Ulmer & Berne
Headquarters: Cleveland, Ohio Industry: Law Firm CEO: Scott P. Kadish, Managing Partner
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We believe our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion enhances our ability to serve our clients and makes our firm a better place to work for our attorneys and staff. Our clients rely on us to find solutions to complex issues. Celebrating our differences and cultivating a diverse workforce leads to a diversity of approaches, ideas, opinions and thoughts.
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2023 First Quarter
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Alvin E. Mathews, Jr., Chief Diversity Officer
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Credentials: J.D., Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law; A.B., Miami University Philosophy: We are better equipped to achieve our goals and conquer our challenges in society at large or within organizations when we harness the drive, creativity, and diversity of all who are able and willing to contribute to the common good.
Ulmer & Berne hosted a variety of internal and external educational program and events for clients and friends to promote and celebrate diversity including a webinar on understanding race and racism, a webinar on the state of LGBTQ equality in Ohio and a discussion on Roe v. Wade and on constitutional rights. In addition, Ulmer & Berne sponsored and participated in a number of important external events including the 27th Annual Human Rights Council Greater Cleveland Dinner, the YWCA Greater Cincinnati Racial Justice Breakfast, and the Cleveland International Film Festival, where it sponsored a screening of “Refuge,” which documents the lives of a white supremacist and a Kurdish doctor as they intersect. In honor of Veterans Day the firm prepared care packages and notes of encouragement for the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, an Ohio-based Army unit that deployed to Iraq in November. It also added a number of diverse attorneys to Ulmer’s team and officially began the process to achieve the Mansfield Certification by the end of 2023. In an effort to better capture our internal metrics, the firm updated HR forms to ask employees about their gender identities (including pronoun preferences), disabilities, veteran status, and other categories considered historically underrepresented populations. It is also dedicated to measuring DEI efforts, improving partner participation in DEI events and creating relationships with schools and recruiters to bolster diverse hiring.
www.diversityjournal.com
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o Ulmer & Berne, diversity and inclusion is a core value embedded in its culture. It has a plan to promote DEI at every level and it shows by the work it does inside of the firm, with clients and its external partners in the community. The Plain Dealer gave Ulmer & Berne, a firm of 318 employees, one of its Top Workplaces in Northeast Ohio Award in 2021 and in 2022. DEI is promoted at every level from employees to management. Four of the members of the management committee also sit on the DEI committee and the committee reports its progress to firm leaders. Employees are kept abreast through special announcements, programming events, its extensive diversity brochure and social media spotlights. The firm insists on putting diversity into action. It has used a consultant to refine its strategic plan and help bolster the firm’s DEI efforts. It hosted an awardwinning, four-part webinar series called “Stop the Hate,” designed to examine the rise of hate and bigotry in society and find solutions. It’s held a firm-wide training with a diversity leader on unconscious bias and hosted a diversity champions panel discussion on DEI at the Columbus office.
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– Scott P. Kadish, Managing Partner