Anastasia D. Kelly
General Counsel
Under Anastasia D. Kelly’s leadership, Sears’ law department has mastered the art of getting everyone in the door. Sears uses a cohesive strategy that reaches out to women and attorneys of color through job banks, web advertising, minority job fairs, and minority attorneys’ own networks. The plan has paid off: Sears’ 76- attorney law department is over 50 percent women and over 17 percent minorities. Even more impressive, of the 20 attorneys in management positions (associate general counsel and higher), 55 percent are women, and 20 percent are minorities.
Sears is both vocal and public about its diversity goals. The law department has its own website that is devoted to diversity. Within the company, diversity has become an integral metric in succession planning, promotion, and assessment, going beyond enforcing diversity and moving toward using it to drive success for all.
With its outside partners, Sears’ law department is equally committed to achieving its diversity goals. Sears works closely with its executive-search firms to consistently provide a diverse slate of candidates. The department’s Diversity Task Force reaches out to minority- and women-owned law firms for outside counsel. At the same time, its general counsel instituted tracking measures for every law firm assignment. With each invoice presented to Sears, the firm must specify the hours billed by minorities and women.
These efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Communicating the value of an inclusive workplace has garnered Sears recognition from minority bar associations, the American Bar Association, and the media.
Return to List of 2001 Award Winners
From the March 2002 issue of Diversity & The Bar®