Our Commitment

Our goal at Ballard Spahr is to advance diversity in our firm and in the legal profession. We are committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming and inclusive for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. We believe that we have created a firm where everyone is valued, respected, and given the opportunity to succeed. We enjoy the daily rewards and success of a rich and diverse firm. Our diversity makes Ballard’s lawyers stronger, livelier, and ultimately more perceptive in their roles as advocates, counselors, and advisers.

Firm Leadership

Our Diversity Committee, co-chaired by two of our female partners, has 27 members and includes diverse attorneys at all levels and from all offices. The committee includes 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. It is worth noting that two of our 12 offices are managed by female partners, one of whom is African American. Ten of our practices are led by women and 10 of our 13 administrative directors are women. Our full-time Director of Diversity works closely with the Diversity Committee co-chairs to develop, promote, and implement the firm’s diversity goals and initiatives, as well as to coordinate the firm’s participation in external diversity events, including working with clients on diversity issues of mutual interest.

Advancing Diversity in the Legal Profession

Ballard has an overriding and long-term commitment to increasing diversity in the legal profession. We strive toward this goal because it is right, and because we recognize that increasing the number and advancement of diverse attorneys strengthens the legal profession by broadening the perspectives and experiences upon which lawyers draw, enabling them to provide higher-quality legal service that is sensitive to clients’ needs.

Our commitment to advancing diversity both at Ballard and beyond is evidenced by our focus on recruiting and retaining minority attorneys, providing support for our lawyers in the form of affinity groups, providing information on our diversity efforts to clients, responding to clients’ requests for more diverse legal representation on matters, sustaining our work on a pipeline project for high school students, and, through the individual efforts of our lawyers, providing leadership in the area of diversity.

Ballard is a founding member of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group (PDLG), an organization that promotes diversity in the practice of law, particularly in the Greater Philadelphia region. Our lawyers serve in leadership or public service roles, including 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; panelists for the Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference sponsored by the Black Law Students Association at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and organizers on the executive committee of Utah’s First 50 Celebrating Diversity in the Law celebration, which honored the first 50   minority lawyers admitted to the Utah State Bar.

Ballard was the premier sponsor of the Utah State Bar event, proceeds of which will help fund scholarships for minority law students. In part through Ballard’s efforts, the Utah Minority Bar Association won the national ABA Partnership Award in recognition of its diversity and community service programs.

Our Phoenix office is a signatory to the State Bar of Arizona Commitment to Inclusion Goals program. The program’s goals are to provide for full participation of all groups of people in the legal profession and to increase the numbers of minority and women lawyers.

Recruiting Efforts

Central to Ballard’s commitment to improving diversity in the legal profession is the firm’s recruiting effort, which aims not only to attract talented diverse attorneys to Ballard’s offices across the country, but also to increase the number of diverse attorneys within the legal profession as a whole. Our recruiting efforts include the following job fairs that attract diverse law students:

• Delaware State Bar Association Minority Job Fair
• Philadelphia Area Minority Job Fair
• Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Fair
• Lavender Law Job Fair
• Muslim Law Career Fair

Ballard also participates in job fairs sponsored by Howard University School of Law, Harvard University’s Black Law Students Association and the National Black Law Student Association,  and the Sadie T.M. Alexander job fair at the University of Pennsylvania. We participate in the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group Summer 1L Program by including PDLG students in our summer associates program.   Our Phoenix office hosts a 2L student for a semester as part of the Diversity Writing Program, a joint venture between the Arizona State Bar Committee on Minorities and Women in the Law and the Maricopa County Bar Association Minority and Women Task Force. For more than a decade, 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. Several of our lawyers were hired as a result of our participation in this job fair.

For the past several years, associates of color in the firm’s Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia offices have organized a Resume Writing and Interview Skills Workshop for Diverse First Year Law Students. Students received tips on improving their resumes, along with practice interviewing through mock interviews.

Ballard participates in minority law directories, including the Vault and Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Guide to Diversity Programs, Minority Law Journal’s Diversity Scorecard, and Multicultural Law Magazine’s Top 100 Firms for Diversity survey.

Affinity Groups

Our Affinity Groups exemplify our commitment to diversity as we work to support, encourage, and retain lawyers. The groups are open to all Ballard lawyers interested in supporting and getting involved in the firm’s diversity initiatives.

BALLARD WOMEN
Contacts:  Kelley Grady, 215.864.8405, gradyk@ballardspahr.com  and
Jennifer L. Miller, 215.864.8619, millerje@ballardspahr.com

BALLARD Women aims to increase the visibility and marketing of the firm’s female lawyers by providing opportunities for lawyers and their clients, particularly female executives and business owners, to interact at a variety of events and in social settings apart from those typical to client development. A second key component of BALLARD Women is the mentoring of female associates by female partners across offices and practice groups. In addition, BALLARD Women promotes women lawyers at Ballard by providing programs on topics related to their professional development. These programs focus on the group’s goals, which include continuing to increase the awareness and use of unique marketing opportunities for women partners, to the benefit of our women clients, and retaining and promoting women lawyers so that the firm can effectively respond to the increasing number of clients that place a high priority on diversity in their legal counsel.

