The Houston Bar Association has garnered signatories from 67 local law firms including Patterson + Sheridan, LLP to revise the HBA’s 2021 Gender Fairness Commitment Statement. The statement was last revised in 2018 and this marks only the second revision since it was originally drafted in 2006.

“The new statement reflects the new status quo in workplaces brought about by the pandemic as well as an understanding of gender that goes beyond a binary”, according to Katherine Kunz, co-chair of the Houston Bar Association’s task force on gender equality.

The 2018 statement called for an evaluation of progress by 2020 to make meaningful changes toward advancing women in leadership positions in their organizations. Gender is no longer commonly views as a binary and the statement has been revised to address that as well as “employ measures that support work-life balance and wellness”. The 2021 statement asks all signing organizations to set their own goals and collect employee feedback to gage how the firm is improving in the areas outlined in the statement.

As Patterson + Sheridan seeks Mansfield Certification through the Diversity Lab, it was a priority to become of the initial signatories of this statement to continue build a stronger and better legal community through diversity and inclusion.

To read more on the updates to the Gender Fairness Commitment Statement, click here.