WE ARE DIFFERENT
Uniqueness is Your Superpower!
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are more than just words for us. They are the indelible principles guiding how we build our workforce, cultivate leadership, and create a company that is the right fit for anyone who seeks to join us.
DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION
Just like our clients and our cases, all of our employees are different, and we like it that way! We are committed to celebrating the rich diversity of the people who enable, provide, and receive our services. We listen and engage with our diverse communities, every person taking on the role of both illuminator and illuminated. Our success comes from empowering freedom of thought and opinion in an environment of safety and mutual respect. Our work, activities, and interactions are enriched by celebrating our uniqueness as well as our commonality.
Diversity without equity is meaningless. We ensure equal opportunity to all employees and applicants, for employment and advancement without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic disposition, neurodiversity, disability, veteran status, or any other defining characteristic.
Inclusion unleashes the power of diversity. We endeavor to foster belonging and empowerment. We strive to create workplaces that reflect the communities we serve and where everyone feels emboldened to bring their full, authentic selves to work. We are driven to build and nurture a culture where inclusiveness is a given, not a goal. As a firm and as individuals, we seek to create a sense of belonging that transcends any role, business unit, or locale.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of who we are. Our commitment to these values is unwavering. They drive our mission and cultivate our impact. We know that having varied perspectives helps generate better ideas to solve the complex problems of a changing and increasingly diverse world.
Leadership Pledge
As the leaders of Kelley Kronenberg, we are proud of our membership in The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (“LCLD”), an organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who have pledged to take actions toward creating a truly diverse legal profession. Our pledges focus on building and sustaining an equitable, diverse, and inclusive workforce, collectively sharing best practices for growing equity, diversity, and inclusion industry-wide, sharing the lived experiences of marginalized and underrepresented communities disproportionately unseen in the legal profession, supporting actions in our communities that seek to achieve equity and justice for everyone, and personally investing and committing to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The LCLD honored our commitment to these ideals with their coveted Compass Award.
Our participation in the LCLD inspired us to bolster our firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We endeavor to promote inclusiveness in our firm, our circles of influence, and our society. We are dedicated to creating workplaces of trust, engaging in difficult discussions, expanding unconscious bias education, and creating strategic plans to ensure our firm exemplifies diversity, equity, and inclusion.
United by a spirit of activism and personal commitment, we lead by example, are swift and persistent in our actions, and challenge our colleagues to prepare future generations of diverse talent for the highest positions of leadership.
Michael Fichtel Howard Wander Heath Eskalyo
Michael J. Fichtel Principal Partner / Chief Executive Officer
Howard L. Wander Principal Partner / Chief Operating Officer
Heath S.
Eskalyo
Principal Partner / Chief Financial Officer
I, Howard Wander, pledge to the following:
Personal Commitment
• I will use my voice as a leader in my organization and in the profession to advocate for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and in my community.
• I will use my position among my firm’s leadership to advocate for changes to improve the equity of processes such as work assignments, hiring, and compensation.
Howard L. Wander Principal Partner / Chief Operating Officer
• I will reinforce a culture within my organization that encourages employees to come to and leave work each day feeling that they have been authentically and visibly who they are, and by ensuring that employees feel valued, heard, and empowered as professionals.
Organizational Commitment
• I will require human resources department and the firm’s diversity and inclusion committee to prepare and present to firm leadership an annual diversity and inclusion action plan and related metrics.
• I will create a directory of lawyers who identify as diverse, and I will work with my firm to create an internal process to evaluate all client teams for diversity.
• I will ensure that 30% of the lawyers in my firm are diverse, and are hired based on merit.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
Highlighting diversity and fostering inclusion throughout the firm has been imperative to the growth of Kelley Kronenberg and its ongoing development. To further the efforts of diversity within our organizational culture, the firm introduced a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
The Kelley Kronenberg Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee is tasked with seeking out and utilizing our employees’ diversity in ways that bring new and richer perspectives to the firm and its clients. Additionally, the committee oversees and supports the ongoing evaluation process and related activities and initiatives that set clear expectations and accountability around diversity, equity, and inclusion across the firm. Kelley Kronenberg realizes that investing in our people yields the highest results--better business performance, increased productivity, greater profitability, and a happy workforce. Openness and support of diversity, equity, and inclusion allows our firm greater access to attract, engage, hire, and retain the best talent. Businesses with a healthy gender balance and a good mix of ethnic backgrounds are more likely to outperform their competitors. Teams that are gender, age and ethnically diverse make better decisions. Kelley Kronenberg regularly and actively invests in the necessary tools, resources, and training year round in order to best compete and lead amongst its competitors.
