LEWIS AND ROCA LLP
COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY
A Historic Commitment to Diversity.
Lewis and Roca was formed on the basis of the deep-rooted belief that a
diverse environment can make a better, smarter, and stronger law firm and a
positive influence for the community as a whole. We recognize that a firm
that incorporates a variety of perspectives, experiences, backgrounds,
talents and interest, is best situated to provide unsurpassed client service
and satisfaction.
A Plan of Action.
In 1973, Lewis and Roca became the first mid-sized firm in the Rocky
Mountain States to have a woman partner – Mary Schroeder, now a judge on
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Lewis and Roca’s efforts to leverage its
history of diversity continue to this day, with diveresity goals forming an
integral part of the firm’s strategic plan.
The firm’s diversity efforts are overseen by a standing Diversity Committee,
charged with monitoring and evaluating the firm’s ongoing diversity efforts
through the hiring, rentention and advancement of all lawyers and supprot for
programs designed to increase the diversity of the bar and the communities
in which our lawyers practice.
Hiring Initiatives. Lewis and Roca supports and participates in programs
that facilitate the hiring of talented, diverse lawyers, such as the E.I. du Pont
de Nemours & Co. Minority Job Fair and the IMPACT Career Fair for law
students and attorneys with disabilities.
Additionally, the firm supports a variety of efforts that increase the
opportunities available to women and minority law students and aim to
increase diversity in the pool of candidates from which the firm hires. We
provide an opportunity for minority students to obtain intensive, real-world
training in writing and research through our sponsorship and participation in
the Minority Legal Writing Programs at Arizona State University and the
University of Arizona, and we are working with the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas, to establish a similar program for its students. We support the
Pipeline Program and the Judicial Intern Opportunity Program, which provide
internship and training opportunities to minority law students. We have also
sponsored the Arizona Women Lawyers Association’s Secrets of Success
program, an annual seminar designed to equip women law students and
LEWIS AND ROCA LLP
COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY
young lawyers with the knowledge to thrive in the private practice of law,
since its inception in 2007.
Retention and Promotion Initiatives. To assist all of our lawyers in
reaching their fullest potential, the firm has implemented a Lawyer
Development Program designed to provide resources and support to
facilitate the development of the skills and competencies that the firm
believes are essential for superior performance as a Lewis and Roca lawyer.
These resources and support range from tailored guidelines for lawyers in
different practice areas and at different stages in their careers, education and
training opportunities, support for assuming leadership opportunities in the
community, mentoring, and executive coaching. With this program, Lewis
and Roca can recognize and actively manage, on an individualized basis, the
unique and often overlooked challenges that women and minority lawyers
often experience in large law firms in order to ensure that the firm properly
invests its resources to retain and promote its talented and diverse lawyers.
In keeping with the firm’s support of all individuals, the firm also makes
alternative work schedules available to attorneys and staff.
Community Leadership. Lewis and Roca is as committed to the diversity of
the profession as a whole and the communities in which its lawyers practice
as it is to the diversity of the firm itself. To that end, we support a variety of
charitable and community activities that increase the diversity of the bar and
the community as a whole:
Lewis and Roca led a Law Firm Initiaitve to fund the Anti-Defamation
League’s “World of Difference” peer training program in Arizona high
schools, and supports community organizations such as the Arizona
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Women’s Education and
Employment, Chicanos por la Causa, the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, the
Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, the Greater Phoenix Urban League, and
the Phoenix Indian Center. Our firm’s Chair, José Cárdenas, hosts a
television program on public television, Horizonte, that covers Arizona issues
through a Hispanic lens.
Recognizing the fact that there is insufficient minority representation on the
bench, Lewis and Roca along with the Pima County Commission on Trial
Court Appointments and the Arizona Minority Bar Association organized a
seminar to encourage and inform potential minority candidates for judicial
appointment in Arizona. We have also been the proud sponsor of similar
LEWIS AND ROCA LLP
COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY
programs such as the Arizona State Bar’s Leadership Institute and the
programs of diversity bar organizations in our communities.
Our firm’s lawyers share that commitment, giving of their time and energy to
a variety of organizations committed to increasing the diversity and tolerance
of the bar and communities in which we practice, including the American
Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Arizona Asian American
Bar Association, the Arizona and Tucson Commercial Real Estate Women,
Arizona Women’s Education and Employment, the Arizona Women Lawyers
Association, the Arizona State Bar’s Committee on Women and Minorities in
the Law, the Arizona State Bar’s Indian Law Section, the Asian Bar
Association of Las Vegas, the Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Association
of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting, the Fresh Start Womens
Foundation, the Human Rights Campaign, Federal Club, the Los Abogados
Hispanic Bar Association, the Northern Nevada Women Lawyers
Association, the Phoenix Indian Center, and Valle del Sol. Three of our
women lawyers – Keri Silvyn and Abbe Goncharsky of Tucson and Jasmine
Mehta of Reno – have also served as the president of their respective state
bar associations’ young lawyers divisions.
A Record of Achievement.
Our firm’s lawyers have an unwavering, and recognized, commitment to
professional excellence and community service.
Public Service. Likewise, Lewis and Roca is proud to have made partners
women leaders who now contribute their efforts in the public sector, including
the current Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano; the immediate past Cheig
Judge of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Mary Schroeder; and
judges on the Arizona Court of Appeals (Patricia Norris), Maricopa County
Superior Court (Cathy Holt and Dawn Bergin), Pima County Superior Court
(Sally Simmons). Bridget Robb Peck, a partner in our Reno office, has also
served as a judge on the Washoe County Second Judicial District Court.
Recognition. Our diverse lawyers have a remarkable record of community
recognition for their efforts. Many have won awards for public service and
pro bono efforts or been nrecognized as emerging and established leaders of
the professional and business communities, such as Mary Ellen Simonson,
who was the recipient of the “2005 Businesswoman of the Year Athena
Award” from the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, and Caryn
Tijessling, recognized with the 2008 Woman of Acheivement Award by the
Nevada Women’s Fund.
LEWIS AND ROCA LLP
COMMITTED TO DIVERSITY
A Diverse Team at All Levels.
Opportunities for promotion and leadership are open to all members of Lewis
and Roca’s diverse workforce. The firm’s immediate past Managing Partner,
José Cárdenas, is one of a handful of Hispanics in the country - and the only
one in Arizona - to have served as Managing Partner of a major law firm. Mr.
Cárdenas continues to fill a prominent leadership position at Lewis and Roca,
serving as the first “Chair of the Firm.” Nine of the firm’s practice groups and
three of its governing committees are headed by lawyers who are women or
minorities, and two of the seven members of the firm’s governing body - its
Policy Committee – are women.