In a Grande Gesture, Starbucks Taps the Firm for Diversity Award
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Starbucks and Baker & McKenzie have something in common — beyond the fact that lawyers drink a lot of coffee. Both are international organizations and both are dedicated to promoting diversity within their workforces and in local communities.
So it was particularly flattering when a fellow globetrotter like Starbucks tapped Baker & McKenzie for its second annual Excellence in Diversity Award for 2009.
The award, sponsored by Starbuck’s Law and Corporate Affairs department, recognizes the Firm for the diversity of its lawyers and the multiple programs the Firm sponsors to ensure that clients, employees and recruits of all races, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations feel welcome and included within the organization.
“At Starbucks, diversity is core to who we are — from our employees to our customers and the communities we serve,” said Paula Boggs, executive vice president of the company’s Law and Corporate Affairs department. “That’s why we want to work with organizations like Baker & McKenzie that share this commitment.”
Each year Starbucks surveys its outside counsel — the law firms who advise the company on issues such as labor law, real estate deals and intellectual property protection — to assess their diversity efforts. Based on those responses, a diversity committee within Starbucks legal department chooses a winner.
This year, Starbucks recognized Baker & McKenzie for its status as a truly global law firm, with 3,900 lawyers in 39 countries. It also praised the Firm’s Women’s Initiative, a program in which female partners mentor female associates to help them advance within the Firm, its hiring of a full-time director of diversity, and the financial support it provides to increase diversity within the legal profession.
In recent years, the Firm has donated more than USD1.7 million to US law schools to fund scholarships for minority students. Over 20% of the associates in Baker & McKenzie’s North American offices are minorities, slightly above the national average of 19%. Among the Firm’s partners, 10% are minorities, compared with 6% nationwide.
Since 1993, the Firm has worked with Starbucks, helping the company meet its legal needs in countries around the world, including China, Russia and the UK.
“We are honored to receive the Excellence in Diversity Award for 2009,” says Dieter Schmitz, the Firm’s relationship partner with Starbucks, a leader not only in roasting good coffee, but in promoting corporate diversity around the world.