"At Fish & Richardson, we are gratified about the recognition the firm has received as one of the country's top firms for diversity. We're pursuing new ideas and procedures that will help us broaden the inclusive environment we've fostered for all our attorneys and staff. While we've come a good way down this important road, we still have further to go." Peter J. Devlin, President of Fish & Richardson P.C.
The philosophy of diversity has a strong foundation at Fish & Richardson and is an integral part of our practice.
We understand the value of variety. Our mission is to promote a creative, respectful, and inclusive culture that values the diversity of people, experiences, perspectives, talents, and capabilities, and allows ingenuity to thrive.
As a firm that serves the world's greatest innovators, we know that innovation often results from seeing the world in a different way. Fish recognizes that diverse backgrounds provide unique perspectives that result in new and better solutions. Having a diverse team enhances the quality of legal services we provide to our clients and helps strengthen our standing as a premier IP law firm.
To contact a member of the Diversity Committee, please email .
Diversity Initiative
For Fish & Richardson, diversity is a long-term commitment, adding value to both the law firm and the legal profession as a whole. It is an integral part of who we are as a firm.
As proud as we are of the diverse team we have been able to build at the firm, we understand that the job of promoting diversity is never complete.
Fish & Richardson's Diversity Initiative links together a variety of programs related to recruitment, professional development, retention, and outreach in the legal and business communities. This Initiative helps to foster a creative, respectful, and inclusive work environment, to build new bridges to community and professional groups and to strengthen our existing connections.
Fish & Richardson is involved in a broad range of diversity efforts nationwide to further the diversity of our firm and the legal community, and we are gratified about the recent recognition we have received as one of the country's top firms for diversity.
- In 2009, Fish & Richardson was named one of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity by MultiCultural Law magazine. We were also named to this prestigious list in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.
- In 2009, Fish & Richardson received the Corporate Service Award from the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association for its commitment to and support of diversity within the firm and throughout the legal community.
- Minority Law Journal's 2008 Diversity Scorecard ranked Fish in the top quarter of the National Law Journal 250 Firms.
- The 2008 edition of the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms ranked the firm #10 for Best Overall Diversity for Minorities, #12 for Overall Diversity, #13 for Best Overall Diversity for GLBT, and #19 for Best Overall Diversity for Women.
Click
here to read more about the Fish & Richardson's Diversity Initiative.
Diversity Committee
A firm-wide Diversity Committee, working closely with the National Chair of the Diversity Initiative and the Manager of Diversity, is responsible for the purposeful development, implementation, and oversight of the firm's diversity initiative and activities. The Diversity Committee also oversees the Diversity Workgroups, which focus on several strategic areas, including:
- Best practices
- Recruitment and pipeline initiatives
- Mentoring, retention, and internal advancement
- Internal communications, training, and marketing
- External communications, outreach, and marketing
To contact a member of the Diversity Committee, please email
The members of the Diversity Committee are:
Nancy L. Stagg Chair of Diversity Initiative and Principal, Southern California Office
Desa L. Burton Associate, Southern California Office
Ahmed J. Davis Principal, Washington DC Office
Roger A. Denning
Principal, Southern California Office
Peter J. Devlin President and Principal, Boston Office
Enrique Duarte Associate, Silicon Valley Office
Tara D. Elliott Associate, Delaware Office
Michael E. Florey Principal, Twin Cities Office
Timothy A. French Principal, Boston Office
Rhonda J. Grayson
Manager of Diversity, Southern California Office,
grayson@fr.com Jonathan F. Hayden Principal, Washington D.C. Office
Anita Kadala Principal, Houston Office
Kelly Kiernan Largey Chief Marketing Officer, Boston Office
Rasheed M. McWilliams Associate, Atlanta Office
Kelly S. Mixon Director of Attorney Hiring, Dallas Office
Russell N. Rippamonti
Principal, Dallas Office
Attracting and Retaining a Diverse Staff
Fish & Richardson is committed to building and sustaining diversity in the workplace. We work hard to attract, retain, and advance the most talented and qualified legal staff regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, marital status, or disability.
Fish & Richardson encourages and supports internal affinity groups such as the Black Legal Staff Affinity Group, EMPOWER Women's Initiative, GLBT Affinity Group, and the Hispanic/Latino Affinity Group.
These groups, which meet regularly, are influential in building diversity awareness and providing additional networking, mentoring, and professional development opportunities for diverse professionals who share common interests or backgrounds.
The firm also hosts an intranet site that features affinity group information, a firm-wide diversity calendar, and other diversity resources.
We have also focused attention on the recruitment, retention, and professional development of our women attorneys and others with family-care responsibilities.
We provide backup child-care benefits for all employees and have revamped our maternity and parental leave policies to be among the most generous in the legal marketplace. In 2007, Fish & Richardson formalized its flexible billable hours practices with a written Reduced Hours Policy. Our law firm was also one of the first nationwide to offer benefits to domestic partners.
