Jackson Walker partner Stephanie Chandler served on a panel at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting on June 18-19, 2015, in San Antonio, where she shared insights on best practices for attracting and retaining diverse lawyers.
The presentation was highlighted in a June 23, 2015, Texas Lawyer article titled “Panelists Scrutinize Firms’ Lawyer Diversity.” The panel also included Navin Rao, in-house counsel with Michaels Stores, Inc., and John Trevino with Hewlett-Packard, who discussed how clients are also seeking firms that bring a diversity of perspective to the table. Stephanie shared how Jackson Walker makes a concerted effort to interview and extend offers to a diverse group of lawyers.
As a result of those targeted efforts, Jackson Walker has had considerable success in recruiting, retaining, and advancing a diverse workforce. It is the leading law firm in Texas in promoting women attorneys to partner. According to The Texas Lawbook, between 2012 and 2014, the firm promoted nearly 50 percent more women to partnership than any other Texas law firm. Nearly half of the firm’s associates are women, and half of the attorneys hired by the firm in 2014 were women or minorities. Among the recent accolades the firm has received as a result of its commitment to diversity are:
- Named among the 100 Best Law Firms for Female Attorneys and the 100 Best Law Firms for Minority Attorneys by Law360
- Received the prestigious Thomas L. Sager Award for the South Region from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association in 2014 and was a finalist for the award in 2012 and 2013
- Named a corporate winner of the 2015 YW Mentors and Allies Award by the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas
- For the past three years, ranked among the top five Texas firms in American Lawyermagazine’s Diversity Scorecard, an annual survey of the percentage of minority attorneys and partners at the nation’s largest firms
Stephanie’s practice emphasizes securities transactions, reporting and compliance; mergers and acquisitions; technology licensing and commercialization, and general corporate work. She assists clients with the formation of organizations, public and private offering of securities, governance issues and shareholder proxy contests, as well as Securities Act and Exchange Act compliance matters. Her clients include startup companies commercializing innovations in information technology and biotechnology, private investors and private equity and venture capital firms, and large privately held and publicly traded companies. Industries she serves include oil and gas, software, cloud & cybersecurity, healthcare and life sciences, energy trading, transportation and logistics, and construction.
