Diversity is a core value at Sonnenschein. We are committed to promoting a professional environment that attracts and retains attorneys and staff of all backgrounds regardless of any group characteristic, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, disability, gender identity or social perspective. We know that a variety of experiences, backgrounds and ideas enriches our workplace and encourages creativity and innovation.
Our efforts to create a diverse workforce have brought us recognition as a leading law firm:
- In 2005, Sonnenschein received the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s (MCCA’s) prestigious Thomas L. Sager Award twice -- in both the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic regions. The Sager Award is given to recognize extraordinary commitment to diversity.
- In 2006, MultiCultural Law Magazine ranked Sonnenschein 11th for overall diversity, 5th for partners, 8th for associates, 17th for women, 23rd for African Americans and 2nd for attorneys with disabilities.
- In September 2006, Sonnenschein was ranked first in the country in Presumed Equal, a survey sent to 16,000 women attorneys at the nation’s 105 largest law firms. The women attorneys rated their own firms on issues such as leadership, advancement opportunities, work-life balance and diversity.
Sonnenschein At A Glance
Historically underrepresented attorneys -- diverse attorneys -- comprise approximately 17 percent of our attorneys, 12 percent of our partners and 26 percent of our associates. Women represent approximately 36 percent of our attorneys, 23 percent of our partners and 52 percent of our associates.
Women and diverse attorneys are an integral part of Sonnenschein's leadership, including serving on the two chief governing bodies of the firm: six of 17 members of the Firm’s Policy & Planning Committee (“P&P”) and six of 13 members of the Firm’s Legal Development Committee are either diverse or women. The Firm’s Lateral Acquisition Partner, who is a member of P&P, is a woman.
Women and diverse attorneys serve on all of the firm-wide committees. One of the seven firm-wide committees is chaired by an African American man and another by a white woman. Four women and two minority attorneys are leaders of national practice groups. A woman heads our New York office, an African American man heads our D.C. office and a gay man heads our Chicago office.
Sonnenschein's Diversity Initiatives
We believe Sonnenschein's diversity initiative is unique in several important respects. The written Firmwide Diversity Plan:
- sets forth time-limited, measurable goals in the areas of recruitment, retention, promotion and leadership;
- provides for individual partner accountability in achieving its goals;
- specifically and meaningfully incorporates all employees, not just attorneys; and
- includes a supplier diversity program.
Other aspects of the initiative include the development by all practice groups of objective sets of skill benchmarks to help all attorneys gauge their professional development; top-down diversity training of all attorneys, the participation by all offices in regional diversity retreats and the development of affinity groups, such as the African American affinity group and the lesbian and gay affinity group.
The Diversity Committees
The Firmwide Diversity Committee is overseeing the Diversity Plan’s implementation. Its members include the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the firm and partners, counsel and associates from all of the firm’s principal offices. Each office has a local diversity committee which coordinates local initiatives with those of the Firmwide Committee and each office’s recruiting committee includes at least one member of the office’s diversity committee.
A firm-wide Staff Diversity Committee, chaired by the firm’s Chief Operating Officer and including staff representatives from each office and the Director of Diversity, focuses on diversity opportunities and challenges of non-legal staff.
One of the firm’s partners, the Director of Diversity, devotes full-time to monitoring the diversity initiative. She reports directly to the Chairs of the Firm and of the Firmwide Diversity Committee.
Women's Initiatives
In formal recognition of the value of our women attorneys, the firm sponsors a Women's Business Development Group, the members of which are the firm's women partners and of counsel. The activities of the Sonnenschein Women's Business Development Group further the firm's goal of advancing and enhancing the careers and personal lives of women attorneys within the firm. The Group's activities consist of the sponsorship of the activities of women's organizations such as Legal Momentum and the holding of networking and social events of interest to Sonnenschein devoted to the topics of career enhancement, business development, and networking.
Work / Life Balance
Sonnenschein believes that the accommodation of the needs of its lawyers through alternative work arrangements is vital in promoting job satisfaction and retaining a diverse work force. The firm recognizes that, despite a strong individual commitment to law practice, a lawyer's personal situation may necessitate a request for a reduced hour or other non-traditional work arrangement. The number of attorneys working an alternative or part-time schedule attests to the firm's endorsement of a flexible approach to work/life balance. As of October 1, 2006, approximately eight percent of our attorneys and 18 percent of our women attorneys worked less than full-time.
The firm recently adopted an amendment to its current leave policy in recognition of the increased challenges many attorneys face in balancing work and family commitments following the birth or adoption of a child. All attorneys now have the option of working an 80 percent work schedule for up to six months within the first year following the birth or adoption of a child. This opportunity is in addition to Sonnenschein's existing maternity and paternity leave policies and in no way restricts other opportunities to work alternative or reduced schedules.
The Legal Community
Sonnenschein participates in numerous functions of minority law student organizations and minority summer clerkship programs. For example, the St. Louis office is partnering with Washington University School of Law to offer a summer law school preparation course to incoming law students and the Kansas City office is offering a summer internship to diverse students who are entering University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
In addition to many local sponsorships, we currently are a national sponsor of Lambda Legal and during the past three years we were the Premier Sponsor of the MCCA's Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference and an Opening Program Sponsor of the MCCA's annual CLE Expo. For the past three years we also have sponsored the MCCA Diversity Dinner Series in New York, conventions of the Hispanic National Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific-American Bar Association and Charting Your Own Course, along with numerous other events, including events for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Asian American Bar Association, the Mound Bar Association, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Sonnenschein is strongly committed to maintaining a sustained effort to attain meaningful diversity in its own ranks and within the legal profession as a whole.
