NEW YORK, June 20, 2016 – Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP celebrated its longstanding commitment to diversity June 13-17, 2016, hosting a successful Diversity Week in the firm’s offices around the world.
The week’s highlights included a keynote CLE presentation by Kristen Clarke, President & Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, hosted in New York and broadcast to multiple offices. Clarke spoke about her organization’s long history of providing legal support on critical issues affecting minorities such as voting rights, educational opportunity, fair housing, employment discrimination, and criminal justice. Founded in 1963 – Milbank name partner Harrison Tweed was the organization’s first co-chair – the Lawyers’ Committee remains very active, and Clarke spoke about the organization’s current efforts in the areas of re-entry for former offenders as well as voting rights following the US Supreme Court’s significant ruling affecting provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act in 2013.
In London, the Milbank office hosted keynote speaker Dinah Rose QC, whose practice encompasses public law, competition law, EU law and employment law. Rose has appeared in the UK’s Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union in many of the leading cases of recent years. In a Q&A session with Milbank’s London Co-Managing Partner Julian Stait, she discussed issues relating to diversity in her career, both as a woman in the legal profession and in the cases she has worked on; the expectation that women sacrifice their careers to take care of children; and how she balances family and her demanding role as Queen’s Counsel.
Other events during the week, presented by the firm’s active network of affinity groups, included panel discussions featuring diverse alumni and guests from Goldman Sachs, International Flavors and Fragrances, PricewaterhouseCoopers and others; a presentation by Los Angeles cultural historian Nathan Masters; a Lean In circle discussion in New York; a diversity trivia night at a London pub, and celebrations featuring global cuisine and regional food tastings in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. Multiple offices also hosted clothing drives for Dress for Success, an international not-for-profit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing professional attire, a support network, and other resources.
“We are thrilled that our first-ever Diversity Week was so well-received, bringing lawyers and staff in our global offices together for informative and fun events,” says Errol Taylor, head of the firm’s Diversity Committee. “As a global firm, we recognize that a diversity of perspectives strengthens our teams and benefits our clients. Through our ongoing programs by our affinity groups and others, we are proud of our efforts to promote a diverse and inclusive environment.”
