Chris Yeung is a partner in the firm’s New York office where he represents clients in a wide range of high-stakes and complex litigation, including contractual disputes, corporate governance- and business-related torts, securities actions, trade secret disputes, trade control cases, and white collar defense and investigations.
Mr. Yeung is one of the firm’s hiring partners in New York.
As a hiring partner, what do you believe firms should do to attract and recruit more diverse first-year associate classes?
You have to commit to diversity. Law students are smart and can tell when you're just paying lip-service to diversity. Actions matter. I am proud to say that Covington has committed to diversity in meaningful ways. For example, over the last three years, 19 of the 33 associates promoted to partner at Covington have been women, people of color and LGBT+ individuals. We have delivered unconscious bias training to all U.S. attorneys, and taken a leading role in nationwide diversity initiatives and organizations. These actions clearly demonstrate the firm’s investment in, and commitment to, diversity and inclusion.
How would describe the current state of diversity and inclusion within the legal industry?
We have made progress, but there is much further to go. Opportunities that were available to me were not available to those who are 10-15 years my senior. With regard to Asian-Pacific Americans, the principle issue at law firms appears to be developing and retaining diverse talent. Indeed, I am the first homegrown Asian-Pacific American partner in the New York office. It is a challenging issue because each individual attorney has different circumstances. But the fact that we seem to have a steady supply of talented and diverse law students interested in working in law firms is certainly progress.
What impact, if any, has your ethnicity had on your career as a lawyer?
When I was a mid-level associate, I had a conversation with another Asian associate who bemoaned a perceived lack of partnership opportunities at Covington for Asian associates. That associate soon left the firm. While I did not share the view that my ethnicity impacted my promotion prospects, it was (at the time) a sentiment that was borne more on faith than evidence; Covington did not have many ethnically diverse partners, let alone ones who were home-grown. The firm's efforts to promote diverse partners in the ensuing years made my decision to stay easier.
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