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Phelps Dunbar is proud of
its accomplishments in diversity and is committed to being
the market leader among law firms throughout the country. We
are dedicated to diversity at all levels throughout the
firm, in our society and the communities that sustain our
operations. Our commitment to diversity is unparalleled by
any firm of comparable size throughout the continental
United States. For example, since 2002 Phelps Dunbar has
held top rankings in a national survey of minority hiring,
the culmination of efforts to increase minority hiring
throughout the firm. Minority Law Journal ranked
Phelps Dunbar as having the highest percentage of African
American lawyers four times since 2002 and one of the top
three firms in this category for the past eight years. Phelps Dunbar is also
strongly committed to gender diversity. In fact,
approximately one-third of the attorneys at the firm are
women. This includes (among others) Nan Alessandra (Practice
Coordinator of the New Orleans Employment Law practice
group) and Patricia Hair (Managing Partner of the Houston
office and a member of the Operations Committee). Phelps
Dunbar received the first ever Defense Research Institute (DRI)
National Diversity Award in 2002, which recognized the
firm’s outstanding diversity achievements. Further, in 2009,
Multicultural Law Magazine listed Phelps Dunbar in
the following diversity categories: Top 100 Law Firms for
Diversity, Top 25 Law Firms for African Americans, Top 100
Law Firms for Women and Top 50 Law Firms for Partners. This is the
fifth consecutive
year that Phelps Dunbar has been recognized by this
publication. These efforts are a credit to the work of the
firm’s hiring committee, as well as contributions by the
firm’s partners and associates. We are active and aggressive
in our approach to hiring a diverse array of attorneys based
on talent, accomplishments, and experience. In the same
regard, Phelps Dunbar does not discriminate based upon
gender, race, color, national origin, age, religion,
disability or sexual orientation in hiring, promotion or any
other aspect of employment.
With a commitment to
strengthen diversity in the workplace, Phelps Dunbar has
teamed up with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity
(LCLD), an organization comprised of chief legal officers
and managing partners from leading corporations and law
firms around the United States. The LCLD is dedicated to
making significant, tangible progress on diversity by
developing specific goals, implementing measurable metrics
and rewarding definitive results. The LCLD recognizes and
affirms that having diverse talent is a critical element in
having the best talent. To assure that the legal profession
enables the best talent to flourish, the LCLD is committed
to eliminate impediments which preclude minorities and women
from having a full and fair opportunity to perform, to
succeed and to lead.
Phelps Dunbar
recognizes that racial and gender diversity provides the
firm with outstanding resources to serve its diverse and
growing client base. Our multifaceted legal backgrounds,
business experience, and commitment to the law have
contributed immensely to the firm’s recent success in
business growth, client service and community participation.
Our attorneys are the key factor in Phelps Dunbar’s
diversity accomplishments. Collectively, they play an
integral part in law firm recruiting and retention of
top-level talent through community involvement and
leadership roles within the firm as well as numerous
professional and civic organizations. |
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