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.