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Driving Change 2021 Annual DEI Report
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Our Commitment to DEI
DEI Strategic Plan and the Four Pillars
Diversity Executive Council
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Our Firm Diversity Stats
Community
Growth
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Education
Engagement
Recognition
Table of Contents
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Our Commitment to DEI A message from Davis Wright Tremaine’s managing partner, Scott MacCormack.
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DEI Strategic Plan and the Four Pillars Chief DEI Officer Yusuf Zakir and Diversity Executive Council member Lynn Loacker discuss where we’re headed and how we’ll get there.
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Diversity Executive Council Seattle partner Maya Yamazaki, chair of our Diversity Executive Council, describes how Davis Wright Tremaine is seeking to fully embody DEI values.
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58%
69%
50%
Executive Committee Members
Practice Group Chairs
Partners-in-Charge
73%
61%
Attorney Evaluation Committee Members
2021 Partnership Promotions
* diverse includes women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, veterans, and attorneys with disabilities
Our Firm Diversity Stats
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Community
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DEI in a Remote and Hybrid Workplace Pete Johnson, our Seattle partner-in-charge, describes the office of the future at Davis Wright Tremaine.
Putting the Vision to Work”
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DEI Billable Credit
THIS WORK IS VALUABLE TO DWT”
Fostering DEI at our firm is everyone’s business and our DEI Billable Hour Credit Policy recognizes that. The firm counts eligible DEI activities towards billable credit, up to 3% of an attorney’s billable hour requirement. Danielle Toaltoan, partner in our New York office, helped lead creation of the policy.
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Employee Resource Groups In 2021, we launched five new staff Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for employees of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, women, parents, and individuals with disabilities. Gerald Glover III, client experience manager, and Khali Jones, coordinator for onboarding and integration, discuss the value of United Shades of DWT, our ERG for employees of color.
Come Together and Learn”
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Affinity Groups Our six firmwide affinity groups—Attorneys of Color, Flexible Hours, LGBTQ, Senior Attorneys, Veterans, Women—provide a platform for our lawyers to support and connect with one another. The groups’ annual programs include a Diverse Attorney Retreat, the Elevate summit for women, and the LGBTQ “Coming Out” event, which draws law students and in-house counsel as well. Jean Tom, co-chair of our Attorneys of Color affinity group, describes the impact of these networks.
Office DEI Committees Our efforts to build an inclusive organization are found at all levels and in all offices. Each of our eight offices has a DEI committee, comprised of both lawyers and staff, to develop and implement locally-tailored programs and community outreach. For example, in San Francisco last year, the office hosted a Diwali celebration. Partners Thaila Sundaresan and Allison Davis spearheaded the event.
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Growth
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Sponsorship Program Mentorship and sponsorship are critical to the advancement of underrepresented talent. That’s why we launched our firmwide Sponsorship Program. Sponsorship involves a partner actively nurturing the career of an individual— their protégé. Our program pairs partner sponsors with protégé associates to actively invest in and facilitate career progression and goals. Brent Droze and his mentor Jesse Lyon share how valuable the program has been for them.
Relationships are Important”
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Practice Group DEI Committees Work allocation, evaluations, and promotions are often determined inside the practice group, and we align those important conversations with DEI. Each of our practice groups has a DEI committee, focused on identifying and addressing challenges and opportunities within the group. Gillian Murphy and Giancarlo Urey, co-chairs of the DEI committee for our employment services group, and Ken Payson, chair of the DEI committee for our litigation team, talk about why these committees are so important.
A Better Solution”
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Pre-Law Fellowship We partner with local clients to provide a one-year fellowship, which includes a two-day educational academy, a diverse attorney mentor, quarterly fellowship cohort mentoring calls, and upon successful completion of the program, an LSAT preparation course scholarship. Caesar Kalinowski IV, an associate who helped conceive and launch the fellowship, talks about the program with his mentee, Ellie Pakzad, now a 2L at the University of Washington School of Law.
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1L Diversity Scholars
THE STARTING POINT OF MY CAREER”
Our 1L Diversity Scholarship Program awards diverse first-year law students a paid summer position in one of our offices, plus $15,000 for second-year tuition and expenses. Trinity Madrid, a 2018 1L Diversity Scholar and current associate, along with Hiroko Peraza, senior manager of talent and inclusion, who helps manage the program, describe why it’s so important.
