Women’s Working Group
Our Women’s Working Group includes female lawyers of varying practice areas and levels of seniority, including associates, senior attorneys, counsel and partners. The Women’s Working Group sponsors periodic training sessions on career networking and professional development skills, networking receptions with senior female clients, lunch discussions with a variety of speakers, events with Cleary Gottlieb alumnae and other events to foster a sense of community and maintain a support network for female lawyers at the firm.
Outreach to Law Students
Cleary Gottlieb hosts a series of on campus fireside chats with affinity groups, including African-American, Latino, Asian-American, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, gay and lesbian and other minority law student associations at various law schools. These provide a forum for discussion on issues facing, and opportunities available to, minorities in large law firms. In addition, we participate in the Northeast BLSA, the Mid Atlantic BLSA and the Harvard BLSA job fairs as well as the Washington Area Legal Recruitment Administrators Association (WALRAA) Diversity 8-Minute Networking Event and Reception, the WALRAA Annual Summer Associate Diversity Reception, the George Washington University 1L Lambda Law Networking Reception, the Harvard BLSA Spring Conference and the DC Road Show. Our lawyers also participate on numerous diversity panels at various law schools throughout the country.
Pipeline Initiatives
Cleary Gottlieb is a participant in and long-time supporter of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a program that provides students of color with legal internships and training prior to their first year of law school, and NYC Legal Outreach, a one-week program designed to give a select group of minority students an introduction to life as a lawyer, including negotiating mock contracts and litigating a case before a group of volunteer “judges.”
In 2008, Cleary Gottlieb became an inaugural participant of SEO in Washington, DC and hosted a panel discussion and reception for all SEO interns in the Washington, DC program.
Washington Irving High School Program
In 1991, Cleary Gottlieb initiated a business "partnership" with Washington Irving High School (WIHS), a New York City public school, to assist in revitalizing the NYC public school system. The partnership allows the firm, as a whole, to participate in community service in an area where there is dramatic need. Our lawyers and non-legal staff help prepare these students for college and for adult life by mentoring, tutoring and advising them. The firm also sponsors annual events to promote the various academic and cultural talents of these students.
A full-time partnership coordinator and a committee composed of lawyers, paralegals and non-legal employees administer the program from the New York office.
In 2008, more than 110 lawyers and staff from all of Cleary Gottlieb’s departments participated in the WIHS partnership, helping more than 450 students. We recently organized our traditional, end-of-the-school-year “Cleary Day” at WIHS. Cleary Gottlieb volunteers joined students and teachers on their campus to take part in team-building activities.
Summer Internship
Cleary Gottlieb has partnered with Credit Suisse and Goldman, Sachs & Co. to provide summer associates of color the opportunity to participate in short-term internships. Summer associates selected for these programs will spend a portion of their summers working with lawyers in the legal and compliance departments at these investment firms.
Open Benefits Policy
To fully support our diverse group of lawyers, we offer liberal maternity and paternity leaves and, when circumstances allow, flexible work schedules to allow for greater ability for our lawyers to spend time with their families. Our benefits policy is open to same-sex couples.
Events Supported by the Firm
Cleary Gottlieb sponsors a number of events throughout the year promoting and celebrating diversity and those who have strived to improve relations among people of difference through the law. Some of the recent events include:
- The Committee on Diversity Issues hosted a Citywide Diversity Reception for lawyers, summer associates, and SEO interns, at which Lisa Kung, Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights was the keynote speaker.
- The Committee on Diversity Issues celebrated Black History Month by organizing events featuring The Honorable David Dinkins (in New York) and Tuskegee Airman Curtis Robinson and author George Norfleet (in Washington, D.C.).
- The Women’s Working Group hosted lunches featuring prominent female speakers, including Stephanie Abramson, a Cleary Gottlieb alumna and general counsel of DoubleClick; Stephanie Nilva, Director of Break the Cycle in New York, a not-for-profit organization devoted to helping youths to live free from domestic and relationship violence that enlists Cleary Gottlieb lawyers to assist in their outreach efforts; Jessica Neuwirth, a former Cleary Gottlieb associate and President of Equality Now, about the organization’s work to protect and promote the human rights of women around the world; and Saira Rao, a former Cleary Gottlieb associate and recent novelist.
- The Committee on Diversity (in Washington, D.C.) sponsored the April and July DC Minority Attorney Networking Series. The overall focus of this group is to provide minority attorneys in law firms, public interest, government and corporations with an opportunity to network, build alliances and form relationships with colleagues in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The April program featured the Honorable Richard W. Roberts of the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia and the July program featured Rhonda S. VanLowe, Principal Legal Counsel of Rolls-Royce North America Inc.
Cleary Gottlieb aims to promote diversity not only within the firm but also within our greater legal community. Over the years, our lawyers have participated in initiatives at various external organizations promoting diversity, including:
American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian & Gay Rights & AIDS Project Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty The Bronx Defenders Career Gear Equal Justice Works (formerly NAPIL)
Hetrick-Martin Institute Human Rights First (formerly Lawyers Committee for Human Rights)
Immigration Equality inMotion (Network for Women’s Services, Inc.)
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction The Japan Society The Korea Society Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund)
Legal Outreach Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Law Association (LeGaL)
MFY Legal Services, Inc. Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund New York Lawyers for the Public Interest New York Women’s Foundation Puerto-Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund Sanctuary for Families Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (Corporate Law Program Internship)
Tahirih Justice Center (Promoting Justice for Women and Girls Worldwide)
Urban Justice Center