Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. (“WG&S”) recognizes that our human resources are one of our greatest assets and that a talented and diverse workforce is a key competitive advantage. We strive to seek out and retain the finest human talent from all backgrounds to ensure top business growth and performance, and we have endeavored to create an environment in which every individual’s unique strengths and abilities are valued and utilized to the fullest capacity.
We as a firm are committed to the goal of strengthening our diversity both through education and through recruiting and retaining minority and women attorneys and staff from all backgrounds. We have long embraced the concepts and principles of equal employment opportunity and have endeavored to maintain a non-hostile work environment. Beyond that, however, we recognize that continuously promoting diversity is an integral part of our mission to strive for excellence as individuals and as a firm.
As part of the effort to advance our commitment to diversity, the firm has established a Diversity Committee focused on the following:
Recruiting, retaining and developing diverse talent at all levels in the firm.
Educating our employees and firm management regarding diversity issues.
Participating in opportunities outside the firm to explore diversity initiatives by supporting programs that increase the understanding and appreciation of cultural differences.
Recognizing diversity as a business imperative toward increasing our client base.
Emphasizing the firm’s long-standing policy that encourages reporting of any discrimination or harassment based on sex, race, or any other protected status.
The firm is proud to say that we participate in the following diversity initiatives:
In 1990, our Hiring Partner (now our Administrative Director), Stephen E. Barcan, was a founding member of the New Jersey Law Firm Group, an organization committed to the recruitment, hiring and retention of minority law students and lawyers in member firms and government agencies. The firm has remained an active participant in this organization. We sponsor a fellowship for a minority law student, take part in roundtable discussion groups for law students, attend an annual minority job fair, and encourage our associates to mentor students identified through this group.
We participate in the Rutgers-Newark Law School Minority Student Internship Program, by which we commit to hire a first year minority student from that law school each summer, with a view toward mentoring that student toward eventual hire by the firm as an associate. We are pleased that our efforts in this regard have been successful, as our 2005 MSP intern joined the firm as an associate in the fall of 2007, and our 2006 MSP intern is scheduled to join us as an associate in the fall of 2008.
We encourage and sponsor our attorneys to become members of the Hispanic Bar Association. As a participant in the Hispanic Bar Association Mentorship Program, we assign WG&S attorneys to be mentors for Hispanic law students as they complete their courses and work toward graduation from law school.
WG&S was an original member of the former Seton Hall University Law School Partners in Excellence program, whereby the firm provided matching funds to a scholarship awarded to a Seton Hall minority law student. Our first Seton Hall Law School Scholar participated in our 2005 Summer Associate Program and joined the firm as an associate in the fall of 2006.
The firm participates in various minority job fairs for graduating law students and attorneys.
The majority of our entry associates come to us through our Summer Associate Program, and we are proud of the fact that our efforts toward minority recruitment of law students have been quite successful, as demonstrated by the following statistics from that program:
2007: Of 6 Summer Associates, 3 were minorities and 3 were women.
2006: Of 5 Summer Associates, 4 were minorities and 4 were women.
2005: Of 5 Summer Associates, 4 were minorities and 4 were women.
2004: Of 7 Summer Associates, 4 were minorities and 4 were women.
2003: Of 7 Summer Associates, 4 were minorities and 6 were women.
Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer’s commitment to diversity is consistent with our recognition that it is the exceptional people within our firm who have always been the source of our success. We continually seek new and innovative ways to expand our diversity initiatives in the areas of education, recruitment and retention.