Events & Partnerships

Change from the Top

Change from the Top invites CEOs and general counsel from organizations across various industries to join MoFo partners in sharing best practices around diversity and inclusion. The program is designed to provide a unique opportunity for leaders across industries to discuss some of the biggest challenges they face in including diversity and inclusion in the hopes of helping organizations create and sustain more inclusive work environments. Topics include:

• Diversity and inclusion in an increasingly global context
• Diversity within the talent pipeline
• Inclusion and how to sustain a culture of allyship within your organization

These workshops covered concrete steps that organizations are taking to diversify their workforce, and the implications of the California board - diversity requirements. We recently featured author Safiya Umoja Noble, who presented on “Algorithmic Bias” — the problem of bias influencing artificial intelligence and other systems that rely on algorithms — and what organizations are doing to identify and reduce that bias.

MoFo’s Diversity Summit

Since the early 1990s, the firm has hosted biennial professional development workshops designed for our U.S.-based attorneys of color and, in 2014, were expanded to include LGBTQ+ lawyers. The workshops gather attorneys from across the firm’s domestic offices for a two-day program of professional development, diversity-related trainings, speakers, panels, and opportunities to build firm relationships and network. They also provide an occasion to update associates on firmwide diversity and inclusion initiatives and solicit feedback. Past workshops have explored topics such as understanding and uncovering implicit bias, improving communication skills with clients, and building your personal brand.

A recent Diversity Summit theme, “Putting Our Stories to Work,” represented how we use storytelling to draw connections among our colleagues and clients. When we bring our whole selves to work, we enrich our collective experience and become stronger. At MoFo, our diversity is the reason for our success.

The two-day event explored personal journeys to partnership, successful mentor/sponsor partnerships, and professional development, with features such as business development sessions on building your network and pitching to clients, and effective communication workshops.

Out Leadership

MoFo is proud of its longstanding partnership with Out Leadership, the global LGBT+ business network dedicated to helping Out Leaders and organizations realize the economic growth and talent dividend derived from inclusive business.

Partnership with Keep Company

Keep Company is a coaching program specifically designed for parents and caregivers in the legal industry. Rooted in the science of behavior change, the program provides participants with resources to navigate work and family responsibilities. Our attorneys and business professionals are matched into groups based on their work functions, level of care, personal identity, and schedules to generate customized content facilitated by an expert coach on a biweekly basis for three months. 

Partnership with Diversity Lab’s Legal Innovators

With respect to lateral recruitment, MoFo partnered with Diversity Lab’s Legal Innovators as part of its commitment to remove barriers for talent. Legal Innovators is an alternative legal service provider that connects underrepresented, high-quality junior talent to corporate legal departments and big law firms for a two-year work-based program. 

Leadership Council on Legal Diversity

Our firm has been an active participant with Leadership Council on Legal Diversity since 2009. Additionally, the firm has participated in the landmark fellows’ program each year since its inception in 2011, with one of our lawyers participating as a fellow each year, and multiple summer associates participating in LCLD’s 1L Scholars program. Over the years, our firm has received a Compass award and has been recognized as both a Top Performer and Leader at the Front.  

Black In-House Counsel Network

The Black In-House Counsel (BIHC) Network works with legal departments and law firms to advance Diversity and Inclusion in the legal profession. A key part of their mission is to showcase the talents of leading lawyers of color in top law firms. 

MoFo partners regularly speak at BIHC’s Elevating Black Excellence Virtual Summit, which showcases Black law firm partners before an audience of influential in-house counsel. Topics include, “Patent Litigation Trends” and “Navigating Employment Law Issues.”