Steptoe & Johnson LLP firmly believes that our success depends on ensuring that the diverse experiences of all of our attorneys contribute both to the first-class work that we do for our clients and to the congeniality of our workplace. Steptoe has long been committed to diversity in our workplace. Diversity at Steptoe encompasses race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation.

We strive to make our strong philosophical commitment to equal opportunity a reality. Last year, the firm named its first Chief Diversity Partner to guide a more aggressive diversity/inclusion program. In addition, Steptoe has long had a firm-wide Diversity Committee whose membership reflects a broad cross-section of the firm. Steptoe is a charter signatory to the Policy Statement Regarding Minority Hiring and Retention of the District of Columbia Conference on Opportunities for Minorities in the Legal Profession.

We are dedicated to expanding our long-standing efforts to recruit, hire, and promote lawyers from diverse backgrounds and to weave their experiences along with those of other attorneys into the fabric of the firm. We are proud to report that:

• Sandy Chamblee was recently appointed Chief Diversity Partner;
• Steptoe’s Executive Committee includes three women;
• The co-chair of the Diversity Committee and the Hiring Committee is a minority woman;
• The vice chair of the Finance Committee is a woman;
• The chair of the Associate's Committee is a woman and the vice chair is a minority;
• 20% of the firm's partnership are women; 7% of the firm's partnership are minorities;
• Our 2007 associate class was composed of more than 48% women and minorities;
• Our 2007 summer associate class was composed of 12 minorities and 14 women;
• Vault, Inc., ranked Steptoe one of the Top 25 Law Firms for Women in their 2005 survey;
• Steptoe was ranked in the 2006 Top 25 Law Firms for Disabled Americans and Top 25 Law Firms for Native Americans by Multicultural Law Magazine;
• The firm has three affinity groups: Multicultural Attorneys at Steptoe (MAS), the Women’s Forum, and the GLBT Forum. MAS meets regularly to discuss matters related to retention, advancement, business development, and to support each other generally. The Women’s Forum hosts several networking events at various partner homes, and sponsors discussions on how to succeed at Steptoe, and work-life issues such as selecting a school for your children;
• The firm regularly contributes to causes that support diversity.

Diversity News

• History in the Making - Sandy Chamblee, Chief Diversity Partner, ponders the inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama.
  
• Legal Times Article - "Time to Call In One of Us" - How one firm named a practicing partner to implement its diversity plan.
• Steptoe was recognized as a 2008 Best Law Firm for Women by Working Mother Magazine.
  
• Read Steptoe Names Chamblee First Chief Diversity Partner, which highlights Steptoe's appointment of its inaugural Diversity Partner. 
• A victory led by David Bodney and Peter Kozinets of Steptoe's Phoenix office reflects the firm's core values of diversity and inclusion. The team persuaded the Arizona Attorney General's Office to issue a Reasonable Cause Determination favored by our clients, two members of the Phoenix Country Club, a century-old fixture in the city's social and business life, that the Club's policy excluding women from the men's grill constitutes unlawful sex discrimination. Women at the club are barred from dining in the grill room where business negotiations commonly take place and deals are struck. They are instead relegated to a far inferior ladies' grill. The women, as well as some men, who criticized the policy were sent harassing e-mails and heckled on the fairway. The case was featured in an article that ran in The New York Times on June 28, 2008.