Legal industry blog Above the Law featured McGuireWoods’ support for the Pipeline to Practice Foundation Inc. in a March 23 story about the nonprofit organization’s efforts to diversify the legal profession. Pipeline to Practice announced the firm’s sponsorship in a March 7 release that quoted McGuireWoods’ New York office managing partner Noreen Kelly and chairman Jon Harmon about the firm’s participation in the program.
In the release, Kelly — who serves as a firm liaison to Pipeline to Practice along with New York associate and Pipeline to Practice board member Aaron Jaroff — commented, “What excited us about working with Pipeline to Practice is the opportunity to work alongside motivated young attorneys who are using their talents to address the legal diversity issue head-on. While we were happy to provide financial support, the opportunities to leverage our firm’s personnel and resources in order to help better position the next generation of diverse lawyers was what really appealed to us.”
Harmon added, “Programs that nurture and develop talented and diverse law students early on create better opportunities for the legal profession to invest in a more diverse future. McGuireWoods is honored to help Pipeline to Practice in its efforts to mentor and support diverse law students as part of our firm’s own commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
Established in 2015, Pipeline to Practice employs a two-pronged approach to growing the next generation of diverse leaders in the profession. The foundation identifies exceptional first-year diverse law students and offers them free access to programming and mentoring throughout law school to help them excel academically. The foundation also supports diverse early-stage lawyers in their professional development to give them skills they need to become future leaders.
McGuireWoods will host two educational webinars as well as “mock” interviews exclusively for Pipeline to Practice fellows in 2018.