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Community and DiversitySchwartz Cooper is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse work force and to maintaining an environment within the firm that is reflective of the community we serve. Schwartz Cooper recently formalized its diversity efforts as a signatory to the Chicago Bar Association’s Diversity Initiative. Law firm participants in this initiative pledge to increase diversity in the hiring, retention and promotion of attorneys within the firm. Click here to read more about this important effort, which Schwartz Cooper is proud to be part of. Recruiting and Retention of Minority Attorneys Schwartz Cooper is proud of its success in achieving a diverse workplace. In the last eight years, the firm has quadrupled the total number of minority attorneys it employs. Half of the attorneys elevated to principal in 2006 were women; 75% were either women or minorities. In 2005, 100% were women or minorities. To promote recruitment of minority attorneys, the firm participates annually in the Cook County Bar Association Minority Job Fair, Chicago’s largest minority legal recruiting event, and sponsors GALLA, the Gay and Lesbian Legal Alliance, an intercollegiate student organization. Schwartz Cooper also is a sponsor the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association’s (NLGLA) Lavendar Law conference, which promotes career opportunities in the legal field for GLBT lawyers, judges, law students and other legal professionals. Locally, the firm has sponsored “Meet the Bar Night,” an opportunity for GLBT law students to meet GLBT lawyers and law firms in a social setting, and has served as lead law firm sponsor of “Lawyers for Diversity,” a program of GALLA and Lesbian and Gay Bar Association Chicago (LAGBAC). The firm also is a past sponsor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week at Northwestern University School of Law. To help attract and retain gay and lesbian attorneys, the firm extends health and dental insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners. Firm Management Women and minorities are active in firm management and serve on key firm decision-making committees. The chair of the firm’s Hiring Committee is African-American, and half its members are women or minorities. Women chair three of the firm’s 12 practice groups: Employment; Business, Tax and Estate Planning; and Construction. The head of the firm’s Business, Tax and Estate Planning practice group also heads the firm’s Estate Planning Department, which is responsible for managing administrative operations of the practice groups under it. Supporting Diversity through Community Involvement As a firm, Schwartz Cooper has maintained a long-standing commitment to community involvement and providing pro bono legal services to persons in need who lack access to quality legal representation. Currently, 98% of our pro bono work is provided to ethnic and racial minorities who would otherwise not be able to able to afford legal representation. The firm has donated more than 1,460 hours to these pro bono matters this fiscal year. Past pro bono projects have involved services to organizations that serve homeless, disabled and mentally ill individuals. Click here to read more about the firm's pro bono program. Individual firm attorneys also participate in organizations that provide support services to communities in need. One of the firm’s principals is the Board Chairman of Urban Prep Charter Academy, Chicago’s first and only public charter school for boys. Urban Prep Charter Academy is located in the Englewood community on Chicago’s South Side, and is part of the Chicago Public Schools’ Renaissance 2010 program. Urban Prep’s mission is to provide a high-quality and comprehensive college-preparatory educational experience to young men that results in graduates succeeding in college. It is a direct response to the urgent need to reverse poor graduation and college completion rates among young men in urban centers, particularly African-American males. Several attorneys volunteer for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, an organization that, through caring volunteers, provides positive role models and friendship to at-risk youth, many of whom represent ethnic and racial minorities. A Schwartz Cooper attorney also serves on the board of this organization. Another principal serves on the board of the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation. This organization is committed to expanding housing opportunities in Chicago's northern suburbs. As a nonprofit, community-based organization, the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation develops and manages affordable homes for low- and moderate-income households. It also offers first-time homebuyer counseling and educational presentations on affordable housing issues. The firm and one of its principals also are long time supporters of Thresholds. One of the nation's largest non-profit providers of mental health services, Thresholds provides therapeutic support, case management, education, job training and placement, and housing to more than 6,000 people with mental illness each year. In addition, through the Schwartz Cooper Fund, the firm has donated more than $170,000 since May 2005 to more than 75 civic and charitable causes, many of which serve and support our community’s diverse population, including:
The firm is well-known for its support of Chicago’s GLBT community, including through Equality Illinois and Horizons Community Services, particularly its Center on Halsted project, for which the firm has served as attorney of record. Schwartz Cooper also is a sponsor the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association’s Lavender Law conference, which promotes career opportunities in the legal field for GLBT lawyers, judges, law students and other legal professionals. Schwartz Cooper is proud that one its principals has served for many years on the board of Equality Illinois. Equality Illinois was founded in 1992 to help secure, protect and defend the basic civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the state of Illinois through the promotion of legislation to protect the rights of GLBT individuals with regard to safe schools, hospital visitation, inheritance rights, bereavement leave and the many other rights that affect GLBT citizens across Illinois. Equality Illinois was instrumental in gaining passage of SB3186, a comprehensive non-discrimination bill signed into law in January 2005. Horizons Community Services is a social services agency dedicated to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community of greater Chicagoland. Schwartz Cooper has been a supporter of Horizons for six years, and is particularly proud to be recognized by Horizons as a professional partner with respect to its Center on Halsted project. The Center on Halsted will be a focal point for the GLBT community of Chicago, serving the community’s diverse social, recreational, cultural, and social service needs. The Center on Halsted is the only center of its kind in the Midwest to offer support networks and programs that meet the cultural, emotional, spiritual, social, educational, and recreational needs of GLBT persons: youth, adults, seniors, or families. Current services include support groups for youth and seniors; psychotherapy services; an information line for GLBT individuals and a hotline for HIV and STD concerns; prevention, treatment, and advocacy related to domestic violence; and a range of life-enrichment programs. In 2005, Schwartz Cooper sponsored a six-part legal seminar series at Center on Halsted to provide free legal information to address the needs of the GLBT community. Topics included: adoption and custody issues, purchasing and titling real estate, estate planning, health care and advance directives, discrimination and bankruptcy. We believe that these efforts form the basis of a firmwide culture that embraces and fosters diversity. The firm continually looks for ways to expand our efforts and maintain an environment that is a reflection of the diverse population we serve.
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