Culture of Inclusion
The values of diversity and inclusion are woven into the fabric of our firm. Our mission is to build and leverage a diverse, inclusive professional community that fosters a culture of respect, collaboration, involvement and empowerment. We believe that a diverse, inclusive workforce optimizes the delivery of outstanding client service and creates an innovative, productive community of lawyers and professional staff. We continually work with our clients to ensure that the teams of highly qualified lawyers assigned to client projects reflect the diversity and inclusion expectations of their organizations.
We are champions of diversity for two reasons: to inspire an inclusive culture in our firm and to provide tremendous value to our clients. Our commitment to inclusion is evident in the makeup of our firm and, for example, the numerous accolades we receive for our strong support of women lawyers.
Diversity & Inclusion News
The Mansfield Rule™ measures law firms’ efforts to increase representation and inclusion of diverse lawyers and is named for Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to the practice of law in the United States — 155 years ago.
Recognition for advancing our mission to build and leverage a diverse, inclusive professional community.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion begins at the top.
Our managing partner leads our diversity and inclusion efforts and reports regularly to our Executive Committee and partners on the firm’s goals and accomplishments. Two committees spearhead our firmwide diversity and inclusion efforts: the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Talent Development Committee. Together, they develop and implement policies, programs, partnerships and sponsorships aligned with the firm’s diversity and inclusion goals.
A committed number of diverse lawyers, including our firm managing partner, play significant leadership roles in the firm. We have a strong contingent of women and minority lawyers who serve as office managing partners, team and practice heads, and committee chairs.
Growth and Development
Our collegial working environment supports the growth and development of lawyers and staff.
At Hunton Andrews Kurth, we are committed to providing a welcoming, professional work atmosphere for our lawyers and staff because we believe that every individual is deserving of respect regardless of their race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, marital or protected veteran status, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other legally protected status.
Sponsorship
We believe in sponsorship.
Our Talent Development Committee focuses on the identification, professional development, retention, and, ultimately, advancement of high potential lawyers. The committee is composed of partners from Executive Committee and Associates Committee leadership. As part of their charge, Talent Development Committee members work closely with team and practice leadership to identify high potential non-partner lawyers including diverse lawyers, to ensure accountability within the practices for the professional development of such lawyers, and to monitor that practice leadership proactively, regularly and directly engages in practice planning with such lawyers.
Supportive Initiative
We support a range of initiatives that give lawyers the opportunity to thrive and contribute positively to their communities.
We have a variety of programs in place to recruit minority lawyers, ranging from participating in minority job fairs such as the Sunbelt Minority Recruitment Program, to collaborating with law school minority organizations, to promoting open positions on diversity-related career websites. We partner with clients to host summer clerkships for 1L law students with a demonstrated commitment to championing and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in their personal, professional and/or academic pursuits and who are committed to continuing to do so once licensed to practice law.
We invest heavily in our lawyers. We offer numerous internal training, mentoring and networking programs, as well as business development and leadership workshops. For example, our “Oneness Luncheons,” held quarterly via videoconference throughout the firm, offering the opportunity to share ideas with firm leadership. These meetings provide opportunities to share common experiences, mentoring and networking.
We also are committed to providing a wide variety of external professional development, networking and leadership opportunities for our lawyers. Our lawyers are deeply involved in diversity-related bar associations and other legal industry and community organizations and regularly volunteer their services and participate in external professional development and networking programs. We also encourage the pursuit of leadership roles in organizations that advocate diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, such as the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association and Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
Women at Hunton Andrews Kurth
Women lawyers find that Hunton Andrews Kurth is a place they can excel.
Hunton Andrews Kurth strongly supports the recruitment, retention and advancement of women lawyers. We are proud of the leadership positions held by women within the firm. Women partners serve as members of our Executive Committee; manage our firm offices in Charlotte, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and head or co-head various practices such as tax and ERISA; environmental; financial institutions corporate and regulatory; labor and employment; global technology, outsourcing and privacy; capital markets; competition and consumer protection; commercial litigation; energy litigation; managed care litigation; real estate; products and mass tort litigation; and white collar defense. They serve as chairs or co-chairs for the associates, diversity & inclusion, ethics, opinion, pro bono and recruiting committees. A female partner also leads the firm’s Lawyer Recruiting and Development Team.
