I, Rich Sorota, personally commit to the following:

Personal Commitments

• Seek out and listen to our firm’s diverse lawyers and staff, and work hard to gain a better understanding of the challenges we face at creating an inclusive culture.
• Use my position and voice at Miller Johnson and throughout the communities we serve to advocate for DE&I.
• Use my position among my firm’s leadership to advocate for changes to improve the equity of processes such as work assignments, hiring and compensation.
• Foster a Miller Johnson culture in which all team members (a) feel valued, respected, and able to bring their whole selves to work; (b) are encouraged to share diverse views and perspectives as well as learn from one another; and (c) have confidence in, and trust their leaders.
• Review and share DE&I goals and data with firm management so that everyone has visibility into the goals we set, the progress we have made, any setbacks we may experience, and the areas that require attention.
• Serve as a sponsor for diverse Miller Johnson team members to identify and create opportunities, share and collaborate on client and community initiatives, and advocate for the advancement of diverse team members within the firm.
• Meet with LCLD Fellows and Pathfinders for updates about their experiences at Miller Johnson and, for current participants, their feedback on LCLD programming.
• Continue to solicit feedback from all team members regarding our ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts.

Organizational Commitments

• Practice Group Leaders will include clear, demonstrable, and time-bound SMART goals in their Action Plans to increase DE&I.
• Our Recruiting Committee will reach out to different diversity affinity groups to foster relationships and increase diversity in our candidate hiring pool.
• We will make it a point to look to the LCLD directory when we get requests for legal referrals.
• Make a commitment to having at least one previous participant in each of the LCLD Pathfinders and Fellows programs attend the annual meeting or other LCLD conferences.
• Recruit diverse law school students to gain substantive legal experience through assisting attorneys with Miller Johnson’s “Project Giveback” program and ensure that all summer associates, newly hired attorneys, and staff have an opportunity to engage in this work.
• We will create and maintain a list of diverse vendors at each of Miller Johnson’s offices and commit to utilizing those vendors when outside services are needed.
• We will seek to provide meaningful opportunities to businesses with diverse ownership as our vendors and suppliers.
• We will develop SMART goals and metrics surrounding the retention and promotion of diverse team members at Miller Johnson and hold ourselves accountable for meeting those goals and metrics.
• We will continue to expand our “Project Giveback” program, which is a pro bono service providing access, resources, and solutions to those in the community historically underserved by the legal system.
• We will continue to encourage all Miller Johnson team members to donate their time volunteering throughout Michigan on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and throughout the year.
• We will host facilitated dialogues through our “conversations for change” initiative amongst all team members.