Diversity & Community

Where Diversity and the Law Work. Together.

Diversity is more than a business catchphrase at Winstead.

It is our core commitment. Diversity influences our actions, how we engage with our clients and communities and how we view our firm and our future.  Winstead believes that we accomplish more together than we could alone, that inclusiveness is essential to teamwork. And in the process, we are willing to give more than we receive.
Diversity Committee

Winstead's Diversity Committee identifies develops, plans and implements business opportunities for the recruitment, retention and promotion of attorneys of color and women attorneys at our firm.

For example, Winstead's Diversity Committee discovers and evaluates events such as conferences and other networking opportunities that promote its minority and women attorneys. The Diversity Committee also determines areas of improvement in our mentoring and inclusion of diverse attorneys.

Through the efforts of the Diversity Committee, we have systematically implemented such activities as:

• Monitoring case assignments for participation of diverse attorneys
• Skill strengthening and mentoring for all attorneys
• Introducing diverse attorneys to key clients and fostering lasting relationships
• Review and revision of Winstead’s alternative work policy, mentoring program and assignment systems

Winstead's Diversity Statement

Winstead is strongly committed to diversity.

The firm strives to recruit, retain and advance men and women of all backgrounds so that our workforce reflects the diversity of our clients and our communities. We are proud that our firm is made up of attorneys who bring different perspectives and experiences to the firm, not just through varied cultural backgrounds but also by having lived and practiced in various cities across the country.

We believe that promoting diversity among staff, associates and shareholders makes Winstead a more collegial and competitive firm in the global marketplace. This commitment to diversity applies not only to our own staff, but also to selection of business partners and vendors.

Winstead provides equal employment and advancement opportunity regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

Committee Accountability

The strategies and programs emanating from our Diversity Committee receive monthly review and performance analysis by the CEO and the Executive Committee. The committee is held accountable by our leadership team.

From increasing the number of minorities at the associate and partnership levels, to expanding networks with minority associations and adding a minority focus to mentoring programs, Winstead’s Diversity Committee seeks to set the standard of today’s diverse workplace.

Committed to Diversity

Diversity is an essential ingredient of Winstead's culture and success. Our firm and our firm's leadership team are strongly committed to the recruitment, retention, development and advancement of men and women of all backgrounds so that our workforce reflects the diversity of our clients and our communities. This commitment to diversity applies to our attorneys, staff and to the selection of our business partners and vendors. Winstead is proud to have women and minorities serving at all levels of firm leadership, including the Executive Committee, as Office Managing Partner, Practice Group Chair, and on many internal committees and teams.

Winstead's Diversity Committee, headed by Shareholder Yasmin Atasi, includes Al Axe, Marcus Brown, Deanna Caldwell, Todd Chen, Joe Fonlon, Jenn Foringer, Linda Glover, Kathy Lindauer, Keneisha Miller, Brooke Reynolds, Teresa Schneider, Alex Valdes, Dan Vineyard, Kirk Williams, Patty Stewart (director of human resources) and Dominique Anderson (director of recruiting).

The Diversity Committee works closely with Winstead's Executive Committee and City Managing Shareholders to identify and implement the firm's diversity initiatives

Key Diversity Initiatives 

Women's Alliance
Founded to ensure that opportunities are available to all Winstead lawyers, irrespective of gender, the Women’s Alliance addresses topics of interest to women at our firm and in the legal profession, such as business development and leadership opportunities, retention rates and alternative work schedules.

The Women’s Alliance continues to flourish as the firm’s female attorneys participate in firm-wide and local events that focus on issues affecting women in the legal profession. The Women's Alliance has hosted client development events benefiting organizations such as Dress for Success, an organization dedicated to promoting the economic independence of disadvantaged women; The Wilkinson Center, whose mission is to provide pathways to self-sufficiency for families living in poverty; and DirectWomen, which promotes women leaders among boards of U.S. companies.

Diversity Scholarship
Winstead’s Diversity Committee leads efforts for the annual Winstead Juris Doctor Scholarship, a scholarship program aimed to enhance the recruitment of ethnically diverse candidates at Texas law schools. Through the scholarship program, Winstead awards three $18,500 scholarships annually to first-year, underrepresented, diverse law students at the following Texas law schools: The University of Texas School of Law, The University of Houston Law Center, and Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.  In addition, each recipient is entitled to select a law school student interest group to receive a grant of $1,500.