The firm regularly sponsors professional development programs, retreats and meetings that promote the advancement and development of women lawyers, including a series of firmwide and regional programs designed to bring women lawyers from across the firm together for meaningful mentoring and networking opportunities. Female lawyers are encouraged to assume leadership roles outside the firm in bar, legal industry and community service organizations. The firm also sponsors our women lawyers’ participation in external programming, conferences and events that promote professional development, as well as diversity and inclusion in the profession.
The firm offers a wide variety of resources and support to help our lawyers better manage their personal and professional commitments. These include flexible work arrangements, leave policies, emergency back-up adult and child care programs, and an on-ramp-off-ramp program allowing lawyers to take up to five years away from practice to focus on personal and family needs.
Our efforts on behalf of women lawyers have not gone unnoticed. We are proud to have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms for Women by Working Mother Media almost every year since the listing was established, to have received two Category Honors in the 2019 Yale Law Women Top Ten Family-Friendly Firms listing, and to have been named among the 100 Top Workplaces for Women by Fortune magazine and Great Place to Work®.
Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities
We value the strength of our veterans and individuals with disabilities.
The firm continues its outreach and recruitment efforts in recruiting and hiring veterans and individuals with disabilities, posting job openings on sites such as RecruitMilitary and abilityJOBS.com. Our lawyers and staff also dedicate legal and community service hours to organizations that support veterans and service members. Each year, they donate more than 2,500 pro bono hours to the National Veterans Legal Service Program (NVLSP), Wills for Heroes, the ABA Adopt-A-Base program and the firm’s partnership with the US Coast Guard.
Supporting our LGBTQ Lawyers and Families
We provide strong support to our LGBTQ lawyers and their families.
In 2008, we created a task force to develop and implement programs that help recruit, retain and promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lawyers. Today a firm partner and counsel co-direct our LGBTQ initiatives and co-chair our LGBTQ Lawyers Subcommittee. We also host an affinity group for our LGBTQ lawyers that provides opportunities for sharing common experiences and challenges, professional development and networking, client and community relations, and participation in LGBTQ activities on a national basis, as well as planning educational programming offered to the entire firm.
Another integral part of our commitment is that we extend medical plan options, dental and vision insurance plans to the dependents, spouses or domestic partners of LGBTQ lawyers. All spouses and domestic partners also have access to benefits such as our employee assistance program, backup child and elder care service, discount purchasing program, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, dependent life insurance, and firm-sponsored annual wellness screenings and flu shots.
Firm staff and lawyers reach out to LGBTQ law students and organizations when recruiting at universities and at the annual National LGBT Bar Association’s Lavender Law® Career Fair. Our lawyers have donated time to a number of organizations that champion the rights of the LGBTQ community. In addition, since 2013, the firm has supported the work of Lambda Legal as a National Sponsor.
Hunton Andrews Kurth was honored to receive a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index in 2021 and 2022.
Community
We are actively engaged with organizations that champion diversity and inclusion within the legal profession, supporting their work through our service and sponsorship.
Hunton Andrews Kurth is a strong supporter of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s mission to advance diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Robert Grey, a Hunton Andrews Kurth retired senior counsel and former ABA president, currently serves as the LCLD’s president. We participate in LCLD’s programming, including the Fellows Program, the Fellows Alumni Program, the Success in Law School Mentoring Program, the 1L Scholars Program and the Pathfinder Program.
The firm is also a regular patron and sponsor of the MCCA Creating Pathways to Diversity Annual Conference, the National Association of Women Lawyers Awards Luncheon, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Convention, the Equality Virginia Gala and the Hispanic National Bar Association Convention, among other diversity events.
