Our dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) starts at the top. The firm’s managing partner chairs our Executive Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which includes many of our most influential lawyers. WilmerHale is also a proud member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a group of more than 300 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners committed to nurturing diversity in the US legal profession.

We want all our outstanding employees to succeed, and we want to give clients exceptional service informed by an array of perspectives and experiences. We support professional development and inclusion through:

• mentorships, affinity groups and a Women’s Leadership Initiative
• a Racial Justice Reform Initiative focused on impactful racial justice and police reform work
• internal fellowships that give our lawyers and summer associates the chance to work at public interest organizations
• sponsorship of many external bar associations, conferences and professional development programs
• internal workshops that educate lawyers and staff about implicit bias, allyship and other topics, giving attendees the tools to interrogate their own assumptions and behavior

We regularly refine our recruiting practices to continue attracting a diverse group of skilled professionals and law students. We’re proud of how these efforts were reflected in our 2024 summer associate class: 59% women, 43% students of color and 9% LGBTQ.

Our new hires are invited to join our affinity groups as soon as they arrive. We have five active affinity groups: Asian American Affinity Group, Black/African American Affinity Group, Latino Affinity Group, LGBTQ Affinity Group and Middle Eastern Affinity Group.

We also sponsor law school pipeline and mentorship programs, which include:

• Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO): We host a group of entering first-year law students as SEO interns each year before they start law school. These interns are included in the firm’s summer associate program, spending 10 weeks gaining practical experience working on substantive legal projects. 
• Law Preview: Through this program, we provide 50 scholarships for first-year law students from underrepresented backgrounds each year.
• Practice Pro: We support Practice Pro’s 1L Diversity Scholar Program, which provides coaching, training and recruiting opportunities for law students from underrepresented backgrounds. 
• Boston Lawyers Group: Through this organization, we work with historically underrepresented law students and annually host a 1L scholar in our Boston office.
• Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD): We partner with clients that are also LCLD members to host 1L LCLD scholars for part of the summer in our Washington DC and New York offices and part of the summer in the client’s office.
• Law in Tech Diversity Collaborative (LiTD): We have partnered with LiTD in Boston and Palo Alto to split a 1L summer program with the firm and with the in-house legal department of a tech company. 
• WilmerHale’s 1L Diversity Public Interest Fellowship Program: Consistent with our longstanding commitment to public service and organizations that seek social justice, we sponsor six 1L Diversity Public Interest Fellowship Program spots for first-year law students during the summer between their 1L and 2L year.
• WilmerHale’s 2L Diversity Scholarship: As part of our ongoing support of diversity, we sponsor several 2L Diversity Scholarships for the summer between 2L and 3L year. In addition to our Summer Associate salary, the recipients will be awarded a $30,000 stipend (half at the conclusion of the summer program and the remainder upon start as a full-time WilmerHale associate, contingent on receipt of a permanent offer).

Clients can join with us on a wide range of DEI-related programs, including CLEs, mentoring opportunities and pipeline programs. We also host networking events that provide meaningful chances to connect with our current lawyers, alumni and other clients.