Initiatives

Some of the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and recognitions are briefly described below:

Associate Development, Retention and Advancement

• The Firm has active networks for diverse associates: the Asian Associates Network, the Network of Black & Latino Lawyers (NOBLL), and the LGBT Network. These networks provide welcoming forums for our lawyers to seek advice, share experiences, and discuss work-related issues. The networks meet regularly and bring in speakers periodically to discuss career development topics. Participating associates also organize community service, professional development, social networking, and recruiting activities. Some examples of the networks’ activities are described below.
  • The Asian Associates Network and NOBLL recently co-hosted a panel discussion titled “How to Develop Relationships with Clients Early in Your Career.” Two partners and two alumni, who are now in-house counsel, were featured on the panel and provided practical advice on best practices for developing effective relationships with clients.
  • To assist its members with achieving their professional and personal milestones, while also raising members’ professional profiles within the Firm, NOBLL recently created a one-to-one mentoring program for incoming Black and Latino associates and implemented a monthly Speaker Series. The Speaker Series provides associates with opportunities to present on legal issues related to their practice areas.
  • Members of the LGBT Network spearhead the Firm’s support of LGBT organizations and other contributions to LGBT causes. In addition, members of the LGBT Network facilitate S&C’s involvement in pro bono legal representations on important civil rights issues, including issues related to gay marriage and gay adoption. For example, the Firm, along with co-counsel from the American Civil Liberties Union, recently won an important victory in a landmark pro bono case, Cole v. Arkansas, which struck down as unconstitutional an Arkansas law that prohibited cohabiting couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents.
• Our Women’s Initiative Committee works to enhance the experience of women in practice at the Firm by focusing on the retention and advancement of our women lawyers and by fostering informal networking and mentoring opportunities. See separate insert titled Women at S&C for more information.
• Our Associate Experience Committee is charged with monitoring, assessing and making recommendations regarding the Firm’s associate development initiatives, which include our formal advisor program and informal mentoring, professional/practice experience and development, training and morale. The committee works closely with the Firm’s Diversity Committee.
• The Firm is also very proud of its “S&C Celebrates Diversity” speaker series. The most recent program in this series included a screening of an award-winning documentary, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, to S&C lawyers and staff. The film focuses on Rustin’s many achievements – as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, he shaped the course of the civil rights movement – as well as the discrimination and obstacles he faced as an openly gay man. 

Participation in Firm Leadership

Women, racially diverse, and LGBT partners hold several leadership positions in the Firm, including serving on the Firm’s Management Committee and other committees, managing multiple offices, and heading many practice groups and practice areas. For instance:

• Women and diverse lawyers head the Firm’s Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, and Tokyo offices.
• LGBT lawyers head the Firm’s Litigation group, Antitrust practice, and Broker-Dealer Regulation practice.
• Minorities head the Firm’s Executive Compensation & Benefits group, Bankruptcy & Restructuring practice, Latin America practice, and Sovereign Issuers practice.
• Women head the Firm’s Antitrust practice, Bankruptcy & Restructuring practice, California practice, Criminal Defense & Investigations practice, Hedge Funds practice, Sovereign Issuers practice, and Private Equity practice.

Continuing Efforts to Foster Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Community

Beyond the Firm, we are committed to improving the diversity of the legal profession.

• In 2006, Sullivan & Cromwell, Goldman, Sachs and the Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice launched the Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative as a public-private partnership to address the achievement gap between young black men and their peers. Seeking to draw upon the resources of the private and philanthropic sectors to improve opportunities for young black men, the group identified five areas in which to urgently direct resources and energy: (1) early childhood development; (2) public school education; (3) employment and economic development; (4) criminal justice, prison reform, and reentry; and (5) opportunities for high potential youth.
  
  Since the inaugural "Winning Strategies" Forum in July 2006, thousands of people in the private sector have participated in discussions, plenary sessions and working groups to secure funding and to develop and implement strategies to combat the rising rates of drop-out, incarceration and unemployment among young black men. According to The American Lawyer, “While there is no shortage of antipoverty efforts, this initiative singles itself out as a unique way of bringing all the key players together to address a difficult issue.” Visit www.pipelinecrisis.com to learn more about the Pipeline Crisis Initiative.
  
• S&C participates in many programs that offer internship, mentoring and development opportunities for high school, college and law school students of color, including the following:
  • Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Program (SEO) – The Firm regularly hires a number of SEO interns each year for the summer before they start law school. The Firm has also hired many former SEO interns as summer and regular associates. Tracy Richelle High, a former SEO intern, became an S&C Litigation partner in 2008. She is a co-chair of the Diversity and Women’s Initiative Committees and a hiring partner at the Firm.
  • Practicing Attorneys for Law Students (PALS) – S&C hosts several PALS programs every year.
  • Legal Outreach Program – In addition to financially sponsoring the program, our lawyers host and mentor four students for one week each summer.
• S&C was an original signatory of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York's "Statement of Goals of New York Law Firms and Corporate Legal Departments for Increasing Minority Representation and Retention" and "Restatement and Reaffirmation of Goals for the Hiring, Retention and Promotion of Attorneys of Color and the Retention and Promotion of Women." S&C retired partner and of counsel, Michael Cooper, was president of the association when the original "Statement of Goals" was drafted, and S&C partner Frank Aquila co-authored the document.
• Our lawyers participate in bar committee activities addressing issues of concern to women and minority lawyers in the profession and are encouraged to participate in professional development and diversity-related forums, seminars and conferences.

S&C Contributes to Many Scholarship Programs

• S&C has contributed to several scholarship programs, including the Association of Black Women Attorneys minority law student scholarship and the Legal Outreach Program’s scholarship for graduating high school seniors, as well as scholarship programs offered through the Hispanic National Bar Association.