Lindquist & Vennum is committed to promoting gender equity and diversity within the firm and the legal profession. We take our diversity mission statement seriously and work daily to make it a living document through our actions:
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The firm provides a workplace environment that fosters understanding, acceptance and respect among partners and employees of all races, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity.
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We hire, retain and promote diverse individuals. Lindquist & Vennum appreciates and values the different skills and talents that each person brings to the firm.
The firm embraces the Association of Corporate Counsel's strong commitment to enhancing diversity in law firms and strives to be one of the firms that "positively distinguish themselves in this area" through the environment we foster and our hiring practices.
Lindquist & Vennum is proud to have been the first major firm in Minnesota to adopt the Minnesota State Bar Association's (MSBA) Best Practices Goals for Women in the Legal Profession. The best practices are intended to promote practices among both public and private legal employers that encourage employing and retaining women in the legal profession. The best practices arose from the Self-Audit for Gender Equity (SAGE) compiled by the MSBA Women in the Legal Profession Committee. The purpose of the SAGE report was to find a way to promote and aid gender equity in Minnesota's legal profession.
The firm is a charter member of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a collaborative effort among Twin Cities law firms and corporate legal departments to advance diversity in Minnesota's legal community. The group's mission is to provide significant resources to accelerate the efforts of its members to identify, recruit, advance and retain lawyers of color. Twin Cities Diversity in Practice is also dedicated to promoting the area as a good place for lawyers of color to develop professionally and personally.
In recognition of our strides toward gender equity, the Minnesota Women Lawyers (MWL) honored us with their Leadership Award in 2004, which recognizes legal employers who strive to enhance the status, influence and effectiveness of women lawyers. MWL was established in 1972 to help secure the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession. Today, it has more than 1,200 members.
Our ongoing efforts to "provide a workplace environment that fosters understanding, acceptance and respect" were underscored in 2005 and 2006 by the national publication MultiCultural Law, which ranked Lindquist & Vennum among the top ten law firms in the country for associates and first for Americans with disabilities.
Our firm is a sponsor of mnlegaldiversity.org, a collaboration designed to showcase Minnesota's diverse practitioners and law students across all practice areas. The website includes profiles of lawyers from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who choose to practice in Minnesota, and it highlights what Minnesota has to offer lawyers and law students in terms of culture, communities, organizations, activities and entertainment. The site is a project of the Minnesota Minority Bar Summit, which consists of minority bar associations, area law schools and the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Lindquist & Vennum also supports the efforts of a number of organizations involved in diversity and gender equity issues, including:
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American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
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Black Women Lawyers Association
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Children's Law Center of Minnesota
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Council on Crime & Justice
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Fund for the Legal Aid Society
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Human Rights Campaign
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Latin America Educational Foundation
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Legal Rights Center
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Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
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Minnesota American Indian Bar Association
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Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers
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Minnesota Justice Foundation
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Minnesota Minority Recruitment Conference
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Minnesota Women Lawyers
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Page Education Foundation
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Sharing and Caring Hands
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Southeastern Minority Job Fair
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Twin Cities Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms