Perkins Coie Recognized by Microsoft as “Top Performing” Diverse Law Firm for 2020

SEATTLE (October 1, 2020) - Perkins Coie is honored to be recognized by Microsoft Corporation as the global technology company's top performing diverse law firm of 2020 as part of Microsoft's Law Firm Diversity Program (LFDP). The program, which was initiated by Microsoft in 2008, seeks to address and advance diversity in the legal industry.

Microsoft awarded Perkins Coie its "Top Performer" status as the law firm that made the greatest gains across the program's diversity benchmarks. Microsoft's LFDP is an annual incentive-based program that rewards participating law firms for increasing diversity with a specific focus on diverse attorneys working on Microsoft matters, as well as diversity within the law firm's partnership and executive management team.

"Microsoft is a decisive leader on advancing diversity and inclusion within the U.S. legal industry, and we are deeply honored to be recognized as Microsoft's most diverse law firm," said Genhi Givings Bailey, Perkins Coie's chief diversity & inclusion officer. "Microsoft's Law Firm Diversity Program is helping to drive positive change and opportunity in the legal industry for women and historically underrepresented attorneys. Perkins Coie is committed to playing its part to improve diversity and inclusion within the legal industry, because as a business imperative we know that diverse teams deliver more insightful and effective counsel for our clients, and it is simply the right thing to do."

"Microsoft's Law Firm Diversity Program has been a catalyst for real, demonstrable change in the legal industry with respect to improving diversity and inclusion, and we're thrilled to receive this important recognition," said Judy Jennison, a partner in Perkins Coie's Intellectual Property practice and the firm's client lead with Microsoft. "While we are seeing positive change across the industry, we fully agree with Microsoft that there is still much more progress to be made to advance the legal careers and opportunities for women and historically underrepresented attorneys."

Microsoft noted that the firm has "achieved impressive progress against LFDP program goals growing diverse attorney hours on Microsoft matters by 12.3 percentage points from 56.7% to 69%." It also underlined that the firm has made significant progress in diverse representation on its management committee, with over 64% of committee members identifying as women, minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and veterans.

Perkins Coie has made significant progress over the past decade toward building a diverse and inclusive culture. The firm's most recent partner class was 41% women and 22% lawyers of color.

The firm is committed to racial equality and has announced that it will donate $2.5 million dollars over the next five years to groups that promote racial equality through legal representation, policy advocacy, and community-based activities. Perkins Coie is also taking additional actions to further improve racial equality and justice.