Law.com's Daily Report: 2022 Georgia Legal Awards - Diversity Honoree: Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland was honored for the firm's diversity initiatives with a 2022 Georgia Legal Award, a recognition by Law.com's Daily Report. 

The firm's US Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Darwin Conner discussed the initiatives and the challenges the legal industry faces when it comes to the representation of diverse groups. 

"The biggest challenge in the industry (as well as in Georgia) is access to the networks that provide the business needed for attorneys who sit in underrepresented groups to maintain sustained success at the partnership level. This problem ripples through law firms and affects a number of areas, including retention. If senior associates and new partners believe they cannot establish the relationships that lead to long-term business, they look for other opportunities which do not require those connections.

To confront this problem, we (1) seek out and try to create opportunities for our diverse talent to build professional networks, (2) are intentional about making introductions to client stakeholders, assisting with the building and maintaining of those relationships and (3) work carefully on institutionalizing client relationships and are intentional about inclusive succession planning," he said.