Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
McGlinchey is committed to fostering equity through diversity 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 through involvement in minority job fairs and diversity clerkship programs, as well as our own Diversity 1L Scholars Program. The firm’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee supports our culture of inclusion, as does Uplift, our Women’s Initiative, African American Affinity Group, Asian Affinity Group, Hispanic Affinity Group, and LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group.
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 5 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 recently named our first Chief Diversity Officer, 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.
Our commitment to diversity is reflected within the highest ranks of our firm:
62% of our firm members (attorneys and staff) are diverse
39% of our attorneys are diverse
33% of our Members are diverse
57% of our Associates are diverse
50% of our Policy Committee members are diverse
47% of our offices have diverse managing members
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 dedicate their time and talents to improving diversity outcomes in the legal profession, serving in leadership roles within diversity-related organizations. McGlinchey attorneys are members of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. (including the current President of the Greater New Orleans Chapter), National Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Orange County South Asian Bar Association, and Orange County Asian American Bar Association, Women’s Professional Council of New Orleans, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), and Diversity Law Institute of the Litigation Counsel of America, among others.
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.
