moot court team, help teach classes, mentor students, host job shadowing and other career development activities, collaborate on a service project and develop a 501(c)(3) tax exemption to facilitate fundraising for the school.
Participating in minority job fairs. Since 1997, Ballard has coordinated the annual Legal Minority Job Fair sponsored by DuPont, giving minority law students across the country an opportunity to interview for summer and associate positions with DuPont’s primary law firms and legal service providers. In 1999, an administrator in our Philadelphia office received DuPont’s Golden Eagle Award for her role as coordinator of the DuPont’s job fair, in recognition of “extraordinary accomplishments that result in significant benefit to the corporation and its customers.” We also recruit through the Delaware State Bar Association Minority Job Fair, the Philadelphia Area Law Firms Minority Job Fair, the New Jersey Law Firm Group Job Fair, the Lavender Law Job Fair and job fairs sponsored by Howard Law School, Harvard University’s Black Law Students Association, the Sadie T.M. Alexander job fair at the University of Pennsylvania, and the National Black Law Student Association.
Organizing and participating in diversity-related meetings or other activities. Many Ballard Spahr lawyers are engaged in causes that advance diversity goals. In the past year alone:
The associates of color in the firm’s Washington, DC office organized a Resume Writing and Interview Skills Workshop for Minority First Year Law Students. Students from George Washington University, Georgetown University, Howard University, George Mason University, American University and the Catholic University of America received tips on improving their resumes along with hands-on interview practice through mock interviews. Three of our partners and eight of our associates participated in this event.
A lawyer in our Delaware office participated on the panel “Path to Partnership”, which was sponsored by the Multicultural Judges and Lawyers Committee of the Delaware State Bar Association.
A lawyer in our New Jersey office served as Co-Chair of the Camden County Bar Association’s Presidential Commission on Diversity, which promotes diversity within the Camden County Bar Association and in the immediate southern New Jersey area. The Commission pursues this goal through such activities as hosting the Diversity Students Reception at Rutgers Camden School of Law, which is attended by over 100 diverse law students from area schools.
A lawyer in our Salt Lake City office served on the executive committee of Utah’s First 50 Celebrating Diversity in the Law Celebration, which honored the first 50+ minority lawyers to have been admitted to the Utah State Bar. Ballard Spahr was the premiere sponsor of this event, which by raising $80,000 will help fund scholarships for minority law students. In part through Ballard Spahr's efforts, the Utah Minority Bar Association won the national ABA Partnership Award in recognition of its diversity & community service programs.
Two lawyers in our Philadelphia office were panelists for the Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference sponsored by the Black Law Students Association at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The panel, on Retroactive Justice, featured a discussion of “The Quests, Costs and Benefits of Remedying Past Racial Injustice.”
A lawyer in our Washington, DC office drafted a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the National Hispanic Press Foundation to help that organization collaborate with the Smithsonian Latino Center on future projects. In addition, two lawyers from the firm served as volunteer instructors for the Smithsonian Latino Center’s two-week cultural camp.
Five lawyers in our Philadelphia office attended the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group Conference in the fall of 2005.
Sponsoring diversity-related events. During the past two years, Ballard Spahr provided support for the:
Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Non-Violence, Inc. Annual Benefit Luncheon
Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia Annual Awards & Scholarship Banquet
National Bar Association/Women Lawyers Division Philadelphia Chapter Annual Scholarship Luncheon
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Annual Freedom Fund Banquet Gala
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Memorial Breakfast
Asian Pacific Law Students Association Conference
Harvard Black Law Students Association Conference
Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference at the University of Pennsylvania
Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Tenth Anniversary Celebration
International Equality Forum’s Equality Dinner
Providing pro bono services. Many of the 26,000-plus hours in pro bono work done by Ballard Spahr lawyers each year focus on efforts to create and strengthen diversity, including these activities.
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights: Our lawyers assisted the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act at hearings and helped develop recommendations for Congressional reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act;
Opportunities Industrialization Council: We helped the group formed by the late Reverend Leon Sullivan to create job training opportunities for low-income and minority Philadelphia residents;
Dawn Staley Foundation: We served as counsel to the foundation, which provides after school activities and mentoring programs to inner-city Philadelphia girls;
Women’s Sports Foundation: Ballard lawyers developed a bill of rights for female athletes;
National Hispanic Press Foundation: Our firm provided website development assistance that enabled the Foundation to establish an online presence;
Project Forward Leap: We serve as counsel to this non-profit organization, that provides academic enrichment, tutoring and mentoring to inner-city, largely minority, students; and
Ballard Spahr Immigration & Asylum Project: Our lawyers who participate in this project help provide pro bono immigration assistance to low-income individuals in conjunction with the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration Policy, Practice and Pro Bono.
