For the second consecutive year, Vinson & Elkins has received the Sager Award for the South/Southwest region. “We were very surprised to win the award this year. It is unprecedented to win back–to–back Sager Awards. It is one of the most important awards the firm has ever received,” claims Barron Wallace, the firm’s diversity chair.
Vinson & Elkins is a leader in their markets; their leadership is reflected in the commitment to hiring and developing diverse legal talent –which encompasses people of different races, ethnicities, backgrounds, and perspectives – as well as sustaining their shared values of civility, compassion and respect for one another.
Diversity is a core value for the firm, which aggressively invests in the legal talent pipeline through a variety of programs and partnerships that target historically underrepresented racial groups in the legal profession. In 2008, the firm named 7 V&E Scholars and awarded 30 V&E Law Preview Scholarships to students entering their first year of law school and 2 V&E Diversity Fellowships totally more than $103,000 in 2008.
In addition to pipeline initiatives, Vinson & Elkins has been focusing on diversity fundamentals — the basic “blocking and tackling” skills, to borrow football imagery — such as mentoring, work allocation, communication and a strong leadership commitment; Wallace continues, “making sure the workload is right for new associates and open communication helps those associates have a strong start, which is critical to our career development.”
Vinson & Elkins’ demographic profile demonstrates the firm’s commitment to diversity. In 2008, female attorneys made up 45% of their incoming class, which also reflected 29% minority attorneys. As of December 2008, 21% of Vinson and Elkins’ associates in the South/Southwest Region were minorities and 46% percent of their associates were women. In addition, Vinson & Elkins has made progress in the promotion and retention of minority partners in the firm; 17% of firm partners are women, and 6.3% percent are minorities – numbers which compare favorably to the national averages.
Despite these solid numbers, Vinson & Elkins is not satisfied with its current diversity measures. “We are changing the fabric of this firm,” Wallace proclaims. “We want a firm that attracts attorneys from all walks of life. The [current] recession, creates a lot of noise which complicates our mission. We need to transcend the noise and continue our march to an even more inclusive firm.”
So what’s new at the law firm that’s won back–to–back Sager Awards? “We want to transfer our diversity success to our international offices,” Wallace explains. “Diversity is not just a domestic issue. We are going to start in London, and eventually move to our other international offices (i.e. the Middle East and China). The issues differ by region, but I think [the effort] will ultimately be very beneficial to the firm and our clients.” DB
From the November/December 2009 issue of Diversity & The Bar®