Porter Hedges has grown from the strengths of individuals who represent a variety of viewpoints, experiences, and backgrounds. We believe that diversity enhances the quality of our work and better enables us to understand our clients' needs in order to provide superior service.
Our goal is to attract, retain, and promote outstanding lawyers and professionals who reflect the marketplace, communities, and clients that we serve. We are committed to achieving greater diversity, not just for our firm but also for our profession.
Diversity Committee in Action
The Porter Hedges Diversity Committee leads the effort to recruit, support, and retain attorneys from diverse backgrounds and promotes participation in activities supporting diversity in our community.
Porter Hedges has been involved with the following diversity organizations and events.
- Ephraim del Pozo, the Firm's Diversity Chairman, is the former President of the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston and is a Director of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston.
- Joyce Kao Soliman is the former President of the Asian American Bar Association of Houston.
- The Firm has supported the Asian American Bar Association of Houston’s Gala and Silent Auction, the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston’s President’s Day Luncheon and Gala, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston’s Golf Tournament, and the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys.
- The Firm has hosted a networking reception to celebrate diversity in our legal community including the Asian American Bar Association of Houston, the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston, the Houston Lawyers Association, and the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston.
- The Firm hosted the Houston Diversity Council meeting attended by members of the 21 law-firm council.
- Porter Hedges' Summer Associates participate in several diversity events, including the Houston Diversity Council’s Summer Associate Reception, the Houston Bar Association’s Minority Opportunities in the Legal Profession Annual Summer Associates Luncheon, and firm-sponsored speaker luncheons featuring diverse leaders in our community.
- The Firm sponsors a reception for newly admitted minority students at South Texas College of Law and supports the South Texas College of Law’s Hispanic, Black, Asian Pacific American and South Asian Law Students Associations, the University of Houston Law Center’s Hispanic and Asian Law Students Associations and Association of Women in Law, and the University of Texas School of Law’s Thurgood Marshall Legal Society and Chicano/Hispanic Law Students Associations.
- The Firm sponsored the Council on Legal Education Opportunity's 40th Anniversary Reception and Awards Program.
Diversity Committee Mission Statement
To assess the Firm's strengths and shortcomings in which minority lawyers can reach their professional potential and achieve personal and professional satisfaction;
To heighten the Firm's appreciation of the variety of backgrounds, personal characteristics and skills that contribute to a successful business and professional organization, and that need to be consciously cultivated for the Firm to flourish; and
To recommend strategic initiatives to recruit, support and retain attorneys from diverse backgrounds, and promote participation in activities supporting diversity in our community, including the following:
- Increase the number of women and minority attorneys working at the Firm primarily through recruiting and retention of attorneys;
- Identify minority and women attorney programs, organizations, and recruiting and marketing activities that the Firm should support; and
- Evaluate diversity initiatives in the legal profession on an on-going basis.
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