Husch Blackwell’s Austin office moved to first place from second on the annual Austin Law Firm Diversity Report Card, earning a top grade of “A” for the fifth year in a row.
The report, released August 9, is based on 2016 data. The report grades firms with Austin offices on the percentage of minority attorneys in each firm, recognizing those firms that have done particularly well in retaining and promoting minority attorneys to partnership. Husch Blackwell’s Austin office came in at the top of the diversity rankings with a weighted percentage of 31.86 percent of attorneys considering themselves diverse.
Minorities comprise 16.75 percent of all attorneys licensed to practice law in Travis County. In order to receive an “A” grade, each firm’s Austin office had to meet or exceed the 16.75 percent threshold. Out of the 29 Austin firms invited to participate in the survey, Husch Blackwell is one of 13 firms to receive the prestigious “A” rating in the 2016 rankings.
The Law Firm Diversity Report Card evaluates firms with Austin offices based on the hiring and retention of minority attorneys. The Austin Asian American Bar Association, the Austin Black Lawyers Association, the South Asian Bar Association of Austin, the Austin LGBT Bar Association, the Travis County Women Lawyers Association and the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin issue the annual report card in order to provide law firms with a way to gauge their diversity efforts and target ways to improve them.