Female Non-Partner Lawyers Group
Contacts: Melissa Lore, 215.864.8249, lorem@ballardspahr.com
and Nicole Evans, 801.531.3058, evansn@ballardspahr.com

The Female Non-Partner Lawyers Group focuses on providing networking, mentoring, and professional development opportunities for non-partner women lawyers in the firm and works closely with BALLARD Women in furtherance of these goals.

The Minority Associates Group—composed of lawyers of color as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lawyers—sponsors monthly luncheons/teleconferences at which non-partner lawyers from across the firm gather to discuss topics related to diversity and professional development. Both the Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia offices’ minority associates host an annual Minority 1L Interviewing and Resume Writing Workshop.

Work-Life Balance Group
Contacts: Ellen O’Brien Kauffmann, 303.299.7314, kauffmanne@ballardspahr.com and
Lila G. Shapiro-Cyr, 410.528.5624, shapirocyr@ballardspahr.com

The Work-Life Balance Group brings together lawyers from across the firm—partners and non-partner lawyers, men and women, those working full time and reduced hours—who provide mutual resources and support for one another around the issue of work-life balance. The group hosts luncheons/ teleconferences on issues ranging from maternity leave to work choices and career goals.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Group
Contact: Sophie Dagenais, 410.528.5582, dagenaiss@ballardspahr.com

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Group provides opportunities for business development and outreach to the LGBT community, and supports, promotes, and furthers the recruiting initiatives of the firm’s Diversity Committee. Through internal networking, the group strives to maintain a supportive environment, and through pro bono outreach and civic and philanthropic work, its members impact the communities where they live and work.

Results and Recognition

• Ballard is making strides to improve its diversity and has received recognition as a result. Below are examples of the firm’s results and recognition.
• Ballard exceeds the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) average for percentage of female partners, female associates, minority partners, and LGBT partners.
• In the July/August 2008 issue of Diversity & The Bar magazine, Ballard is listed as one of the Top 20 (number 17) law firms with the highest percentage of women equity partners. This result is based on data from 205 major law firms appearing in the 2008 edition of the Vault/MCCA Guide to Law Firm Diversity Programs.
• Ballard is a ten-time recipient of DuPont’s Meeting the Challenge Award, which recognizes, among other accomplishments, the firm’s diversity efforts. We have won this award more times than any other firm.
• For the last four years, Ballard made the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity list in Multicultural Law magazine.
• Ballard received the 2009 North American South Asisan Bar Association (NASABA) Law Firm Achievement Award.
• A partner earned national recognition for her advocacy and leadership on behalf of South Asian lawyers and women of color in the legal field.
• Several of our partners have been awarded the Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Women of Distinction” Award.
• The Managing Partner of our Philadelphia office was named one of Pennsylvania’s Best 50 Women in Business.
• Our pipeline partnership with the Constitution High School for American Studies won an award from the Philadelphia School District for best practices in community partnerships.

Leaders in the Community

Ballard lawyers serve myriad leadership roles in the communities where we have offices. A sampling of the leadership provided by our lawyers is below.

• Ballard is in the third year of its groundbreaking pipeline partnership with the Philadelphia School District, the National Constitution Center, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to sponsor the Constitution High School for American Studies, a magnet school whose students—80 percent minority—are interested in civics, history, and law. Two of our partners serve on the school advisory board, and many other lawyers and staff provide mentoring, mock trial coaching, career counseling, summer internships, financial support, and other curricular and extracurricular support. In addition, Ballard supported the construction of a mock trial courtroom at Constitution High. As part of our pipeline initiative, our Washington, D.C., office mentors students from the Hyde Leadership Public Charter School, a college preparatory school in the district focused on developing socially responsible leaders. We hope these initiatives help to increase the number of minority students who choose careers in the legal profession.
• One of our female partners serves as Chair of the American Bar Association Minority Counsel Program (MCP) and is a member of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. She served on the Planning Committee of the ABA Conference for the Minority Lawyer, and is a member of the ABA Conference of Minority Partners and ABA Women Rainmakers. Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell appointed her to his Standing Advisory Committee on Minority and Women Business Opportunities.
• Another partner serves as Vice President of Diversity for the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). He also started a diversity task force for SHRM.
• One of our partners served on the Board of Directors of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBT youth and those questioning their sexual preferences.
• One of our lawyers is a regular panelist for the Emory Gay and Lesbian Advocates forum Out in the Workplace. The forum provides an opportunity for law students to ask questions about being out in law firms.
• One of our partners serves on the Equality Forum national Board of  Governors.
• Our lawyers hold various leadership positions in bar organizations, including minority bar associations. One of our female associates is the past president of the National Bar Association Women Lawyers’ Division, and another female associate serves as a board member of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania, secretary of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania Legal Education Fund, and co-chair of the networking committee.
• One of our female associates is working to establish a Sustainability and Climate Change committee for the national Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
• Lawyers and staff in several Ballard offices participate in the annual campaign in support of the United Way organizations in their communities. Partners at the firm are required to contribute to the campaign.

