The Winner’s Circle:
Profiles of Top Departments and Law Firms
Every year the closing issue of Diversity & the Bar® features profiles of our award winners. MCCA® publicly recognizes corporate law departments and law firms for their commitment to diversity. In the pages that follow, you’ll read the profiles of award-winning companies that were honored from various industries across the country.
The honorees were selected as a result of their noteworthy diversity efforts. Upon reading about what distinguishes them from other corporations and firms, what you’ll find is that these award recipients have several core qualities:
- diversity strategies developed at the senior management level;
- integrated diversity initiatives into their human resources processes;
- aligned performance evaluations and/or management’s compensation
- with their manager’s diversity goals;
- a high level of commitment to all employees;
- hired, trained, and promoted people with various cultural backgrounds;
- created an environment focused on retaining employees; and
- boards of directors or management committees that support and reaffirm the business case for diversity and monitor its progression an ongoing basis.
The Employers of Choice Award spotlights industry leaders for their commitment to diversity and success in building and maintaining an inclusive corporate legal department.
Named in honor of the vice president and assistant general counsel of DuPont, the Thomas L. Sager award (Sager Award), recognizes those law firms that have demonstrated a sustained commitment to improve the hiring, retention, and promotion of minority attorneys and women.
The Trailblazer Award annually recognizes outstanding individuals who have made extraordinary efforts to promote and maintain diversity in his/her corporate law department and the profession.
The Rainbowmaker award recognizes individuals whose advocacy supports a more diverse legal profession.
These awards were presented at a series of five diversity dinners in the following geographic regions: mid-Atlantic, midwest, south/southwest, northeast, and west.
Alea J. Mitchell worked for MCCA® as a summer intern upon her graduation from Wesleyan. She is now employed at D'Arcy Advertising in New York City.
Jami Deise is a Washington, D.C. based freelance writer and copy editor.
2003 Award Recipients
Sager Award Winners
Mid-Atlantic Region Winners
Howrey Simon Arnold & White LLP
(Washington, D.C.)
Arnold & Porter
(Washington, D.C.)
Northeast Region Winner
Arnold & Porter
(New York, New York)
South/Southwest Region Winner
Steel Hector & Davis LLP
(Miami, Florida)
Western Region Winner
Morrison & Foerster LLP
(San Francisco, California)
Midwest Region Winner
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP
(Chicago, Illinois)
Employers of Choice Award Winners
Mid-Atlantic Region Winner
Sodexho, Inc.
(Gaithersburg, Maryland)
US Airways, Inc.
(Arlington, Virginia)
South/Southwest Region Winner
Darden Restaurants, Inc.
(Orlando, Florida)
Duke Energy Corporation
(Charlotte, NC and Houston, Texas)
PNM Resources, Inc.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Texas Instruments, Incorporated
(Dallas, Texas)
Midwest Region Winner
Cardinal Health, Inc.
(Dublin, Ohio)
PepsiCo Beverages and Foods
(Chicago, Illinois)
Target Corporation
(Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Northeast Region Winners
FleetBoston Financial Corporation
(Boston, Massachusetts)
Reuters America Inc.
(New York, New York)
Western Region Winners
Gap Inc.
(San Francisco, California)
Visa International
(San Francisco, Texas)
Washington Mutual, Inc.
(Seattle, Washington)
Trailblazer Award Winners
Vernon G. Baker, II
ArvinMeritor, Inc.
(Troy, Michigan)
Michele Coleman Mayes
Pitney Bowes Inc.
(Stamford, Connecticut)
Rainbowmaker Award Winners
David DeBruin
Deanne Maynard
(Jenner & Block)
From the November/December 2003 issue of Diversity & The Bar®