Fostering an inclusive environment is a core value of the firm, and next generation partners who are female, LGBTQ+, and/or persons of color hold prominent roles within our firm, including on our Management Committee. We are known for our creativity in helping our clients craft innovative and tailored legal solutions, and our ability to do so is enhanced by the perspectives and backgrounds our attorneys and business professionals bring to the Friedman Kaplan community. We celebrate the talented group of individuals in our firm and additionally recognize that we and the legal community as a whole must consistently strive to make our profession and our firm inclusive and welcoming to talented attorneys, regardless of their backgrounds.

Friedman Kaplan is a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a group of over 400 law firm managing partners and corporate general counsels working to create a more open and inclusive legal profession, and participates in its innovative programs aimed at helping the next generation of attorneys ascend to positions of leadership. Our attorneys regularly participate in LCLD’s Fellows and Pathfinder programs, which provide in-depth training, networking, and mentorship opportunities for early and mid-career attorneys. The firm is also a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, which provides law firms and law departments with research, best practices, professional development, and training to enhance their efforts to attract and support lawyers from different backgrounds.

Friedman Kaplan also encourages and supports our attorneys in participating in bar associations and external affinity groups that promote inclusion, belonging, and mentorship in the profession. We prioritize mentoring and strive to give all attorneys meaningful roles to contribute to case strategy and opportunities to develop substantive lawyering skills, including leading cases, arguing motions, taking depositions, and cultivating relationships with clients and prospects.

We also look for ways to harness our legal expertise to combat inequities in society. In 2020, Friedman Kaplan joined the newly-formed Law Firm Antiracism Alliance, a coalition of over 200 law firms collaborating with legal services organizations to amplify the voices of communities and individuals oppressed by racism, to use the law as a vehicle for change that benefits communities of color, and to promote racial equity in the law. Our attorneys also participate and hold leadership positions in other organizations that work to promote equity in the law, including serving on the boards of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, the Legal Action Center, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program, and as a founding donor for the When There Are Nine Scholarship Project.

Since 2022, Friedman Kaplan has participated in the Mansfield Certification accreditation process, which seeks to ensure equal opportunity and access to leadership roles. The firm has earned Mansfield Certification Plus status during the past two certification cycles. In 2022 and 2024, the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity named Friedman Kaplan a recipient of a Compass Award which recognizes those law firms and corporations that show a strong commitment to building a more inclusive legal profession. We are proud of these external recognitions, while also remaining steadfast in our commitment to inclusivity.