Pillsbury has been a long-time supporter of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The firm was among the first major law firms to promote women to partnership and the first large, national firm in the Unites States to elect a woman as its top leader. Today, DEI initiatives and programs are widespread across the firm.
Pillsbury is strongly committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our firm’s strategic plan includes a combination of internal and external initiatives. Internal initiatives are focused on, among other things, enhancing the experience of our diverse attorney population, increasing our retention and promotion rates, increasing the number of diverse attorneys in leadership roles, and increasing the number of diverse equity partners. Our employee resource groups include: (i) DiverseAbilities, an employee resource group that serves as a resource and an advocate for employees with disabilities and their families, (ii) M.E.R.G. (Military Employee Resource Group), which supports active and retired military personnel and their families, and (iii) Pillsbury Pride, a resource group for LGBTQ+ members and their allies. Our business resource groups that focus on professional support and development and fostering business relationships include: (i) Women’s Impact Network and (ii) Attorneys of Color Network.
The firm’s external initiatives are focused on a number of different efforts, including: pipeline programs to provide mentoring for high school and college students while exposing them to legal careers; the development of a diversity scholarship program for college graduates entering law school; enhancing our visibility on law school campuses by educating students on the firm’s culture and commitment to diversity and inclusion, in addition to exposing them to new areas of law; being intentional about recruiting diverse lateral attorneys; and requesting a diverse candidate pool from our recruiters.
Year after year, Pillsbury’s inclusion efforts are recognized throughout the industry. Our accolades include: Best Law Firm for Women for 13 years, 100 Best Companies for Women for 14 years, Best Companies for Dads in 2020, 100% score on Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ+ equality since 2006, and in 2021 Yale Law Women ranked Pillsbury the Top Firm for Racial Justice Contributions.