Minority Corporate Counsel Association Names Ropes & Gray Thomas L. Sager Award Winner for Second Consecutive Year

Ropes & Gray is honored to announce that it has been recognized with the Thomas L. Sager Award for the Northeast Region by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). This is the second consecutive year that the firm has received this prestigious award. 

The Thomas L. Sager Award, named after DuPont’s senior vice president and general counsel, recognizes the law firm that demonstrates national leadership and the highest sustained commitment to improving the hiring, retention and promotion of women and diverse lawyers.

“We are deeply gratified that MCCA has once again chosen to recognize Ropes & Gray for its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace,” said Diane Patrick, labor & employment partner and head of the firm’s diversity committee. “The Sager Award inspires all of us at Ropes & Gray to continue to work diligently to ensure that our firm and our industry reflect the diversity of the world around us.”

The Sager Award is presented annually in five U.S. regions. In addition to statistical data collected from law firms, the MCCA’s Board of Directors also examines areas such as recruitment, retention, mentoring, promotion, pipeline initiatives, LGBT initiatives, women’s initiatives, work-life balance, collaboration with community and bar associations, and innovative practices that result in sustainable efforts to increase diversity.

Ropes & Gray was selected from peer firms in the Northeast region, which includes New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Northern New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont. The award was presented at the MCCA Pathways to Diversity Conference Opening Plenary on September 16. 

MCCA was founded in 1997 to advocate the expanded hiring, retention and promotion of minority lawyers in corporate law departments and the law firms that serve them.

In addition to receiving the Sager Award, Ropes & Gray has been recognized for its commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace with the following accolades:

• Vault recently ranked the firm second for overall diversity, third for minorities, third for LGBT and fifth for women, making Ropes & Gray the only Am Law 100 firm to place in the top five in each of the diversity categories, including the new “disability” category.
• For the fifth consecutive year, Ropes & Gray earned a perfect score of 100 percent in the 2013 Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which rates American workplaces on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues. 
• The firm was honored with the Strength in Diversity Award at Managing IP’s 2013 North American Awards for its demonstrated commitment to diversity. 

Ropes & Gray recently published its annual report on diversity initiatives, entitled “Our World: Diversity and Inclusion at Ropes & Gray.” This year’s report highlights the firm’s commitment to diversity across its growing global network of offices. To view the report, please click here.