Diversity

Diversity Committee
Diversity Initiatives
Diverse Leadership
Women’s Initiatives
Awards & Recognitions
Events

Commitment to Diversity

At McGuireWoods, we define diversity as recognizing and valuing the differences in our workforce, and using those differences to make everyone more efficient and effective. Diversity encompasses age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, religion and sexual orientation, as well as educational and professional backgrounds.

McGuireWoods’ Chairman Emeritus Robert L. Burrus chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee – a signal of McGuireWoods’ commitment to diversity. McGuireWoods saw the value of diversifying its legal team decades ago. As early as 1977, we initiated a joint venture with a minority-owned law firm.

Over the years, we have won numerous awards for our diversity efforts. For example, International Paper recognized McGuireWoods’ distinction in the legal profession as a firm with an unparalleled commitment to diversity. In honor of that distinction, it selected us as the inaugural recipient of the Lighthouse Award — an award presented to International Paper’s legal department supplier who, by exemplary leadership, has distinguished itself in the area of diversity.

Collaborative Efforts with Community and Bar Associations

The firm actively supports minority bar associations and encourages our minority lawyers to be active in them as well. Our lawyers of color are active in African-African; Asian and Hispanic Bar Associations, and many hold leadership roles.

Minority Corporate Counsel Association

As a member of the MCCA’s Outside Counsel Strategic Planning Committee, the firm provided significant support to the MCCA’s first annual CLE expo. McGuireWoods has helped raise funds from the DuPont Private Law Firm Network to support the MCCA’s Minority Job Bank. Significantly, our diversity record earned us a participatory role in the ABA’s Minority Counsel Demonstration Program.

Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms

Our active involvement with and support of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms has proven to be a pivotal relationship for continued community outreach. The committee’s mission is to create programming that assists member firms with developing strategies to identify, recruit, hire and retain minority attorneys, and promote them to partnership.

The committee is open to the 50 largest law firms in Chicago, and to branch offices of large firms whose headquarters are in other cities.

Outreach, Pro Bono Efforts

Over the decades, the firm has led numerous outreach efforts in minority communities, and has provided hundreds of hours in free legal time on legal aid matters and court-appointed cases for people of all races, as well as organizations, who need and cannot afford legal assistance.

In partnership with the NAACP, McGuireWoods helped create the African-American Festival Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to organizing an annual festival in Baltimore. We also provide pro bono legal services to the foundation.

The firm formed the Slave Museum in Fredericksburg, Va., helped it obtain tax-exempt status, and provided pro bono legal services to it for eight years.

McGuireWoods also provides pro bono legal services to First Tee, a nonprofit group whose mission is to give minority youth access to the game of golf.

We are active in several programs for underprivileged children including “Tomorrow’s Promise,” a college scholarship program established to assist children of public housing tenants.

We helped establish The Carver Promise, a nationally recognized program to help underprivileged, predominately minority children work toward high school graduation and college admission. The firm provides paid employment to minority high school and college students who participate in these and other programs.

Minority Contractors

McGuireWoods has participated in several programs designed to help minority-owned firms gain access to business contacts.