Covington & Burling LLP | Diversity | Recruiting the Best & Brightest

Throughout its history, Covington has sought lawyers who not only uphold our strong commitment to providing the highest quality legal representation to our clients, but also our firm belief in the importance of public service. As an ongoing part of our efforts to recruit lawyers who share these core commitments with us, we are working to increase the numbers of lawyers from diverse backgrounds at all levels of practice. These efforts include:

National and School-Specific Law Student Groups. We support minority, women, and gay student groups at law schools throughout the country, such as the Black Law Students Association, the Latin American Law Students Association, the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the South Asian Law Students Association, and the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. We not only provide financial support to these groups, we also participate in numerous other ways, including speaking on panels regarding law firm life, attending job fairs and conferences, and meeting with law students in informal settings to discuss legal careers and provide counseling on interviewing strategies.

In addition to supporting school-specific affinity group programs, we support national student organizations focused on students of diverse backgrounds. For example, Eric Holder, one of our African American partners, was the keynote speaker at the 2006 National BLSA Hall of Fame Dinner. Raqiyyah Pippins, one of our associates was the 2005-06 Chair of National BLSA. Ms. Pippins was interviewed for an article in The National Law Journal dated November 22, 2005 on her view of diversity from a law student's perspective.

Interviewing Efforts. We make a special effort at all law schools where we recruit to identify and interview as many diverse candidates as possible. We actively utilize our network of faculty contacts to enhance our pool of diverse recruits. Many prominent law faculty began their legal careers at Covington - including Dean Harold Koh at Yale, Dean Christopher Edley at Boalt Hall, and Professors Kenneth Mack at Harvard, Ernest Young at Duke, and Carlos Vazquez at Georgetown, among many others.
Washington DC Road Show. We were one of the founding members of the "Road Show," established three decades ago by the major Washington DC law firms to encourage African American law students to practice in large Washington law firms. At Road Show presentations on law school campuses, we have discussed issues such as handling interviews, managing grades, choosing a practice area, lawyering in Washington, being an African American lawyer in a large law firm, and succeeding in big firms. For a number of years, Michael Baxter, one of our African American partners, has organized the Road Show for all Washington firms.
Special Minority Recruitment Task Force. Our Special Minority Recruitment Task Force focuses on issues of primary concern to minority lawyers, with particular emphasis on increasing the recruitment of minority lawyers. The task force includes a member of our Management Committee, the immediate past hiring partner, and a former head of our summer associate program.
Public Commitments. In Washington, New York, and San Francisco, our firm has joined with other major firms in making public commitments to increase diversity in our ranks. We are a founding member of the District of Columbia Conference on Opportunities for Minorities in the Legal Profession and an original signatory of the conference's Policy Statement Regarding Minority Hiring and Retention. We endorse the New York City Bar Association's Statement of Goals for Increasing Minority Representation and Retention. And we are a charter signatory of the No Glass Ceiling Initiative of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Recruiting Results. The 2008 summer class reflects our continued commitment and focus on increasing the diversity of our lawyers. Nearly half of our 2008 summer associates are women, and one quarter are members of a minority group or are openly gay.

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