Diversity
Diversity at Bodman
Bodman is committed to diversity in the workplace at all levels of the Firm, from staff positions through the partnership ranks. Our commitment to diversity means equal opportunity for all attorneys and staff members without regard to race, gender, color, national origin, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation, as well as fostering a collegial and respectful working environment in which each person is encouraged and assisted in reaching his or her fullest potential.
This commitment to diversity guides Bodman’s efforts to recruit, retain and advance the best and brightest law school graduates, lateral partners and associates.
A Diversity Committee advises the Firm’s Executive Committee on a broad range of diversity issues and is charged with developing diversity initiatives. At Bodman, we believe that diversity promotes a richer environment that produces the progressive and creative thinking essential to providing the best legal services.
The Results of Our Diversity Commitment
Bodman’s demonstrated commitment to diversity can be measured in decades. Over the years, that commitment to diversity has resulted in many programs and policies that are designed to promote inclusiveness and equal opportunity both within the Firm and within the legal profession as a whole. Examples of Bodman’s activities to promote diversity include the following:
Bodman Scholarship
Since 1971, Bodman has awarded a scholarship each year to an outstanding minority student entering his or her second year of law school at Wayne State University. To date, the Firm has made 36 such awards.
Reduced Hours Policy
For many years, the Firm has allowed attorneys to work reduced hours to help them balance the responsibilities of meeting their family or other personal needs with the pursuit of a full and rewarding legal career. Implementing the reduced hours policy has at times been a challenging task but the reward of having the “best” is worth the effort.
Bodman has both partners and associates currently working under reduced hours arrangements. Some associates working under reduced hours arrangements have become partners while continuing their reduced hours arrangements. Bodman’s practice has been to review and reward persons working under reduced hours arrangements using the same criteria which are applied when evaluating any other Bodman attorney.
Requests for reduced hours are evaluated on a case by case basis by an advisory committee, composed primarily of partners who have successfully worked a reduced schedule, which was established to help implement successful arrangements.
Participation in Wolverine Bar Program
Bodman participates in the Wolverine Bar Association’s summer internship program to increase minority representation in its annual summer associate class. The Wolverine Bar Association is a Detroit-based predominately African-American association founded in the 1930s. Bodman has extended offers of full-time employment to five minority candidates from the Wolverine program, and hired four, after their participation in the summer program.
In addition, two Bodman associates, with the full support of the Firm, currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Wolverine Bar Association.
Diversity Training
Bodman has hosted speakers on diversity issues and has sponsored in-house diversity training programs. Most recently, the firm hosted Christopher Johnson, Vice President and General Counsel of General Motors-North America, who addressed the entire legal staff and senior managers on “The Business Case for Diversity.”
Bodman also retained Creative Cultural Changes, LLC, a leading consultant to law firms, to conduct an extensive internal diversity study and prepare a report and recommendations. As a result of that study, the Firm conducted formal diversity training sessions for the entire legal staff and senior managers.
Promoting Women
Bodman has actively promoted women to management positions. Three women partners serve as practice group chairs or co-chairs and a woman partner sits on our six-member Office of the Executive. In addition, the Firm’s Executive Director, and a majority of our departmental directors and managers, are women.
Strategic Alliance with Kilpatrick & Associates
As part of our commitment to promote diversity within the legal profession, Bodman has formed a strategic alliance with Kilpatrick & Associates, a corporate law firm with special expertise in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. Kilpatrick & Associates is a NAMWOLF member and qualifies as a minority-owned firm under Michigan Minority Business Development Council guidelines.
The alliance allows Kilpatrick & Associates to offer significantly expanded services to its corporate clients while maintaining its culture as a minority-owned firm. It also exposes the firm’s younger attorneys to experienced practitioners in new areas of legal expertise so that they will be able to handle sophisticated matters more quickly than their peers at competing law firms.
