Commitment to Diversity

Armstrong Teasdale LLP is an equal opportunity employer and is firmly committed to the hiring and promotion of women and racial minorities. A National Association of Law Placement (NALP) study indicates that the firm ranks third among St. Louis and Kansas City law firms in percentage of minority attorneys. In addition, nearly half of the firm’s associates are women.

The firm has a minority recruitment committee, which is a sub-committee of the firm’s hiring committee, and has participated in minority clerkship programs for the past nine years. We were instrumental in a first meeting of St. Louis law firms for the purpose of minority recruitment and hosted the start-up meeting sponsored by the Black Law Students Association in September 1989. We are one of the very few major law firms in the State of Missouri actively participating in a program sponsored by the American Bar Association Committee on Opportunity for Minorities in the Profession to promote opportunities and legal employment for minorities in major law firms.

Armstrong Teasdale partner Steven N. Cousins played a significant role in the establishment in 1992, and currently serves as co-chair of the St. Louis Internship Program (SLIP), a joint partnership among the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ Club and the legal community. The program, through which Armstrong Teasdale employs interns, targets inner-city, underprivileged high school students for employment in the legal and corporate communities. Since its inception twelve years ago, over 2,500 students have participated and the program has received national acclaim. In addition, our firm’s Kansas City office participates in the KCMBA’s Summer Legal Intern Program (SLIP) in coordination with Northeast High School.

In June 2002, Armstrong Teasdale became a Charter Member of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative, a five-year collaborative program that began in 2000, whose purpose is to help area businesses be more effective in attracting and retaining minority employees and to develop a diverse supplier base. The program is sponsored by Civic Progress, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA), the St. Louis Minority Business Council, St. Louis 2004, the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, and FOCUS St. Louis.

Armstrong Teasdale is a founding sponsor of the annual "Most Influential Business Women Awards" in St. Louis, a program which recognizes the top area women for their business acumen and significant accomplishments. In addition, the firm has instituted internally a women lawyers program, which supports quarterly luncheons among its women attorneys at which outside speakers and consultants make presentations on issues of interest. The firm also funds memberships by its women and minority attorneys in related organizations and associations. Additionally, as a member of the U.S. Law Firm Group, we were instrumental in creating the organization’s first committee devoted to women’s issues.

Armstrong Teasdale is committed to promoting diversity through our vendors by the following: the primary contractor used for remodeling our Kansas City office is woman-owned; major furniture refinishing and repair is performed by a minority-owned company; our primary vendor for desktop computer-related purchases is minority owned; the supplier of our bottled water is woman-owned; and the company we use exclusively for promotional items and work apparel is woman-owned.

Finally, Armstrong Teasdale lawyers are participants in a variety of organizations that promote and support diversity, including the following:

• American Youth Foundation (client of the firm)(Board Member)

• American Jewish Committee (Board Member)

• Anti-Defamation League (Board Member)

• Asian Law Students Association (Member)

• Commercial Real Estate Women - St. Louis Chapter (Member)

• Commission on Racial & Ethnic Diversity in the Profession (Member)

• Encouraging, Supporting & Promoting Women (Member)

• Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association (Member)

• Hispanic National Bar Association (Member)

• Indus Bar of Georgia (Member)

• Jewish Community Relations Council (Member)

• Jewish Federation of St. Louis (Board Member)

• Lydias House, Inc. (client of the firm)(Board Member)

• Mathew-Dickey Boys’ Club (Board Member)

• Metropolis (Member)

• Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (Vice President)

• Mound City Bar Association of St. Louis (Member)

• NAACP - City of St. Louis (Executive Committee)

• National Council of Jewish Women - St. Louis (Board Member)

• South Asian Bar Association (Member)

• St. Louis Hearing-Speech Centers (client of the firm)(Director)
  United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (client of the firm)(Member)

• Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis (Member)

• Urban League Young Professionals (Member)

• Womens Exchange of St. Louis (client of the firm)(Board Member)

• Women’s Lawyer’s Association of Greater St. Louis (Vice President)