Diversity

Statement of Principle

We value highly the varied perspectives and experiences which are found only in a diverse workplace. Our firm recognizes that diversity produces a broader and richer environment which results in more effective and creative business solutions for the firm and its clients.

How We Achieve Diversity

Maintaining and expanding the diversity of the firm's attorneys and staff is a central tenet of the firm's Diversity Policy and is being achieved through:

The Firm Diversity Officer – Over three years ago the firm established an executive level position dedicated to Diversity.
Diversity Committee - An 8-member firm diversity committee, including both attorneys and staff, focuses on promoting firm diversity, supporting ongoing diversity initiatives and policies, and developing additional diversity outreach both internally and externally.
Recruitment – The firm actively recruits from a diverse attorney and staff pool.
Retention – The firm maintains an effective orientation program and mentoring practices for all new attorneys and staff; and flexible work arrangements programs.
Work Assignment – The firm ensures that all attorneys and staff receive challenging work assignments and that all attorneys receive client exposure opportunities consistent with their demonstrated skill and ability.
Firm Leadership – The firm seeks to involve a diverse group in firm leadership and management.

The Firm's Diversity Officer

The firm established the position of Diversity Officer to coordinate (among other things):

Community outreach and research to ensure that the firm's diversity commitment regularly evolves to reflect best practices.
Reviewing and monitoring the firm's efforts to enhance diversity with an emphasis on recruitment, retention and advancement of a diverse workforce and superior client service.
Facilitating opportunities for diversity training among all employees.
Facilitating the firm's participation in and support of external diversity initiatives among our clients, the legal profession and our surrounding community.

Diversity Programs & Sponsorship

LEADS Fellowship Program

In 2011, Franczek Radelet announced the implementation of an exciting and creative diversity pipeline initiative that we believe to be unprecedented in terms of its focus and structure. The Firm’s Legal Education for the Advancement of Diversity and Scholarship (LEADS) fellowship program is designed to increase the placement of diverse lawyers at our law firm and in private practice generally. The LEADS program is an intensive eight week program designed for diverse first and second year law students who have an interest in pursuing a legal career in private practice representing employers in labor and employment matters. The program’s goal is to provide concentrated labor and employment legal experience while developing a pipeline of highly qualified, diverse candidates for potential future employment in the legal profession.

This program, unlike most traditional law firm summer associate programs, will include specific learning and experience modules for the LEADS Fellows during an eight week fellowship period. The curriculum will combine substantive legal experience with practical training provided by Franczek Radelet attorneys. LEADS Fellows will also receive an orientation to the business of practicing law, with a focus on transitioning from the life as a law student to that of a private practice attorney. More information and application available here.

Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession

On October 26, 2011, Firm Diversity Officer Michael Hernandez and attorneys Terry Creamer, Jackie Wernz and Abizer Zanzi, attended "The State of Diversity & Inclusion in the Legal Profession," an event hosted by the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession. The event's agenda included discussions on diversity statistics and analysis in the legal profession, disability and diversity in law schools, and LBGT lawyers in law firms, among others.

Hispanic American Advisory Council

On October 6, 2011, Firm Diversity Officer Michael Hernandez attended the Nineteenth Annual El Humanitario Awards Ceremony hosted by the Hispanic American Advisory Council and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. Honorable Ronald Amaury Guzman, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and Juan Rangel, Chief Executive Officer of United Neighborhood Organization were honored at the ceremony.

ABA's Council on Legal Education Opportunity

On June 12, 2011, Franczek Radelet attorney Jackie Wernz participated in the "Pursuing a Career at a Large Law Firm" panel and discussed private practice employment law at the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Mid-Summer Professional Development Seminar and Career Fair. The seminar is designed to help CLEO/Thurgood Marshall Fellows and Associates with career planning and development with various professional development workshops and career enhancement opportunities. CLEO, a non-profit project of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education, expands opportunities for minority and low-income students to attend law school.

A Long Walk Home

In 2011, Franczek Radelet continued its corporate sponsorship of A Long Walk Home, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago which uses art therapy and the visual and performance arts to document, educate and bring about social change. The organization uses testimonies, poetry, music, photographs and videos of and by women and children to provide safe and educational forums through which the public learns about healing from trauma.

