(Photo: Aleks_Shutter/Shutterstock.com)More of Atlanta's Big Law Firms Ace LGBTQ-Equality Rating
While many big firms had a perfect score, others lost points for lacking nondiscrimination standards for outside vendors or lacking an LGBTQ employee group or diversity council.
January 23, 2020 at 03:29 PM
3 minute read
More big law firms in Atlanta scored a perfect mark this year in a rating of LGBTQ protection and inclusion policies.
Of the 164 Am Law 200 firms assessed nationally, 32 with an Atlanta presence scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index, released this week. That was an increase from 27 firms in 2019. Two new entrants to the Atlanta market, Akerman and Shook Hardy & Bacon, achieved perfect scores, while three other firms increased their scores to 100: Baker & Hostetler, Cozen O'Connor and Greenberg Traurig.
Overall, there were 40 law firms with an Atlanta location that participated in the voluntary survey, which assesses how supportive the nation's 200 largest law firms, Fortune 500 companies and other large workplaces are of their LGBTQ employees.
A common area where firms lost points was lacking nondiscrimination standards for outside vendors. Some firms lost points for lacking an LGBTQ employee group or diversity council, while others lost points for not providing medical and soft benefits to LGBTQ domestic partners (although they did provide them for spouses).
The Corporate Equality Index evaluates firms in five broad areas pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity protections: nondiscrimination policies, employment benefits, education and training for LGBTQ inclusion, public commitment to LGBTQ equality and responsible citizenship.
A total of 130 law firms this year nationally earned a perfect score, among 686 businesses overall. That contrasts with only 13 top-rated companies in 2002, the year that HRC started publishing the Corporate Equality Index. The group has steadily broadened the requirements for a perfect score during that time, with a recent focus on transgender inclusion. The number of participants also has increased.
"In this time, the corporate community has worked with us to adopt LGBTQ-inclusive policies, practices and benefits, establishing the Corporate Equality Index as a primary driving force for LGBTQ workplace inclusion in America and across the globe," said the Human Rights Campaign's president, Alphonso David, in a statement.
"These companies know that protecting their LGBTQ employees and customers from discrimination is not just the right thing to do—it is also the best business decision," David said.
Jackson Lewis, a new survey participant, scored 95, as did Hunton Andrews Kurth and McGuire Woods. (The latter increased its score to 95 from 80 in 2019.)
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz and Burr & Forman scored 90, while Barnes & Thornburg scored 80. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough scored 75, and Fisher & Phillips scored 60.
All seven Atlanta-based firms that participated scored 100. They are: Alston & Bird; Eversheds Sutherland; Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton; King & Spalding; Morris Manning & Martin; Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; and Troutman Sanders.
The 25 other firms in Atlanta scoring 100 are: Akerman; Baker & Hostetler; Ballard Spahr; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Carlton Fields; Cozen O'Connor; Dentons; DLA Piper; Duane Morris; Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner; Fish & Richardson; Fox Rothschild; Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani; Greenberg Traurig: Holland & Knight; Kutak Rock; Littler Mendelson; Locke Lord; Paul Hastings; Polsinelli; Seyfarth Shaw; Shook Hardy & Bacon; Squire Patton Boggs; Thompson Hine; and Womble Bond Dickinson.
This story has been updated to reflect that this was not the first year that Kutak Rock scored 100 on the Corporate Equality Index. Rather, the firm has scored 100 since 2015.
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