Diversity

Diversity At Armstrong Teasdale

At Armstrong Teasdale, our goal is to continue to increase the diversity of our workforce by actively hiring, developing, retaining and advancing the best lawyers and staff from a wide range of backgrounds. We firmly believe that a diverse workforce makes us a better law firm. Diversity enables us to bring a broader perspective to the problems our clients face, leads to a higher quality of work, and also enriches the work atmosphere. As a result, we are able to provide our clients with the best possible legal representation. Therefore, it is our mission to foster and maintain a firm-wide culture that supports, celebrates and promotes diversity, so that all attorneys, regardless of their background, feel valued, included, and able to succeed.

In order to achieve meaningful, measurable and lasting progress, Armstrong Teasdale has established a Diversity Committee and instituted a Women’s Initiative.

Diversity Highlights

• Armstrong Teasdale was recognized by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as being a Best Law Firm for Minorities in Missouri.
• Armstrong Teasdale named among the 'Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity' by MultiCultural Law 2009, a magazine focused on diversity in the legal profession. In addition, the firm ranked in the following specialized listings: 'Top 100 Law Firms for Women' and 'Top 25 Law Firms for Native-Americans.'
• Armstrong Teasdale placed 2nd for 'Best Law Firms for Women' and 'Best Law Firm for Minorities' by Missouri Lawyers Weekly in the 2008 Missouri's Best Awards.
• Working Mother Magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC selected Armstrong Teasdale as being a 2007 Best Law Firms for Women. A total of 50 law firms were selected.

The Diversity Committee is charged with the responsibility of developing, monitoring, and evaluating the firm’s strategies and progress in recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. The Diversity Committee is chaired by Amit Shah, and it is comprised of members with a wide variety of backgrounds, including partners, associates, professional staff, men, women, racial minorities and non- minorities. The Diversity Committee meets regularly to formulate both long-range goals and specific diversity initiatives. In addition, each member of the committee also serves on working subcommittees which focus on issues such as recruiting, retention, professional development, marketing and assignment

To learn more about Armstrong Teasdale's Diverse Atttorneys, click here.

Professional Advancement of Women Program

The Women’s Initiative, lead by Tessa Trelz, was established to support, educate and elevate women associates and partners within the firm. The group addresses the business challenges and opportunities unique to women lawyers. The Women’s Initiative sponsors internal quarterly luncheons for our women attorneys, at which outside speakers and consultants make presentations on issues of interest. The firm also provides a professional business development coach for most senior female associates and female partners.

Armstrong Teasdale further promotes and celebrates the changing face of business. The firm is a founding sponsor of the St. Louis Business Journal’s “Most Influential Business Women” in St. Louis, an annual program which recognizes top area women for their business acumen and significant accomplishments.

To learn more about the women of Armstrong Teasdale, click here.

For additional information about the firm's Professional Advancement of Women Program, please click here.

Recruitment

Armstrong Teasdale seeks to recruit new and lateral attorneys with strong legal skills and diverse backgrounds. We actively recruit at law schools nationwide, with a special emphasis on recruiting at schools with significant numbers of women and minority students. Moreover, we communicate to law school placement administrators and faculty members that we are serious about diversity. As a result of our efforts, a recent National Association of Law Placement (NALP) study indicates that Armstrong 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 also took a leadership role in establishing and developing the St. Louis Diversity Clerkship Program, which places first-year minority law students with employers. Armstrong Teasdale has participated in the St. Louis Diversity Clerkship Program for the past nine years, and the firm has consistently extended offers of permanent employment to participants of this program. The firm is also a sponsor of the first St. Louis Diversity Job Fair to be held on Wednesday, August 16, 2008.  In addition, Armstrong Teasdale, through its partner, Steven N. Cousins, played a significant role in establishing the St. Louis Internship Program (SLIP), a joint partnership among the St. Louis Public School Foundation, the Matthews-Dickey Boys’ Club and the legal community. The program targets inner-city, underprivileged high school students for employment in the legal and corporate communities. Since its inception sixteen years ago, over 3,000 students have participated in SLIP, and the program has received national acclaim.

In honor of our fallen colleague, Armstrong Teasdale established and funds the Michael C. Tramble Minority Scholarship at the University of Missouri School of Law, Mr. Tramble’s alma mater.

Retention & Development

Armstrong Teasdale recognizes that recruiting alone is insufficient to create and maintain the diverse workforce that is critical for long-term success. Without specific retention initiatives, even the most well-developed and executed recruiting plan will fail to yield permanent and meaningful results. Toward that end, we strive to ensure that each attorney receives the training and support necessary to succeed. Our Training Department and practice group leaders develop and implement comprehensive training and educational programs at each stage of an associate’s career. We are also firmly committed to ensuring that assignments are fair and appropriate for all attorneys. We are dedicated to providing our diverse attorneys with assignments that enhance their personal and professional growth and provide them with opportunities for success and advancement. Finally, all attorneys who join Armstrong Teasdale as new or lateral hires are immediately assigned a mentor. New associates are paired with senior attorneys who take an active role in encouraging their career development and helping the associate to understand the inner-workings of the firm.

Promoting Diversity

Armstrong Teasdale is firmly committed to promoting diversity within the legal profession. We are actively involved with various diversity-related community and civic organizations and programs on a local, regional and national level. Our affiliations include:

• American Youth Foundation
• American Jewish Committee
• Anti-Defamation League
• Commercial Real Estate Women – St. Louis Chapter
• CORO Leadership Center - St. Louis
• Defense Research Institute - Diversity Committee
• Encouraging, Supporting & Promoting Women
• Epilepsy Foundation of St. Louis
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Jewish Community Relations Council
• Jewish Federation of St. Louis
• Lex Mundi - Diversity Committee
• Lydias House, Inc.
• Mathew-Dickey Boys’ Club
• Metropolis
• Missouri Asian American Bar Association
• Mound City Bar Association of St. Louis
• National Bar Association
• National Council of Jewish Women – St. Louis
• St. Louis Hearing-Speech Centers
• United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• United States Law Firm Group - Women’s Committee
• United States Law Firm Group - Committee on Racial Equality
• Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Women’s Exchange of St. Louis
• Women’s Lawyer’s Association of Greater St. Louis