Women Owned Law and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce Issue Open Letter to Intel Corporation Praising Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WOMEN OWNED LAW MEDIA CONTACT:
Nicole D. Galli, President | [email protected] | 215.525.9583

NGLCC MEDIA CONTACT:
Jonathan D. Lovitz, Senior Vice President | [email protected] | 202.234.9181

Women Owned Law and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce Issue Open Letter to Intel Corporation Praising Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

PHILADELPHIA (January 7, 2020) – Women Owned Law (“WOL”) and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (“NGLCC”) issued an open letter to Intel Corporation’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Steven R. Rodgers, praising the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Intel Corporation recently announced its new Intel Rule, which codifies the company’s commitment to retaining or using outside law firms which meet certain diversity criteria. The joint letter follows.  

WOL also will be hosting its Inaugural Symposium on Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Law on March 11, 2020 at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline Institute of Trial Advocacy in Philadelphia. The symposium will include a panel presentation on ways in which corporations, BigLaw, and women and diverse-owned law and legal services firms can partner and work together. The panel will be moderated by WOL Board Member Lisa Love, Co-Managing Partner, Love and Long, LLP, and will include Jonathan D. Lovitz, Senior Vice President, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and as well as corporate and BigLaw representatives. The symposium will feature additional presentations and networking opportunities for women owned law and legal services firms and their supporters.

Joint WOL & NGLCC letter to

Steven R. Rodgers
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Intel Corporation
2200 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA  95052

Re: Intel Rule

Dear Mr. Rodgers:

Women Owned Law and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce collectively represent more than 200 women and/or LGBTQ-owned law and legal services firms in the United States. We read with interest the recent announcement of the new Intel Rule, which will require that:

Beginning Jan. 1, 2021, Intel will not retain or use outside law firms in the U.S. that are average or below average on diversity. Firms are eligible to do legal work for Intel only if, as of that date and thereafter, they meet two diversity criteria: at least 21% of the firm’s U.S. equity partners are women and at least 10% of the firm’s U.S. equity partners are underrepresented minorities (which, for this purpose, we define as equity partners whose race is other than full white/Caucasian, and partners who have self-identified as LBGTQ+, disabled or as veterans).

As representatives of diverse law firms and lawyers, we appreciate all that Intel has done and is continuing to do to foster diversity, inclusion and fairness in the legal profession.  As Intel begins to implement this transition, we urge you to consider working with law firms owned by women and underrepresented minorities, such as our members. Our member firms are, in most cases, at least 51% women or minority owned (at Women Owned Law, we define women owned as 50%), if not 100% so owned. Among our members we have lawyers who practice in every area of the law – including patent prosecution, which we note you singled out as a difficult area in which to locate diverse counsel. For example, in our organizations, we have several women-owned and/or LGBTQ+-owned law firms that provide patent prosecution services.

While a commitment to supplier diversity is strong in most corporations’ operational functions, professional services—and legal services in particular—traditionally have fallen outside the purview of the supplier diversity and procurement teams. However, this is changing as the rise of procurement professionals continues. (See 2018 Buying Legal Council Legal Procurement Survey at www.buyinglegal.com.) Even though highly touted supplier diversity programs do not explicitly exempt the legal department, there is often strong resistance to the “risk” of retaining unfamiliar and unproven attorneys and law firms to handle matters.  

In 2016, the American Bar Association adopted its Resolution 113 urging all users of legal services “. . . to expand and create opportunities at all levels of responsibility for diverse attorneys.” To date, more than 100 corporations are ABA 113 signatories. Materially improving diversity, inclusion and fairness in the legal profession will require a sustained effort and long-term planning. The “Intel Rule” could help fundamentally change this perception as major corporations like yours intentionally include diverse-owned law firms in your pool of legal service providers.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss how we may be of assistance to Intel in implementing the Intel Rule and will follow up with you to schedule a meeting. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to either one of us to discuss this matter.

ABOUT WOL: Women Owned Law is a national nonprofit networking group for women owned law and legal services firms. The mission is to connect and advance women legal entrepreneurs. WOL supports its members and other women entrepreneurs in the law in their business endeavors at every point in the business life cycle. WOL advocates on behalf of women legal entrepreneurs and has been instrumental in raising the profile of women entrepreneurs in the law. For more information, got to www.womenownedlaw.com

ABOUT NGLCC: The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce is the business voice of the LGBT community and is the largest global advocacy organization specifically dedicated to expanding economic opportunities and advancements for LGBTQ+ people. NGLCC is the exclusive certification body for LGBT-owned businesses. For more information, go to www.nglcc.org

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