Printable FormatAt Harris Beach, we work hard to ensure we live up to our firm’s vision: “Client Solutions that Exceed Expectations.”
Diversity at Harris Beach
Harris Beach strives to cultivate a workplace where inclusion, acceptance, and mutual respect are standard practice. Our mission is to excel as a leading multicultural law firm that reflects and builds upon the growing diversity of the communities we serve. By welcoming different perspectives, we enhance both our work environment and the service we offer to our clients.
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Harris Beach is a recipient of the following 2012 awards:
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Understanding Diversity
Our Commitment to Diversity
Welcoming and Building on Differences
Programs and Initiatives
Diversity Scholarships
Diversity Awards
Understanding Diversity
Why is Diversity so Important at Harris Beach?
At Harris Beach, our people are our most valuable resource. Embracing a more diverse workforce is the right thing to do for ourselves, our firm, our communities, and our clients.
What are Our Diversity Values at Harris Beach?
Respect – Acknowledging our differences and respecting differing points of view.
Inclusion – Recognizing everyone’s contribution and encouraging inclusion.
Innovation – Allowing diverse perspectives to influence our strategies and innovation.
Development – Maximizing the potential of each individual.
Our Commitment to Diversity
Harris Beach is committed to being a diverse organization. We understand that diversity involves an ongoing dynamic and evolutionary process, and we will continue to create a culture that inspires the best in each of us.
Views from the Diversity Council Co-Chairs:
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“Diversity promotes equality which encourages us to strive for our best in both our personal and professional lives.” Rosevelie Márquez Morales, Diversity Council Co-chair
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“Diversity includes the diversity of thought and perspective. Conventional and singular thinking yields conventional and predictable results. Critical thinking sparked by a meeting of diverse minds and opinions can yield breakthrough solutions for our clients.” Munesh Patel, Diversity Council Co-chair
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Views from other Members of the Diversity Council:
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“Harris Beach’s commitment to diversity allows us to maximize the skills and talents necessary toinspire the trust and confidence of our clients. Diversity and inclusion bring varied experiences and ideas which broaden our understanding of our clients and communities we serve.” Jim Spitz, CEO of Harris Beach PLLC
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“The wide diversity of backgrounds and perspectives within Harris Beach creates a dynamic work environment. By supporting a broadly inclusive workplace, in which respect for the contributions of diverse individuals empowers each of them, the firm fosters innovative approaches that enhance the services we provide.” Beth Wilkens, Founding Diversity Council Chair
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“Through diversity and inclusion, Harris Beach has created an atmosphere of understanding and mutual respect which naturally gives rise to dynamic teamwork in the way we service clients.” Kevin Overton, Associate
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“The different backgrounds, lifestyles, and viewpoints at Harris Beach create a rich environment where we are able to learn from others and capture the advantages of our diversity for our clients’ benefit.” Douglas Kaleta, Paralegal
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Welcoming and Building on Diversity
Building on a tradition of inclusion, acceptance and mutual respect, Harris Beach launched a major diversity initiative when it hired the nationally well-known diversity training and consulting firm Roosevelt Thomas and Associates. Roosevelt Thomas conducted interviews, focus groups, and diversity training, and assisted Harris Beach in the formation of its Diversity Council in 2006.
The ten-member Harris Beach Diversity Council is composed of attorneys and administrative personnel from various offices, departments, and a broad range of ethnic and academic backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and lifestyles. The Diversity Council is dedicated to the retention and advancement of all individuals.
Programs and Initiatives
Harris Beach has a legacy of making positive contributions in the communities we serve. Our programs and initiatives have been developed to foster diversity and community collaboration. Our employee and outreach programs include:
Accessibility at Harris Beach
Harris Beach fully supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and welcomes the opportunity to work with the disabled community. Our offices provide complete accessibility and we proactively consult with differently abled employees
to determine their technology and facility needs to improve their workplace environment. We have also conducted
“Disabilities Etiquette” training to bring more awareness to our employees about working with people with disabilities.
Law School Scholarship Program
Strengthening our long-standing commitment to embracing diversity, Harris Beach has launched diversity scholarship
programs for college seniors attending law school and second year law school students. The Harris Beach Diversity
Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to students who are part of ethnic, racial, socioeconomic groups and/or
individuals with disabilities who are typically underrepresented in large law firms. We seek candidates who will make a meaningful contribution to the diversity of the legal community and who can demonstrate a strong desire to work, live, and eventually practice in New York state. Since 2007, the firm has awarded eight diversity scholarships and four of those who have received scholarships have already completed law school and are currently employed as associates at Harris Beach.
Legal Diversity Clerkship Program
Harris Beach is a founding member of the Monroe County Bar Association’s Legal Diversity Clerkship Program which provides paid summer work experience to law students of historically under-represented groups within the legal profession. The firm has hired three participants in the program as full-time associates and actively supports the program’s long-term goal of increasing the diversity of the legal profession in upstate New York.
