Our success equation: Diversity = Excellence.
Diversity is business strategy. It opens minds…and doors.
Diversity sharpens business foresight.
We value differences because they make the difference.
We are attorneys who believe that our clients are best served when the solutions we offer spring from varied viewpoints and perspectives. To that end, we have created an environment that welcomes and includes all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, or sexual orientation, and indeed values, respects, and helps all succeed.
A diverse workplace yields innovative solutions.
We do not stop there. Our commitment to diversity reaches well beyond our firm. Through our support of organizations that advance diversity in the legal profession, and our landmark Constitution High School Pipeline Project, we cultivate the skills and aspirations of future generations of attorneys so that their clients might also enjoy the benefits of diverse representation. We do all this to provide relevant, in-tune, and effective counsel and because it is the right thing for our clients and our society.
Diverse perspectives drive insightful counsel.
Our Policy
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to an employee's or a candidate's race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, national origin, handicap or disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or any other category protected by law. Our policy covers recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, demotion, layoff, termination, work environment, and all other terms and conditions of employment.
We partner with diverse suppliers and vendors, including women- and minority-owned law firms and businesses ranging from recruiting firms to catering services.
We are affiliated with Avant Strategic Partners, a certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE) specializing in arbitrage compliance and consulting services. Created in 2009, the company is a partnership between Ms. Dianne Stewart, formerly of BondResource Partners, and Ballard Spahr.
Focus on Women
- We are among 2011's "Best Law Firms for Women," according to an annual survey by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE)/Flex-Time Lawyers.
- We exceed the National Association of Law Placement average for percentage of female partners, female associates, and minority partners.
- We were named one of the "Top 100 Law Firms for Women" by MultiCultural Law.
- We were among the Top 20 (No. 11) law firms with the highest percentage of women equity partners in the July/August 2009 issue of Diversity & The Bar magazine. This result is based on data from 277 major law firms appearing in the 2009 edition of the Vault/MCCA Guide to Law Firm Diversity Programs.
- Three of our 13 offices are managed by partners of color, two of whom are women. Fourteen of our practices are led by women, and 11 of our 13 administrative directors are women, as are 10 of our 13 office administrators.
Consider the following key facts about the firm's support of its women attorneys:
- Compared to the national average of similarly sized law firms, we have a higher representation of women attorneys. In fact, 25 percent of our partners, all of whom are equity partners, are women. This rate is higher than the national average of 19 percent.
- Ballard Spahr's numbers exceed the national average of similarly sized law firms for women who serve as associates. Forty-seven percent of attorneys holding this position at Ballard Spahr are women, compared to the national average of 45 percent.
- The national average of women attorneys represented on a law firm's most senior governance committee is 15 percent. Ballard Spahr exceeds this average: Women attorneys make up 20 percent of Elected Board members and 18 percent of Expanded Board members.