Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
McGlinchey is committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in our firm and across our profession.
We know that representation of diverse voices empowers every member of the McGlinchey Family to do our best work and provides us with a rich and rewarding workplace. Our goal is to create a law firm culture that reflects the increasing diversity of the clients and communities we serve. We are proud of our deep roots in some of America’s most diverse cities, and we honor the broad range of backgrounds and perspectives that form the fabric of our firm. We celebrate our employees’ differences across race, gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation, and we strive to treat our lawyers and staff fairly. We are committed to attracting, recruiting, mentoring, and promoting diverse attorneys and staff.
In 2021, McGlinchey’s new Managing Member, Michael Ferachi, launched the #McGlincheyForward initiative, designed to face the rapidly changing legal industry, our clients’ needs, and our internal operations for the next five years and beyond. #McGlincheyForward focuses on five pillars: change, culture, empowerment, growth, and gratitude. The move towards improving equity within the firm is a major component of the #McGlincheyForward initiative.
The firm named our first Chief Diversity Officer in 2021, charged with two focus areas: internally, broadening the spectrum from which we identify and recruit candidates to the firm, and becoming Mansfield Certified (a distinction which verifies whether law firms have affirmatively considered at least 30% diverse candidates for leadership, equity partnership, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions); and externally, intentionally hiring and patronizing diverse and equitable vendors and partners, making meaningful economic contributions to the local economies where we live and work.
In May of 2023, McGlinchey achieved the Midsize Mansfield Certification following a rigorous 18-month process led by Diversity Lab. The Midsize Mansfield certification process, modeled after the version for larger firms, was fine-tuned to boost diversity in leadership for firms with smaller lawyer populations, single office locations, and leaner firm leadership structures. This distinction certifies that McGlinchey aims to track, measure, and achieve diversity in law firm leadership. As participants in the second certification cohort, McGlinchey is among the first 100 firms to achieve this recognition to date in the U.S. and Canada.
McGlinchey prides itself on its involvement with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) since the organization’s founding in 2009. The firm was a three-time recipient of LCLD’s highest honor, the Compass Award, and was named a “Top Performer,” a designation reserved for the most active LCLD Member Corporations and Law Firms, for six years in a row. McGlinchey attorneys regularly participate in the LCLD Fellows program, which aims to identify, train, and advance the next generation of leaders in the legal profession, as well as the LCLD Pathfinders program for diverse, high-potential, early-career attorneys at LCLD Member organizations. In 2021, the firm joined the LCLD’s Leaders at the Front program. By encouraging those in leadership positions to commit themselves to change, LCLD has urged its member organizations to create actionable pledges and plans to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the legal profession.
McGlinchey is ranked among the top law firms in The American Lawyer’s Diversity Scorecards in the Women in Law and LGBTQ+ categories and is ranked nationally in the top 30 firms in 4 categories of the Best Law Firms for Diversity by Vault. In addition, McGlinchey’s New Orleans and Baton Rouge offices were recently recognized as among the “Best Places to Work” in their respective cities.
Leadership
Our commitment to diversity is reflected within the highest ranks of our firm:
68% of our firm employees are diverse
49% of our attorneys are diverse
53% of our Associates and Of Counsel are diverse
56% of our Senior Professional Leadership team are diverse
44% of our Policy Committee members are diverse
60% of our Office Managing Attorneys are diverse
The firm’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, comprised of attorneys and professionals across our footprint, oversees our efforts to recruit and retain diverse lawyers and professional staff and create an inclusive environment enabling all of our employees to succeed. The Committee holds monthly firm-wide meetings that are open to all lawyers for discussion of diverse topics and issues. The Committee also works closely with our Recruitment and Associate committees to enhance both the recruitment and retention of diverse lawyers.
Our attorneys and professional staff dedicate their time and talents to improving diversity outcomes in the legal profession as members and leaders within a number of diversity-related organizations, including:
- Law360 Diversity & Inclusion Editorial Board
- Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals
- Defense Research Institute
- Federal Bar Association
- Florida Association for Women Lawyers (FAWL)
- International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
- Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association (JWLA)
- Litigation Counsel of America Diversity Law Institute
- Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc.
- National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL)
- National Bar Association
- New Orleans Association for Women Attorneys
- New Orleans Bar Association (NOBA) Minorities in the Profession Committee
- New Orleans Legal Diversity Collaborative
- Women’s Professional Council of New Orleans
We were a proud sponsor of the study underlying the provocative, landmark treatise, “Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms,” published by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.
Programs and Affinity Groups
The firm’s Affinity Groups support our culture of inclusion:
