| Commitment to Diversity |
When it comes to diversity, DLD Lawyers doesn’t just talk the talk, it walks the walk. DLD Lawyers is a certified minority-owned trial law firm with a strong commitment to providing equal opportunity to people of all backgrounds and gender. We fully support the ABA's goal "to promote the full and equal participation in the legal profession by minorities, women, and persons with disabilities." For purposes of ABA's Minority Counsel Program, minority lawyers include African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. We not only meet the ABA’s criteria, we far exceed it with 60% of our firm’s managing members, 40% of our associates, and 75% of our paralegals.
DLD Lawyers is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), and its local affiliate, the Southern Florida Minority Supplier Development Council. We believe that achieving diversity in the work place does not entail any specific formula, but a willingness to commit your time and resources to attaining this goal. One of the most famous and easily recognized slogans in advertising history was coined at a 1988 meeting of Nike’s ad agency and some Nike employees. In speaking admiringly of Nike’s can-do attitude, someone said, “You Nike guys, you just do it.” We believe achieving diversity at our firm works similar to that.
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| Recruitment, Retention & Mentoring |
The fact that we are a minority-owned firm provides us with a unique insight to the obstacles that are often confronted by minority lawyers in our profession. We believe we know where to seek diverse talent. DLD Lawyers pursue entry-level associates and law clerks from atypical avenues such as its recruitment efforts through FIU (Florida International University) law school’s evening program, which includes a substantial number of diverse and non-traditional students.
Our mentoring program begins long before the hiring of our associates. The lawyers at our firm, through the local Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) affiliate, serve as mentors for FIU law students, some of who are extended offers to join the firm as law clerks and/or associates upon completion of the Florida Bar. At the firm, our associates are assigned a senior lawyer, who serve as the associate’s mentor during their time at our firm, and in many cases, through much of their initial career.
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| Collaborative Efforts With Community & Bar Associations |
Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA): DLD Lawyers is actively engaged with the HNBA mission to serve as the national voice for the concerns and opinions of Hispanics in the community generally, and in legal profession in particular, by working with other bar associations, governmental agencies and community groups to achieve greater involvement in and understanding of the American legal system by the national Hispanic community. HNBA goals include promoting the recruitment and retention of Hispanics in law schools and provide them with financial assistance, developing mechanisms to facilitate the exchange of information among Hispanics involved in all segments of the legal profession, providing continuing legal education for attorneys and foster the exchange of ideas and information among its members, and testimony before Congress, state legislatures and executive agencies on issues of concern to Hispanics.
DLD Lawyers recently attended the HNBA annual 2011 conference in Dallas, Texas. In addition, DLD Lawyers, along with UPS, is honored to serve as co-Champion sponsors (the highest sponsorship level) of its 2012 annual Golf & Tennis Tournament.
Cuban American Bar Association (CABA): DLD Lawyers is an active member of CABA and long-standing supporter of its “Art in the Tropics” event that serves to fund CABA’s Pro Bono Project established in 1984 in response to the needs of indigent, Spanish-speaking individuals who did not have adequate access to Spanish-speaking lawyers and the courts. In 1992, the CABA Pro Bono Project was nationally recognized by President George H. W. Bush as a “Shining Point of Light”.
Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA): DLD Lawyers is a law firm affiliate member of MCCA, and expects to serve as co-sponsor of its upcoming April, 2012, Annual General Counsel Invitational Diversity Leadership Summit in Miami.
National Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF): DLD Lawyers is pending membership in NAMWOLF, a nonprofit trade association, dedicated to diversity through developing lasting partnerships between minority and women-owned law firms and private/public entities. It advocates for the retention of minority and women-owned law firms by public entities and corporations.
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| Pipeline Initiatives |
In a continued effort to increase the pipeline of qualified diverse attorneys in our community, DLD Lawyers has been an avid supporter of the FIU law school from its inception, which includes a $50,000.00 contribution for a reading room in its law library. FIU ranked by Hispanic Business among the top 10 law schools for Hispanics, and among the top 10 schools for best value in legal education by the National Jurist. The Princeton Review ranks it as one of the nation’s most welcoming schools for diverse students. We were pleased to learn that this year’s FIU law class had the highest Florida Bar pass-rate of any Florida law school.
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