As a certified Women Business Enterprise, diversity is a long-standing core value at Stokes Lawrence. We view inclusion, equity, and diversity as a business imperative and believe that diverse teams of lawyers and staff create a stronger, more resilient organization that produces better results for our clients.
Mission
Stokes Lawrence is committed to developing, retaining, and promoting lawyers, leaders and staff with diverse backgrounds and experiences and to creating an equitable and inclusive culture. To us, diversity encompasses characteristics including race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, socio-economic status, and family and marital status. We promote and embrace such diversity because it is our responsibility to do so, and because it is vital to the success of our clients, our organization and our broader community.Objectives
Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee recommends and implements strategies and practices that advance our firm’s strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. The DEI committee includes shareholders, associates, human resources, staff of all levels, and the firm’s managing shareholder. The firm’s DEI work includes:- Educating ourselves on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion;
- Recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse attorneys and staff and investing in the pipeline to diversify the legal profession;
- Mentoring our attorneys;
- Creating and maintaining a climate of respect and collaboration;
- Contributing to these efforts financially and through pro bono work and community service;
- Continuing transparency about firm financials and about policies related to pay and promotion; and,
- Acknowledging that we can always do more and better.
Recruitment and Retention
To encourage diversity in the legal profession, we support several initiatives that offer access to education and strengthen the pipeline of diverse students within our legal community.1L Diversity Scholarships: Each year the firm awards a $1,500 scholarship to a first-year law student from a diverse background at each of the three law schools in Washington State (University of Washington, Seattle University and Gonzaga University). In addition to the financial award, we often meet personally with our scholarship applicants and have gone on to hire one of our recipients as an associate attorney following their graduation from law school.
Gregoire Fellows Program: The Gregoire Fellows Program was formed with the goal of bringing greater diversity to the legal profession. In addition to scholarships, stipends and mentorship, Fellows spend the summer following their first year of law school working 10 weeks, split between at least two work settings (corporate legal departments, governmental agencies and a Seattle law firm).
High School Staff Internships: We have also partnered with Rainier Scholars to host a high school student for a summer internship. Rainier Scholars is a Seattle-based, 12-year program that “offers a pathway to college graduation for hard-working, low-income students of color.” Our participation with the program replaces our past involvement with the King County Bar Association’s Future of the Law Institute (FLI), an outreach program designed to expose high school students from diverse backgrounds to careers in the legal profession.
Retention: At Stokes Lawrence, we're proud of our congenial relationships and the respect our employees show to each other. Maintaining an atmosphere of openness, equity and inclusion is fundamental to our culture. We embrace the diverse backgrounds of all our employees. Each individual's unique perspective is a valued contribution toward our common goal of providing clients with exceptional service. We actively fund and encourage our attorneys’ involvement in Washington State Minority Bar Associations (MBAs) and other organizations, including the following:
- Latina/o Bar Association of Washington
- Loren Miller Bar Association
- Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association
- Washington Women Lawyers
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Filipino Lawyers of Washington
- Asian Bar Association of Washington
- Joint Asian Judicial Evaluations Committee
- National Filipino American Lawyers Association
- QLAW - The LGBTQ+ Bar Association of Washington
- NAIOP Diversity & Inclusion Committee
- Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW)
- KCBA’s Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon Committee
- Diversity Committee, WSBA
*Our Management Team includes the Executive Committee, Finance Committee and Staff Managers. Members of the Executive Committee and Finance Committee change every 2-3 years.
We have been recognized by Seramount as a Top 50 Best Law Firms for Women and Diversity and by Law360 in their annual Ceiling Smashers report.
Click here to learn more about our firm's gender equity.
