Akin Gump Profiled as Outstanding Diversity & Inclusion Organization by Dallas Business Journal
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“Diversity and inclusion are part of our DNA,” stated Akin Gump Dallas partner in charge Scott Barnard in the Dallas Business Journal article “DFW law firm Akin Gump’s history is rooted in diversity & inclusion.” The article coincided with the firm being honored in the Outstanding Diversity & Inclusion Organization category of the publication’s 2021 Leaders in Diversity Awards.
Barnard spoke with the Business Journal about several aspects of Akin Gump’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Among the topics he discussed:
What the firm’s restructuring of its Diversity & Inclusion Council means for future D&I efforts: “We added a new chief diversity officer back in 2019, Nimesh Patel, and he’s been incredibly helpful working with Kim Koopersmith, our chair, to restructure our diversity and inclusion council. Now it includes members of the management committee, practice group leaders and other office partners in charge.”
The impact of working with the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance: “Our involvement shows the firm’s commitment to tackling the issues of systemic racism in a deliberate and meaningful way. We recognize that there can be power in collaborating with other law firms to support these efforts. …and we’re happy to be part of that.”
How to measure D&I in the workplace and whether the data has improved in the last few years: “One of the things [Nimesh] brought was that we significantly increased our data analytics, benchmarking on diversity, and other issues like that. … Looking at the data has been incredibly helpful in monitoring the job we're doing and the job we have left to do.”