Because we believe in the power of diversity, Husch Blackwell recruits, develops, retains and promotes talented attorneys and staff with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We believe that our inclusive environment enhances our commitment to serve our clients, our profession and our community by building a workforce of people with varied backgrounds where individual differences are appreciated.
Diversity encompasses a variety of characteristics, including race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, education, and family and marital status. We embrace diversity in order to develop and maintain a working environment that encourages openness, identifies and maximizes each person’s potential contribution, and strives to remove barriers to professional achievement.
At Husch Blackwell, we reinforce diversity through actions and initiatives:
- We are the largest law firm in the country with an African-American as chairman.
- The leader of our Litigation Division, which comprises more than 250 lawyers, is a woman.
- Women lead our offices in Springfield, Mo., Memphis, Tenn., and Denver, Colo.
- Women hold key administrative leadership roles, including co-chief operating officer, director of finance and director of recruiting.
- Our lawyers and staff have played key leadership roles for the Heartland Diversity Legal Job Fair in Kansas City, Mo., and the St. Louis Diversity Job Fair.
- We support scholarship programs that assist minority law students at Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas.
- More than 45 percent of our associates are women.
- Under the firm’s alternative work schedule policy, we encourage eligible associates to request part-time or flex-time work schedules rather than leave the firm or the practice of law.
- The firm’s Partner evaluation and commitment plans ask for specific actions that each Partner has taken to foster our diversity enhancement efforts.
- We are signatories to the diversity commitments and action plans of local bar associations, including the Kansas City Bar Association’s Diversity Action Plan, Peoria County (Ill.) Bar Association’s Diversity Action Plan and the Omaha (Neb.) Diversity Commitment.
Our forward-thinking efforts in the area of diversity have been recognized locally and nationally:
- The Human Rights Campaign gave our firm a 90 percent rating in its 2013 Corporate Equality Index.
- Working Mother magazine named Husch Blackwell one of the “50 Best Law Firms for Women" in 2012.
- We received the 2011 Firm of the Year award from the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City.
- The Chicago chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners awarded the 2011 “Long Term Involvement” Corporate Partner Award to our firm.
- The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis gave Husch Blackwell its 2010 Community Awareness Award for our work in diversity recruiting and pro bono representation.
- MultiCultural Law Magazine in 2009 named Husch Blackwell one of the top 100 law firms for women and one of the top firms for Native Americans.
Diversity and inclusiveness make us a stronger firm and better able to understand our clients’ needs. This is why we are not satisfied with the status quo. We are committed to pursue, promote and enhance diversity at Husch Blackwell.