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Recruiting
Retention, Advancement and Promotion
Firm Governance
Pipeline
 1L Summer Program
MTO Fellows Program
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OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY
At Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, we believe that a diverse work force improves our ability to serve the needs of our clients and creates a more dynamic workplace for our attorneys. We have a long tradition of supporting diversity, and are proud of our leadership in this area, but know that achieving diversity can only be accomplished through consistent and sustained effort. We are committed to that effort and are determined to make further progress on diversity issues both within our firm and in the legal profession.
Public Recognition and Community Involvement
MTO has been publicly recognized for its commitment to diversity, as well as for the accomplishments of its women and minority attorneys. In 2008, MTO was selected by the American Lawyer magazine as the top law firm in the country. MTO's top ranking was based on a number of factors, including MTO's success in recruiting, retaining and promoting diverse attorneys. MTO is also honored to have been ranked consistently near the top of the Minority Law Journal's Diversity Scorecard for 2007 and 2008. In January 2008, our partner, Kristin Myles, was appointed the first female special master in an original jurisdiction Supreme Court case. Vilma Martinez, the former President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund and a recipient of the ABA's Margaret Brent Award, was named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in California and is a recent recipient of the Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Award and the Latino Spirit Award. Charles Siegal has actively championed the rights of the disabled and was honored for his activities by the Los Angeles Commission on Disability. In 2008, Vilma Martinez, Kristin Myles, Jerry Roth, Terry Sanchez and Bart Williams were recognized by their colleagues of the Bar, who nominated them "Super Lawyers," the top 5% of lawyers in California. A number of the firm’s younger lawyers, including Manuel Cachán, Kathy Forster, Andrea Jeffries and Lika Miyake were recognized as “Super Lawyers Rising Stars” in 2008.
MTO has also joined with others members of the legal community to promote diversity in the legal profession. We are a signatory to diversity initiatives sponsored by both the Bar Association of San Francisco (Goals and Timetables for Minority Hiring & Advancement) and the Los Angeles County Bar Association (Statement of Diversity Goals and Principles), which set goals and timetables for improving diversity within the firm and the broader legal community. We are also a sustaining member of the project for attorney retention, an initiative of UC Hastings College of the Law. Additionally, several of our partners were instrumental in organizing and sponsoring a Managing Partners Diversity Conference in Los Angeles, which resulted in a group of 18 major Los Angeles law firms that meet regularly to discuss diversity issues. The firm is a member of the California Minority Lawyers Association and of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and was a national sponsor of the MCCA's report on Creating Pathways to Diversity.
Recruiting
We place great importance on recruiting women and minority attorneys, and believe that our firm can be a platform for success for every lawyer we hire. We are dedicated to addressing the tough issues, in our firm and society, that impair success for women and minority lawyers..
We actively encourage employment applications from women and members of minority groups. In our 2008 Summer Associate Program, which is the firm's main vehicle for the hiring of new attorneys, women and minority law students represented 67% of the group. In our 2007 Program, women and minority law students represented over half of the group. As part of our on-going effort to recruit, retain and promote exceptional attorneys who also contribute to the diversity of our firm and our profession, we offer a 1L Summer Program to provide early opportunities for exceptional first year law students of diverse backgrounds. These 1L Summer Program positions are offered to students who are members of racial or ethnic minority groups, are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, are physically challenged, or are from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
Retention, Advancement and Promotion
One of the reasons for our high ranking in surveys like the American Lawyer A-List (which in 2008 recognized MTO as the top law firm in the country), and the Minority Law Journal Diversity Scorecard is the number of minority and women partners at the firm. The firm's managing partners have in the past included women, minorities, and openly gay attorneys. In 2008, all of the attorneys who were promoted to partner were either women or minorities. To help retain and advance women and minorities, the firm offers both formal and informal mentoring and networks to all attorneys. The firm also has a flexible part time policy, and provides backup child care at a greatly reduced cost to all employees within the firm.
Firm Governance
Women and minority attorneys have long participated in all aspects of the firm's governance, which is done through attorney committees. MTO had one of the first women partners in Los Angeles, and we believe we were the first major law firm in the United States to have an openly gay managing partner. All attorneys are expected to actively participate and are encouraged to focus on the areas of firm governance that interest them most. Our Diversity Committee is led by Blanca Young and Bart Williams. Mr. Williams, an African-American partner, recently served as one of the firm's managing partners.
Pipeline
We have also taken steps to increase the "pipeline" of students from diverse backgrounds who will be applying to law school and subsequently entering the legal profession. We created a new diversity-related initiative at the firm called the MTO Fellows Program. The MTO Fellows Program offers up to four full-time positions in the firm’s Los Angeles office to recent college graduates of diverse backgrounds who are interested in pursuing a career in the law. MTO Fellows work closely with attorneys and paralegals on the full range of litigation matters the firm handles, participate in a wide range of educational activities outside the firm, and receive a stipend to take an LSAT preparation course. The MTO Fellows Program is designed to expose recent college graduates to the practice of law at the highest level, with the aim of helping participants develop the skills necessary to succeed in law school and later as members of the legal profession.
In 2006, we became a sponsor of the UCLA Law Fellows Program, an innovative outreach program aimed at encouraging and preparing minority undergraduates and recent graduates to attend law school. We are also proud to be a sponsor of the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues, a national organization devoted to promoting debate programs in urban public schools. With MTO lawyers Sandra Seville-Jones and Bart Williams as co-chairs of the Los Angeles Advisory Board, the NAUDL has partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District in bringing Urban Debate League programs to the city's secondary schools starting in the Fall of 2008. In addition, we have partnered with Southern California Edison on a pipeline project in the Los Angeles Unified School District directed at educating junior high school students about the law and good citizenship, and exposing them to careers in the law.
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