Maria Lewis Shares Faegre Drinkers Efforts to Support Women and Diverse Attorneys with Law Week Colorado

Maria Lewis, Chief Diversity Officer, spoke with Law Week Colorado on the firm’s initiatives to support women and diverse attorneys.

She shared, “All initiatives are designed to: foster mutual professional and personal respect, create an environment in which all individuals are valued, attract the best and brightest legal and consulting talent from all backgrounds, promote education and awareness on topics of diversity and inclusion, and develop retain and advance the careers of our diverse lawyers and consulting professionals.”

This includes the firm’s affinity groups, which build connections within the firm and help with the professional growth of women and diverse attorneys.

“These groups develop and strengthen connections between Faegre Drinker’s self-identified diverse lawyers, consultants and senior professionals through bimonthly firm-wide meetings, ongoing leadership development opportunities, an in-person annual retreat,
and local gatherings,” wrote Lewis.

In November 2021, Faegre Drinker announced it had proudly signed on to Diversity Lab’s “OnRamp200” – an initiative aimed at bringing 200 women lawyers who have taken extended career hiatuses back into the legal profession by 2025.

In addition to the above efforts, Faegre Drinker uses data and technology to improve the demographic balance of their client teams. The firm does this by providing their client team leaders with real-time data on the diversity of their teams, and these diversity dashboards were recognized by American Lawyer’s Industry Awards in 2023.

The full article is available to Law Week Colorado subscribers.