Recruitment

Although the firm believes that a diverse management structure, effective mentoring by our partnership and active promotion of our lawyers are the most effective ways to attract lawyers of diverse backgrounds, we complement these efforts with innovative recruiting initiatives implemented by the Hiring Committees.

The firm’s offices have continued to strengthen our inclusive environment through the hiring of talented lawyers of diverse backgrounds. A prominent example of our creative approach to recruiting minority students is the Akin Gump Scholar program at the University of Texas, NYU and Georgetown University. Through these programs, a first-year law student is assigned mentors from the firm, is an active participant in a variety of firm activities throughout the year, and is guaranteed a summer associate position with Akin Gump after the first year of law school.

In addition to implementing the Akin Gump Scholar program, in an effort to increase diversity, the firm’s Recruiting and Diversity Committees work together to implement new recruiting strategies.

The firm has expanded its on-campus interview program by adding schools with a diverse pool of candidates and participating in numerous diversity job fairs. The firm also actively meets with diverse student groups at several law schools in an effort to determine how the firm can assist minority students during the interview season. As a result, the firm has hosted several on-campus programs, including a Resume Review workshop and an Interviewing Skills workshop. The firm has partnered with a number of student organizations to form a mentoring program, and hosted a variety of diversity and first-year law student receptions throughout our offices.

Retention

Retention of our lawyers is another critical component of the firm’s efforts to maintain an inclusive environment. A diverse partnership leads to long-term success because it sends an unequivocal signal to our associates and counsel that they can advance at Akin Gump.

Our minority and non-minority partners actively mentor associates and counsel, and are instrumental in guiding the professional development of the firm’s junior lawyers. The diversity of practice areas represented by our minority partners ensures that a minority associate will have access to a partner mentor in his or her specific field of interest. Although the firm also encourages mentoring between minority associates and non-minority partners, we are extremely proud of the minority partners in the varied practice areas who have taken a positive interest in the careers of our minority lawyers.

The firm also recognizes that a large component of retaining excellent lawyers is to help them effectively manage and balance their work life with their personal life. Akin Gump has long had an Alternative Work Arrangements policy that allows lawyers to work a reduced schedule in order to manage parenting and family care responsibilities, or to pursue activities designed to enhance professional development or stature in the legal community. Lawyers working under this policy continue to remain eligible for partnership.

The firm’s inclusive environment also extends to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) community. Akin Gump was among the first firms to develop a firm wide domestic partner benefits program, long before such programs became common. GLBT partners regularly meet to discuss mentoring, leadership and networking issues and have instituted an informal network for our GLBT lawyers to mentor associates, hold leadership positions in the firm, and participate actively in our recruiting activities.

In 2007, Akin Gump received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, and is honored to be one of only 30 law firms and 195 companies nationwide to receive a 100% rating.