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Additional Pipeline/Recruiting Initiatives • Gregoire Fellows. Open to students at the University of Washington School of Law. Includes paid summer internships with participating law firms and legal departments after the fellows’ first year of study, along with financial assistance for bar exam preparation. The fellows also participate in a mentorship program with former Washington governor Christine Gregoire. • John Davis Diversity Endowed Scholarships. For the past 15 years, DWT has awarded annual scholarships, named for our firm founder, that provide financial assistance of $13,000 to first-year minority law students attending the University of Washington School of Law. • American Bar Association’s Judicial Intern Opportunity Program (JIOP). JIOP is a fulltime, six-week-minimum, summer internship program that is open to first- and secondyear diverse law students who want to do legal research and writing for state or federal judges. This program helps build pipelines to recruit diverse law students into our firm.
FCBA Internship Program In 2021, the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) launched a new pipeline program to help promote interest among diverse 1Ls in becoming tech or communications lawyers. Davis Wright was delighted to participate. Adam Caldwell, a partner in our communications practice, who also leads summer hiring for our Washington, D.C., office, provided significant input into the creation of the program.
• Leadership Council on Legal Diversity 1L Mentorship Program. Pairs attorneys with local 1L law students to mentor throughout their first year in law school. • Pride Scholarship. We offer a $5,000 scholarship to an incoming LGBTQ law student in Oregon to promote diversity in the Portland legal community. • 1L Patent Diversity Scholarship. We offer a $15,000 scholarship to a diverse law student focusing in the area of patent prosecution.
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Education
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Monthly Speaker Series
I’VE SEEN A LOT OF PEOPLE ENGAGE IN TOUGH CONVERSATIONS”
Each month, our DEI team hosts speakers and discussions for the entire firm to introduce new concepts, ideas, and perspectives. In 2021, we hosted a number of notable speakers, including Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The 1619 Project. Shannon McNeal, an associate in our Washington, D.C., office, led the discussion.
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Monthly Speaker Series Continued
Tiffani Lambie, director of DEI operations, interviewed Kate Manne, author of “Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny.”
A Very Different Perspective”
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Monthly Speaker Series Continued
Camilo Echavarria, our Los Angeles partner-in-charge and a partner in our Employment Services Group, and Emilio Gonzalez, also a partner in our Employment Services Group in Los Angeles, were among the attorneys who spoke to the firm for Hispanic Heritage Month about their paths to success.
So Many Different Paths”
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Monthly Speaker Series Continued
Neha Sampat helps companies create organizations of belonging. She’s also a leading speaker on impostor syndrome. We invited her to give a firmwide presentation in July, followed by a workshop specifically for our Attorneys of Color and LGBTQ affinity groups, on busting internal bias and owning their value.
An Act of Courage”
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Engagement
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DEI Client Engagement Committee
IMPORTANT TO SEE THAT CHANGE”
We seek to deepen our relationship with clients around our shared values and commitment to DEI. Our DEI Client Engagement Committee, chaired by partner Chris Ford, focuses on building these partnerships.
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DEI@DWT Client Summit In 2021, we hosted our inaugural DEI@DWT Client Summit, which brought together leading clients, including Bank of America, Microsoft, and Starbucks, for highlevel discussions on strengthening the pipeline for underrepresented legal talent, opportunities for client and firm partnerships, and strategies to move the needle. The event included a fireside chat with Minnijean Brown-Trickey, a member of the Little Rock Nine, who described how the history she helped make continues to reverberate today. We introduced the event with this video.
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A More Meaningful, More Full, and More Dynamic Experience”
Engaging With Clients Seattle partner John Goldmark describes how clients are helping support DEI in the legal industry by setting goals and expectations.
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Secondments
Project W | Elevating Female Founders
Secondments can be one of the best ways for an early stage lawyer to advance their career. So we facilitate secondment opportunities with many of our largest clients in order to offer an in-house perspective and open doors to business development and growth. Kara Trowell, an associate in our New York office, discusses her experience.
