I, Todd Eveson, personally commit to the following:

Personal Commitment 

• Use my voice as a leader in my organization, in the legal profession and our community, to advocate for diverse persons and for diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”).
• Facilitate inclusion by ensuring diverse attorneys have leadership opportunities in our firm’s practice groups and standing committees and that our firm leadership pipeline includes diverse lawyers.
• Ensure that DE&I initiatives are a focus of the firm, including emphasizing the import and purpose of these initiatives in regular meetings of our firm’s executive committee, practice group leaders, attorneys and professional staff.
• Use my position among our firm’s leadership to support examination of our hiring, mentoring, evaluation and promotion practices to determine how they support or impede progress, and work with relevant committee and practice group leadership to implement interventions to remove barriers accordingly.
• Discuss with practice group leaders and partners the steps they are personally taking and can take in the future to provide client and pitch opportunities to diverse persons.
• Discuss with our firm’s senior staff, including business development and human resources teams, the steps they are taking to foster diversity and inclusion.
• Speak with LCLD Member colleagues and other law firm managing partners about ideas and programs that support the development, retention and advancement of persons from underrepresented backgrounds at our respective organizations.
• Undertake a bona fide effort to understand the experience of our diverse colleagues, and lead by example by seeking to improve that experience.
• Continue to serve as a member of our firm’s committee working to achieve Midsize Mansfield Rule Certification.

Organizational Commitment 

• Foster an inclusive environment where everyone in the firm, including underrepresented minorities, feels welcomed and supported at work.
• Commit to implementing recommendations from our DE&I Committee and measuring our progress on DE&I initiatives on a quarterly basis.
• Successfully conclude our ongoing Midsize Mansfield Rule Certification process on schedule, and use that process as a baseline for holding ourselves accountable for progress on DE&I within our firm.
• Continue to provide DE&I activities and require regular DE&I training for all attorneys and employees.
• Focus on DE&I in hiring, including in conjunction with our law school and lateral recruiting.
• Continue to sponsor the Wyrick Robbins Diversity Scholarship, to be awarded annually to a diverse first-year law student who will also be offered a summer associate position, career mentoring, and client rotation opportunities.
• Provide meaningful work opportunities with substantive feedback intended to enable the growth and development of diverse colleagues.
• Enhance our mentoring programs to help ensure these opportunities are provided for diverse persons to advance at the firm.
• Sponsor diversity-related organizations, pipeline programs and community organizations that advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal profession and beyond.