Diversity & Inclusion

Our Dedication to Diversity and Inclusion

At McGinnis Lochridge, we strive to attract and retain talented and diverse attorneys and staff in order to better reflect our community and better serve our clients. We value diversity and inclusion as an important moral goal and recognize that through diversity, we bring a multiplicity of voices and perspectives to every case, lawsuit, and negotiation.

McGinnis Lochridge seeks to create an inclusive environment where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential. The firm requires its leadership (Management Committee, Diversity Committee and Practice Group Leaders) to attend Beyond Diversity training through Leadership Austin and additionally has encouraged and made it available to all attorneys in the firm.

Our lawyers and our firm are involved in supporting professional and civic organizations that foster inclusion, diversity, and tolerance through the following efforts:

• The firm currently sits on the Austin Bar Association’s Diversity in the Profession committee and, as a founding sponsor, helps coordinate the Diversity Fellowship Program which provides opportunities for minority law students to work in the courtroom and with law firms.  The firm’s participation in the Diversity Fellowship Program promotes diversity within the firm and the legal community.
• Our lawyers have served in leadership and other capacities in many organizations, including:
  • Chicano/Hispanic Law Students' Association (CHLSA)
  • Hispanic Bar Association of Austin
  • Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • State Bar of Texas/Asian Pacific Interest Section
  • State Bar of Texas/Hispanic Issues Section
  • State Bar of Texas/Texas Minority Counsel Program
  • Thurgood Marshall Legal Society (TMLS) at the University of Texas
  • Austin Black Lawyers Association
  • University of Texas School of Law Center for Women in Law
  • Travis County Women Lawyers' Association
  • National LGBT Bar Association
  • Girl Scouts of Central Texas’ Women of Distinction Program
  • Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
  • Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce
  • Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce
  • Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce
  • Anti-Defamation League of Austin
  • Texas Minority Counsel Program

The firm is one of the founders of, and has participated every year in, the Austin Bar Association’s Diversity Fellowship Program, which provides opportunities for first-year minority law students to work both in law firms like ours and in the courthouse, helping to promote diversity within our firm and throughout the legal community. The firm previously has hired directly out of this program. Our Houston office also has a commitment to the Houston Bar Association’s 1L Minority Summer Clerkship Program as a means to best hire and mentor minority law students studying law in the gulf coast region.

MISSION STATEMENT

To better serve and reflect our clients and our communities, McGinnis Lochridge will:

• promote diversity within the firm by  recruiting and developing attorneys and staff from diverse backgrounds;
• promote diversity within the legal community by continuing to participate in and further the activities of bar associations, programs and groups that work toward creating a more diverse legal community; and
• promote diversity within our local community by continuing to work with organizations that seek to enhance opportunities towards the advancement of all members of our society.

Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee is comprised of minority, female, and LGBTQ attorneys, members of our Management Committee, and senior level staff who are dedicated to actively pursuing and retaining diverse talent. This committee relies on members’ unique backgrounds and experience to ensure McGinnis Lochridge engages with and supports diverse organizations whose missions sustain and elevate cultural and ethnic differences.

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee has made strides in improving processes throughout the firm to better recruit, promote and retain diverse legal talent, including the following:

• Refining job posting and distribution procedures to ensure we reach out to affinity groups and other locations to reach more diverse job candidates
• Ensuring that diverse attorneys are included in recruiting and interviewing processes
• Together with the firm’s Women’s Initiative Committee, recommending changes to our supervising attorney and internal mentoring programs to provide meaningful support to all of our associate attorneys
• Advocating for additional training on diversity and inclusion issues 

McGinnis Lochridge’s Women’s Initiative Committee (WIC) is comprised of female and male attorneys and senior level staff, as well as the firm's Managing Partner. The committee is dedicated to recruiting, retaining and promoting female attorneys within the ranks of McGinnis Lochridge, better reaching our female clientele, and providing a flourishing work environment that all of our team is proud to call their work home. Our success in turn, benefits the firm, our clients, and our communities.

Retainage – We focus on what we can do as individuals and as a firm to retain the female lawyers we have, while working to grow our ranks within the firm.

Recruiting – We work with the recruiting and HR department to ensure we are reaching a diverse community of candidates.

Building community (both internal and external) – We work to help improve connection among our female attorneys as well as connection to the greater community. We want to create opportunities for Committee members to get to know each other better through social events, volunteer opportunities, etc.

Some of the ways in which our Women’s Initiative Committee ensures a standard of success is met and maintained at McGinnis Lochridge include:

• Continued dedication to hiring and promoting female attorneys;
• Ensuring women are equitably represented on all firm committees;
• Deliberate efforts to ensure female law clerks are hired and mentored;
• An extensive parental leave policy;
• Providing a wellness room for returning mothers;
• Mentorship and flexible work arrangement options for parents returning from parental leave; and
• Training for all attorneys on Unconscious Bias.

Events

The Women's Initiative Committee hosts a number of events each year that bring women in leadership roles together to network. Some of the events we have hosted are listed below.

• Bi-Annual Women in Leadership Lunch hosted in partnership with Texas Capital Bank and Holtzman Partners
• 2020 Supreme Court Report presented by Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law
• Holiday Shopping Marketplace supporting women-owned businesses
• Trip with clients to Magnolia Silos in Waco