Akin Honored with the 2024 PracticePro Diversity Leadership Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 14, 2024
IRVINE, CA – PracticePro has announced Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as the recipient of its 2024 Diversity Leadership Award. Established in 2017, the award highlights law firms and corporate legal departments that are actively working toward a more inclusive legal profession.
The award was presented at the Ninth Annual PracticePro East Coast Career Conference and Diversity Reception, which was attended by over 100 law students, attorneys, corporate executives, and law firm professionals. Akin’s Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Nimesh Patel, accepted the award on behalf of the firm.
“Akin is honored to receive the 2024 PracticePro Diversity Leadership Award. We have long understood the value of DEI in providing outstanding client service and as a keystone for the culture of our firm. We are proud to partner with PracticePro to support DEI in the profession and the development and advancement of the next generation of lawyers,” said Patel.
A four-time recipient of the Women in Law Empowerment Forum’s Gold Standard Certification, Akin is one of the few AmLaw 50 firms led by a female chairperson. For 16 consecutive years, the firm has also achieved a perfect score of 100% on the Corporate Equity Index, a national benchmark measuring corporate policies, practices, and benefits important to LGBTQ+ employees. Additionally, Akin has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus status four times, indicating that the firm has successfully achieved at least 30% underrepresented lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles.
Akin’s commitment to inclusivity extends to empowering law students through various internal initiatives, including the Pro Bono Scholars Program (“PBS”) and Strauss Diversity & Inclusion Scholars Program (“SDIS”). Each year, exemplary students who have completed their first year of law school are chosen to participate in a robust two-summer program which includes working at a firm client or public interest organization their first summer. Akin 1L Scholars also participate in the firm’s Scholar Summit in Washington, D.C., which provides students with training, networking and professional development opportunities.
In addition to its internal diversity and inclusion efforts, Akin heavily invests in pipeline programs like those offered by PracticePro.
“Thanks to the vision and leadership of many individuals, especially Ashley Vinson Crawford, the partner in charge of the firm’s San Francisco office, Akin has played an instrumental role in building PracticePro,” shared PracticePro Founder & CEO, Niki Khoshzamir. “Ten years ago, we started with just 16 students, and have now coached and trained over 4,000 law students through the 1L Diversity Scholar Program, Law School MasteryÒ, and our annual career conferences.”
Previous recipients of the PracticePro Diversity Leadership Award include: Haynes and Boone, LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; the Google Legal Summer Institute; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, and Jackson Walker LLP.
PracticePro is an EdTech social enterprise. Through e-training, career coaching, and scholarship programs, it strives to make the transition from law school to practice easier for new attorneys. For more information, visit www.practicepro.cc.