A Long Walk Home was created by two sisters, Scheherazade and Salamishah Tillet when Scheherazade learned that her older sister, Salamishah, was a violent crime survivor. Scheherazade began photographing and documenting the impact of the incident in Salamishah’s life. Eventually, Salamishah and Scheherazade decided to help more people heal from their experiences as violent crime victims by transforming this intimate photography project into the multimedia performance, SOARS (Story Of A Rape Survivor). Given the positive feedback of SOARS and the high incidents of violence that women and children experience everyday, Schehehrazade and Salamishah founded A Long Walk Home in 2003, and developed comprehensive anti-violence programs that use the visual and performance arts as vehicles for healing, social change and education.

National Latino Education Institute - Inspiring Success | Changing Lives

On June 15, 2011, Franczek Radelet's Diversity Officer Michael Hernandez attended the Annual Dinner for the National Latino Education Institute which included keynote speaker, Honorable Rosie Rois, Treasurer of the United States. Michael serves on the Board of Directors for the National Latino Education Institute which defines its mission as enhancing the lives of Latinos through educational, vocational, and employment services, and through advocacy, thus enabling the achievement of economic independence.

Women's Turn To Celebrate

On April 7, 2011, the Berghoff Bar in Chicago recreated its "New Beer's Eve" photo originally taken in April 7, 1933 that showed all male patrons celebrating the end of Prohibition. The new photo features all women being served exclusively by men, including James C. Franczek. After securing the first two liquor licenses issued by the City of Chicago after the repeal of Prohibition, founder and namesake, Herman Berghoff, welcomed patrons, all male, into the Berghoff Bar to celebrate. Women only started to be served at the bar when several members of the National Organization of Women walked in and stepped up to the bar with the good old boys in 1969. (Left to right: Shelli Anderson, Dana Fattore Crumley, James Franczek, Jennifer Dunn and Amy Moor Gaylord)

Black Women Lawyers' Association

On April 13, 2011, Franczek Radelet sponsored the Black Women Lawyers' Association (BWLA) 2011 Spring Fundraiser, "State of the Union".

In 2009, Franczek Radelet received the BWLA President's Award for Continuous Support of Diversity and Scholarship. Founded in 1987, BWLA is one of the fastest growing bar Associations in Illinois. BWLA is representative of African-American female attorneys, judges, law professors and law students in the Chicago area.

St. Patrick's Day

On March 17, 2011, the firm held a St. Patrick's Day Celebration commemorating Irish American Heritage with food and entertainment consisting of a Chicago Fire Department bagpiper presentation.

Diversity Luncheon - Black History Month

On February 7, 2011, the firm celebrated Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The firm welcomed Andrea L. Zopp, the President & CEO of the Chicago Urban League as its guest speaker. Ms. Zopp, a distinguished corporate and civic leader who has led transformative change in the public and private sectors, discussed the initiatives and efforts of the Urban League.

Transforming the Paradigm of Educating Children

Franczek Radelet sponsored the 2011 Superintendents' Commission for the Study of Demographics and Diversity Annual Regional Conference. The conference, "Transforming the Paradigm of Educating Children," focused on educator quality, student achievement and assessment, school improvement and working conditions.

Celebrating Religious Diversity

In October 2010, the firm welcomed Barbara Abrajano, Executive Director, and Rev. B. Herbert Martin, Sr., founder and senior advisor of Chicago Center for Cultural Connections Inc., to an internal religious diversity celebration. Abrajano and Martin introduced the firm to Connections and discussed how the organization focuses its efforts on fostering tolerance and respect across religious communities.

Iranian American Bar Association

Associate Jacqueline F. Wernz was profiled in the August 2010 eNewsletter published by the Iranian American Bar Association. Franczek Radelet also sponsored the Iranian American Bar Association running team that participated in Chicago's annual Race Judicata, a 5K race and fundraiser hosted and benefitting Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS). CVLS is an organization of nearly 3,000 volunteer attorneys who donate free legal services to thousands of low-income Chicagoans.

Franczek Radelet is involved and sponsors various organizations, some of which are listed above. This involvement is one of the many ways the firm celebrates diversity and inclusion. This support does not mean the firm shares or endorses the views or opinions of any one of these organizations.