Staff Recruiting
The firm is developing programs with community colleges to identify students who upon graduation would be candidates for employment at the firm in support staff positions. These programs would consist of in-class lectures provided by
Harris Beach in preparing students for employment. In turn, the colleges would recommend potential job candidates to the firm based on students’ overall academic and extracurricular achievements.
Continuing Diversity Education
In 2006, Harris Beach developed a Diversity Council to deliver firm-wide diversity initiatives on an ongoing basis. Harris Beach diversity programs have included “Managing Conflict Towards Positive Growth”, DiSC training to improve workplace communication and leadership, and “How to Thrive in a Multi-Generational Workplace.” A focus on our firm’s commitment to diversity is also presented in the orientation provided for all new attorneys and staff.
Work-Life Balance
People are our most valued asset at Harris Beach. We strive to balance the need to provide services when required by our clients with the need of those who work here to achieve balance between their work and their personal lives. Harris Beach understands the need to make our firm a great place to work and supports work life balance in many ways including flexible work schedules, remote work connectivity, and the ability for attorneys with part-time schedules to remain on the partnership track. Harris Beach is above the national average with respect to the number of female associates as a percentage of total associates, and several attorneys have been elected to partnership while continuing to work with reduced hour commitments to have the flexibility to spend time with their families.
Harris Beach offers a holiday and flexible paid time-off schedule that is cognizant and respectful of religious or other
personal needs. Other firm benefits that promote a healthy work-life balance include maternity and paternity leave, retirement savings and financial planning support, fitness benefits, summer early out program, and healthy living programs such as fitness and smoking cessation support. Harris Beach practices in New York state which has legalized same-sex marriage and all its subsequent benefits. Even prior to the June, 2011 passage of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Marriage Equality Act, our firm offered domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples.
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“Family is extremely important to us and my husband and I equally share in the responsibility of everything that comes with raising our daughters. Harris Beach has allowed me to enjoy a balance between my legal practice and staying involved with our children and each other as we both move forward in our careers.” Laura Purcell, Member
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Taking Leadership Roles
Our attorneys have taken or currently have leadership roles in the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys
and the Finger Lakes chapters of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York, Defense Research Institute Diversity Committee, Rochester Black Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association of New York, Puerto Rican Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, and the National Bar Association. Harris Beach is also an active member of the Workforce Diversity Network, the Upstate New York Regional Minority Purchasing Council, Inc. of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc., and the
Monroe County Bar Association’s Minority Clerkship Program. Additionally, the firm’s Diversity Compliance Attorney Team helps organizations work together with Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) proposing
or conducting business with New York state to maintain compliance with state procurement regulations related to
diversity. The team also assists M/WBEs with obtaining certification.
Affiliations
Professional Organizations
The firm supports our attorneys and administrative management with their involvement in the diversity initiatives of
professional organizations at both the regional and national level.
Workforce Diversity Network
Harris Beach is a member of the Workforce Diversity Network, the nation’s leading network of professionals and
organizations dedicated to professional development, understanding, promotion, and management of diversity as an
essential part of business success.
Minority Purchasing Council
Recognizing that New York provides opportunities for minority-owned businesses, we became a member of the Upstate New York Regional Minority Purchasing Council, Inc. The council encourages and facilitates procurement and business opportunities between corporations and minority-owned business in order to fulfill its respective/mutual business objectives.
Diversity Awards
In 2012, Harris Beach CEO, Jim Spitz, received the Profiles in Diversity Journal CEO Leadership in Action Award™, which recognizes CEOs who fully support their organizations’ diversity and inclusion initiatives. Also in 2012, Harris Beach was named the recipient of the Puerto Rican Bar Association’s Law Firm Diversity Award. The firm was also the winner of the 2012 HR Excellence Award in the diversity excellence category from the Buffalo Niagara Human Resources Association, a local chapter of the national Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Harris Beach Diversity Council Co-chair and firm partner, Rosevelie Márquez Morales has been recognized as the 2012 40 Under 40 Rising Latino Star by The Hispanic Coalition NY, Inc.
In 2011, Harris Beach received the Employer Support Freedom Award from the Secretary of Defense, which is the Department of Defense’s highest award given to civilian employers. In 2010, Harris Beach received the Rochester Black Bar Association’s Diversity Recognition Award for its committed participation, support and leadership in the Rochester Legal Diversity Clerkship Program. Also in 2010, Harris Beach received the Family Friendly Employer Award from the Greater Rochester Association of Women Attorneys and the Monroe County Bar Association. In 2008 Harris Beach partner H. Todd Bullard was presented with the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School Students of Color Distinguished Alumni Award and in 2007, he was presented with the Rochester Black Bar Association’s Trailblazer Award.
