Jones Day - Firm Overview

    Kevyn Orr

   Kevyn Orr
   Partner
   Washington
   Tel: 1.202.879.5560
   Fax: 1.202.626.1700

PHILOSOPHY

Jones Day's culture is one of teamwork and we pride ourselves on being "One Firm Worldwide." Our lawyers, in 14 countries on four continents, work together as respected professionals and trusted colleagues to achieve our paramount goal - the advancement of the client's interests. At Jones Day, we understand that a strong team is a diverse and inclusive one that permits attorneys from all backgrounds and cultures to flourish and develop their full potential.

COMMITMENT

Jones Day is committed to recruiting, retaining, and promoting attorneys and law students from all backgrounds. Our Diversity Task Force supports the U.S. office and practice leaders in entry-level and lateral recruitment, the development and retention of minority and female attorneys, and diversity awareness. The Task Force is led by Kevyn Orr, a partner in our Washington Office, and is supported by our D.C. recruiting manager, Christine Miller, an attorney with extensive experience in the recruitment and development of lawyers, particularly women and minorities.

RECRUITING

Jones Day seeks to attract diverse attorneys through participation in and sponsorship of internships and clerkships that provide substantive legal experience to women and minority law students and through our participation in and sponsorship of job fairs, recognition events, and career-development programs for women and minority law students and organizations. In addition, women and minority lawyers contribute to the recruiting efforts in our local offices by serving on their respective recruiting and summer associates committees and by acting as mentors and as liaisons to local law schools.

ATTORNEY DEVELOPMENT

To ensure that all of our attorneys have the opportunity to develop their full potential, Jones Day:

Provides extensive in-house training programs for junior and mid-level attorneys.
Involves associates in business development and client meetings.
Provides formal and informal mentoring opportunities.
Became one of the first large firms in the country to offer a part-time policy, firm sponsorship of emergency day care, and domestic-partner benefits.
Supports our attorneys in pro bono activities and programs sponsored by local bar associations and community organizations.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Jones Day promotes the development and implementation of methods for increasing diversity within the legal profession through our active engagement in programs, conferences, and commissions sponsored by the American Bar Association and an array of national specialty bar associations for women and minorities.

Jones Day is a signatory to a variety of minority hiring goals established by local bar associations across the country. In addition, the Firm actively seeks to increase hiring and retention of women and minorities through engagement in collaborations such as the Managing Partners' Diversity Initiative and the Managing Partners' Roundtable in Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Washington.

PRO BONO

Jones Day's pro bono activities reflect our commitment to diversity. Our lawyers have represented organizations supporting the right to die, assisted immigrants in obtaining asylum, advocated for the rights of sexual minorities, fought for the rights of college students to vote, challenged housing discrimination, supported affirmative action in higher education, counseled churches and other religious organizations, and filed briefs on behalf of organizations to advance a remarkably broad range of views.

RESULTS

Jones Day's diversity outreach efforts and initiatives are working.

Women now account for 40% or more of our associates in the majority of our U.S. offices.
The Firm currently has 147 female partners. In addition, women lead five of our 14 domestic offices as Partners-in-Charge in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Houston, Columbus, and Atlanta.
Over the last two years, 11 minority U.S. lawyers were among the 65 lawyers elevated to the partnership. An additional eight minority partners (U.S.) joined the Firm as laterals. Over the same time period, 15 women were elevated to the partnership, and 21 lateraled in as partners.
Of the 147 new associates who started work in U.S. offices in the fall of 2008, 71 are women and 33 are minorities.
Fourteen women and five minorities sit on the Firm’s fifty-person Advisory Committee and four minority lawyers are practice leaders, including one Hispanic woman. In addition, one woman partner was appointed Chair, Antitrust Section, American Bar Association, 2007-2008.
With women making up more than 36% of our lawyers as of January 2009, Jones Day has more women lawyers than almost any other global law firm. As of that same date, minorities made up 12% of our U.S. lawyers.

THE FUTURE

As "One Firm Worldwide," with offices and clients all over the globe, Jones Day values the unique and varied talents of our lawyers and understands that meaningful diversity within the Firm contributes directly to excellence in client service. Meaningful diversity, like excellence in client service, is achieved not through mere declarations but through unceasing commitment, thoughtful planning, and deliberate action. That is the course we follow.