Diversity at Ungaretti & Harris
At Ungaretti & Harris, we believe a diverse attorney workforce strengthens our firm and our ability to service our clients. Ungaretti & Harris is committed to creating an environment that is reflective of our community. To that end, we encourage the hiring, retention and advancement of a diverse attorney workforce and support our commitment to diversity in several ways.
Diversity Committee
Formed in the Fall of 2001, the firm’s Diversity Committee is comprised of seven attorneys, including the firm’s managing partner, and assists the firm in recruiting, retaining and promoting attorneys of color and women. The Committee also leads the firm’s educational programs regarding the importance of creating and maintaining a diverse work environment.
Diversity Plan
The firm’s diversity plan continues to evolve. Focusing on the recruitment, retention, and leadership of minorities and women in the firm, the diversity plan helps guide the firm in achieving diversity goals.
Call To Action
The firm joined the Chicago Bar Association’s “Call To Action” to foster diversity in the legal profession by seeking ways to promote women into more leadership roles within the firm. Call To Action initiatives include increasing the number of women partners, increasing women’s participation on firm committees and increasing the number of female practice group leaders.
Diversity Organizations
Our firm encourages participation in professional, civic and social organizations that promote diversity. Ungaretti & Harris is a member firm of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. Our attorneys, too, are active in many organizations that promote diversity in the legal profession. These include the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Black Women Lawyer’s Association, Women’s Bar Association, Women in Public Finance, Just the Beginning Foundation and Women’s Networking Community.
Diversity Events
The firm regularly participates in and sponsors various conferences and diversity events including the annual Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Midwest Region Dinners, National Association of Women Business Owners’ holiday parties and POWER: Opening Doors for Women networking dinners. Attorneys also speak at conferences including the American Conference Institute’s National Forum on Law Firm Diversity.
Recruitment & Retention
The firm is active in seeking minority candidates for attorney positions. Our firm participates in the annual Cook County Minority Job Fair in Chicago, Illinois and the Vault Legal Diversity Job Fair. The firm also recruits candidates from Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C.
We have developed relationships with and are supporting minority law student associations at Northwestern University School of Law and University of Illinois College of Law to increase our visibility to women and minorities on campus.
Firm Management
Women and minorities have increasing involvement in our firm’s management. Thirty percent of our partnership is comprised of women. Women and minorities currently hold leadership positions including Managing Director of the Springfield office, Diversity Committee Co-Chair, Continuing Legal Education Committee Co-Chair and Wellness Committee Co-Chair.
The firm management is committed to furthering the goals of the Call to Action and increasing the presence of women and minorities in firm leadership.
Networking
The firm sponsors regular interest group meetings for our minority attorneys, women attorneys, women partners and attorney mothers. These meetings involve informal dinners as well as formal events, providing a forum for socialization and problem-solving.
The women partners of the firm also host networking events for professional women, women clients and colleagues. The events provide women who attend the opportunity to socialize and network with other professional women. Most recently, the women attorneys of Ungaretti & Harris hosted a wine tasting for their women clients with well-known Master Sommelier Alpana Singh as a featured guest speaker.
Flexibility
Ungaretti & Harris offers flexibility to women who choose to start or continue families during their tenure with the firm. In addition to maternity leave and flexible schedules, the firm now offers a mothers’ room for newly returned mothers. Numerous women associates also have been promoted to partner while on maternity leave.
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