AND SUPPORTIVE CULTURE

Throughout the year, we create moments for members of our firm to pause and purposefully reflect on our unique history and collaborative success, and build opportunities where each member feels a strong sense of belonging and pride in their identity. To facilitate this growth, we’ve implemented the following programs:

DEI Learning Series

We believe that strengthening the diversity of representation within the firm begins with infusing equity and inclusion into our daily practices. For us, we call upon each member of our team to lend a hand in ensuring that everyone feels a sense of value. To give our attorneys and professionals the resources they need to promote an inclusive culture, we began production of our Fostering a Connected Culture video series. The series of learning modules provides educational resources to empower our team to take an active role in supporting an inclusive culture. The series launched in early 2023 and will continue throughout the year.

Extended our Commemorative Heritage Month Celebration and Special Days calendar.

Fostering a more inclusive culture within our firm means recognizing that there are many cultures that make up our own. Our Commemorative Heritage Month and Special Days calendar includes: Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Women’s History Month (including International Women’s Day), Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, Juneteenth, National Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, and Native American Heritage Month. As part of this initiative, we have launched a DEI Quiz Series to complement our Heritage Months and Special Days calendar, in which our attorneys and staff have the opportunity to further learn about cultures in a more interactive fashion. Participants are able to track their progress in the Quiz Series through our completion badges and group awards. Through these cultural spotlights, thoughtful conversations, and interactive activities, our firm works to continue to celebrate what it means to be diverse.

Hosted Roundtable Conversation to support deeper understanding of our storied experiences and ways in which our collective action can advance DE&I.

In June, Balch hosted a firm-wide educational conversation with Atlanta Office Managing Partner Josh Archer and author and journalist Chris Joyner during which we explored the historical accounts of the trials of Clarence Henderson, a wrongfully accused Black sharecropper who was sentenced to death three different times for a murder he did not commit, and the ways in which the NAACP collaborated with esteemed Georgia lawyers to fight for racial and social justice.