Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Our clients come to us for the finest legal advice and service. We provide that service by bringing to our firm the best and most diverse talent and working to build and sustain an inclusive community ‒ one in which our diverse group of lawyers can grow, thrive and work as a single team, weaving together the power of the many different perspectives and experiences they bring.

We have embedded diversity and inclusion within all elements of the firm’s broader talent development work. Key initiatives include:

• A Management Committee Sponsorship program

In 2016, we launched our Management Committee Sponsorship Program to foster the advancement and promotion of diverse talent. Members of the firm’s Management Committee and departmental leaders are paired with top-performing mid- and senior-level diverse associates to promote and sup-port their careers through opportunity generation, profile raising and internal leadership.

• Addressing Implicit Bias

We have instituted implicit bias training in all aspects of our talent cycle – recruiting, advising, staffing, evaluation – and for all levels of lawyers.

• Practice Group Leadership

We have put structures in place to ensure that all practice group leaders are responsible to firm management for successful implementation of D&I goals.

• A Real-Time Informal Feedback program

To enhance career development for our lawyers, the firm has implemented our Real-Time Informal Feedback Program. Lawyers are taught a number of simple yet effective feedback techniques, and meet regularly to discuss their experiences in giving more frequent feedback.

• Centralized Staffing

We apply a centralized approach to staffing our junior lawyers, with the objective of ensuring an equitable distribution of responsibilities and opportunities for our junior lawyers.

Debevoise is also home to the Debevoise Women’s Review, a first-of-its-kind platform among law firms, developed to inspire the legal and business communities to engage in discussion and collective action around gender diversity. Unlike a traditional marketing platform, the content is developed and the editorial process managed almost entirely by lawyers at the firm, most of whom are associates, allowing for an authentic, first-person perspective. We invite you to join the conversation at women.debevoise.com.