© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
The Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s (MCCA) Board of Directors selected Haynes and Boone as the winner of this year’s Thomas L. Sager Award for the South Region. The Sager Award is given to a law firm that has demonstrated sustained commitment to improve the hiring, retention and promotion of minority attorneys.
“This is a tremendous honor and we are extremely proud to receive the award,” Felicity Fowler, who accepted the award on behalf of the firm and is a co-chair of the firm’s Attorney Diversity Committee, said in a statement. “This award highlights more than just hiring diverse attorneys; it also focuses on mentoring and retaining talent, which is important to the firm.”
Haynes and Boone received the award for creating its “Women in Law Initiative,” according to an announcement issued by MCCA. Through the initiative, Haynes and Boone sends letters to presidents of Women-in-Law Student Associations at the law schools where it recruits to increase awareness of job opportunities at the firm.
The MCCA also highlighted another Haynes and Boone program called the Minority Scholars Program, which provides outstanding law students from area law schools, including the University of Texas, SMU, and University of Houston, with scholarships to assist with tuition, books, and living expenses.
“Although some law firms have scaled back their diversity effort in recent years, Haynes and Boone has continued to provide opportunities for all of their talent to grow and thrive, thereby making their firm stronger and more competitive,” MCCA President and CEO Joseph K. West said in a statement. ”We hope the entire legal industry will follow their example.”
Evidence suggests the firm’s efforts are yielding results—in 2012, 50 percent of the firm’s new hires were women and 25 percent were minorities.
The MCCA also recognized the two other finalists in the South Region, Jackson Walker and Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan. Jackson Walker was honored as a finalist for the second year in a row—63.6 percent of the firm’s newly elected partners were women or minorities. Sutherland was recognized for its Diverse Attorneys Working Group—since its creation in 2011, the firm has seen a three percent increase in attorneys of color firm-wide.
The Sager Award is named for MCCA board member and DuPont Company Senior Vice President and General Counsel Thomas L. Sager.
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