1L Diversity Fellowship ProgramLaunched in 2005, Fish & Richardson's 1L Diversity Fellowship Program annually provides fellowships to diverse first-year law students throughout the country.
The 1L Diversity Fellowship Program consists of three components. Each Fellow receives a $5,000 scholarship, mentoring from members of the firm, and a paid Summer Associate position in the Fish & Richardson office of the Fellow's choice.
The Program represents a key component of the firm's ongoing initiative to recruit, retain, and advance attorneys who will contribute to the diversity of our practice and of the legal profession.
Click
here for more information about the 1L Diversity Fellowship Program and to view the application.
Women's Initiative
Fish & Richardson's Women's Initiative (
EMPOWER) was formalized in 2009 to provide expanded professional and business development opportunities, mentoring, trainin, and support to our female legal staff. This initiative also includes a working mothers' forum.
EMPOWER - which stands for Enrichment, Mentorship, Partnering, Opportunities, Wisdom, Excellence, and Responsibility - encompasses the mission and goals of our Women's Initiative.
EMPOWER initially evolved from a women's forum that began in the Southern California office. The women attorneys of the office began the group as a way to get to know each other better and also as a means for them to discuss professional development, firm policies, benefits and other matters of interest to women attorneys. The forum was soon successfully replicated in several offices across the firm.
The impact of those discussions did not stop within those walls. Through the efforts of the group, the firm's Management Committee, and others within the firm, several policies were created and enhanced. Put a few smart women in a room together, and they are liable to come up with some creative suggestions for promoting change across the firm.
In April 2005, we hosted our first Leadership Through Enrichment, Action, and Diversity (L.E.A.D.) Retreat for our women attorneys and their clients, featuring career development and networking opportunities. We have continued this program throughout the firm, and the L.E.A.D. Retreat has rotated through six different cities to date.
Fish sponsors numerous women's organizations and events targeted at increasing representation of women in law.
Diversity in the Legal Community
To contact a member of the Diversity Committee, please email .
Improving the representation of diverse lawyers within the firm and the legal community is a priority for Fish & Richardson.
Fish & Richardson is a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and the California Minority Counsel Program, which share a mission to promote diversity and maximize opportunities for minority attorneys.
We are a supporter of the "Call to Action" pledge currently circulating among Fortune 500 companies.
Fish is a member of the Boston Lawyers Group, which focuses on increasing diversity in the Boston legal community.
Fish is a member of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, which focuses on attracting, recruiting, advancing, and retaining attorneys of color in the Twin Cities legal community.
We are a sponsoring member of the New York Minority Attorney Networking Series (NYMANS), which provides networking and professional development opportunities for minority attorneys.
We are longtime supporters of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal in support of the gay and lesbian legal community.
Fish & Richardson was the first law firm Platinum Sponsor of the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation (AIPLEF), an organization promoting diversity in the IP field through scholarships, mentoring, and job opportunities for minority law students pursuing careers in IP law.
We support several local, regional, and national organizations devoted to increasing diversity in the legal community, and we support our professionals in their outreach activities.
Fish participates in numerous minority job fairs throughout the country, and many of our attorneys actively serve as mentors for minority law students. We also support programs that encourage young minority students to pursue the study of science and engineering.
We are proud to participate in and support organizations and activities such as:
- American Bar Association Diversity Summit
- American Bar Association Minority Counsel Program
- American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation (AIPLEF)
- Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, DC Area(APABA - DC)
- Boston Lawyers Group (BLG)
- California Minority Counsel Program (CMCP)
- Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC)
- Delaware Multicultural Judges and Lawyers Haile Alford Conference Scholarship Dinner
- Disability Rights Legal Center
- Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association
- Hennepin County Bar Association Anti-Bias Program
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Leadership Council on Legal Diversity
- Minority Corporate Counsel Association
- Microsoft Women and Minority Law Student Intellectual Property Career Fair
- Mid-Atlantic Black Law Student Association Law Camp
- Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers (MABL)
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)
- National Bar Association (NBA)
- National LGBT Bar Association
- National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)
- National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
- New York Minority Attorney Networking Series (NYMANS)
- North American South Asian Bar Association (NASABA)
- Texas Minority Counsel Program
- Twin Cities Diversity in Practice
- UPenn BLSA Sadie Alexander Commemorative Conference and Career Fair
- Vault/Minority Corporate Counsel Association Legal Diversity Career Fair
- Veterans Bar Association
- Washington Area Legal Recruitment Administrators Association (WAALRA)
- Women in Licensing, Bay Area WiLPower Career Development Workshops
- Women of Color in Law
- Women's Power Summit on Law and Leadership
Diversity News and Events