Google Awarded the 2019 PracticePro Diversity Leadership Award

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PracticePro has announced Google as the recipient of its 2019 Diversity Leadership Award. Despite the growth in law school enrollment by students from underrepresented communities, the percentage of firm partners and general counsel from minority groups continues to remain low. Established in 2017, the PracticePro Diversity Leadership Award highlights corporate legal departments and law firms that are actively working toward a more inclusive and diverse legal profession.

The award was presented last month at PracticePro's Sixth Annual San Francisco Career Conference and Diversity Reception, which was hosted by Latham & Watkins, and attended by attorneys, corporate executives, and law students from across the country.

"At Google, we recognize that diverse representation is important for all of our teams - especially our Legal department," said Iris Chen, a Google VP who accepted the award on behalf of Google. "The Legal Summer Institute is one of the many ways we're trying to open doors for a talented and diverse body of legal scholars."

Google's Legal Summer Institute (LSI) provides underrepresented second-year law students the unique opportunity to complete a week of intensive learning and interaction with the in-house legal team at Google Headquarters, followed by a summer working for one of Google's partner law firms. The goals of LSI are to:

• Provide the selected students with summer internships at prestigious law firms;
• Provide early exposure to the in-house experience at Google;
• Share information across the corporate sector regarding best practices to develop a legal internship program that develops underrepresented talent; and
• Improve diversity within law firms, especially Google's outside counsel.

"It's been a privilege to watch the growth of LSI for the past two years," said Niki Khoshzamir, Founder & CEO of PracticePro. "The resources and enthusiasm Google attorneys have put into the initiative are not just inspiring but have made a large impact on students who may not have these opportunities otherwise."

"An experience of a lifetime, both professionally and socially," is how Brandon Cofield, a current law student at Texas A&M School of Law and a 2018 LSI participant describes the program. "Not only am I more prepared to begin my legal career because of the breadth of information and practical training that I received as a Google Scholar, but I also met amazing people from various backgrounds that I will remain in contact with for years to come."

In addition to its internal diversity and inclusion efforts, Google champions diversity initiatives in the community through the businesses with which they partner. Google was the first corporation to partner with PracticePro, supporting the PracticePro Diversity Scholar Program, which is a training, coaching, and recruiting program that fosters practice-ready diverse talent.

Other 2019-20 Diversity Partners are:

• Corporate Diversity Partners: Google, VMware
• Diversity Founder: Haynes and Boone, Latham & Watkins
• Diversity Leaders: O'Melveny & Myers, WilmerHale
• Diversity Champion: Cooley
• Diversity Benefactors: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Alto Litigation, Baker Botts, Chasnoff Mungia Pepping & Stribling, Crowell & Moring, Fenwick, Ferrari & Associates, Jackson Walker, McDermott Will & Emery; Morrison & Foerster, O'Melveny & Meyers, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

PracticePro is a San Francisco-based legal education company. Through training, coaching, and technology, we strive to change the way new lawyers learn to practice law and make their transition to practice easier. For more information about the Diversity Scholar Program or how to become a diversity partner, visit www.practicepro.cc.

Media Contact:
Niki Khoshzamir
Founder and CEO, PracticePro
[email protected] 
415-237-3703
www.practicepro.cc 

SOURCE PracticePro

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