Armstrong Teasdale’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
Our Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Are Central to Our Firm’s Future
Inclusiveness is a firm value because we recognize the richness diversity brings to our workplace.
We define diversity and inclusion broadly and focus on helping professionals of all races, religions, national origins, gender identities, ethnicities, sexual orientations, physical abilities and backgrounds feel a sense of belonging.
To put our value into action, we have defined a strategy to direct our D&I efforts around three focal points
Recruit and retain a diverse workforce.
Our efforts in recruiting focus on building a diverse workforce – one that is representative of our communities. Within our industry, we have led pipeline efforts in several of our key markets as some of the original founders and board members of diversity job fairs. We also consider how we develop a pipeline, recruit, interview and evaluate candidates. We are intentionally positioning our efforts to broaden our outreach, expand our pipeline and leverage a structured interview process with implicit bias interrupters to identify and recruit the best talent in the market.
To retain our people, we purposely foster a place where everyone understands the available career paths and has support to advance. We incorporate our professional development platform to provide a structure of coaching, learning and feedback. In addition, we offer employee resource groups for ongoing support as well as to serve as a platform for ideas, advocates and mentorship.
Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.
Fostering an inclusive culture means building a workplace rich with dialogue and engagement. We provide opportunities and tools to enable conversations that celebrate differences and recognize connections. Our theme, “What Inclusion Means to Me,” is carried out in several internal programs, such as roundtable conversations around key topics like authenticity, inclusive communication and allyship. We provide additional tools through our firmwide training program.
Finally, we celebrate inclusion through action during our annual Inclusion Week. This includes a firmwide activity focused on building community, a potluck lunch with cuisine from around the world, a speaker presentation on a key diversity and inclusion topic, and an interactive, team-based game to learn about diversity and inclusion. By introducing these themes through stories, speakers and interactive activities and providing actionable takeaways, we foster a stronger culture of inclusion through dialogue within the firm. This in turn drives better service for our clients through knowledge of diverse perspectives.
Promote diversity within the community.
We play a key role in promoting diversity within the legal profession and community by encouraging access to law school and mentorship through law school and partnerships in the community. For over a decade, we have made a personal investment in providing opportunities for minority students to attend the University of Missouri School of Law with our firm’s Michael C. Tramble Foundation campaign and scholarship. We also mentor students through a national mentorship with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. We see these early-entry mentorships as a key effort to increase diversity within the legal profession.
Through our Supplier Diversity policy, we promote diversity within the community by encouraging the use of Minority, Women, Disabled, and Veteran Business Enterprises. We also participate in several foundations, associations and community-based affinity groups that focus on building a diverse and inclusive community. We see these efforts as key to living our value in the communities where we live and work.