The mission of our firm’s Project W is to provide women entrepreneurs and professionals across multiple industries (with a particular focus on financial services and technology) the tools, connections, and expertise necessary to build successful businesses. Founded in 2015, Project W has grown into a multifaceted initiative, comprising networking events, boot camps, pitch sessions, forums, and other platforms to help unlock women’s potential to excel. Nearly 100 DWT women attorneys annually participate. Here is a look back on Project W in 2021.
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Recognition
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Microsoft Law Firm Diversity Program
Putting in the Work”
In a trailblazing program, Microsoft annually provides incentives to its most trusted law firms to diversify their leadership and bring diversity to the teams that work on Microsoft matters. In 2021, the company recognized five firms that met all of the diversity goals within the program, and we’re proud to be one of them. Rebecca Benavides, Microsoft’s director of legal business and strategy, helps oversee the program and describes its impact.
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US Bank “Invested in Diversity” Award U.S. Bank is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion both within the company and the broader legal profession. Toward that end, the bank’s law division established the “Invested in Diversity” award in 2020 to recognize one of the bank’s preferred law firms that has made a significant impact on advancing these goals. We at DWT are proud to have been recognized with this award in 2021. We were also delighted to be part of the bank’s 2021 “Spotlight on Talent” program, which offers early career lawyers a chance to showcase their expertise by giving a CLE to the full U.S. Bank legal department. Jonathan Mark and Danielle Toaltoan were among the presenters at this event. They talk about the firm’s partnership with U.S. Bank, together with Chief DEI Officer Yusuf Zakir, James Mann, client relationship partner for the bank, and the bank’s general counsel, James Chosy.
It’s a Collaborative Process”
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Additional Firm Recognition
Bloomberg Law – Inaugural DEI Framework, recognizing 28 firms that have distinguished themselves on a key set of DEI metrics Diversity & Flexibility Alliance – Tipping the Scales award, recognizing firms with a 2021 partner class that’s at least half women Diversity Lab – Inclusion Champion, honoring 20 firms that met thresholds for representation, showed year-over-year progress, and are tracking to ensure their underrepresented lawyers have fair and equal access to quality work, influential sponsors, and other opportunities. Diversity Lab – Mansfield 4.0 Certification Plus, recognizing that in addition to meeting the baseline requirements, Davis Wright has successfully reached at least 30 percent diverse representation in a notable number of leadership roles. Leadership Council on Legal Diversity – Compass Award, recognizing firms for their continued commitment to building more diverse organizations and a more inclusive profession.
Human Rights Campaign Foundation – Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality, earning a 100% rating in our corporate policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to LGBTQ+ employees. Law360 Diversity Snapshot – Ranked #13 among comparably sized firms (measuring representation of ethnic minorities among equity partners, contract partners, and associates, and “pipeline score”) Law360 Glass Ceiling Report – Ranked #6 among comparably sized firms (measuring representation of women among equity partners, contract partners, and associates, and “pipeline score”) Law360 Social Impact Leaders – Ranked #13 among firms nationwide (scoring firms on racial and ethnic diversity, gender equality, employee engagement, and pro bono service) Women in Law Empowerment Forum – Gold Certification Working Mother magazine – 50 Best Law Firms for Women
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Diverse Lawyer Recognition Beatrice Nuñez-Bellamy – Women of Influence – Los Angeles Business Journal Diane Butler – Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA Jack Chang – Public Service & Leadership Award – Washington State Bar Association Young Lawyers Committee
Hope Levy-Biehl – Trusted Advisor of the Year (finalist) – Los Angeles Business Journal Health Care Awards Lynn Loacker – Responsible 100 – City & State magazine Liz McNamara – New York Power Lawyers – The Hollywood Reporter
