Racial and Ethnic Diversity at Jenner & Block

Supporting diversity is consistent with Jenner & Block’s long-held core values.  Our goal is to create an environment where all of our attorneys have the opportunity to excel.  Accordingly, the Firm has committed to this diversity policy:

Diversity is important to the Firm.  We are committed to maintaining and promoting diversity in hiring, development, promotion and success of all legal and non-legal personnel.

Jenner & Block's Equal Employment Opportunity Policy states:

It is the policy of the Firm that no employee shall be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital, veteran or parental status, disability (except where related to ability to perform the job), or any other ground prohibited by law.

Recruitment and retention are key factors in our ability to create and maintain a culture of inclusion where all people feel supported and are able to advance and develop.  Jenner & Block is committed to recruiting and retaining the best attorneys in the country.  We recruit at a broad range of law schools with diverse student bodies. We sponsor and actively participate in various diversity-related programs and events at law schools around the country.  To retain the extraordinary talent we attract, we provide all our associates with training, mentoring and advising to provide the resources and encouragement for their development.

The Firm also supports diversity through affinity groups which include:

• The Hispanic Lawyers Forum
• The African-American Affinity Group
• The Asian Forum

These affinity groups provide a forum for some of our diverse attorneys to get together, exchange ideas, identify resources that would help advancement and development and discuss matters related to improving diversity in the legal profession and at Jenner & Block.  The affinity groups also work with the Hiring Committee to sponsor recruiting events for potential summer associates, including our “Sneak Preview” in the fall to which we invite prospective summer associates to meet Firm lawyers and experience our diverse culture. During the summer the Diversity Committee, Hiring Committee and affinity groups host a formal Diversity Dinner, which is attended by over 100 attorneys and summer associates.  At this event we celebrate diversity at the Firm, award racial and ethnic minority scholarships and fellowships and invite a guest speaker to address diversity-related issues. 

Our commitment to diversity has been recognized in a number of ways.  The Vault 2010 rankings place Jenner & Block in the "Top 20" nationally for the fourth year in a row in categories that include "Overall Diversity," "Diversity for Minorities," "Diversity for Gays and Lesbians," and "Diversity for Women."  In the past the Firm has also won the Minority Corporate Counsel Association Rainbowmaker Award and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund Legal Service Award.


Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Community

Significant Litigation
Jenner & Block is proud to have played an active role in several major cases involving critical issues such as affirmative action and housing discrimination.

Chicago Urban League et al v. Illinois State Board of Education. The Firm filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the Chicago Urban League asserting that the state school funding schedule failed by having a discriminitory impact on minority students.  This case is currently in litigation.

For example, in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger, two cases before the Supreme Court that involved the University of Michigan’s affirmative action admission policies, the Firm filed an amicus brief on behalf of 65 major companies.  In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court expressly relied upon this brief in its historic decision to uphold the school’s admission’s program.  In another case, Jenner & Block worked with the ACLU to convince a federal court that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development violated the federal Fair Housing Act by promoting racial segregation in Baltimore through the placement of public housing in exclusively poor, predominantly African-American neighborhoods since the 1930s.  The Baltimore Sun hailed the ruling as “One of the most important civil rights cases in the city’s history…”  Most recently, the Firm filed a discrimination class action suit on behalf of New Orleans public housing residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Affiliations and Sponsorships
The Firm works with the bar, the community and affiliated organizations to promote racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession.  Some of the professional and student organizations that the Firm supports are:

• American Bar Association Judicial Intern Opportunity Program
• American Bar Association Legal Opportunity Fund
• American Bar Association National Conference for the Minority Lawyer
• Black Women’s Lawyers Association
• Corporate Counsel Women of Color
• Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms
• Chicago Council of Black Law Students Association
• Columbia Law School Black Law Students Association Conference
• Cook County Bar Association
• Hispanic Bar Association
• Latino Law Students Association
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• National Bar Association
• Northwestern University Black Law Students Association
• University of Illinois Law Minority Access Program

The Firm is a signatory to the Chicago Bar Association’s “Call to Action” on diversity, committing to increasing the numbers for attorneys of color in law firms.  For ten consecutive years, Jenner & Block has been a Sponsor of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s CLE EXPO, an annual conference showcasing minority and women attorneys’ presentations and symposia in the areas of Litigation, Labor/Employment, Intellectual Property and Corporate/Commercial law.  We are especially proud that Jenner & Block was the first law firm in the country to support the Minority Corporate Counsel Association CLE Expo. 

This Summer for the sixth year, in Detroit, Michigan, the Firm was a sponsor of the Counsel on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Mid-year Summer Professional Development Seminar and were a legacy sponsor of their 40 year anniversary.  

Scholarships
Jenner & Block provides scholarship support to promote diversity in the legal profession. The Firm has established a Minority Scholarship Program for first-year law students at universities around the country, including Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University College of Law, Howard University School of Law, Indiana University Law School, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, College of Law of the University of Illinois, University of North Carolina School of Law, University of Missouri School of Law, and University of Virginia School of Law.  We also continue to support the Hispanic Lawyer Scholarship Fund, American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation, American Bar Foundation Diversity Fellowship, and the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, a financial award to encourage racial and ethnic minority students to attend law school and to provide financial assistance to students in need.  Other scholarship funding includes assisting disadvantaged youth in the community through scholarship programs such as Scholarship Chicago’s “High 5 Campaign.”  Scholarship Chicago is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping economically disadvantaged youth in Chicago attend college or other post-secondary education.  Currently, we support five college-bound students, including providing internships, networking assistance and attorney mentors.


Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession and the Workplace

Jenner & Block attorneys serve in leadership positions in professional organizations whose missions involve the pursuit of equality and diversity in the legal profession.  Our partners have held leadership positions in organizations and committees, including ABA Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice, ABA Diversity Plan Implementation Committee, Asian American Bar Association, Black Women’s Lawyer’s Association of Greater Chicago, National Association of Women Lawyers, ABA Minority Judicial Intern Opportunity Program, Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms.  We continue to look for opportunities to expand our relationship with these organizations and programs.

At Jenner & Block several diverse attorneys either chair or serve on significant Firm committees. These include the Diversity Committee, Hiring Executive Committee, Hiring Committee and Associates Committee.


Communicating Racial and Ethnic Diversity

Jenner & Block is one of the few law firms in the country that communicates about its diverse workforce and diversity issues through firm-sponsored publications.  Equal Time, the Firm’s diversity newsletter, includes stories about the accomplishments of Jenner & Block diverse attorneys; legal view points from diverse attorneys and/or clients; the pro bono and community service the Firm provides on matters relating to women, minorities or LGBT communities; and other issues of interest.

Jenner & Block was one of the first law firms to publish a firm-sponsored publication on racial and ethnic diversity.  To view issues of Equal Time – Focus on Diversity, please click the links below

• Spring 2009 newsletter
• Spring 2008 newsletter
• Spring 2007 newsletter
• Spring 2006 newsletter
• Spring 2005 newsletter
• Spring 2004 newsletter
• Spring 2003 newsletter
• Spring 2002 newsletter