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At Kennedy Covington, we believe that a sincere commitment to diversity is crucial to maintaining and elevating our excellence as a firm. We recognize that the sharing of ideas among diverse people sparks intellectual energy and that mutual respect and inclusiveness produce a workplace that is more interesting and more creative. The counsel we deliver to our clients is enhanced when we benefit from diverse perspectives. And most importantly, we know true commitment to diversity is simply the right thing to do.
We value our clients who embrace diversity and take a special interest to learn more about the efforts going on in our communities to develop and sustain a diverse workplace and encourage inclusiveness and access to opportunity. The following is a summary of our recent diversity accomplishments and commitments:
- Our Diversity Committee has implemented best practices and measurable action plans in four important areas:
- Recruiting
- Mentoring and leadership development
- Internal firm awareness
- Community awareness
- We formed a unique partnership with North Carolina Central University School of Law, an historically black institution and one of the most diverse law schools in the country, in a program in which two of our attorneys, David Batty and Sean Jones, taught a two-credit business law course to students.
- Our firm was a signatory to the Action Plan of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg General Counsel and Managing Partners' Diversity Initiative. Our partner, Felicia Washington Mauney, chaired the Mecklenburg County Bar subcommittee that developed this initiative.
- We participated in the first ever Mecklenburg County Bar's Charlotte Legal Diversity Clerkship Program which provides minority interns the opportunity to spend six weeks at a law firm and six weeks in a corporate law department.
- Our firm has the honor of having the first two presidents of the Charlotte Women's Bar: Founding President Susan Jackson and current President Nina Shor. Our firm is the principal law firm sponsor of this organization.
- The Charlotte Business Journal and the Diversity Council of the Carolinas recognized Susan Jackson with a Diversity in Business Award for her leadership of the Charlotte Women's Bar.
- Within the past year, the number of minority attorneys at our firm doubled due to our intentional actions to attract and retain diverse legal talent.
- Other diversity-focused initiatives in which we participate include:
- Mecklenburg County Bar Special Committee on Diversity
- Diversity Council of the Carolinas
- Crossroads Charlotte
- Minority Corporate Counsel Diversity Conference
- N.C. Bar Association Minority Counsel Program
- North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers
- National Bar Association Annual Conference
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