© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(March 21) – Bruce Ruzinsky and Kathleen LaValle found their firm in a familiar position last Friday at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s (MCCA) CLE Expo luncheon in Los Angeles – as a finalist for the Thomas L. Sager Award for diversity.
It was the third year in a row Jackson Walker was named a finalist for the South Region, and the third time was a charm. After coming up just shy the past two years, the Texas-based firm won the 2014 Sager Award, given to a law firm that has demonstrated a sustained commitment to improve the hiring, retention and promotion of minority attorneys.
“We are always trying to increase the number of diverse attorneys at the firm, retain more and promote more,” said Ruzinsky, who has chaired the firm’s Diversity Committee for more than seven years. “The more we do that, the better we will be able to serve the needs and wants of our clients.”
The Houston bankruptcy partner accepted the award on behalf of the firm. Dallas partner LaValle, who founded and chairs the firm’s JW2 Women’s Initiative, and Diversity Coordinator Alesia Foster were also in attendance.
Both Ruzinsky and LaValle say winning this year was extra special because of the increased exposure that comes with a larger stage – it was the first time either of them remember the MCCA awards being presented at one place nationally instead of regionally – and Sager himself presented the award. Ruzinsky estimates there were 300 people in attendance, including between 50 and 100 corporate in-house counsel from companies such as John Deere and American Airlines.
“This award is just a small part of a larger movement in the profession,” he said. “Things are improving, though not as fast as I’d like – no large law firm should be satisfied.”
Ruzinsky emphasized that much of the firm’s success related to diversity is because of management’s commitment to it. He says that is not the case at every firm.
“We need everyone across the profession to have a shared commitment to diversity,” he added. “It has to remain a top priority.”
More than 75 percent of the attorneys hired by Jackson Walker in 2013 were minorities or women, according to the firm’s 2013 Diversity Report. As of the beginning of this year, more than 25 percent of the firm’s associates were minorities and 44 percent were women.
One of the programs Ruzinsky highlighted that the firm has had success with is the Houston Bar Association’s Committee on Minority Opportunities in the Legal Profession (MOILP). Last year, MOILP placed around 50 first year law students from the Houston area’s three law schools to summer clerkships. Jackson Walker promoted its first alumna of the MOILP program – Marisela Peña-Gonzalez – to partner last year.
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