Stephen Zubiago

CEO & Managing Partner

Nixon Peabody LLP

I, Steve Zubiago, personally commit to the following:

Personal Commitment

To use my platform and position at Nixon Peabody, in my community, and within the profession to champion and elevate diversity, equity & inclusion
To ensure that our underrepresented groups have access to the resources and support they need to achieve success within our organization
To remove any obstacles or barriers to opportunity and advancement which our diverse talent may encounter within my organization
To promote equity within my firm and in my community, recognizing the impact systemic racism has historically had on racially/ethnically diverse populations
To hold other leaders within my organization accountable for advancing our DEI goals
To connect on an individual basis with the diverse talent within my firm and be an advocate for them
To use my organization capital to ensure advancement and promotion opportunities for women, racially/ethnically diverse, and LGBTQ+ attorneys throughout the firm
To continue to educate myself on DEI issues
To listen to the experiences of my diverse colleagues

Organizational Commitment

To continue to be the voice at the top for our DEI efforts at Nixon Peabody
To ensure that our DEI goals are public and communicated throughout the firm
To develop, promote, and advance policies and best practices that focus on expanding opportunities for our diverse talent both internally and externally
To identify a pipeline of diverse talent for leadership roles across the organization
To ensure that DEI are an integral part of all recruiting initiatives
To broaden our reach on recruitment practices, ensuring that we are considering a diverse talent pool
To require that all attorneys at the firm contribute to our DEI efforts in meaningful ways (i.e. through participation in our educational and training programs, through mentorship programs, building diverse clients, etc.)
To continue our investment of time and resources in Diversity Lab’s Move the Needle Fund, focusing our efforts on increasing the diversity of our equity partnership by 2025
To ensure that our diverse talent has meaningful access to career enhancing work and client development opportunities through our workflow management tool
To continue our participation in Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule initiative, and continue our progress of ensuring that at least 30% of the candidates considered for lateral partnership and leadership roles within our organization are women, racially/ethnically diverse, or LGBTQ+
To continue building on our education around unconscious bias and how it manifests in the workplace, focusing on techniques to interrupt it
To continue meaningful engagement with LCLD, and other diversity-focused organizations in the legal profession, incorporating lessons learned into my firm
To continue improving on the diversity of our client teams, ensuring that our diverse talent is included in client relationships and provided with the opportunities to lead client teams
To advocate for and ensuring meaningful engagement in DEI for our partners
To continue emphasizing the importance of utilizing our real time feedback tool so our attorneys receive frequent, substantive feedback on their work product
To collaborate with clients on advancement of our mutual DEI goals through trainings, programming, and resource groups engagement