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Finnegan Henderson rates as one of the nation's top law firms with respect to diversity. In the 2007 Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms, Finnegan Henderson ranked #1 by partners for best intellectual property practice and ranked in the top 10 for training, diversity, and best overall satisfaction, making Finnegan Henderson a premier firm for attorneys of all backgrounds to practice intellectual property law.
In 2003, we established the Finnegan Henderson Diversity Scholarship, which is open to application by persons of a minority heritage attending top law schools around the nation. Our Finnegan Henderson scholars are:
2004 - Panyin Hughes, Georgetown University (Washington)
2005 - Wendy Herby, University of Washington (Palo Alto)
2006 - Melissa Wasserman, New York University (Washington)
2007 - Jae Park, Santa Clara University (Palo Alto)
Each scholar is given $15,000 per year for tuition and other law school fees. To apply, please send us your completed application form to diversityscholarship@finnegan.com by February 29, 2008. Application forms are available in Microsoft Word and PDF format.
Finnegan Henderson has a strong commitment to developing diversity in our workplace, and in the field of intellectual property law. Some of our initiatives are summarized below:
- Each year, as part of our fall on-campus interview schedule, Finnegan Henderson participates in several minority recruiting job fairs including Howard University, Vault/MCCA Diversity Legal Career Fair and the Mid-Atlantic Black Law Students Association. Over 50% of our 2007 summer program was comprised of women and/or minority students.
- Finnegan Henderson was a patron sponsor of the DirectWomen Institute, an ABA Business Law Section initiative to promote more women lawyers on corporate executive boards. Finnegan Henderson actively supports the Women's Bar Association of D.C., recently sponsoring its Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women as a Gold Sponsor. One of our associates serves as the co-chair of the IP law forum and two associates serve as co-editors of Raising the Bar, the WBA newsletter.
- In 2006, Finnegan Henderson launched a Women's Forum to serve internal mentoring, networking, and educational needs of the firm's female attorneys. The Women's Forum has two separate components: two larger formal events and eight sets of women's forum mentoring circles where 8-10 attorneys are grouped for informal meetings on a monthly basis.
- Howard University Law School recently honored Finnegan Henderson for its contributions to the University's Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ). The firm has proudly supported the Institute since its beginning. Finnegan Henderson partnered with the university to present the 2007 IIPSJ conference which was co-chaired by a Finnegan Henderson partner. Three additional partners presented at different sessions throughout the conference.
- Howard University's College of Engineering also honored Finnegan Henderson for its contributions to the College's efforts to increase IP awareness. The firm's attorneys teach an introductory patent course to the College's engineering students. To complement this course, a panel of industry experts spoke to Howard University's engineering students and middle school students from the Howard University Public Charter Middle School of Mathematics and Science, about the importance of IP.
- In 2007, Finnegan Henderson co-sponsored the National Bar Association (NBA), Intellectual Property reception at the NBA Annual Convention. One of our attorneys currently serves on the executive committee of the NBA IP Section as Secretary.
- Finnegan Henderson has been a perennial sponsor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Annual Convention. One of our partners currently serves on the board of NAPABA as secretary and also as co-chair of the Intellectual Property Committee.
- In 2007, Finnegan Henderson sponsored the South Asian Bar Association-DC Networking Reception. We currently have two associates who serve on the board of SABA-DC as the president and treasurer.
- The firm has been a regular sponsor of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA) of the Greater Washington, D.C., Area's Annual Installation Dinners and annually hosts a number of programs and meetings. We also sponsor the APABA Education Fund (AEF) annual networking reception. Over 60 attorneys and students participated in this speed networking event which helped create numerous new mentoring relationships between law students and attorneys.
- Finnegan Henderson sponsors annual events for National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC) and Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC).
- In 2007, Finnegan Henderson sponsored the 15th Annual GAYLAW Awards Celebration and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Diversity Dinner.
Finnegan Henderson is committed to recruiting, retaining, and providing professional growth opportunities for all of our staff members. We truly believe and put into practice the notion that our employees are our strongest competitive assets. The firm takes particular pride in our diverse workforce and has established a Diversity/Leadership Group to coordinate ongoing firm-wide diversity awareness initiatives. In fact, 9 out of our 12 departmental directors and 24 of 29 managers are women and/or minorities.
The friendly, collaborative atmosphere at Finnegan Henderson lends itself to welcoming many points-of-view. Different opinions, shared in a respectful manner, help make the firm a leader in our field. This collegial environment, coupled with our diverse workforce, also make Finnegan Henderson a unique place to work.
In short, we are proud of our track record in providing equal employment opportunities for all current and potential employees.
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