Culture & Inclusion

Culture & inclusion at Mayer Brown

Life is putting people at the heart of what you do.

It’s not about who you are or where you’re from but what you make with the opportunities you’re offered. If you’ve got the talent, drive and potential to achieve greatness, we want to hear from you.

Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity

Our goal is to create and maintain a diverse, supportive and inclusive work environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential—regardless of race, religion, beliefs, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, age or disability.

What makes you different is what we embrace. In fact, diversity and inclusion is one of Mayer Brown’s core values—we believe creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is simply the right thing to do. It also enables us to serve our clients more effectively because teams with diverse viewpoints and perspectives produce more innovative and robust solutions.

While we designate March as Global Diversity Month each year to acknowledge and celebrate our differences, we cultivate a culture of inclusion and respect 12 months a year, not just one. And recognizing that unconscious bias exists, we conduct highly rated interactive workshops to raise awareness of this bias and promote ongoing discussion of the issue.

While we are proud of our progress, we know there is still work to do. Our women’s networks and committees lead professional development workshops for women and diverse lawyers, with a particular focus on leadership skills. We have set goals for increasing the number of women and diverse lawyers in our partnership and senior management positions. We track our progress and describe our ongoing efforts in detail in our annual diversity report.

Our mission is clear: To create and maintain a diverse, supportive and inclusive work environment in which everyone—for example, someone like you—has an equal opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential.

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“The firm embraces diversity and inclusion – everyone is encouraged to express themselves.”

Joe Choy, Senior Associate, Hong Kong

Global Culture

Working at Mayer Brown

Bring what makes you unique to Mayer Brown, a place that will welcome your authentic self, offer you challenging work with the guidance and support to do it well and invest in developing your talents.

We empower excellence across the board by working continuously to ensure that our environment welcomes, supports and values every individual, At Mayer Brown, you will find that welcoming, supportive culture not just in your practice area or department but through our affinity groups—32 (and counting) worldwide—comprising colleagues who share your interests and perspectives.

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What We Do

Pro Bono

One of the best ways you can find purpose working with us is to help us make a difference to society through our pro bono program. Leading with innovative approaches, we pioneer projects that make an impact on communities at the individual and societal levels. As part of the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, we devote 3 percent of our billable time to providing legal services to the poor and disadvantaged and the organizations that serve them. Every year we donate tens of thousands of hours to helping the less fortunate—an act of generosity that we’re proud to encourage in each of our people.

What We Do

Pro Bono

At Mayer Brown, we encourage every lawyer to get involved in pro bono work and/or community service. And we endorse the UK Joint Protocol on Pro Bono Work because we complete our work for those less fortunate to the same standards as when we serve our high-profile clients; both are equally as important.

Our pro bono program is managed by a Pro Bono Director based in the United States, and CSR manager based in the United Kingdom. This is overseen by our global Pro Bono Committee, made up of lawyers across all of our offices, in almost every practice.

What We Do

Pro Bono

Our pro bono work uses our world-class resources to take on systemic problems at a societal level. We strongly encourage our people to find cases that address issues of personal importance to them.

Some of the issues our program addresses include affordable housing, US appellate and Supreme Court litigation, arts and culture, immigration and refugee law, death penalty cases, environmental law, intellectual property, international human rights and the rule of law.

In addition to donating our time and resources, we’re proud to make regular financial contributions to organizations and are among the first law firms to run an integrated charitable giving and pro bono program.

What We Do

Pro Bono

Our firm’s values stem from our core belief that life is what you make it—of how you enhance your own life and the life of others through curiosity, determination and compassion. Our team participates in community service activities across the globe, as well as works alongside educational institutions to support reading, mentoring and clean-up initiatives around schools in and around London, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles.

At Mayer Brown, we think our social responsibility can go further, which is why our people also volunteer to build homes, assist at food banks, visit residents at elderly centers, fundraise and arrange donations for community organizations across the globe.

What We Do

Pro Bono

Pro bono and community service efforts are at the very core of who we are. They are a key component of our purpose and an important part of our excellence as a law firm. We’re looking for like-minded individuals, who want to enrich the lives of others, to join our firm.

Community & Enviroment

Global Initiatives

We take pride in our efforts to give back to our communities, focusing on initiatives for diversity, gender equality and LGBTQ+ empowerment.

Racial/Ethnic Diversity

Through diversity committees, affinity networks, lawyer resource groups, councils and programs, we’re providing spaces to our people where they can get a sense of community and support to succeed.

Women

We strive to give our women lawyers and business services professionals a platform for growth. We focus on gender diversity at every career level through a range of events, programs and networking opportunities—as well as the Women’s Leadership Committee, Women’s Forums and regional initiatives.

LGBTQ+

By building relationships with clients’ LGBTQ+ networks, promoting charities and activities in wider communities and creating a supporting workplace for LGBTQ+ professionals across all regions, we are tackling issues locally and globally.

Inclusion

Health & Well-Being

The legal profession is a demanding and sometimes challenging one, but at Mayer Brown, we strive to make sure that all of the time, energy and talent you contribute result in positive experiences for you.

Family

We know that your career isn’t your only commitment, which is why we offer family-friendly work policies and personal time to pursue your outside interests. You’ll benefit from flexible work schedules, parental leave, and child-raising and elder care resources so that you can be there for the important moments.

Mental health and well-being

To help you optimize your health, we offer a range of support networks and resources that help you to alleviate stress, achieve your fitness goals, maintain your mental health and more.

We encourage everyone at Mayer Brown to be open, connect with one another and explore new opportunities because we believe life is what you make it.

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Why Work Here