Diversity

• APCares: Supports parents and caregivers by providing relevant programs and content, collegial support communities and firm resources.
• APSoloAlliance: Connects and supports those who are living alone or may feel isolated.
• Attorney Community Championing Our Racial Diversity (ACCORD): Hosts professional development, networking, social, and community service events, and plays an active role in the recruitment, mentoring, retention, and professional development of racially and ethnically diverse attorneys.
  
  
  • Black Lawyers of ACCORD Caucus (BLAC): Champions the success of Black attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
• Veterans and Affiliates Leadership Organization (VALOR): Consists of individuals with and without military experience who desire to focus on improving support for military veterans and reservists
• Pride: Addresses topics of interest to and provides a professional and social network for the firm's LGBTQ attorneys. The group provides mentoring opportunities and sponsors social events and educational opportunities.
• Women's Initiative for Success and Empowerment (WISE): Dedicates its efforts to recruiting, developing, retaining, and advancing women at the firm. Specifically, WISE's steering committee of partners, counsel and associates implements programs focused on leadership training, business development and work-life integration.

Our affinity groups sponsor numerous firmwide events engaging the Arnold & Porter community on a variety of topics. Here are some recent examples:

• Women in Combat Panel Featuring Military Veterans and Reservists (VALOR & WISE)
• A Conversation with Latinx Activist Cristóbal Alex, Senior Advisor to the Biden Campaign (ACCORD)
• Reflection on the Repeal of the Military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy (VALOR & Pride)
• In the Balance: The Promise of Title VII and the LGBTQ Community with Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Attorney and Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal (Pride)
• To the Stars: A Conversation with Pioneering Actor and Social Justice Activist George Takei (ACCORD)

» Contact us to learn more about our affinity groups.

In addition to internal programming, we sponsor external leadership and business development opportunities that expand our attorneys' networks. Among other conferences and programs, our attorneys participate in the Corporate Counsel Women of Color Conference, Corporate Counsel Men of Color Conference, Chart Your Own Course Conference, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity's Fellows and Pathfinders programs, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Annual Conference, National Bar Association Annual Convention, Hispanic National Bar Association Annual Convention, New York City Bar Associate Leadership Institute, and National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Bar Annual Conference (Lavender Law). We regularly partner with clients to ensure that our attorneys—at every stage of their careers—can access client-facing opportunities and hone the skills that will make them invaluable members of our client teams.

To further support our journey toward fuller inclusion, we provide periodic firmwide education and training sessions on topics such as implicit bias, allyship and racial justice. We hold ourselves accountable through a variety of internal and external mechanisms, and we participate in initiatives such as the America Bar Association's Resolution 113 Model Diversity Survey, the ABA's Wellness Pledge and Diversity Lab's Mansfield Rule Certification.

Pro Bono

Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion extends to our pro bono legal work and includes litigation, transactional, regulatory, and public policy advocacy on both systemic and individual levels.

We have a long history of taking on cases to redress injustice, whether in the criminal justice system, protecting the right to vote, defending those wrongly persecuted by the government or protecting immigrants.
–Chairman Richard M. Alexander

Recent Pro Bono Matters

• Black Lives Matter (BLM): Representing BLM DC in a lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of protesters tear-gassed in Washington, DC's Lafayette Square, and BLM 5280 in a lawsuit against the city and county of Denver for police violence in the wake of social justice protests.
• Voting Rights: Successfully challenging the partisan gerrymandering of Pennsylvania's congressional districts; expanding access to voter registration and vote-by-mail in Florida; and dedicating thousands of attorney hours and technical support to Election Protection hotlines to protect the right to vote.
• Reproductive Freedom: Obtaining an injunction on behalf of the City of Baltimore to allow family planning providers that permit abortion referrals as part of pregnancy counseling to continue receiving Title X funds, and by obtaining a jury verdict in favor of Planned Parenthood against anti-abortion activists who engaged in a years-long campaign of fraud and deception to "destroy" the organization.

Community Involvement

We strive to support charitable and nonprofit organizations that celebrate and advance rights for women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, and other communities that can experience marginalization.

To enhance the work of the firm's Community Service Committee and encourage colleagues who wish to give back, the firm instituted an annual day of service which gives each Arnold & Porter attorney and business professional one day a year of paid leave to do volunteer work.