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 open to partners, associates, and staff, working to create a welcome working environment where every person feels 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 a wide array of 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 lawyer wishing to join affinity bar associations such as the National Bar Association, Lambda Legal, Dallas LGBT Bar Association, Dallas Women Lawyer’s Association, Dallas Asian American Bar Association, Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, and the J. L. Turner Legal Association. We commit sponsorship funds and actively participate in events hosted by these allied bars. In 2024, we are hosting the DBA Equality Committee’s Privilege & Perspective event, dedicated to exploring issues in our local legal community that act as barriers to participation by attorneys and students from all backgrounds.

Initiatives

Women’s Business Development

We strive to sponsor women 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 – organizations that seek to elevate women, including the Dallas Women Lawyers' Association, 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.

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. A recent summer intern is now attending law school locally and staying connected to the Firm.

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 in our own community.

DEI Committee