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Womble Bond Dickinson Signs Houston Bar Association’s Gender Fairness Commitment Pledge
May 03 2019
HOUSTON—Respect for the individual has long been a core value at Womble Bond Dickinson. So the firm is proud to sign the Houston Bar Association’s Gender Fairness Commitment, a pledge to increase the number of women partners and firm leaders in one year.
In addition, participating law firms are asked to work toward four other goals: 1. Have a process in place to gather employee feedback about the advancement of women; 2. Offer networking and client development opportunities to women attorneys and employees; 3. Encourage women to take part in professional development and leadership preparation training; and 4. To allow all attorneys to have flexible work arrangements.
“We believe strongly in fairness and inclusion, and the HBA’s Gender Fairness Commitment will hold us—and the local legal community—accountable for making progress toward these important goals,” said Jeffrey Whittle, Managing Partner of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Houston office. “We welcome that accountability and look forward to continuing our efforts to make Womble Bond Dickinson the best law firm we can possibly be.”
Womble Bond Dickinson already has a number of efforts in place to promote gender equity in the workplace. The firm’s Women of Womble Bond Dickinson initiative leads these efforts, which include business development events, mentoring, career development and addressing issues of retention, advancement and recruitment of women attorneys.
The Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) named Womble Bond Dickinson a 2018 Gold Standard Firm. In order to earn this honor, firms must “meet objective criteria concerning the number of women among equity partners, in firm leadership positions, and in the ranks of their most highly compensated partners.” The firm also was honored by WILEF in 2015 and 2017.
In addition, Womble Bond Dickinson is a participant in the Mansfield Rule 2.0 pilot project, aimed at promoting greater inclusion for women, minority and LGBTQ+ attorneys in the legal profession.
Click here to read coverage of the Houston Bar Association’s Gender Fairness Commitment in Law360.
