Triangle Business Journal Lauds Smith Anderson’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Triangle Business Journal has named Smith Anderson a Leader in Diversity Award winner.
TBJ’s Leaders in Diversity Awards program, now in its 10th year, recognizes the accomplishments of Triangle businesses, individuals and nonprofits as they come together to weave a diverse foundational fabric into the heart of the local community, TBJ says. Winners have demonstrated respect for inclusive treatment of others, advocacy for underrepresented groups and multicultural marketing.
"This year’s group of winners are at the front and center of changing their organization’s vision, values and principles – all along keeping diversity, inclusivity and equality in mind,” said Jason Christie, TBJ market president and publisher. “We are glad to have created a forum to celebrate the achievements of these individuals and corporations.”
The TBJ honor is the latest acknowledgment of Smith Anderson’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. North Carolina and South Carolina Lawyers Weekly honored Smith Anderson with a 2021 Diversity & Inclusion Award, and the Wake County Bar Association awarded the firm with its inaugural Equity Champion Award.
TBJ notes that Smith Anderson has a Management Committee and long-standing Diversity & Inclusion Committee devoted to D&I. Both groups are resolute in supporting historically underrepresented groups internally and externally.
Smith Anderson’s Diversity and Inclusion initiatives include a Diversity and Inclusion Committee, a Diversity Mentor Program and social and community service affinity groups geared toward diverse attorneys and staff. The firm hosts diversity-oriented events for clients and business associates and maintain a Diverse Vendors and Suppliers Initiative geared toward women, LGBTQIA+, disabled and minority-owned businesses for events and holiday gifting program.
Smith Anderson lawyers have served on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Minorities in the Profession Committee and, since 2018, as immediate-past and incoming chair of the NCBA’s Young Lawyers Division Diversity Committee. Additionally, Smith Anderson regularly sponsors and participates in D&I conferences.
In 2021, the firm joined the Mansfield Rule Midsized Firm cohort, a national program designed to increase opportunities for diverse lawyers. Smith Anderson’s participation in the Mansfield Rule is an important firm initiative, as the firm must commit that at least 30 percent of its attorney candidate pool for recruitment and promotions will be diverse.
The firm’s diversity efforts continued during the pandemic, including the appointment of Smith Anderson attorney Taylor Dewberry as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer and the launch of the Excellence in Diversity Fellowship program for first-year law students.
Subscribers to TBJ can view the entire list of winners here.
Triangle Business Journal (TBJ) is the leading source of business news and events covering all industries in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the surrounding areas. The Business Journals report on local and national issues that impact businesses and are a division of the American City Business Journals (ACBJ), the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States.