I, Eric Friedman, personally commit to the following:

Personal Commitment:

• Communicate to the firm community our racial equity and inclusion strategy, which was recently emboldened by the global response to anti-Black racism, to support, develop and advance attorneys from underrepresented backgrounds, including attorneys of color, women and LGBTQ attorneys, consistent with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
• Use my platform as the leader of one of the world’s largest law firms to advocate for systemic changes to uproot racial inequity in our society.
• Sponsor the career development of attorneys from underrepresented backgrounds each year (with an expected ongoing relationship with all participants) at Skadden.
• Periodically meet with our junior partners from underrepresented backgrounds to hear about their experiences developing their practice, and perspectives on ways the firm/I can support their development and leadership goals.
• Meet twice a year with LCLD Fellows and Pathfinders for updates about their experiences at our firm and, for current participants, their feedback on LCLD programming.
• Engage with our senior partners about the value and importance to the firm of their active support of DEI, particularly with respect to their sponsorship and mentorship of attorneys of color and women attorneys at the firm.
• Speak with LCLD member colleagues about opportunities to collaborate on initiatives (e.g., mentorship or sponsorship) that support our mutual objectives to develop, retain and advance talented attorneys from underrepresented backgrounds at our respective organizations.

Organizational Commitment:

• Commit firm resources to assess our key talent management processes, particularly, recruiting, work allocation, performance feedback (including our processes for measuring core competencies by level and capturing upward feedback) and education and learning programs, to improve diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Provide attorneys with billable hours equivalent credit for eligible activities/leadership that advance the firm's citizenship priorities, including efforts in furtherance of our diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
• Promote leadership and partner accountability by implementing an annual DEI action planning process for our practice groups.
• Expand metrics used to assess and recognize partner contributions to DEI, including diversity of client matter teams and upward feedback results.
• Ask partners to add DEI to the meeting agenda for any “relationship review meetings” with clients and explore client interest in collaborating on DEI projects.
• Develop a framework to focus on DEI for our professional staff, including increasing diversity at the senior levels of our professional staff through development, promotion and hiring.