Our Commitment

“We believe in maintaining, by affirmative efforts, a membership of partners and associates reflecting a wide variety of religious, political, ethnic and social backgrounds, characteristic of that community. We believe that through this policy we may bring to the service of our clients greater breadth of understanding and wider contacts with the world at large, while enriching our personal lives and demonstrating the value of democratic principles as applied to the organization of a law firm.” –Judge Simon H. Rifkind, 1963, Statement of Firm Principles

Judge Simon H. Rifkind was a senior partner and leader of Paul, Weiss for more than 45 years. His words are a reflection of the values that the firm continues to embrace today.

Our efforts to recruit and retain a diverse workforce have been recognized through our rankings at the top of surveys addressing the hiring and retention of lawyers of color:

• Paul, Weiss has ranked as an A-List law firm for the past six years by The American Lawyer.
  
  
• Minority Law Journal's Diversity Scorecard has ranked Paul, Weiss in the top 10 for the past seven years with two number one rankings during that time period. The survey ranks the largest firms in the country according to their percentage of minority lawyers.
  
  
• The 2006 Vault Guide to Law Firms named Paul, Weiss one of the top law firms in the country for diversity.
  
  
• Multicultural Law Magazine has consistently ranked Paul, Weiss as one of the top 100 law firms for diversity.

Our success is derived from the unique skills, talents and perspectives of our lawyers and staff – people of all backgrounds, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, marital status or physical capability.

Paul, Weiss has undertaken numerous initiatives to fulfill our commitment to diversity:

• For more than a decade, our Diversity Committee consisting of firm partners, counsel and associates has led our efforts to design and implement recruitment and retention programs aimed at increasing diversity. The Committee meets regularly and serves as a forum for the generation of new ideas and the discussion of diversity issues throughout the firm.
  
  
• Our Women’s Initiatives Committee, comprised of partners, counsel and associates, works to create an environment that develops and advances the professional lives of women at the firm through numerous programs.
  
  
• Our diversity and women's mentoring programs are among the most important components in our efforts to encourage women and lawyers of color to grow and remain with the firm. Our programs invite lawyers – from the most junior to the most senior – to build both formal and informal mentoring relationships with their peers and with senior lawyers.
  
  
• Our annual Diversity Networking Event has been recognized for its success in giving associates of color the opportunity to interact with their peers in the legal and business worlds. Past events have attracted close to 1000 guests and featured guest speakers such as –
  • John Payton, civil rights lawyer and lead counsel in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases
  • Cory Booker, lawyer and Newark, New Jersey Mayor
  • Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Harvard Law School professor and author of a book on the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education
  • Honorable Robert L. Carter, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York and author of the book, Brown v. Board of Education, A Matter of Law: A Memoir of Struggle in the Cause of Equal Rights
  • Theodore Shaw, director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Deborah C. Wright, chair and CEO, Carver Bancorp, Inc.
    
    
• We host Women's Initiatives Networking events to provide a forum for women attorneys to meet and interact with other female professionals. Past speakers have included –
  • Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey and former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency
  • Ellen Malcolm, the Founder of Emily's List, a grassroots political network that helps women candidates with their campaigns
  • Anna Quindlen, author and Newsweek columnist
  • Linda Fairstein, former prosecutor and chief of the sex crimes unit of the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Senator.
    
    
• Throughout the year, we invite women attorneys to lunchtime lectures that pertain to their interests or their careers. Past speakers have included –
  • Nancy Lublin, Founder of Dress for Success
  • Anita Jacobs, Communications Coach
  • Nan Aron, President of the Alliance for Justice.
    
    
• Our recruitment programs focus on attracting a diverse group of law students to join our firm. We do this through increased participation in minority job fairs and working with law school faculty, firm alumni and minority law student organizations to identify talented candidates.
  
  
• We are committed to growing a diverse talent pool to recruit from by participating in the following programs –
  • New York City Bar Association Fellowship Program, which matches minority students with law firms for summer employment
  • AnBryce Scholars Program at New York University (NYU) School of Law
  • Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) Program, which provides talented undergraduate students with a law firm internship before they enter law school
  • Legal Outreach Program which provides early exposure to the legal profession to high-school students.
    
    
• We actively participate in important forums and programs sponsored by organizations such as the –
  • NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York (LeGaL)
  • Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
  • Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc. (PALS)
  • LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY)
  • American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession
  • Harvard Black Law Students Association
  • Metropolitan Black Bar Association
  • American Bar Association Conference of Minority Partners in Majority Law Firms
  • Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
    
    
• Paul, Weiss was an original signatory of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s (ABCNY) “Statement of Goals of New York Law Firms and Corporate Legal Departments for Increasing Minority Representation and Retention” and the “Restatement and Reaffirmation of Goals” adopted by the ABCNY for the hiring, retention and promotion of female attorneys and attorneys of color.