Mountain View, Calif. (November 19, 2014) – Fenwick & West announced today that for the sixth straight year the firm received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality. Fenwick is also recognized as among a small pool of business that offer transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage.
“In order to achieve a perfect score, a company has to show a deep and serious commitment to treating their LGBT employees fairly and equally on the job,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “We also look at whether a company is speaking out in the public square to advocate for LGBT equality here in this country and around the world. Fenwick not only meets these standards, it goes above and beyond the call of duty, making commitment to equality a fundamental aspect of its corporate values."
HRC evaluated 971 businesses in the report, which rates business based on their commitment to LGBT-related practices, including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits, competency programs and public engagement with the LGBT community. Fenwick’s efforts in satisfying all of the criteria results in a 100 percent ranking and the designation as a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality.
“My experience has been that Fenwick really walks-the-walk when it comes to diversity, and I’m proud to be a member of the Fenwick team,” said Diversity & Inclusion Committee co-chair Michael Shuster, who also co-chairs the firm’s life sciences group. “Our diversity helps us serve our clients better, but it’s also a big part of what makes Fenwick unique. I’ve found Fenwick to be a welcoming community where everyone is given equal opportunities to succeed regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender.”
In 2001, Fenwick implemented a formal Diversity & Inclusion Committee to engage in initiatives like the Pride Law Fund, one of the oldest LGBT legal advocacy and education groups in the U.S., internal mentoring programs and affinity group retreats.
“The policies, benefits and practices businesses must implement to earn a perfect score are best-in-class demonstrations of corporate commitments to LGBT workers and the broader community at-large,” according to Human Rights Campaign.
Human Rights Campaign invites American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms and Fortune magazine’s 1,000 largest publicly-traded businesses to participate in the Corporate Equality Index every year. Launched in 2002, the CEI is the nationally-recognized benchmarking report for businesses to gauge their level of LGBT workplace inclusion against competitors.
About Fenwick & West
Fenwick & West provides comprehensive legal services to ground-breaking technology and life sciences companies at every stage of their lifecycle. We craft innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions for established and emerging companies on issues ranging from venture capital, public offerings, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, to intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, antitrust, and employment and labor law. For more than four decades, Fenwick has helped some of the world's most recognized companies become and remain market leaders.