O’Melveny Receives 100 Percent Rating on Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index

O'Melveny received a top rating on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2008 Corporate Equality Index ("CEI"), and will be recognized in the report's companion on the "Best Places to Work." The sixth annual index rates employers on a scale from 0 to 100 percent on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender ("GLBT") employees, consumers, and investors. O'Melveny received a 100 percent rating.

The CEI rated more than 500 US-based companies this year and measured the extent to which employers protect and support their GLBT employees. Ratings are based on factors like non-discrimination policies, diversity training, and benefits for domestic partners and transgender employees.

In 2004, O'Melveny undertook a firmwide diversity assessment and embraced the need for sustained dialogue and action designed to improve its recruiting, career development, promotion, and retention of diverse attorneys and staff. In response to the assessment, the Firm appointed a Director of Diversity, Jacqueline Cranford, who, along with Senior Partner Warren Christopher, leads O'Melveny's efforts to implement a Diversity Strategic Plan and weave diversity into the fabric of the Firm's operations. Other initiatives that grew out of the assessment included diversity awareness training, the development of "grassroots" affinity groups and mentoring programs, and a revamping of the Firm's work coordination system and reduced hours policy.