Mark Stewart
Chair — Ballard Spahr LLP
I, Mark Stewart, personally commit to the following:
Personal Commitment
- Use every opportunity, both internally and externally, to highlight the Firm’s core principles, including commitment to the development of a diverse workforce in which lawyers and staff from varied perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences have a path to success
- Work closely with the Firm’s Board and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council to promote equity within the Firm and to work with organizations promoting racial equity in the community
- Transition my key clients to lawyers of color whenever possible
- Meet regularly with our lawyers of color with the primary goal of listening to their concerns and suggestions
- Meet quarterly with Ballard’s LCLD Fellow and Pathfinder
- Move out of my comfort zone to seek out lawyers of color at internal and external meetings
Organizational Commitment
- Make no appointments to leadership positions at the Firm without first considering candidates of color – both for positions held by lawyers and those held by administrative leaders – and wherever possible interviewing lawyers of color for such positions
- Closely monitor the transition of client responsibilities to ensure that our practices are equitable and include opportunities for lawyers of color in the transition of clients
- Promote our goal of ensuring that, by 2023, 18.8% of the lawyers in the Firm are lawyers of color
- Ensure that our lawyers and staff of color have appropriate mentors and other career support
- Continue to support the INVEST program and its emphasis on career development opportunities for lawyers from diverse backgrounds
- Implement unconscious bias training for Firm leaders and mandatory diversity education for all lawyers and staff
- Conduct an audit of Firm processes to identify and eliminate racial disparities and other bias
- Consistently achieve Mansfield Certification
- Ensure that partner and associate compensation systems reward diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts
- Support the expansion of the firm's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to include staff