ABOUT MS&K |
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp is firmly committed to develop and maintain a diverse workforce that reflects the community in which we practice. We believe it is important to attract and retain the highest caliber of attorneys whose wide-ranging backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and approaches enable us to best serve a broad spectrum of clients. To that end, the firm strives to sustain a work environment where all attorneys, and staff, feel welcomed, valued and energized about the contributions they make and the opportunities they have to further develop their careers.
The firm has a Diversity Initiative Committee comprised of partners and associates who reflect and are committed to increasing diversity at the firm. In furtherance of that initiative, MS&K is a signatory to the New York County Lawyers' Association's Diversity Statement, joining in its efforts to increase diversity in the legal profession. Moreover, the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Bar Association have honored our firm for its commitment to the joint Call To Action campaign for the retention and promotion of women lawyers. We participate in the Managing Partners' Roundtable, and its corresponding Diversity Directors' Roundtable, and support the California Minority Counsel Program's education, business development and networking activities. Many of our attorneys are leaders on this issue, serving on Boards and committees that expressly seek ways to enrich the legal profession through diversity. Moreover, the firm encourages the active involvement of its lawyers in various minority bar and professional organizations, such as the National Bar Association, John M. Langston Bar Association, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund), Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Muslim Lawyers Association, South Asian Bar Association, Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Mexican American Bar Foundation, Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association and Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.
In the past few years, we have expanded our on-campus recruiting efforts to include law schools that have more ethnically diverse student enrollment, and we participate in national and regional job fairs focusing on diversity. As a result, both our summer associates and incoming class of attorneys were the most ethnically diverse in our history. Law schools represented in our recent summer and first-year associate ranks include UCLA, USC, Howard, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Southwestern and UC-Davis. In addition, in 2010, 40% of our attorney hires were diverse, 61% of our associates were female, and 49% of firm management positions were held by diverse and women attorneys.
We co-sponsor the UCLA Law Fellows program, which is designed to encourage and prepare high-potential although underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students for a career in law, and we look forward to participating in a similar program at USC Law School. In addition, our firm has sponsored a diversity forum for a national association of law firms, and hosted speakers from around the country who helped educate members on best practices for law firms to achieve their diversity goals.
