Cathy Bissoon
Partner
Reed Smith, LLP is a leading global law firm committed to providing the highest level of service to national and international clients. The firm has nearly 1,000 lawyers located throughout the United States and Europe. Reed Smith's western offices in San Francisco, Century City, Los Angeles, and Oakland, California provide full-service legal representation across a variety of areas, including financial services litigation, entertainment, biotech, high tech, and internet startups.
(L to R): Guy Rounsaville, Jr., Visa International; Cathy Bissoon, Reed Smith, LLP; and Veta Richardson, MCCA
Reed Smith began to focus formally on diversity in 2001, with the appointment of partner Cathy Bissoon to the newly created position of director of diversity. "We are creating an environment where everyone can flourish. Seeing people be successful is my number-one goal," says Bissoon. Reed Smith now has almost three times the number of minority lawyers and four times the number of minority partners it had in 2001. Across the country, over 13.5 percent of Reed Smith lawyers are persons of color, and almost one-third are women. In the Western region, the results are even more impressive: Thirty-four percent are minority associates and 52 percent are women. In the partner ranks, eight percent are minorities and 21 percent are women.
The firm has made a number of changes to improve diversity in its ranks. It added minority lawyers to hiring committees, created a fellowship program, and holds a firm-wide annual meeting of minority lawyers. To help retain staff, Reed Smith developed programs such as flexible work schedules and supplemental leave for infant child care to better accommodate the needs of the firm's working parents, and instituted domestic partner benefits firm-wide.
In the western region, Reed Smith attorneys actively participate in a large number of minority bar associations, including the California Minority Counsel Program, Charles Houston Bar Association, the Asian Bar Association, and the La Raza Lawyers Association. They also give back to their local community, providing, most recently, pro bono services in high stakes asylum cases. Reed Smith is helping build the pipeline of diverse talent through its support of the Bay Area Minority Summer Clerkship Program and the Wiley Manuel Foundation.
Reed Smith was recently named "Law Firm of the Year" by the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) at its 29th annual convention in New York City. Enjoying a meteoric rise on the Minority Law Journal's Diversity Scorecard, Reed Smith jumped 91 places from its initial ranking to number 68 in 2005. In addition to these awards, Reed Smith's diversity efforts have paid off in increased business opportunities, as it was elevated to Preferred Partner status by Sara Lee Corporation in fall 2004.
From the November/December 2005 issue of Diversity & The Bar®