Commitment – Foster Pepper PLLC believes in the importance of hiring a diverse work force and creating a nondiscriminatory, supportive environment that fosters mutual respect among every employee. Traditionally, the firm attracts strong attorneys with unique backgrounds who want to work at a law firm that retains and develops diverse attorneys. Upholding that tradition means an aggressive approach to seeking qualified women and minority candidates for employment and promoting them to positions of responsibility throughout the firm. In the past few years, Foster Pepper has recruited many diverse attorneys, and of the attorneys hired into the firm in 2008, 33 percent have diverse and unique backgrounds. In its Seattle office, 13 percent of attorneys are from diverse backgrounds and through its continued recruiting efforts and programs Foster Pepper is working to increase that number in the coming years.

Women – Foster Pepper has 37 women attorneys (33 percent) and 12 of those women are members (partners). More than 50 percent of associate attorneys are women. Women attorneys have highly visible positions of responsibility throughout the firm. For example, 15 women currently serve in firm leadership positions on various firm management committees and two of the firm’s practice groups are headed by women attorneys. The firm has always had a special focus on women attorneys and their needs and in the past two years took an extra step of establishing a Women Attorneys group. The Women Attorneys group includes every female attorney in the firm, is co-chaired by one of Foster Pepper’s most senior women attorneys and a Junior Associate, and meets every month in an open forum for discussion regarding various topics that impact and affect women attorneys today.

Minority Leadership – Foster Pepper’s minority attorneys are very active in firm management as well, with six of them having been elected to membership level practice and serving on various firm management committees. The Executive Committee of the firm is comprised of five elected members based on a vote of all owners. The elected EC members appoint two additional members to the group for a rotating one year term. Since the inception of the program, one of these two slots has traditionally been held by a minority representative. The chair of Foster Pepper’s Charitable Contributions Committee is also a minority attorney.

Recruiting – In an effort to deepen our commitment to diversity, we have established the Foster Pepper 1L Diversity Fellowship. This Fellowship provides the recipient with a paid summer associate position in our Seattle office and a $7,500 academic scholarship. Foster Pepper PLLC participates in the Northwest Minority Job Fair and participates in fall recruiting at Howard University School of Law. We are founders of the Puget Sound Minority Clerkship program and participate in various diversity receptions throughout the year including an annual local 1L Diversity Reception.

Community Outreach – Foster Pepper believes strongly in supporting efforts to enhance diversity beyond its own workplace. The firm is proud to be one of several corporate sponsors of the Annual Northwest Diversity Learning Series, a comprehensive program on intercultural skills for the workplace. It also is a corporate sponsor for the Seattle Chapter of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, a non-profit trade association which fosters, supports and promotes women entrepreneurs in the areas of high technology and life sciences. Most recently Foster Pepper has been a platinum-level sponsor of the statewide Diversity Conference and the UW Minority Law Student Association. Many Foster Pepper attorneys and staff also volunteer time and serve on boards for local organizations that focus on diversity, as well as for local minority bar associations.

The firm’s attorneys and staff also generously donate their time and talent to pro bono legal services working with low-income and diverse constituencies. Foster Pepper represents Native American children in court, and attorneys work closely with Holocaust survivors, victims of domestic violence, microentrepreneurs from disparaged communities, immigrants seeking asylum, among other important groups. For a complete list of organizations in which attorneys volunteer, have leadership roles, and to learn more about our Pro Bono work, please see our most recent annual report.

Foster Pepper also offers an annual 1L Diversity Fellowship that is awarded each summer. For information on the most recent recipient, click here. For application details click here.