Commitment

At Heller Ehrman, we believe that a more diverse group of attorneys and staff will bring more varied experiences and perspectives to our work, leading to more innovative solutions and better service for our clients. Imperative to our commitment to providing excellent legal services is attracting and retaining a talented and diverse group of attorneys and staff. To that end, we have implemented several initiatives and committed to several programs, including:

Heller Ehrman Diversity Fellowship: In each of the past three years, we have awarded four fellowships to students who have completed their first year of law school and who show promise of contributing meaningfully to the diversity of the legal profession. Each fellowship recipient receives a summer associate position and a $7,500 scholarship for the following academic year.

Opt-In Project: Our Gender Diversity Committee has initiated a nationwide effort to address the phenomenon of women who obtain the highest levels of education, enter the workforce in record numbers and then choose to "opt-out" of their professional careers. Our firmwide Opt-In Project addresses the retention and promotion of women within the business and legal communities. The project includes a series of roundtable discussions and lectures featuring leaders from different professions, designed to create and identify best practices to increase the number of women in leadership roles.

Mentoring Program: Our Ethnic Diversity Committee has established a formal mentoring program for all attorneys of color and has, in the last year, been participating in the design of a firmwide mentoring program for all attorneys.

Diversity Summit: Our Ethnic Diversity Committee hosts a biannual diversity summit that provides opportunities for all of our minority attorneys to network with one another, talk about issues of particular concern, and discuss and advance various diversity initiatives.

Bar Association Challenges: We are participating in the Bar Association of San Francisco challenge to achieve ambitious diversity goals: 18 percent minority partners and 40 percent minority associates by 2010. We are also a signatory member of the "No Glass Ceiling Initiative," a project of the Bar Association of San Francisco, which calls for annual increases in the number of women partners in participating law firms. In 2005, the project honored Heller Ehrman for our success in promoting more women to shareholder. Heller Ehrman is also a signatory member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Statement of Diversity Principles.

Contributions to Organizations Promoting Diversity Efforts: We invest hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in organizations that strive for civil rights and equal justice. For example, we contribute annually to the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Women's Law Center, the National Hispanic Bar Association, LLAMDA Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Minority Corporate Council Association.

Education and Outreach to Law Schools and the Legal Community: Through a variety of events, including presentations and panel discussions at law schools and conferences, we engage with students and attorneys to help create and maintain diverse and equitable workplaces. Examples include:

• "How To Succeed as a Summer Associate": We presented this program on strategies for success as a summer associate to chapters of the Black Law Students Association at the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Schools.
• "Why Clerk? Views from the Bench": We hosted a panel discussion for students at Columbia and New York University Law Schools featuring Hon. Denny Chin and Hon. Victor Marrero, U.S. District Judges for the Southern District of New York, as well as Hon. Dora Irizarry and Hon. Sterling Johnson, Jr., U.S. District Judges for the Eastern District of New York, Hon. Joesph Greenway, U.S. District Judge for New Jersey, and Hon. Gerald Bruce Lee, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Among the event co-sponsors were the schools' Asian Pacific American Law Students Associations (APALSA), Black Law Students Associations (BLSA), Latina/o Law Students Associations (LALSA) and Native American Law Students Associations (NALSA).
• Discussions on the "Opt-Out Revolution": At several law and business schools across the country, we have hosted events to help increase and retain the number of women in the legal profession. Our women attorneys have joined with prominent authors and scholars to sponsor programs at law, business and public policy schools to discuss work/life balance and career strategies for women in private practice. Within the last 12 months, the firm has presented the program to the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the Philadelphia Bar Association and Duke University Law School. Programs are being planned for several East Coast law and graduate schools during fall 2006.
• Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Center for Public Leadership, "Women in Leadership": We were the only law firm invited to participate in and provide a speaker for the Women in Leadership conference at Harvard in spring of 2006. The conference featured leading figures in the women's movement from across the nation.
• Panels and Participation at Diversity Conferences and Job Fairs: Our attorneys regularly speak on panels relating to diversity. Examples this year alone include: the American Bar Association Law Student Division Second Circuit Spring Conference, the Lawyer Roundtable Discussion for the New York Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Program and the Lavender Law Conference. We are a sponsor of diversity conferences including the National Latina/o Law Student Association Conference and the Lavender Law Conference. We also participate in a number of diversity job fairs including the Vault Diversity Job Fair, the National Black Law Student Association Job Fair, the Bar Association of San Francisco Diversity Career Fair and the Northwest Minority Job Fair.