Sara DeSouza | Legal Assistant
We all bring our own flair to the table; we can learn from our colleagues’ different backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences. This helps us to understand our differences, our similarities, our strengths and potential. It also engages employees in the workplace, which is one of the things that I am passionate about.
Sunita N. Smith | Partner
DEI is critical in the workplace because a varied team brings different viewpoints and perspectives to the table. Often, homogenous workplaces are blind to their weak spots or implicit biases which they may be unaware they even have. Moreover, when people feel accepted and included in any group – but especially in a professional setting – they are more likely to put forth a great effort to contribute to the team. In short, it keeps the work team unified and rowing in the same direction.
firm demographics
GRANDMA MARCIA’S NOODLE KUGEL
Raymond Lowe | Chief Information Officer
DEI is important especially in my role, as fresh perspectives can help me and my team foster innovation and increase creativity. As part of the leadership team at the firm I can attest to the fact that as a whole, the firm encourages all our employees to challenge the status quo if it leads to an outcome that is more efficient and effective.
Awards & Recognitions
Women In Law Scorecard
The National Law Journal
Kelley Kronenberg Cares
CARES
Community service has been at the core of Kelley Kronenberg’s values since the firm’s inception over forty years ago. We believe that supporting and giving back to our respective communities and helping others are fundamental obligations.
Recognizing the importance of our relationship to the communities in which we do business, the firm created Kelley Kronenberg Cares. Kelley Kronenberg Cares is a community involvement program that provides our attorneys, staff and their families with opportunities to join forces and work together to benefit charitable organizations and organizations of all types that support and benefit our local communities. At Kelley Kronenberg, we believe that it is our responsibility to interact, contribute, engage and contribute positively to make a difference for others and for future generations.
Sabine Alexis
FPP Compliance Manager & Executive Assistant to Jeffrey M. Wank, FPP Chair
Diversity, equity and inclusion are important in the workplace because it allows for different perspectives, experiences, and ideas to be represented and valued. Diversity is important because including employees from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences brings diverse perspectives and ideas to the table.
Andrea Figueroa | Public Relations and Events Manager
“Inclusivity means not ‘just we’re allowed to be there,’ but we are valued. I’ve always said: smart teams will do amazing things, but truly diverse teams will do impossible things.”
- Claudia Brind-Woody
Diversity Scholarship Program
Kelley Kronenberg is committed to supporting and uplifting law students from diverse backgrounds. Through the Kelley Kronenberg Law School Scholarship Program, we provide financial and employment opportunities to students from historically marginalized groups who have excelled academically and show support to their respective communities. The recipient of the scholarship receives funding toward their legal education and one of the coveted spots in Kelley Kronenberg’s Paid Summer Internship Program. We are proud to be catalysts of success for aspiring attorneys of diverse backgrounds.
Diversity Policy
It is easy to proclaim the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”); the challenge is to create a culture centered on and driven by these values. Knowing systemic inclusion begins with vigorous guidelines, we developed a comprehensive set of company policies to establish and maintain a culture of equity and belonging. Our DEI policy assures our employees they will be valued as individuals and treated fairly--it encourages our employees to embrace their uniqueness and actively participate in all our firm has to offer.
While our DEI policy includes the necessary provisions for raising complaints, addressing violations, and resolving disputes, we are hopeful our affirming environment and unwavering commitment to open-communication, collaboration, and authenticity will make use of these policies unnecessary.
Charles Lightner | Director of Digital Marketing
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential components of a successful and thriving workplace. They drive innovation, enhance performance, attract and retain top talent, and contribute to a positive organizational culture. By embracing these principles, companies can create a more equitable, engaging, and prosperous environment for all employees.
