Diversity Recruitment Initiatives
Diversity and inclusion at every level—partner, associate, or staff—is critical to the firm’s mission of developing and delivering the highest quality legal services.
Steve D’Amore, Winston’s Chairman
Diversity Recruitment Initiatives
Diversity and inclusion at every level—partner, associate, or staff—is critical to the firm’s mission of developing and delivering the highest quality legal services.
Steve D’Amore, Winston’s Chairman
Winston engages in a variety of successful outreach efforts to further increase our recruitment of diverse lawyers. One of our recruiting goals is to have the representation of diverse law students in our summer associate classes meet or exceed National Association for Law Placement (NALP) averages for a firm of our size. We have achieved and surpassed this goal for three consecutive years.
Winston is focused on ensuring all diverse junior associates not only have the opportunity to work on exciting, high-profile matters but also receive the mentorship and sponsorship from firm partners that is critical to realizing their highest potential.
Angela A. Smedley, Co-Chair, Black Lawyers Network
On Campus
We partner with women, minority, and LGBTQ+ students at a number of targeted law schools by sponsoring events and providing monetary support, conducting mock interviews, reviewing and critiquing resumes, and organizing panel discussions.
Winston sponsors and participates in recruiting events and career fairs sponsored by:
- Black Law Students Association
- Latino/a Law Students Association
- National LGBT Bar Association
- DC Diversity Consortium
- UCLA Law Fellows
We hire several law students each year through the 1L Leadership Council for Legal Diversity (LCLD) Scholars program. Nine 1L LCLD Scholars, from top law schools across the country, participated in our 2024 summer program. To provide our Scholars with “real-world” experience, they spend part of the summer working with one of our clients.
Every summer, we also host an LCLD 1L Scholars roundtable that provides professional development and networking opportunities for the cohort.
Additionally, 1L and 2L students who summer with Winston have multiple opportunities to interact with our firmwide affinity groups. These groups play a critical role in the recruitment, advancement, and retention of diverse lawyers throughout the firm.
Diversity Scholarship Program
The Winston & Strawn LLP Diversity Scholarship is designed to increase diversity within our firm and the legal profession. Each year, Winston awards Diversity Scholarships of $50,000 (less applicable withholdings and taxes) directly to selected 2L students who are participating in our U.S. Summer Associate Program to help them offset the expense of their legal education.
Lateral Hiring
Winston was an early adopter of the Mansfield rule, which measures, among other things, whether law firms have affirmatively considered broad slates of qualified candidates for lateral hiring and leadership roles.
Winston has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus every year since its inception in 2017. The “Plus” designation is awarded only to those firms that actually achieve diverse representation in their leadership ranks.