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McGlinchey Announces Expanded LGBT Resource Group
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This article was published on Law360 on DATE, and is reprinted with permission.
McGlinchey Stafford PLLC has announced an expanded and renamed version of its LGBT+ employee resource group, which was renamed McGlinchey PRIDE with the goal of increasing its presence beyond the internal workings of the firm and becoming more community-facing.
McGlinchey PRIDE chair Andrew Albritton told Law360 on Wednesday that the rebranding is part of the firm’s “McGlinchey Forward” initiative, which will eventually rebrand all the firm’s employee resource groups to be both broader internally and more outward-facing as well.
“We want all the employees at the firm to be able to bring their entire selves to the work and for everyone to feel empowered,” he said. “My biggest goal is to improve the outward-facing initiatives and I want the firm and its individual offices to be beacons of the LGBT+ community in the cities we operate in.”
Albritton, a first-year associate at McGlinchey, said that one of the main things that sold him on the firm was its dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion, specifically mentioning that he was invited to its annual Pride luncheon while he was a 1L law clerk.
“The fact that as a law clerk, I was invited to the firm’s Pride luncheon immediately made me feel that this was somewhere that affirmed me,” he said. “This is especially important given that I’m in the South and as a member of the LGBT+ community, you have to make sure that you find a place where you’re welcome and empowered. Even as a first-year associate, they’ve given me so many opportunities to embrace my identity and use it to become a better lawyer.”
As part of the firm’s plan to tie its employee resource groups more into the community, Albritton said the PRIDE employees based in New Orleans are partnering with Habitat with Humanity to help build a home for a LGBT+ community. On a firmwide scale, he mentioned a partnership with the pro bono group to create a name-change initiative for transgender individuals.
Last summer, McGlinchey also rebranded its women’s initiative as “Uplift,” with similar goals as PRIDE including a focus on outward-facing initiatives as part of the firm’s goal to become Mansfield 2.0 certified by 2023.
“Creating spaces for our team to share their unique perspectives and work toward a more equitable environment is a key element of our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts,” chief DEI officer Eliska Plunkett said in a statement.