Programming

Programming is central in expanding and strengthening our welcoming firm culture for lawyers and business team professionals, providing access to clients, profile raising opportunities, professional development, and cultural support.

Bespoke programming

Our strong commitment to providing engaging and effective programming has allowed our diverse lawyers to engage on topics such as implicit bias, imposter syndrome, rainmaking as a diverse lawyer, and continuing their own professional development skills with programs on business development and time management. One of our primary focus areas is to ensure that more of our diverse lawyers are constantly developing and also creating meaningful client connections on their journey. In addition to these opportunities for our lawyers, the firm also has 28 diversity resource groups that allow women, minority, and LGBT+ lawyers a space to focus on four key areas:

  • business and client connections
  • internal and external profile raising
  • professional and skill development
  • receiving cultural support and community

For example, some of the recent programming organized for our affinity groups include:

  • Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with scholar Delores Atencio of the University of Denver to discuss the Luminarias exhibit, an inaugural showcase that features Latina lawyers throughout history.
  • Organizing internal mentoring circles for all women lawyers in several offices and hosting workshops with executive leadership coach Susan Dunlap and former BigLaw partner Pat Gillette to address topics such as business development, time management, and rainmaking.
  • Organizing speaker series, parade participation, and luncheons across the Americas in celebration of Pride Month.
  • Hosting a former Associate White House Counsel to reflect on and have a discussion on the state of affairs of the United States from an international relations and state policy perspective.
  • Coordinating a Veteran's Day and United States Marine Corps Birthday celebration at the firm annually to honor the veterans present in our firm.
  • Celebrating Black History Month through several successful programs featuring speakers such as Washington Post reporter Kyle Swenson and Illegal Among Us: A Stateless Woman's Quest for Citizenship author Martine Kalaw.

  • The Asian Pacific American Affinity Group and co-sponsor APABA-DC held a film screening of “14”, a documentary on the landmark case regarding birthright citizenship. A panel discussion followed which covered the legal and social impact of these seminal cases in light of recent discourse surrounding immigration and citizenship.

Support of diverse organizations

We commit to providing our women and diverse lawyers with access to premiere professional development organizations and client development rich opportunities. These include, without limitation, access to the Charting Your Own Course Conference, Corporate Counsel Women of Color annual conference, Corporate Counsel Men of Color conference, the LCLD Fellows and Pathfinder programs, partnerships with the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association's annual Conference, National Association of Women Lawyers conferences and programming and the National LGBT Bar Association's Lavender Law Conference and Career Fair, among many others.

Recruiting

Hogan Lovells is committed to ensuring that our pipeline of diverse lawyers is strong. To put that plan into action we sponsor a variety of organizations and programs at the law schools at which we regularly recruit. We believe that our participation in programs and events in support of hiring and mentoring diverse lawyers is crucial to a robust pipeline. We have participated in diversity job fairs, bar sponsored programming, outreach to law student groups, formal mentoring programs, practical skills programs, law school preparation programs, mock internal workshops, roadshows, and recruitment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and at schools with large minority populations.

Hogan Lovells participated in these additional events in support of our hiring and mentoring programs for diverse lawyers:

  • We participate in the D.C. Road Show, which introduces first-year African American law students to law firm practice in Washington, D.C.
  • As a member of the Colorado Pledge to Diversity Legal Group, we host a half-day Practical Skills Program for diverse Colorado law school students from the University of Colorado and University of Denver law schools, helping to prepare diverse law students for their entry into the legal community.
  • We host mock interview workshops for hundreds of first-year diverse law students in Los Angeles, New York, Denver, and Washington, D.C.

Business team professionals

Hogan Lovells also is increasing its diversity and inclusion programming for our business team professionals. These initiatives, including professional development programs, are designed to ensure that all of our diverse talent is supported throughout their careers at Hogan Lovells. In 2018, we hosted or supported our people's participation in more than 100 events throughout the Americas on diversity and professional development. In 2019 we anticipate hosting a similar number of events to support and build upon the foundation established in 2018. Over the last year we have provided mind-shifting implicit bias training by Professor Jerry Kang in four of our U.S. offices in 2019 and our U.S. National Diversity Committee, with plans to train our other U.S. offices in 2020; an imposter syndrome discussion led by diversity expert Michelle Silverthorn that examined the causes of imposter syndrome and different ways our panel of diverse lawyers have combatted it; and increased professional development programming through speakers such as Dale Caldwell and LeaNora Ruffins, engaging in dynamic dialogues about influencing across differences and dealing with diversity based slights in the workplace.

As a firm, we are laser focused on inclusivity being wedded into everything we do for all of our people.


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