Pro Bono

Many of the 32,000-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; we continue to work with the Lawyers Committee and local groups on election-protection issues affecting diverse groups across the country. We also collaborated with the Lawyers Committee to represent a historic African American community in Mississippi to oppose dredging plans that would have increased the risk of flooding to that community.
• Anderson Monarchs Soccer Club. We serve as counsel to an inner-city girls soccer club that fields the only African American girls’ soccer team in the Delaware Valley.
• Women’s Sports Foundation. Ballard lawyers developed a bill of rights for female athletes.
• Navajo Bar Association Legal Hotline. A Ballard lawyer who is a member of the Navajo Nation Bar Association provides pro bono legal services for members of the Navajo Nation.
• Project Forward Leap. Ballard serves as counsel to this nonprofit organization that provides academic enrichment, tutoring, and mentoring to inner-city, largely minority, students.
• Utah Minority Bar Association. Ballard assisted this group to organize and obtain tax-exempt status for its law school scholarship efforts.
• Ballard Spahr Immigration & Asylum Project. Ballard lawyers provide pro bono immigration assistance to low-income individuals from Africa, Asia, and South America, assisting them to obtain asylum and legal residency. Our lawyers have also represented several national and international organizations helping to combat human trafficking in the U.S. and abroad, and have filed amicus briefs in Pennsylvania and Arizona opposing anti-immigration statutes. We also represent a Dominican-born juvenile in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, who is facing deportation after being arrested, beaten, and tried as an adult without benefit of a translator or effective counsel.

Supporting Diversity-Related Events

Below is a sample of events that Ballard recently supported.

• ALIANZA (Latino Alliance) Annual Campeones de la Justicia Banquet
• Disability Law Symposium
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Ceremony and Banquet
• Equality Advocates Reception
• Equality Forum Dinner
• Harvard Black Law Students Association Conference
• Minority Bar Convention of the State Bar of Arizona Committee on Minorities and Women
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• National Bar Association/Women Lawyers Division, Philadelphia Chapter Annual Scholarship Luncheon
• North American South Asian Bar Association Conference
• Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference at the University of Pennsylvania
• Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia
• University of Maryland Black Law Students Association Conference

Supplier Diversity

Ballard partners with diverse suppliers and vendors, including women- and minority-owned law firms and businesses ranging from recruiting firms to catering services.

Non-Discrimination Policy

Our equal opportunity policy includes language expressly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, including gender identity/expression in the workplace: 

The Firm is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity (EEO). It is the policy of Ballard Spahr to provide equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, national origin, handicap or disability, citizenship, sexual orientation, ancestry, veteran status, gender identity and expression, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law. This policy covers recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, demotion, layoff, termination, work environment, and all other terms and conditions of employment.

Ballard Spahr Diversity Committee

Committee Co-Chairs
Tobey Daluz                                                    Leslie John
Partner, Wilmington                                        Partner, Philadelphia
daluzt@ballardspahr.com                                johnl@ballardspahr.com

Director of Diversity
Virginia G. Essandoh, Esq.
essandohv@ballardspahr.com

Committee Members

Valarie J. Allen, Associate, Philadelphia
Cecilia Andrews, Associate, Atlanta
Barbara Bagnasacco, Hiring Partner, Salt Lake City
Bonnie Bell, Director of Legal Recruitment & Professional Development, Philadelphia
Shereen C. Chen, Of Counsel, Voorhees
Lucretia C. Clemons, Partner, Philadelphia
Sophie Dagenais, Partner, Baltimore
Jenelle M. Dennis, Associate, Bethesda
John T. DiBattista, Director of Human Resources, Philadelphia
Stephanie L. Franklin-Suber, Partner, Philadelphia
David S. Fryman, Hiring Partner, Philadelphia
Geoffrey A. Kahn, Professional Personnel Partner, Philadelphia
Cynthia M. Hajost, Partner, Washington, D.C.
Robert C. Kim, Partner, Las Vegas
Justin P. Klein, Partner, Philadelphia
Kenya S. Mann, Partner, Philadelphia
Daniel J.T. McKenna, Associate, Philadelphia
Norman E. Parker, Jr., Of Counsel, Baltimore
Scott A. Preston, Partner, Los Angeles
Mary Gay Scanlon, Executive Director, Pro Bono Program, Philadelphia
Paul W. Scott, Partner, Denver
Eva Shih Herrera, Of Counsel, Phoenix
Mitzie V. Smith-Mack, Of Counsel, Washington, D.C.
Mark S. Stewart, Strategic Planning Partner, Philadelphia