EXTRAORDINARY IS THE STATUS QUO
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Diversity is one of Greene Espel's core values, and Greene Espel prides itself on being a DEI trailblazer.
Our unique governance structure has enabled us to attract a diverse group of attorneys from around the country. Currently, 70% of our member attorneys are women, people of color, or LGBTQ individuals. More than 35% of our partners are people of color. And because we are ourselves a diverse group, we are comfortable working with clients and decision-makers from all backgrounds.
In 2020, Greene Espel was honored by Minnesota Lawyer with the “Diversity and Inclusion Award,” and four of our individual attorneys have been recognized separately with this award. Our current diversity is the result of a real and sustained effort to do better in hiring, promotion, and retention. We strive for improvement, recognizing that our firm and our profession must continue to evolve to better reflect the diverse communities we serve.
We are proud of our diversity in seniority, race, gender, sexual orientation, and experience. Research shows that diverse teams perform better and make better decisions.
We continue to strive for improvement in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
To develop a pipeline of lawyers, we frequently partner with organizations like Twin Cities Diversity in Practice and Hennepin County Bar Association’s Minority Clerkship Program, as well as clients, to promote diverse talent through our summer program. Since 2020, we have hosted a diverse summer associate with Cargill. In past years, we have partnered with the Minnesota Vikings on similar clerkships.
With respect to promotion and retention, we reviewed research demonstrating that women lawyers and lawyers of color receive more generic, subjective, and characteristic-based feedback than white male lawyers. In response, we overhauled our review system. We revised our review forms, identified instances of potential bias in prior reviews, and train all our firm community members on the role that bias can play in feedback. Additionally, we have committed to ensuring that each of our firm’s governing committees align on the firm’s broader diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, and that each committee creates goals through a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lens that are specific to the committee’s purpose. As we continue to implement all these best practices and strive for improvement, we are building a pipeline of future diverse law firm leaders—we have elevated 11 diverse attorneys to partnership in the past ten years. We anticipate hiring and elevating many more diverse attorneys in the future.
Finally, we continue to educate ourselves about best practices and host programming to help us achieve a more inclusive community. Firm events celebrate diversity of all kinds.
Diversity in the Community
Our commitment to diversity isn’t just internal; it is external too. Beginning well over a decade ago, our members have led the Infinity Project and its grass roots efforts to increase gender and racial equity on the bench in the Eighth Circuit, as well as the FBA Diversity Committee, partnering with affinity bars on DEI programming in Minnesota.
Our firm boasts a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practice that helps clients conduct diversity assessments, review policies, undertake investigations, create DEI plans, and provide bias and equity trainings. Since launching our DEI practice, we have worked with hundreds of companies, nonprofits, and government bodies to lead diversity trainings and create effective, research-backed diversity programs and organizational policies that lead to sustainable and measurable results. Our DEI attorneys are thought leaders—writing, speaking, and advising nationally on improving workplace diversity and creating inclusive cultures. We have published articles in nationally ranked law reviews regarding best practices for law firms, in-house counsel, and judges to improve the diversity of the legal profession.
Most recently, the firm joined the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, an organization made up of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners, working to build a more open and diverse legal profession. As part of this program, our firm created a Diversity Pledge, outlining our continual efforts and commitments in this area. We pledged to improve our work in several different ways, including committing to interviewing at least one diverse candidate for any attorney position, working with affinity bars and diversity groups to develop a pipeline of talent, partnering with diverse local counsel, and ensuring attorneys and employees receive ongoing trainings relating to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion