Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is honored to receive the 2019 ChIPs Honor Roll award for advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Honor Roll recipients earned the highest ChIPs Index Scores on the Inclusion Blueprint Survey, a joint initiative with Diversity Lab that measures gender diversity and inclusion practices in law firm leadership and in the Intellectual Property practice group.
Laura Chapman, Partner and IP Practice Group Leader at Sheppard Mullin, said, “We are committed to ensuring that all lawyers in the IP group, and throughout the firm, are given equal access to the types of career-enhancing opportunities that are tracked in the Inclusion Blueprint & Diagnostic. We appreciate being recognized by ChIPs for these efforts. But, more importantly, we know that our efforts are helping us to impede unconscious bias and promote the advancement and retention of our lawyers, and in particular, our diverse lawyers.”
“The Blueprint & Diagnostic is another great example of how ChIPs and Diversity Lab are helping the legal industry progress towards diverse and inclusive workplaces,” added Rena Andoh, Partner and Chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. “We’ve been a proud supporter and participant of Diversity Lab’s initiatives since its inception, and it’s encouraging to see increased participation among law firms who are evaluating internal policies and making improvements that contribute to a higher overall representation of diversity in leadership.”
The ground-breaking Inclusion Blueprint goes beyond traditional diversity surveys that just measure headcount. The Inclusion Blueprint measures the processes and experiences that provide equal access to work, professional growth and leadership opportunities in firm leadership and IP. This year, the Inclusion Blueprint was expanded to track additional inclusion activities related to compensation and to include women, racial/ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ lawyers in all practice groups. The survey was sent to more than 200 firms with 48 firms completing the survey this year, a 37 percent increase over last year.
Click here to read ChIPs’ press release.
About ChIPs
ChIPs is a nonprofit organization focused on advancing and connecting women in technology, law and policy. ChIPs seeks to accelerate innovation in these areas by increasing diversity of thought, participation and engagement. At ChIPs, members are united in the belief that diversity, of all types, is essential to innovation and to a thriving, evolving society. Membership is open to anyone who shares this mission. Founded in 2005 by seven women chiefs of intellectual property, it has expanded beyond those roots, now with over 3,000 members and nine regional chapters in the United States and abroad. Many members are engaged at the heart of current events — as active participants in the lawmaking, policymaking, judicial, advocacy and innovation processes. Please visit www.chipsnetwork.org.
About Diversity Lab
Diversity Lab is an incubator for innovative ideas and solutions that boost diversity and inclusion in law.
Experimental ideas are created through our Hackathons and piloted in collaboration with more than 50 top law firms and legal departments across the country. Diversity Lab leverages data, behavioral science, design thinking, and technology to further develop and test new ideas and research, measure the results, and share the lessons learned. For more information, visit www.diversitylab.com.