Inclusion & Belonging @Orrick

Our commitment to an inclusive legal profession is longstanding. At our firm, it means sustaining a workplace where top talent of all backgrounds and experiences feel they belong, can collaborate to produce the best client work and have opportunities to advance their careers. This commitment is embedded in our core values. It also extends to collaborating with clients and our communities.

In our experience, teams comprising individuals with a diversity of perspectives and experiences often produce the highest quality, most innovative work. This holds true for our client teams and the team that leads our firm. Based on the traditional U.S. measures of diversity (lawyers who are of color, women, LGBTQ+ and/or have disabilities), our teams today are among the most inclusive in large law firms: our senior leadership team is 55% diverse and our U.S. partnership is 46%. We exceed large law firm averages at the partner and associate levels, as reported by NALP, in every category.

Below are highlights of the ways we live our values around inclusion at Orrick and in the community:

The Law Student Pipeline: In 2021, we became a founding law firm partner of Legal Innovators, a program that helps large law firms and corporate legal departments recruit and develop top talent from a broad range of law schools. Legal Innovators uses predictive analytics to look at 20 factors – such as accolades and undergraduate work experience – to identify the best fits between students and corporate law practice. They provide a two-year fellowship program. They also advise on our onboarding curriculum for first-year associates generally.

Advancing Opportunities for Veterans: In 2015, we founded the nation’s first Veterans’ Legal Career Fair – and it remains the only one in the market. This annual fair attracts more than 40 law firm, corporate, government and public employers nationwide – including founding co-sponsors Microsoft and Morgan Stanley. It has helped more than 800 active duty and veteran lawyers and their spouses connect with potential employers. We have hired seven members of our team through the fair. In addition to facilitating networking and interview opportunities, the fair provides candidates with resume counseling and pairs interested candidates with mentors from participating employers.

Inclusion Networks: One of the most concrete ways we foster community and belonging at our firm is through Inclusion Networks. We facilitate participation in these communities and the activities they sponsor with bonus-eligible time. Our team members can choose among many different networks – and allies are always welcome:

Inclusive Teams: Established in partnership with Dr. Arin Reeves, our allyship program is designed to help all of us become more skillful in being members and leaders of inclusive teams. It addresses topics from understanding invisible identities to mentoring and sponsorship across difference.

In addition, since 2009, our entire firm globally has designated a day each year – known as Dive/In – to learning more about our colleagues and creating a culture of inclusion and belonging in each of our offices. Through events and conversation, we aim to become a more effective and connected team with greater awareness of the backgrounds and experiences our colleagues bring to the workplace.

Leadership Development: One way we invest in the next generation of leaders at our firm is by creating opportunities for rising stars to attend leadership pipeline programs, including Chart Your Own Course, the LCLD Pathfinders and Fellowship Programs, and The NYC Bar Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s Associate Leadership Institute (ALI).

Collaborating With In-House and Law Firm Leaders: Our Chairman Mitch Zuklie is working with his peers to help advance inclusion in our profession by serving as a board member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD).

Tech Ecosystem: We work with many leading organizations in the tech community to support innovation through a more inclusive ecosystem.

• We fund and collaborate with organizations that support founders of all backgrounds – M12 Female Founders Competition, Gaingels, StartOut, 37Angels and Female Founders Alliance.
• We provide pro bono legal advice and other support to organizations working to ensure the venture-backed ecosystem is inclusive – including AllRaise, Hack the Hood and illumyn Impact.
• We partner with ChIPs to empower women at the confluence of technology, law and policy, including by supporting the annual Global Summit.

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