I, Heather Kliebenstein, personally commit to the following:

Personal Commitment

• I commit to using my position to make Merchant & Gould a firm that recognizes, honors, and promotes a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of its operations.
• I will use my position to support and advocate for the development of diverse talent in the field of intellectual property law.
• I will work with the firm’s Recruiting Committee and its Attorney Recruiting Manager to ensure we have diverse candidate pools when hiring talent.
• I will work with the firm’s Executive Committee, Practice Group Leaders, Office Managing Partners, and Chief Diversity Officer to support the professional development of diverse attorneys, helping them thrive in their practices.
• I will meet at least semiannually with the firm’s Fellows, Pathfinders, and Alumni to discuss their experiences within the organization.
• I will consider diverse candidates whenever I am called on to make appointments to firm leadership positions.
• I will meet monthly with the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer to discuss the firm’s DEI initiatives and track its progress on those initiatives.
• I will include a DEI report on the agenda of the Board’s quarterly meetings.

Organizational Commitment

• The firm will create an internal process to evaluate client teams for diversity to identify both successes and opportunities for improvement. 
• The firm will monitor its compensation and origination credit processes to ensure they are equitable.  
• The firm will prepare an annual Diversity Action Plan to set goals and measure progress toward achieving those goals.
• The firm will support scholarship programs for law students from diverse and historically underrepresented backgrounds.
• The firm will work to achieve Mansfield Certification Plus on an annual basis.  
• The firm will commit resources to support participation the LCLD’s Fellows and Pathfinder programs.