Malcolm Heinicke

FIRM LEADERSHIP:

• MTO leadership. Leverage our roles as Co-Managing Partners to advocate for and amplify diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for all at MTO.
• Diversity metrics. Analyze biannual diversity metrics and client/industry survey results with our Talent Committee and report the firm’s performance to the Management Committee, MTO’s highest governing committee, with the goal of increasing diversity at the firm.
• Encourage senior partner engagement. Working in tandem with the firm’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and professionals, provide training and resources to encourage our senior partners to actively support diversity and inclusion initiatives by mentoring our lawyers and summer associates – with sensitivity to the particular needs of each individual, serving as an attorney advisor or speaker as part of our LEAP/MTO Fellows Program, and considering all lawyers — including those who identify as members of underrepresented groups — for client teams and secondments.
• Upholding MTO’s Diversity Strategic Plan. Hold firm leaders accountable for implementing the firm’s Diversity Strategic Plan, which includes discussing the plan during firmwide meetings.
• Work assignment, compensation, and recruiting advocacy. Use our position to advocate for equity in work assignments, opportunities to present to clients, compensation, and recruiting.

DEVELOPMENT, FIRM INTEGRATION, AND RETENTION:

• Associate review feedback. Collaborate with our Attorney Development and Diversity team to ensure the firm provides targeted development opportunities for all lawyers, in accordance with their individual needs identified as part of MTO’s bi-annual associate review process.
• Engagement with LCLD program participants. Meet with the firm’s LCLD Fellows, Pathfinders, and LCLD alumni to learn more about their experiences and ways we can support their professional growth, as well as to find opportunities for each to present learned content during firmwide lunches and client presentations.
• Onboarding practices. Personally meet with new lawyers to express the firm’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging commitments.
• Advocating for MTO’s diverse lawyers.
  • Identify opportunities for all lawyers, including underrepresented lawyers, to serve in leadership roles, participate in client presentations, conferences, and pitches, as well as staffing on our teams.
  • Leverage our industry connections to ensure our lawyers are being exposed to in-house counsel, including diverse in-house counsel, and learning from them.
  • Meet bi-weekly with our diversity team to remain current on concerns and issues affecting underrepresented lawyers, and to discuss ways to address those concerns and issues.
• Providing mentorship and coaching.
  • Continue to coach and develop women, non-binary, and other attorneys from underrepresented groups to ensure they are as fully supported and well-integrated into the firm as other attorneys.
  • Provide mentorship and support for attorneys who are parents consistent with their unique needs.
• Committee membership and support. Continue to model the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through active participation as a member of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Development and Retention, LGBTQ+ Initiative, Women+ Initiative, Attorneys of Color Initiative, and Lawyers with Disabilities and Allies committees and by lending our voices to ensure programming meets the firm’s diversity and inclusion goals.

• Health and wellness support. Conduct an audit of the firm’s health and wellness policies and solicit feedback from lawyers and professionals and consider how the firm can better support the health and wellness of our diverse lawyers.
• Mansfield Certification. Strive to ensure that MTO achieves Mansfield Certification Plus in future reporting periods.
• Recognizing partners’ DE&I contributions. Continue to ensure that MTO’s Partnership Compensation Committee recognizes partners’ personal contributions to advancing diversity and inclusion at MTO.
• Vendor selection and data resources. Seek additional opportunities to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through considering vendors owned or run by members of underrepresented groups. Continue to invest resources in the firm’s technical systems to refine diversity data reporting functions, enabling the firm to more efficiently report metrics to clients consistent with applicable with legal requirements.

ALLIANCES: Continue the firm’s commitment to diversity in the legal industry by upholding alliances with the ABA’s Pledge for Change: Disability Diversity in the Legal Profession, Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (“LFAA”), and The Alliance for Asian American Justice (“The Alliance”).

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING:

• Fostering an environment of belonging for attorneys and professionals. Continue to seek ways to advance the firm’s commitment toward the inclusion of pronouns in email signature lines and business cards, name pronunciation guidance, and expanding affinity groups.
• MTO’s Diversity Strategic Plan. Ensure that our firm’s Diversity Strategic Plan is being periodically updated and implemented.
• Providing programming support. Encourage all lawyers, including diverse lawyers, to present during firm trainings and lunch talks, and to represent MTO at client events and trainings. Continue to host educational programming to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Supporting the ABA’s Resolution 113. Continue to encourage clients to use the Model Diversity Survey to evaluate our firm’s legal services, consistent with applicable law.

PIPELINES:

• Law school readiness programming support. Continue to partner with diverse local bar and legal organizations to help prepare undergraduate students for law school.
• LEAP/MTO Fellows. Support the firm’s award-winning LEAP/MTO Fellows Program, a pre-law diversity pipeline program that prepares 25 to 40 aspiring diverse students per year for admission to and success in law school.

PRO BONO: Promote the firm’s robust pro bono practice to seek access to justice for the underserved and disadvantaged.

RECRUITING:

• 1L LCLD Scholars. Assess the experiences of our 1L LCLD Scholars to ensure programming needs meet the goals and expectations of future scholars.
• Diversity Recruiting: Redouble the firm’s efforts to attract diverse talent, which is a core focus of MTO’s Diversity Strategic Plan.

TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND RETENTION:

• Client service support. Encourage client teams to meet and discuss their clear, measurable plans for providing key opportunities for our attorneys, including diverse attorneys.
• Measurements of success. Track success across programming and firm efforts by not only the percentage of headcount comprising underrepresented individuals, but also by the quality of their experience.
• Providing trainings for lawyers and professionals. Ensure the firm presents mandatory ongoing trainings that combat unconscious bias and stereotype threats in the workplace. Require that our firm’s Associate Review and Recruiting Committees undergo targeted trainings each year to equip members with bias interrupter best practices during bi-annual reviews and on-campus interviews.
• Retaining diverse lawyers. Provide resources and support for the firm’s dedicated efforts to improve retention and advancement for lawyers, including underrepresented lawyers.
• Upward feedback processes. Provide opportunities for lawyers to give upward feedback to supervising attorneys to ensure shared team goals for client matters.

MONITORING AND COMPLYING WITH APPLICABLE LAW: Remain up to date on the law applicable to diversity efforts and taking steps to modify the above as necessary to continue compliance with legal developments.

To learn more about Malcolm, click here.