Our Firm

Commitment to Diversity


Sidley has been one of the most prominent and progressive proponents of law firm diversity. Many of our lawyers come from diverse backgrounds, races and beliefs. Our mission is to attract and retain outstanding lawyers who reflect the global marketplace that we serve. The firm is committed to achieving greater diversity, not only for our firm but within the legal profession as a whole. Five (14%) of the lawyers who were promoted to partnership as of July 2007 were racially or ethnically diverse.

Carlos Rodriguez, a New York partner and member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Stanley Stallworth, a Chicago partner, serve as firmwide co-chairs of the Diversity Committee.

In 2005, the firm welcomed Kathryn R. Stell as our firmwide Director of Diversity. Ms. Stell is a lawyer with over ten years of experience in developing and administering policies and programs designed to promote a diverse and inclusive environment. She works in partnership with the firm’s Diversity Committee and the Committee on Retention and Promotion of Women to advance Sidley’s firmwide diversity initiatives.

History of the Diversity Initiative

In 1998, Sidley’s management team undertook a comprehensive review of our lawyer evaluation and compensation system. As part of this review, the firm formed separate task forces on issues affecting women and ethnically and racially diverse lawyers. In 2001, each of the task forces became a permanent firm administrative committee. Because firm leadership understood that gender and race issues are sometimes distinct, they created two separate committees: the Committee on Retention and Promotion of Women (Women’s Committee) and the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. In 2006, the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity changed its name to the Diversity Committee to underscore its commitment to LGBT and a wider variety of diversity issues.

The Women’s Committee and the Diversity Committee are effective, in part, because they work together as well as with other firm committees. In particular, by working closely with the Committee on Assignment and Compensation of Associates, as well as the Recruiting Committee and the Summer Associate Committee, we work to ensure that Sidley will continue to recruit, retain and promote outstanding lawyers from diverse backgrounds.

Hiring and Retention

Sidley’s recruitment efforts have been both innovative and progressive, demonstrating a commitment to increasing the number of diverse lawyers in the firm. Our on-campus recruiting includes schools that have significant numbers of racially diverse law students (e.g., Howard University, the University of Miami, Texas Southern University [Houston, TX] and Southern University [Baton Rouge, LA]) and we participate in several regional and diversity-targeted job fairs.

The Diversity Committee is also focused on retention. The Committee on Assignment and Compensation of Associates is charged with monitoring the progress of, and conducting the review process of, all associates. The firmwide and office chairs of the Diversity Committee receive (on a confidential basis) the monthly hours report as well as the semiannual review package for each racially diverse associate and meet with a representative of the Assignment and Compensation Committee on a periodic basis to discuss performance issues and ways to track the career progress of each racially diverse associate. This initiative helps the Diversity Committee identify associates’ issues very early and where called for, allows the Diversity Committee to work with others in the firm to provide assistance as needed. Committee members complement the firm's mentoring program for all associates by acting as informal mentors to racially diverse associates and assisting them in the development of their legal skills and client relationships.

Through our ongoing dedication to recruiting, retaining and promoting outstanding diverse lawyers, Sidley aims to continue as a leader in providing equal opportunity and access to people who reflect the diversity of the communities in which we live and work.

Mentoring

Upon entering the firm, each associate is assigned a practice group mentor. To ensure that the progress of women and diverse lawyers is closely tracked and supported, both the Diversity Committee and the Women’s Committee have mentoring programs, in which one or more minority or female partners meets professionally and socially with a number of minority or female associates to provide mentoring and to teach mentoring skills so that associates can become good mentors to the next generation of associates. Members of the Diversity Committee complement the firm’s associate mentoring program by acting as informal mentors to minority associates outside of their practice groups and assisting them in the development of their legal skills. 

Out@Sidley

Sidley’s commitment to diversity includes issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people. Sidley was one of the first large law firms to provide health insurance benefits to employees’ same-sex domestic partners, and our nondiscrimination policy explicitly forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender expression/identity. Openly LGBT lawyers currently practice in each of the firm’s domestic offices, serve on the Diversity Committee and are actively involved in legal organizations such as the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. Sidley is and has been a national sponsor of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and participates each year in the Lavender Law Career Fair. Sidley’s pro bono commitment included bidding on and being awarded all of the outside counsel work for Gay Games VII, held in Chicago in the summer of 2006.

Most recently, Sidley’s commitment to LGBT equality was recognized by the Human Rights Campaign, which gave the firm a perfect (100) score on its 2008 Corporate Equality Index.

Diversity in the Community

Our efforts do not stop at the firm's doorway. In Chicago, the firm has helped form community groups such as the private Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. The committee assists law firms in developing strategies to identify, recruit, hire, retain and promote minority lawyers to partnership. In addition, the committee serves as a support group for minority lawyers in large law firms. We participate in the Cook County Bar Association's mentoring program and have in the past hosted its kick-off reception.

