Baker Donelson has been named a Compass Award winner by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), recognizing those law firms and corporations showing a strong commitment to building more diverse organizations and a more inclusive legal profession.
LCLD is one of the nation's leading organizations promoting diversity and consists of more than 430 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners – the leadership of the profession – who have dedicated themselves to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession.
The Compass Awards recognize individuals and organizations that fulfill all of the following requirements in a single calendar year:
- Member attendance at the LCLD Annual Membership Meeting and/or member attendance at a Leadership Summit, and/or submission of a Leader's Pledge.
- Participation in the LCLD Fellows and Pathfinder Programs.
- Participation in an LCLD Pipeline program (the 1L Scholars program or the Success in Law School Mentoring Program).
Last year, LCLD's board of directors announced a requirement for each member to create a public pledge detailing actions they will take to advance diverse talent. Baker Donelson is proud to be among those organizations that created a pledge. See Baker Donelson Chair and Chief Executive Officer Tim Lupinacci's pledge here.
Baker Donelson has a long-standing relationship with LCLD. The Firm has been an LCLD member since the organization's inception in 2009, and has participated in both the Fellows and Pathfinders Programs since they were launched.
More about LCLD's awards and the full lists of winners are available here.
D&I at Baker Donelson
Baker Donelson strives to create an inclusive environment for all employees, welcoming people of all races, genders, ages, languages, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, disabilities, sexual orientations, and religious beliefs to assist clients in achieving their legal goals. As a Mansfield Rule Certified Plus firm for the third consecutive year, Baker Donelson affirmatively considers at least 30 percent women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and attorneys with disabilities in the candidate pools for recruitment, governance roles, equity partner promotions, and inclusion in formal pitch presentations to clients.
In addition to ongoing D&I efforts, Baker Donelson has implemented a D&I Compact, a multi-year plan to drastically increase the number of diverse attorneys within its ranks, as well as committing to provide additional support and remove barriers to advancement. Baker Donelson is a member of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA), a coalition of more than 200 of the nation's leading law firms focused on utilizing private bar resources to assist legal services organizations in furtherance of their missions to dismantle barriers to opportunity in communities of color, and is a member of Out Leadership, the oldest and largest global coalition of companies working to improve LGBTQ+ equality.