To achieve your D&I goals and objectives, we provide the following services:

• Advice and counseling
• D&I culture assessments and audits
• Workplace policy development and drafting
• Individualized training to both employees and management
• Development of training materials for “train-the-trainer” programs conducted internally by the company
• Recommendation of third-party vendors who provide effective & specialized D&I services or training
• Crisis management and planning
• Targeted litigation defense

Further, our attorneys are well-versed in designing and implementing individualized plans tailored to your organization to improve the workplace and minimize risk. Our individualized plans may include the following:

• Conducting Culture Assessments and Developing Goals and Metrics
  • We perform a culture assessment of your organization to identify any patterns or imbalances that may hinder the development or maintenance of a diverse and inclusive workplace.
  • We identify disparities and analyze the data to determine all issues and how to best determine success while operating under the attorney-client privilege.
  • Your managers can feel free to ask our attorneys candid questions about D&I initiatives and promoting legal compliance in your organization.
  • We then help your organization develop a clear strategy, goals, and metrics to address any disparities and to minimize risk.
• Planning
  • Working with your teams, we develop a plan to reach your diversity goals and to revitalize workplace practices where needed to assure D&I success and to reduce legal and compliance risk.
• Training
  • We develop individualized training programs which take into consideration your unique culture and goals.
  • We conduct unconscious bias training.
  • Our training programs incorporate the most recent changes to employment laws, and we continually revise the training to ensure your understanding of all laws and regulations is up-to-date.
  • Our experienced team of attorneys can provide training for your organization, or develop a program your organization can utilize to train its own employees.
• Crisis Management and Litigation Defense
  • Our team will be with you every step of the way, from the planning stages through implementation and maintenance of your program.
  • We work with you to ensure your employment policies and procedures are up to date and take into consideration all recent changes to workplace laws and regulations.
  • We work with you on crisis intervention and management, and when needed, we provide effective litigation defense.

Our goal at Jackson Walker is to see our clients succeed. With a robust D&I strategy and plan, companies can demonstrate to their employees and the general public their commitment to D&I, and better attract and retain talent with a diverse set of skills and expertise to the benefit of its business.

• Provide culture assessments to identify DEI gaps in the workplace, and develop recommendations to address shortcomings
• Provide counsel on legally compliant methods to obtain employee identification data needed to assess diversity metrics
• Provide counsel on the development of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action plans
• Design and facilitate customized DEI trainings and presentations, such as the impact of unconscious bias in performance reviews
• Develop company policies and procedures that integrate DEI best practices and ensure legal compliance with employment workplace laws
• Provide immigration counsel for the creation of DEI recruitment, retention and promotion strategies geared toward companies employing foreign nationals to ensure compliance with immigration laws and regulations
• Advise community boards on effective strategies to increase diversity of board membership
• Assist in the development of employee resource groups, which are groups that provide opportunities for employees of similar race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or abilities to formally gather for social and professional development
• Keep clients up-to-date on changes in employment laws and regulations impacting DEI in the workplace, and how those changes may impact employer DEI efforts

In addition, our attorneys are involved in the following DEI initiatives in the legal profession as well as in the community:

• Designed and developed DiversePro, a community-focused lawyer directory that makes it easier for individual and business clients to find diverse lawyers with a specific culture, language, or life experience
• Serve as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Asian American Bar Association, and in that role, provide support for the development of programming through the Association’s D&I subcommittee, which is aimed at providing opportunities for Asian American lawyers to be educated on cultural issues in the workplace
• Co-founder of the Coalition of Houston Diverse Bar Associations (“Coalition”). The Coalition is comprised of the seven Houston area minority bar groups. Its mission is to advance diversity in the legal profession by increasing dialogue and interaction among bar associations; identifying areas of common concern and shared goals; creating and implementing initiatives to address common concerns and to achieve shared goals; sharing best practices and resources in bar association programming; and building shared platforms
• Led efforts to develop strategies, policies, and practices to help increase diversity of federal judges on the Houston federal bench
• Spearheaded effort to identify diversity and inclusion gaps in Houston Bar Association programming and developed recommendation to increase diversity
• Developed and recommended programming to increase diversity among membership and participation within the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation
• Chair the board of the West Orem Family YMCA, which is focused on serving the needs of a predominately Black and Latino under-resourced community through equitable programming and services