Pamela Charles – Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA
Liz McNamara – Top 100 Entertainment Lawyers – The Hollywood Reporter
Gray Coleman – New York Power Lawyers – The Hollywood Reporter
Liz McNamara – Band 1 ranking (nationwide) – Chambers USA
Camilo Echavarria – Labor & Employment Attorney of the Year (finalist) – Los Angeles Business Journal
Liz McNamara – First Amendment Lawyer of the Year (New York) – Best Lawyers
Camilo Echavarria – Fellow – College of Labor & Employment Lawyers Arleen Fernandez – To 40 Under 40 – LGBT Bar Association Nancy Felsten – Band 1 ranking (nationwide) – Chambers USA Chris Ford – a top lawyer in Outsourcing – Chambers Global Chris Ford – Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA Laura Handman – Band 1 ranking (nationwide) – Chambers USA Bethany Hatef – Up and Coming – Chambers USA Christine Hawkins – Associate to Watch – Chambers USA Robert Homchick – Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA Wendy Kearns – West Coast “Trailblazer” – National Law Journal Barbara Simpson Kraft – Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA Ambika Kumar – MVP of the Year, Media & Entertainment –Law360 Ambika Kumar – Up and Coming – Chambers USA Hope Levy-Biehl – Healthcare Lawyer of the Year (Los Angeles) – Best Lawyers
Portia Moore– Fellow – College of Labor & Employment Lawyers Vanessa Norman – Associate to Watch – Chambers USA Diana Palacios – Minority Leaders of Influence – Los Angeles Business Journal Vidhya Prabhakaran – Best Under 40 – National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Vidhya Prabhakaran – Energy Regulatory Lawyer of the Year (San Francisco) – Best Lawyers Kelli Sager – Star Individual, Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA Rochelle Spandorf – Band 1 ranking (nationwide) – Chambers USA Rochelle Spandorf – Franchise Lawyer of the Year (Los Angeles) – Chambers USA Sarah Tune – Top USA Women Dealmakers – Global M&A Network Giancarlo Urey – Minority Leaders of Influence – Los Angeles Business Journal Megan Vogel – Up and Coming – Chambers USA Al Wickers – Band 1 ranking – Chambers USA Al Wickers – First Amendment Lawyer of the Year (Los Angeles) – Best Lawyers
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Diversity Executive Council Maya Yamazaki, DEI Chair; Partner Camilo Echavarria, Los Angeles Partner-in-Charge, Co-Chair Hispanic/Latinx Affinity Group Chip English, Washington, D.C. Partner-in-Charge, Co-Chair LGBTQ Affinity Group Wendy Kearns, Partner, TCPS Practice Group Chair
DEI Committees We are grateful to the many people who have volunteered to be on our DEI committees – they are working to embed DEI across our organization and helping to drive change. LEARN MORE HERE
Lynn Loacker, Project W Founder Scott MacCormack, Managing Partner Portia Moore, Partner, Co-Chair Black Affinity Group Thomas R. Burke, Partner, Pro Bono Chair, Sustainability Chair Kelli Kohout, Chief Administrative Officer Yusuf Zakir, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Martinelle Stevenson, Director of Professional Development and Training
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Team Yusuf Zakir, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer (he/him) Tiffani Lambie, Director of DEI Operations (she/her) Amy Franklin, Senior DEI Engagement Manager (they/she) Mia Khatcherian, DEI Growth Manager (she/her)
Tiffani Lambie, Director of DEI Operations
Patrick Stanton, DEI Specialist (he/him)
Amy Franklin, Senior DEI Engagement Manager
Lauren Calogero, DEI Assistant (she/her)
Mia Khatcherian, DEI Growth Manager
Hiroko Peraza, Senior Manager of Attorney Recruitment & Inclusion (she/her)
Michael Nguyen, Director of Talent Acquisition and Recruiting
Dana Casterella, Diversity & Inclusion Recruiting Specialist (she/her)
Rachel James, Director of Human Resources
Michael Nguyen, Director of Talent Acquisition and Recruiting (he/him)
Martinelle Stevenson, Director of Professional Development and Training (she/her)
Rachel James, Director of Human Resources (she/her)
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When We Have Inclusivity We Have Community”
Getting to Know Our DEI Team Meet Mia Khatcherian, DEI growth manager, Amy Franklin, DEI engagement manager, and Tiffani Lambie, director of DEI operations.
This report was produced by the Davis Wright Tremaine DEI and Marketing departments. Design: Nicole Stoffels Videography: Jason Rundell Editorial: Mark Fefer and Amy Franklin
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