About Us: Diversity

Commitment to Diversity

At McGuireWoods, we define diversity as recognizing and valuing the differences in our workforce. To us, diversity encompasses age, sex, gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, and veteran status, as well as educational and professional backgrounds.

McGuireWoods’ Chairman Emeritus Robert L. Burrus chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee – a signal of McGuireWoods’ commitment to diversity. McGuireWoods saw the value of diversifying its legal team decades ago. As early as 1977, we initiated a joint venture with a minority-owned law firm.

McGuireWoods pledged a $250,000 donation to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s 10x10x10 Campaign. This is among the largest donation pledges received by the campaign to date. A significant portion of McGuireWoods’ donation will go to the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr., Scholarship Program, which provides law school scholarships for newly accepted students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The remaining will support other MCCA initiatives. We also are one of the largest participants in the MCCA’s KAN-DO mentoring program.

Over the years, we have won numerous awards for our diversity efforts. We are recognized in Working Mother magazine as a 2009 Best Law Firm for Working Women. International Paper recognized McGuireWoods’ distinction in the legal profession as a firm with an unparalleled commitment to diversity. In honor of that distinction, it selected us as the inaugural recipient of the Lighthouse Award — an award presented to International Paper’s legal department supplier who, by exemplary leadership, has distinguished itself in the area of diversity. 

$40,000 in Diversity Scholarships Awarded by McGuireWoods  

In 2011, McGuireWoods created a 1L Diversity Scholarship Program. The firm chose eight outstanding first-year law students from a large pool of impressive candidates to each receive a $5,000 award. The program recognizes students who have shown a commitment to contributing to and supporting diversity within the legal profession. Each scholarship will be sent directly to the candidate's law school in payment of tuition and books.

New York City Bar Statement of Diversity Principles

McGuireWoods is a proud signatory to the statement written by the New York City Bar Association's Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession. The statement  is the most recent effort by the Association to voice its commitment to foster a more diverse and inclusive profession.

Collaborative Efforts with Community and Bar Associations

The firm actively supports minority bar associations and encourages our minority lawyers to be active in them as well. They are active in African-American; Asian and Hispanic Bar Associations, and many hold leadership roles.

Minority Corporate Counsel Association

As a member of the MCCA’s Outside Counsel Strategic Planning Committee, the firm provided significant support to the MCCA’s first annual CLE expo. McGuireWoods has helped raise funds from the DuPont Private Law Firm Network to support the MCCA’s Minority Job Bank. Significantly, our diversity record earned us a participatory role in the ABA’s Minority Counsel Demonstration Program.

Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms

Our active involvement with and support of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms has proven to be a pivotal relationship for continued community outreach. The committee’s mission is to create programming that assists member firms with developing strategies to identify, recruit, hire and retain minority attorneys, and promote them to partnership.

The committee is open to the 50 largest law firms in Chicago, and to branch offices of large firms whose headquarters are in other cities.

Outreach, Pro Bono Efforts

Over the decades, the firm has led numerous outreach efforts in minority communities, and has provided hundreds of hours in free legal time on legal aid matters and court-appointed cases for people of all races, as well as organizations, who need and cannot afford legal assistance.

In partnership with the NAACP, McGuireWoods helped create the African-American Festival Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to organizing an annual festival in Baltimore. We also provide pro bono legal services to the foundation.

The firm formed the Slave Museum in Fredericksburg, Va., helped it obtain tax-exempt status, and provided pro bono legal services to it for eight years.

McGuireWoods also provides pro bono legal services to First Tee, a nonprofit group whose mission is to give minority youth access to the game of golf.

We are active in several programs for underprivileged children including “Tomorrow’s Promise,” a college scholarship program established to assist children of public housing tenants.

We helped establish The Carver Promise, a nationally recognized program to help underprivileged, predominately minority children work toward high school graduation and college admission. The firm provides paid employment to minority high school and college students who participate in these and other programs.

Minority Contractors

McGuireWoods has participated in several programs designed to help minority-owned firms gain access to business contacts.