How Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles Office Reached Its DEI Goals

Thanks to decades of work from industry leaders and grassroots advocates, Big Law firms, including Nixon Peabody, and corporate America largely agree on the value of building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces.

Companies that foster dynamic environments can attest to the substantial social and economic benefits diverse teams provide to clients. Opportunities abound for growth, mentoring, and creative solutions drawn from diverse perspectives.

At Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles office, employees have seen these dynamics in action. Nearly 80% of that office’s employees identify as women, people of color, LGBTQ+, or another historically underrepresented group in the legal profession. Seventy percent of all Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles attorneys and 60% of partners are also members of these underrepresented groups.

Companies looking to achieve their DEI goals should examine their practices closely and ask some crucial questions:

• How effectively do our real-world actions reflect our stated DEI principles?
• Which tactics and strategies are truly moving the needle?
• How can our actions serve as a model for others?

Start With Intention

Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles office, home to approximately 120 professionals who embody Southern California’s dynamic cultural diversity, offers answers to each of these important questions. Since opening that office in 2005, we have made an intentional and concentrated effort to attract, develop, and retain top talent from a broad range of backgrounds that reflect the diversity of Los Angeles.

And our years-long commitment to diversifying our firm and the LA office continues to pay dividends in today’s highly competitive job market: Over the past year, we’ve added eight partners and 10 associates to the LA team—more than 60% of those are members of historically underrepresented groups in this industry.

Attracting, Retaining, and Developing Top Talent

Building a firm culture that reflects our colleagues, clients, and communities requires thoughtful strategies for recruiting and hiring.

Our firm participates in the Mansfield Rule initiative, created by Diversity Lab, which requires that 30% of the candidates considered for significant leadership roles must be women, attorneys of color, or LGBTQ+ attorneys.

And our commitment to representation in recruiting and staffing extends from C-suite executives to legal interns. Half of all second- and third-year law students interviewed for coveted internships, and 20% of candidates interviewed for open lateral associate positions, must come from underrepresented backgrounds.

Of course, recruiting and onboarding a strong, dynamic team is only the first step in building an inclusive firm. Our DEI goals are threaded through every stage of the talent development process, ensuring that we are building a firm that mirrors the people we serve.

For example, we have put robust initiatives in place to ensure that all Nixon Peabody attorneys have the guidance, resources, and opportunities for engaging work they need to succeed. We create customized professional development plans for every attorney who joins NP. Each new hire is paired with a sponsor who is invested in their success, fueling the mentoring and collaboration that is central to our firm culture.

Leveraging Technology for Assignments

One longstanding challenge in Big Law is how to distribute work equitably among attorneys. The study of behavioral science in the workplace tells us that assigning attorneys often rely on proximity, recency, and familiarity—tendencies that may inadvertently exclude talented attorneys, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.

To counteract this, Nixon Peabody has teamed with Diversity Lab to pilot the use of the Workflow tool, a mobile-friendly system for understanding which attorneys have capacity to take on new work. This innovative approach, which earned Nixon Peabody a 2023 Leaders in Tech award from Legalweek, disrupts old routines and ensures we are offering work opportunities equitably.

The research is clear: Diverse teams devise better solutions for clients. When a team draws on the varied experiences and knowledge of each member, the result is more creative, more innovative, and more effective. We are committed to producing measurable results, but it is important to recognize that much work remains to be done.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Rekha Chiruvolu, is the chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer at Nixon Peabody, an experienced litigator, and she co-leads the firm’s DEI Strategic Services group to assist firm clients with the development of their own DEI initiatives.

Sonia Nayak is the managing partner of Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles office. She centers her practice on real estate development, including tax credit finance, affordable housing, and commercial lending.

Write for Us: Author Guidelines