Sidley was one of the first large firms invited to participate in the Minority Counsel Demonstration Project, established by the American Bar Association's Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession. In addition, the firm participated in the drafting of, and is one of the original signatories to, the Statement of Diversity Principles adopted by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in 2003. We are also signatories to the Statement of Goals and Principles on Minority Hiring, Retention and Promotion issued by the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

We also contribute to, or participate in, several law-related organizations that support minority lawyers and law students, including:
  • An annual scholarship for a law school student in partnership with the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois.
  • In honor of Wiley A. Branton, former dean of the Howard Law School and our partner until his untimely death, Sidley has established an annual scholarship for the Howard law student who achieves the highest grade point average in the first year.
  • We support the Ronald Kennedy Fellowship program at the Northwestern University School of Law, which provides scholarships and employment opportunities for minority law students.
  • One of our African-American partners recently chaired the Dean's Advisory Committee on Community and Diversity at Northwestern University School of Law. This Committee examined, among other responsibilities, issues facing minority law students at Northwestern.
  • At a firm-sponsored commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Sidley awarded scholarships to outstanding minority students from Illinois law schools. In March 2004, the firm established a chair at Howard to support the law school’s lecture series on diversity matters.
  • Sidley is an active supporter of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s (MCCA) mission and programs. We are a premier sponsor of the MCCA’s Continuing Legal Education Seminars, and through additional advertisement and subscription dollars, the firm supports both publications that are associated with the MCCA, Diversity and the Bar and The Minority Law Journal.
  • We are working to increase the firm’s usage of women-owned and minority-owned businesses, in addition to hiring racially diverse high school students from Cristo Rey Network Schools in New York and Chicago as term-time interns. The firm encourages its lawyers to become affiliated with minority and ethnic bar associations and underwrites membership dues.
  • In New York, we also actively participate in the Justice Resource Center’s MENTOR program, pursuant to which the firm is paired with the High School for Leadership and Public Service, a public New York City high school where most students are racially and ethnically diverse. Throughout the school year, our lawyers mentor and coach participating students who compete in state-wide Moot Court and Mock Trial competitions. The firm also provides summer employment for at least two of these students each year.
  • Similarly, in Los Angeles the firm has established an educational partnership with Dorsey High School’s Law Magnet Program in order to interest high school students in law as a profession.

The Diversity Committee subsidizes lawyers’ membership fees in those organizations for lawyers who commit to active membership and leadership positions in them. We support these associations’ activities both monetarily and with volunteer time.

Sidley Prelaw Scholars Initiative

In the Spring of 2006, Sidley inaugurated its Prelaw Scholars Initiative, the first program of its kind among U.S. law firms. The firm developed this Initiative to address the recent decline in minority enrollment in law school, due in part to insufficient preparation of minority students for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), resulting in lower test scores and diminished admission prospects.

Sidley Prelaw Scholars are minority college juniors and seniors who demonstrate academic promise and have financial need that might prevent them from enrolling in a LSAT preparation course. Each Sidley Prelaw Scholar receives an initial scholarship award to cover tuition for a commercial preparation course, LSAT registration fees, and application fees for five to seven accredited law schools. Upon documented completion of both the LSAT preparation course and the required number of law school applications, each Scholar receives an additional scholarship award during his or her last year of college. Sidley Scholars will also receive coaching on law school application preparation. During the summer before law school matriculation, Sidley Scholars will receive instruction on the structure of the American legal system and an introduction to the substance of the required first-year common-law courses.

Diversity Achievements and Notables

In 2007, Sidley was named to the inaugural list of Best Law Firms for Women by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers, a national consulting firm advising lawyers and legal employers on work-life balance and the retention and advancement of women. The firms were selected based on their responses to an application measuring six areas of importance: workforce profile, benefits and compensation, parental leave, child care, flexibility and retention and advancement of women.

In 2007, Sidley also received a ‘perfect’ 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The CEI, which this year rated 519 businesses, measures the extent to which employers protect their LGBT employees. Ratings are based on factors like non-discrimination policies, diversity training and benefits for domestic partners and transgender employees.

In recognition of our firmwide diversity initiative, Sidley received the 2005 Catalyst Award, which is given annually by Catalyst, the leading research and advisory organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and business.

Sidley received a “Diversity Award” from Baxter Healthcare in 2004, based on the value of the work our women lawyers handle for the company.

Sidley received an Honorable Mention for the 2004 Western Region Thomas L. Sager Award and was the winner of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Thomas L. Sager Award in 2003 and 1999, which recognizes law firms that have demonstrated a sustained commitment to improve the hiring, retention and promotion of minority lawyers.

Sidley was one of only six law firms profiled by Lawrence Graham in The Best Companies for Minorities: Employers Across America Who Recruit, Train, and Promote Minorities.