Carrington Coleman is committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workforce. The firm was one of the first in Dallas to hire women attorneys, beginning with the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn in the 1970s. One of our founders, Jim Coleman was honored by the Dallas Women Lawyers Association and the James E. Coleman, Jr., Her Champion Award is awarded annually to a male attorney in recognition of his support and dedication to advancing women in the legal profession. In May 2020, Monica Latin became the firm’s first female Managing Partner.

The firm has a diversity and inclusion policy in place promulgated by its Executive Committee with approval and support of the partnership. Pursuant to that policy, we have an active Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee with membership at both the partner, associate and staff levels that works to create an open working environment where all feel they have a place and can succeed. In addition, we consider diversity an important factor in the selection of experts, court reporters, litigation consultants, and other vendors.

In terms of hiring, we strive to find innovative and creative ways to expand our candidate pool of diverse students in connection with our recruiting efforts. We have sent information about our firm to affinity groups at more than 30 law schools, forwarding our recruiting information and encouraging members to forward their resumes to us for consideration for summer clerkship opportunities. We also participate in regional minority job fairs, including the Sunbelt Minority Job Fair and the Southeastern Minority Job Fair (SEMJF).

The firm also encourages and pays the membership dues for any diverse lawyers wishing to join affinity bar associations such as the National Bar Association, Lambda Legal, Dallas Women Lawyer’s Association, Dallas Asian American Bar Association, Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, and the J. L. Turner Legal Association, and offers its wholehearted support for its attorneys who become involved in such bar activities.

Initiatives

Women’s Business Development

We strive to sponsor women and people of color by helping provide opportunities and resources for developing and maintaining clients. The firm supports various women-to-women networking opportunities, including providing funding for women’s networking events. Women are encouraged to join – with the firm’s monetary support – “women’s organizations” such as the Dallas Women’s Foundation and Attorneys Serving the Community, and many Carrington Coleman lawyers have served in the leadership of such organizations over the years. The current Dallas Women Lawyers Association President, Marisa O’Sullivan, and the Immediate Past President of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, Whitney Keltch Green, are partners at the firm.

In the Community

The firm is dedicated to extending the legal community's reach into the larger community, and it promotes internship opportunities with both local high schools and universities, providing valuable experience to individuals who might not otherwise have had it. Carrington Coleman is a corporate partner of the Paul Quinn College Corporate Work Program throughout the academic year. The program connects students with relevant work opportunities in the DFW area by pairing them with corporate partners.

We also partner with organizations like Community Partners of Dallas, North Texas Food Bank, Reading Partners, the Family Place, and Children's Health for an annual firm-wide service project aimed at assisting the underrepresented and economically disadvantaged in order to do what we can to help create more opportunities for all.

DEI Committee