At Davis Polk, we are strongly committed to cultivating a workplace that supports diversity. We believe that diversity in backgrounds, experiences and ideas enriches our workplace experience and enhances the quality of the work we do for our clients. Our differences translate into the ability to look at problems from multiple perspectives and to be more creative, thus strengthening the firm’s collaborative approach
Davis Polk’s Diversity Committee is devoted to advancing our firmwide diversity initiatives relating to the recruitment, retention and promotion of our lawyers. The Committee consists of 13 partners from across our practice, including all members of the firm’s Management Committee, as well as representatives from the Recruiting and Associate Development departments.
The firm’s Diversity Committee works closely with our Personnel Committee to monitor diversity hiring and retention statistics on an ongoing basis. The Diversity Committee also evaluates the overall effectiveness of our various diversity initiatives and focuses on enhancing our performance in this area. In addition, the firm conducts periodic internal surveys of lawyers on the workplace environment, including diversity-related issues. Finally, the firm participates in various external surveys on diversity policies and statistics, such as those published by NALP, American Lawyer, Vault, MCCA, Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, in order to benchmark our performance relative to our competitors and the profession in general.
The firm supports a number of affinity groups, for lawyers who share common interests or backgrounds, designed to enhance our ability to offer networking and mentoring opportunities. They include affinity groups for African-American/Black; Asian/Asian-American; Hispanic/Latino American; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT); parent and women lawyers.
Events sponsored by these groups during the past year include:
African-American/Black
Asian/Asian-American
Hispanic/Latino American
LGBT
DPW Parents
DPWomen
Our diversity efforts begin with our recruiting program. Each summer, we hire several future law students through the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) program, which provides law firm jobs to minority students the summer prior to starting law school. We also visit over 30 law schools and job fairs each year in order to meet a diverse group of law students, including Howard University, Lavender Law Career Fair, Hispanic National Bar Association Job Fair and National Asian Pacific American conferences.
Davis Polk’s Manager of Legal Recruiting & Diversity oversees the firm’s diversity recruiting initiatives for lawyers and law students of color, as well as LGBT candidates. These initiatives include annual diversity receptions and events, attending diversity-focused job fairs and sponsoring law school events organized by minority student organizations.
The firm, as well as our individual lawyers, sponsors or otherwise supports (through board membership and other advisory roles) a number of external organizations that promote diversity and equality in the legal profession and in the community. Such groups include:
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