Hughes Hubbard's Diversity Committee, which helps the firm recruit, retain and promote attorneys of diverse backgrounds, is comprised of five affinity groups aligned by race, gender and sexual orientation. This series of Q&A articles introduces the leaders of those groups.
Meaghan Gragg, chair of the firm's LGBT Attorney Affinity Group, attends the 2017 ceremony on behalf of the firm.
Hughes Hubbard again achieved a perfect score of 100 percent on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The firm joins the ranks of 517 major U.S. businesses which also earned top marks this year.
From left: Tim Boyle, vice president and chief counsel for competition and trade regulation at Eaton; Amanda DeBusk, chair of Hughes Hubbard’s International Trade practice; Mark Mcguire, executive vice president and general counsel at Eaton; Patrice Jean, a Hughes Hubbard partner; Ravi Soopramanien, a Hughes Hubbard associate and Carolyn Cheverine, vice president and chief counsel for corporate and international transactions at Eaton.
Hughes Hubbard was selected to receive the Eaton Law Department Supplier Inclusion and Diversity Excellence Award for its 2015 performance.
The award is presented to Eaton’s Law Department suppliers who exhibit a commitment to the company’s diversity effort. Eaton Corp. employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and is a global leader in power management and electrical systems.
From left, Hughes Hubbard associate Debbie Placid and Hughes Hubbard partner Patrice Jean at the CUP gala.
Hughes Hubbard was among the sponsors of the Council of Urban Professionals' 9th Annual Leadership Gala, held at Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan.
The gala honored extraordinary leaders whose strides in diversity and inclusion, public service, entrepreneurship and philanthropy have a made a tremendous difference in the U.S.
Partners Sarah Cave and Aviva Wernick at a Hughes Hubbard Women’s Roundtable event.
Hughes Hubbard earned the WILEF (Women in Law Empowerment Forum) Gold Standard Certification for the sixth consecutive year, one of only 12 firms nationally to have consistently achieved this recognition since the program's inception in 2011.
We received the award this year despite WILEF setting the bar for several criteria even higher in 2016. Under the new criteria, Hughes Hubbard was among 32 firms to receive certification, 12 fewer than last year.
From left: Pamela Real, a Prep Program student; Elaine Chiu, director of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Law and Justice; Charles Huberty; Caroline Parker-Beaudrias; Diane Lifton, Hughes Hubbard partner and co-chair of the firm's Diversity Committee; and Prep Program students Zainab Zaidi and Andres Santamaria.
Hughes Hubbard was among the attendees at the closing ceremony for the Ronald H. Brown Law School Prep Program, held at the Manhattan campus of St. John's University. The firm is a recipient of the Ron Brown Trailblazer Award for the firm's efforts in helping to diversify the legal profession, and has supported the Prep program and its mission for more than eight years.
We have strategically placed lawyers with varied backgrounds in positions of influence throughout the firm, including office and practice leaders.
We have developed both formal and informal mentoring for diverse associates as well as all associates at large. In the case of diverse associates we offer additional mentoring from members of the diversity committee and affinity groups.
To maintain accountability, our Diversity Committee, comprised of partners, counsel, associates and staff, oversees our efforts, including mentoring, recruiting, retention, outreach and affinity groups.
We actively recruit law students of diverse backgrounds and offer a select group the opportunity to participate in our summer program, where they can learn more about life at our firm and develop their career goals.
Hughes Hubbard currently supports affinity groups for African-American lawyers, Asian lawyers, Hispanic lawyers, working mothers, LGBT lawyers and our women’s roundtable. The latter group offers firmwide video-conference sessions involving featured speakers and interactive workshops.
In keeping with our strong commitment to diversity, Hughes Hubbard is proud to be one of the initial signatories to The Association of the Bar of the City of New York's "Statement of Diversity Principles" and The New York County Lawyers' Association "Statement in Support of Diversity in the Legal Profession."
“When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.” Charles Evans Hughes
Our firm's commitment to diversity can be traced back to our founder, Charles Evans Hughes, campaigning for women's suffrage in his near-victory over Woodrow Wilson in the 1916 presidential race. In 1942, we broke ranks with other Wall Street firms in hiring the first female associate at a time when most of those firms did not even interview women. In 1969, we named as partner Amalya Kearse, the first African-American female partner of any major New York firm. Kearse went on to become the second African-American to sit on the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. In 1999, Candace Beinecke became chair of Hughes Hubbard, making her the first woman to chair a major New York law firm.