Stephen R. Winters
U.S. Associate General Counsel
BP America Inc. is a subsidiary of one of the largest integrated oil companies in the world, with almost $250 billion in sales and operating revenue. BP has three business segments: exploration and production; gas, power, and renewables; and refining and marketing. It operates in 100 countries, with well-established businesses in Europe, North and South America, Australia, Asia, and Africa.
(L to R): Veta T. Richardson of MCCA; Stephen R. Winters of BP America Inc.; and Hinton Lucas of DuPont Company
BP America's Legal Group is comprised of 148 attorneys, 64 paralegals, and 68 support staff, with offices across the country, including suburban Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Houston, Baltimore, Wayne, N.J., and Anchorage, Alaska. Nineteen percent of the attorneys are minorities and 39 percent are women. Nine percent of the management staff are minorities and 23 percent are women.
"BP is a great place to work as a legal professional," says U.S. Associate General Counsel Stephen R. Winters. "We have embraced diversity and inclusion as a core principle and value. It is part of our culture and drives the way we manage and function within BP. We are humbled by the thought that our efforts may be viewed as a best practice."
BP Group Legal has a formal diversity and inclusion plan and program. Senior Group Legal management is committed to the success of the plan, ensuring no one views the programs and initiatives as optional. In March 2003, BP Legal in the United States launched the Diversity & Inclusion Working Group (DIWG), committing the financial and time resources to make meaningful, measurable progress. Initially led by Associate General Counsel Susan Liebson and currently led by Assistant General Counsel Mary Haskins, the DIWG meets two to three times annually to address diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives within legal, to facilitate implementation, and to measure progress. The DIWG is organized into several smaller teams that focus on specific areas: communication, recruitment, outside counsel retention, training and development, mentoring, and career advancement. These subgroups work not only within the law department, but across the company and with outside vendors.
To create an even playing field for advancement, the DIWG recommended that clear competencies be established and published for paralegals and attorneys. The Legal Function adopted this recommendation and a team of attorneys, paralegals, and human resources staff developed clearly articulated capabilities statements for jobs at every level of the department, so employees now have a clear understanding of what is required to qualify for each opening.
BP is a signatory to Diversity in the Workplace: Statement of Principle and the Call to Action. To raise the importance of diversity in the decision to retain core outside counsel, BP systematically reviews key relationships with its top law firms, representing approximately 80 percent of its external legal spending in the United States.
BP received a 2006 Catalyst Award for successfully building inclusive environments and expanding opportunities for women at work. In 2005, Working Mother named BP one of the "100 Best Companies."
From the November/December 2006 issue of Diversity & The Bar®