John Adkisson

• I personally commit to promoting a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at all levels of Fish & Richardson.
• I will use my platform as the leader of one of the world’s top intellectual property law firms to advocate for increased diversity throughout our profession and our society.
• I will use internal and external opportunities to communicate Fish’s commitment to DEI through our vision, core principles and strategic objectives.
• I will work closely with our DEI team to foster equity within Fish and our local communities.
• I will continue to actively participate in and support all DEI initiatives, including Fish’s Diversity Town Halls and bias training.
• I will meet semi-annually with Fish’s LCLD Fellows, Pathfinders, and Alumni to discuss their experiences within the organization.
• I will engage with our Affinity Group leaders, including the leaders of our Allyship, Asian, BlackFish, Lawtinos and RainbowFish groups to reaffirm my personal commitment to DEI and to discuss concerns and suggestions for improving DEI at the firm.
• I will communicate Fish’s DEI initiatives with clients and explore partnership opportunities.
• I will reach out to clients and other law firm leaders to share ideas about how to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in our industry and share best practices and lessons learned.

• Fish will continue to commit firm resources, including investing in full-time DEI staff, training and educational programming, to ensure that we meet our DEI goals and support an inclusive workforce.
• Fish will continue to measure its DEI goals against our firm’s strategic priorities of equity, diversity, inclusion and external engagement.
• Fish will continue to use the Mansfield Rule when making leadership appointments.
• Fish will continue to use the Mansfield Rule when staffing matters for our clients.
• Fish will ensure that all DEI initiatives and resources are readily accessible to all employees.
• Fish will encourage all principals to share our DEI initiatives when meeting with clients.
• Fish will ensure the members of the firm’s leadership committees actively participate and support our DEI programming.
• Fish will continue to measure our inclusiveness through a firmwide survey.
• Fish will build and maintain strategic diversity partnerships with clients, diversity organizations, the community and our suppliers.

To learn more about John, click here.