Baker Donelson has earned two recognitions from the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), being named both a 2020 Compass Award winner and a 2020 Top Performer. The Firm is one of only 22 organizations across the country to earn both designations. Honorees were recognized at LCLD's Virtual Annual Meeting.
The Compass Award honors LCLD members who demonstrate their continued commitment to building more diverse organizations and a more inclusive legal profession through their participation in and support of LCLD's mission and programs. As an active member of the LCLD, Baker Donelson's involvement in the organization includes attendance at the annual meeting, participation in the LCLD Fellows Program, participation in the LCLD Pathfinder Program, and participation in at least one LCLD Pipeline Program.
Top Performers are LCLD's most active member corporations and law firms. The Top Performer award recognizes those organizations in the top 20 percent for participation in LCLD programs and activities. Due to COVID-19, in 2020 LCLD had fewer in-person meetings than in past years. But the pivot to virtual events also allowed LCLD, with the help of members and their organizations, to provide even more opportunities to connect.
Baker Donelson Diversity Committee Chair Mark A. Baugh said, "Our Firm strongly believes in LCLD's mission and the value of active participation in all it has to offer. As Baker Donelson strives to be an industry leader in diversity and inclusion through efforts such as our recently launched Diversity & Inclusion Compact and our status as a Mansfield Rule Certified Plus 2020 firm, we share LCLD's ultimate goal of building a more open and diverse legal profession."
The LCLD is an organization of more than 350 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners – the leadership of the profession – who have dedicated themselves to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession. LCLD's action programs are designed to attract, inspire and nurture the talent in society and within organizations, thereby helping a new and more diverse generation of attorneys ascend to positions of leadership.
Diversity & Inclusion at Baker Donelson
Baker Donelson strives to create an inclusive environment for all employees, welcoming people of all races, genders, ages, languages, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, disabilities, sexual orientations and religious beliefs to assist clients in achieving their legal goals. Through its focus on creating an atmosphere that honors the diverse qualities in each of its employees, Baker Donelson honors the unique perspectives and approaches that are provided by differences in educational background, socio-economic background, personality profile, geographic location, job duties, marital and family status. As a Mansfield Rule Certified Plus 2020 firm, Baker Donelson affirmatively considers at least 30 percent women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and attorneys with disabilities in the candidate pools for recruitment, governance roles, equity partner promotions, and inclusion in formal pitch presentations to clients. Baker Donelson is also a member of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA), a coalition of more than 200 of the nation's leading law firms focused on utilizing private bar resources to assist legal services organizations in furtherance of their missions to dismantle barriers to opportunity in communities of color.
