White and Williams LLP believes that diversity broadens and enriches our work environment, produces more creative thinking and innovative solutions, and allows us to better serve our clients. White and Williams’ Diversity Committee helps to create and implement strategies to recruit, develop, and retain attorneys and staff from diverse backgrounds, including people of every race, ethnicity, culture, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. The Diversity Committee’s mission reflects our commitment to hiring and retaining individuals who reflect today’s diverse and multicultural society.

To further this commitment, White and Williams actively recruits talented minority attorneys. Our efforts include: contacting law school personnel and organizations that promote diversity to identify law students and lawyers from diverse backgrounds for employment consideration; participating in minority job fairs in the region; and advertising in publications that attract a diverse readership and promote and support diversity in the legal profession.

Once at the firm, White and Williams’ inclusive environment strongly promotes the retention and advancement of attorneys from diverse backgrounds. White and Williams’ commitment to diversity shows in the leadership roles held by our attorneys. For example, leadership positions in several of our administrative and management committees, including operations, budget, and associate evaluation committees, are occupied by minority attorneys. The diversity of our attorneys is also reflected in the leadership of many of our practice groups, including: Appellate, ERISA, Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith, Labor and Employment, Workers’ Compensation and E-Commerce.

White and Williams also encourages our attorneys to participate and take active leadership roles in outside organizations that share the firm’s goal of diversity. Our attorneys have served as presidents, board members, and/or active members in numerous such organizations including: A Better Chance Strath Haven, Inc.; Allegheny County Bar Association Diversity Committee; American Bar Association Commission on Physical and Mental Disability Law; Asian American Bar Association of The Delaware Valley; Barristers’ Bar Association of Philadelphia; Cornell Black Alumni Association; Covenant House, Inc.; Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania; Hispanic Bar Association Legal Education Fund; National Coalition of 100 Black Women; National Urban League; Nationalities Service Center; Octorara High School Shadowing Mentorship Program; Pan American Association of Philadelphia; Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates; Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Bar Committee; Philadelphia Bar Association Board of Governors; Philadelphia Futures; Philadelphia Neighborhood Housing Services; Public Interest Law Center; S.A.V.E.; South Asian Bar Association; Support Center for Child Advocates; Victory House of Lehigh Valley; West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

For more information about White and Williams’ Diversity Committee, please contact Committee Chair, Wes Payne, at (215) 864-7076 or paynew@whiteandwilliams.com.