Nixon Peabody LLP

  • People
  • Capabilities
  • Insights
  • About

Trending Topics

    • People
    • Capabilities
    • Insights
    • About
    • Locations
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Alumni

    Practices

    View All

    • Affordable Housing
    • Community Development Finance
    • Corporate & Finance
    • Cybersecurity & Privacy
    • Environmental
    • Franchising & Distribution
    • Government Investigations & White Collar Defense
    • Healthcare
    • Intellectual Property
    • International Services
    • Labor & Employment
    • Litigation
    • Private Wealth & Advisory
    • Project Finance
    • Public Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Regulatory & Government Relations

    Industries

    View All

    • Cannabis
    • Consumer
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Higher Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Manufacturing
    • Non Profit
    • Real Estate
    • Technology

    Value-Added Services

    View All

    • Alternative Fee Arrangements

      Developing innovative pricing structures and alternative fee agreement models that deliver additional value for our clients.

    • Continuing Education

      Advancing professional knowledge and offering credits for attorneys, staff and other professionals.

    • Crisis Advisory

      Helping clients respond correctly when a crisis occurs.

    • DEI Strategic Services

      Providing our clients with legal, strategic, and practical advice to make transformational changes in their organizations.

    • eDiscovery

      Leveraging law and technology to deliver sound solutions.

    • Global Services

      Delivering seamless service through partnerships across the globe.

    • Innovation

      Leveraging leading-edge technology to guide change and create seamless, collaborative experiences for clients and attorneys.

    • IPED

      Industry-leading conferences focused on affordable housing, tax credits, and more.

    • Legal Project Management

      Providing actionable information to support strategic decision-making.

    • Legally Green

      Teaming with clients to advance sustainable projects, mitigate the effects of climate change, and protect our planet.

    • Nixon Peabody Trust Company

      Offering a range of investment management and fiduciary services.

    • NP Capital Connector

      Bringing together companies and investors for tomorrow’s new deals.

    • NP Second Opinion

      Offering fresh insights on cases that are delayed, over budget, or off-target from the desired resolution.

    • NP Trial

      Courtroom-ready lawyers who can resolve disputes early on clients’ terms or prevail at trial before a judge or jury.

    • Social Impact

      Creating positive impact in our communities through increasing equity, access, and opportunity.

    1. Home
    2. Who We Are
    3. Media
    4. First in the legal industry with its Diversity Challenge, Nixon Peabody now awards diversity activities with billable hour creditMedia

    First in the legal industry with its Diversity Challenge, Nixon Peabody now awards diversity activities with billable hour credit

    Feb 17, 2021

    Share

    Boston, MA. Building on a strong foundation of Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, Nixon Peabody has evolved its industry-first Diversity Challenge, now allowing attorneys to obtain billable hour credit for their diversity-related activities.

    In 2010, the firm launched the innovative Diversity Challenge, calling on its attorneys to dedicate at least 40 hours a year to diversity-related initiatives and projects. The key to the Challenge is its familiarity (lawyers understand hourly measures and they respond to targeted commitments), and its universality (diversity is effectively communicated to be every lawyer’s responsibility). It’s an approach that any law firm of any size can adopt. Example activities that continue to be part of the Challenge and are now eligible for the billable hour credit include, but are not limited to:

    • Attending, organizing, or presenting at an internal or external diversity-related event, training session or CLE;
    • Organizing or participating in on-campus outreach to diverse law students, a diversity-focused job fair, or diversity-focused summer program in a local Nixon Peabody office;
    • Mentoring a diverse law student, or mentoring or sponsoring a diverse colleague; and
    • Collaborating with a client on diversity-related initiatives by planning and attending the resulting events.

    “Our diversity-related initiatives are so integral to who we are as a firm, and the diversity billable hour credit stays true to that identity,” said Stephen Zubiago, CEO and managing partner of Nixon Peabody. “First and foremost, these initiatives are the right thing to do. It’s also good for business when our teams more accurately reflect the diversity of our clients and our communities.”

    As part of Nixon Peabody’s efforts to move the needle on diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, the firm’s leadership reframed the Challenge to offer billable hour credit with the goal of keeping the initiative front-and-center by providing attorneys with a constant reminder of its magnitude. Moving forward, attorneys can credit billable hours annually for combined diversity activities.

    At a time when diversity and inclusion are buzzwords across all industries, Nixon Peabody’s Diversity Challenge is more than window dressing. It is directly tied to actions.

    “During attorney assessments, we look closely at diversity hours and the impactful work that has been done,” said Stacie Collier, who in her role as Professional Personnel Partner oversees all attorney evaluations at the firm. “Expanding the Diversity Challenge doesn’t involve behavior change. We saw the immense number of hours people were already dedicating to these activities as part of our Challenge, and we wanted to recognize the commitment by providing billable hour credit.”

    The Diversity Challenge, a first among Am Law 100 firms at the time, has been hugely successful for Nixon Peabody, and has been a differentiating factor among next-gen talent coming to the firm. With the newest evolution in the form of a billing credit, the firm’s leaders are encouraging people to dig deep to find opportunities.

    “The Diversity Challenge launched with simple activities and quickly grew from there,” said Kendal Tyre, co-leader of Nixon Peabody’s Franchising & Distribution practice who was the firm’s Diversity partner in 2010. “Our firm has continued to raise the bar, increasing the ways in which attorneys can engage and expanding the ways this work can help us achieve our ambitious diversity goals.”

    Click here to learn more about Nixon Peabody’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives.

    NP In Focus

    Practices

    DEI Strategic Services

    Professionals in the Practice Area

    View All
    • Kamau A. Coar

      Counsel
      • Chicago
      • Office:312.977.4422
      • kcoar@nixonpeabody.com
      Kamau A. Coar
    • Kendal H. Tyre

      Partner, Co-leader, Franchising & Distribution
      • Washington DC
      • Office:202.585.8368
      • ktyre@nixonpeabody.com
      Kendal H. Tyre
    • Rekha Chiruvolu

      Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer
      • Washington DC
      • Office:202.585.8605
      • rchiruvolu@nixonpeabody.com
      Rekha Chiruvolu
    • Stacie B. Collier

      Partner / Chief Talent Officer
      • Providence
      • Office:401.454.1018
      • sbcollier@nixonpeabody.com
      Stacie B. Collier
    • Pierce Haesung Han

      Partner
      • Washington DC
      • Office:202.585.8139
      • phan@nixonpeabody.com
      Pierce Haesung Han
    • Joseph J. Ortego

      Partner / Diversity Partner / Chair, NP Trial® / Leader, Aviation
      • New York
      • Office:212.940.3045
      • jortego@nixonpeabody.com
      Joseph J. Ortego
    • Sarah E. Swank

      Counsel
      • Washington DC
      • Office:202.585.8500
      • sswank@nixonpeabody.com
      Sarah E. Swank
    View All

    Insights And Happenings

    • Alert

      DEI and corporate governance: Increasing board diversity

      Oct 11, 2022
    • Press Release

      Nixon Peabody recognized for ‘Excellence in Inclusion’ by nonprofit ChIPs

      Sep 8, 2022
    • Press Release

      Diversity Lab names Nixon Peabody, Intellectual Property practice as Inclusion Champions

      July 28, 2022

    Subscribe to stay informed of the latest legal news, alerts, and business trends.Subscribe

    • People
    • Capabilities
    • Insights
    • About
    • Locations
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Alumni
    • © 2023 Nixon Peabody. All rights reserved
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Statement of Client Rights
    • Supplier Diversity Program
    • Nixon Peabody International LLC
    • PAL