Women’s Initiative Committee

All of our associates are paired with mentors at the Firm, beginning when they arrive as summer associates and throughout their time at the Firm (including through partnership). Because mentoring tends to work best when a mentee feels a strong connection with their mentor, associates at S&C choose their own mentors based on their personal interests and professional goals. In addition to our formal mentoring programs, associates at the Firm have several informal opportunities for mentoring and networking, including those described below.

• Lunch Program – a series of informal, small group lunches. Discussion topics vary and are chosen by the partner hosts from a list of topics suggested by S&C associates.
• Conversation & Cocktails – lawyers at the Firm meet on a bimonthly basis to check in, catch up and spend a few hours together in a social setting.
• Book Club – program to provide opportunities for our lawyers to engage intellectually in a different environment.

We regularly invite thought leaders to come and speak to our lawyers about a wide range of topics that are relevant to the practice of law.

We’re focused not only on creating a supportive environment within the Firm that positions all of our lawyers for success, but also on supporting lawyers in the legal community more broadly. To that end, the WIC sponsors several external events, including:

• The New York City Bar Association’s (NYCBA) Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture
• The Dress for Success® Annual Breakfast
• Legal Momentum’s Aiming High Luncheon
• The Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert

S&C offers a number of programs designed to support lawyers seeking to balance their professional and family needs. These benefits include paid parental leave, backup childcare facilities, an infant transition program and alternative work or “flex-time” schedules.

Since 2012, the Firm and our lawyers have won, or been shortlisted for, awards in a number of categories by Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards, Asia Women in Business Law Awards and Europe Women in Business Law Awards.

We look forward to meeting you and discussing your own path to success at the Firm.

Catherine M. Clarkin, Co-Chair

Beth D. Newton, Co-Chair