About > Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity is vital to the success of our firm and our community. It is a core value of Tonkon Torp to recruit, retain, and represent a diverse community of attorneys, staff, students, and clients. Here’s what we are doing:
- Diversity Partner: Our firm has a dedicated Diversity Partner who coordinates our initiatives and spearheads our Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Our current diversity partner is Darcy Norville.
- Diversity & Inclusion Committee: This motivated group of staff and lawyers identifies barriers to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, and recommends ways for the firm to improve. The committee meets on a regular basis and has a budget dedicated to funding diversity and inclusion efforts in the firm and community.
- Conversation Project: In 2016 we began hosting an ongoing series of Conversation Project lunches for staff and attorneys. Offered by Oregon Humanities, the Conversation Project engages communities throughout the state in thoughtful and challenging conversations on topics and ideas that will shape Oregon’s future. Recent topics have included gender, racial diversity in Oregon, understanding disability and homelessness.
- 1L Diversity Fellowship Program: As part of our recruitment efforts, we offer a fellowship to a first-year law student who is a person of color or a member of an underrepresented group. The fellowship includes a paid 10-week summer associate position and a $10,000 academic scholarship at the conclusion of the summer program. This program has been extremely successful, and we regularly attract highly qualified law students for our summer associate program — then hire those students as lawyers.
- Requirements for Staffing Agencies: When engaging staffing/placement agencies for staff hiring, we specifically request a range of diverse applicants for our consideration. We also partner with agencies outside the downtown Portland core to further diversify our recruiting.
- De La Salle North Catholic High School Intern Program: Since 2005, we’ve hired student interns from De La Salle North Catholic High School who have contributed to the racial and socioeconomic diversity of our firm. This internship program provides valuable job skills to high school students, and many of our student interns have returned to the firm as temporary or permanent employees.