Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion Award

Previous Award Recipients:

2016 | Nationwide Insurance Company
2017 | Ohio Attorney General's Office
2018 | Perez & Morris LLC
2019 | Littler Mendelson P.C.
2021 | Perez & Morris LLC
2022 | Carpenter Lipps & Leland LLP
2023 | Epstein Becker Green 

Description/Criteria:

The Ohio Women’s Bar Association’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee seeks to recognize a law firm, company, or other legal organization that has a demonstrated commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the profession. The DEI Committee will consider an applicant’s trailblazing efforts in one or more of the following ways:

  1. Leadership commitment. For example: fostering leadership development, innovation and knowledge sharing within the organization that enhances the status of diverse individuals in the legal profession; using the organization’s power and resources to advance the position of diverse individuals in the legal profession and in their community; and demonstrating a clear commitment to DEI within the organization’s senior-leadership.
  2. Inclusive culture. For example: creating and empowering affinity groups and/or diversity committees within the organization; providing opportunities to foster a sense of belonging among diverse employees; and developing employee resource groups (ERGs) to address the needs and interests of specific demographics within the organization.
  3. Diversity metrics.  For example: specific data to identify how the company’s DEI efforts have had a measurable impact in retaining, developing, promoting, and empowering diverse individuals within the organization and in the legal profession; specific evidence showing how the organization’s DEI efforts have uplifted and supported underrepresented communities through substantive work assignments and internal leadership opportunities.
  4. Training and education. For example: educational programming on issues of importance to diverse individuals throughout the legal community; and integration policies and plans that are aimed to educate employees about DEI and diversity education during the onboarding processes.
  5. Equitable policies.  For example: implementing policies that demonstrably increased opportunities for diverse individuals in the legal profession; and policies that promote equity in hiring, promotions, and compensation.

For purposes of this award, diverse is defined as lawyers who are women, Persons of Color (POC), lawyers with disabilities, and/or LGBTQ+ community members.  For all of the above criteria, we encourage applicants to provide concrete data demonstrating how your work in this area has had a meaningful impact.  For example, beyond telling us that your company has implemented affinity groups, explain how many people participate in these organizations and describe the activities and impacts of those groups; beyond describing company policies designed to aid in diverse recruitment, retention, or promotion (such as mentoring programs), provide us with specific detail and/or metrics describing your successes in this regard.

Application Questions:

  1. Has the Company received any awards, local or nationally, recognizing its diversity efforts? If yes, please comment what awards your organization has received. If possible, please provide a brief description of the award.
  2. A supporting statement, of no longer than 500 words, describing how and why the company, law firm or organization deserves the DEI Champion Award. Include information that relates to the above criteria and other details, such as the quantitative and qualitative impact of the organization’s trailblazing efforts.
  3. Optional: While not required, please feel free to share if your organization is certified (or in the process of being certified) as a Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule participant which is designed to ensure all talent at participating law firms and legal departments have a fair and equal opportunity to advance into leadership.  If your organization is Mansfield certified, please feel free to share how the Mansfield Rule certification has helped your organization diversify leadership, among other attributes.

 

 

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