Organizations and Activities
Because diversity requires not just ideas, but action and support, Winstead actively participates in and sponsors a number of key organizations and events, including the following:

• Anti-Defamation League seminars and award luncheon
• Asian American Bar Association of Austin, Dallas and Houston
• Hispanic Bar Association of Austin, Dallas and Houston
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Houston Diversity Council (Winstead is a founding member)
• Houston Lawyers Association
• J.L. Turner Legal Association
• Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship
• Minority Corporate Counsel Association
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• National Bar Association
• Real Estate Council Diversity Program
• Southeastern Minority Job Fair
• Sunbelt Minority Job Fair
• Texas Diversity Council Symposium
• Texas Minority Corporate Counsel Program Thurgood Marshall Legal Society
  Tomorrow's Attorneys Pipeline Program

Diversity and Our Vendors
Our commitment to diversity extends beyond our own team and includes the selection of our business partners and vendors. Winstead utilizes a questionnaire for its vendors and suppliers to ensure that the procurement door is open to everyone and that all qualified, capable and competent businesses have the opportunity to compete. If our suppliers, vendors and business partners do not reflect our commitment to diversity, we seek qualified ones who do.

Diversity Recruitment & Outreach

Winstead actively recruits diverse candidates as part of our overall firm recruiting program.
We are signatories to two Texas diversity initiatives—the Statement of Goals of Dallas Law Firms and Corporate Legal Departments for Increasing Minority Hiring, Retention and Promotion and the Houston Bar Association's Gender Initiative Commitment Statement.

Winstead recruits minority lawyers laterally and includes minority attorneys in our recruiting programs. We participate on career panels at schools, reach out to leadership and members of minority bar associations and student organizations and create internal firm affinity groups that support succession planning with an emphasis on diversity.

Our participation includes the following recruitment activities and outreach:

• Southeastern Minority Job Fair and Sunbelt Minority Job Fair
• Sponsorship of various minority student organizations and events
• Sponsorship of various minority student career development events
• Dallas Bar Association's Minority Clerkship Luncheon
• Houston Bar Association's Summer Associate Luncheon
• Smallwood Keller and Lewis Diversity Career Fair 
• Winstead's Law School Diversity Outreach and Juris Doctor Scholarship Program
• University of Houston Law Center to prepare more minority students for eligibility for law review 
    

Community

Where Winstead and Community Service Connect.

It is Winstead’s professional imperative to give back to our community. And it is our social conscience that propels our ongoing community service and charitable contributions. These activities have become defining attributes of our attorneys and staff.

As founding partner Pete Winstead notes, “Community service is the core of what we do. We value the opportunity and trust our clients and communities grant us. In return, we seek to honor that trust by making a positive difference where we live and work.”

Winstead in the Community
Winstead’s professionals are active and vital volunteers in a range of social programs, outreach activities and civic projects. We are board members of nonprofits and organizations in the arts, healthcare and other areas that shape the quality of life in our communities.  We devote many hours to support organizations, assist those in need, and invest our personal efforts and professional skills to the diverse people and places that make a difference.  Some of the groups and organizations where Winstead professionals participate include:

• American Heart Association
• Attorneys Serving the Community
• Austin Children's Museum
• CASA
• Children's Justice Project
• Dallas Social Venture Partners
• Dispute Resolution Services of Tarrant County
• Entrepreneur's Foundation of North Texas – Freedom Day
• Eugene Field Elementary School
• Greater Dallas Asian Chamber of Commerce
• Greater Houston Partnership
• Habitat for Humanity
• Heritage Society of Austin
• Jewish Community Center of Dallas
• Leadership Austin
• Leadership Dallas
• Leadership Houston
• Lone Star Girl Scout Council
• Lyric Opera of Austin
• March of Dimes Walk America
• Partners in Education
• Texas Asian Chamber of Commerce
• Texas C-BAR
• Umlauf Sculpture Garden
• Volunteer Legal Service
• West Austin Youth Association

Board Representation

• Austin Museum of Art
• Ballet Austin
• Boy Scouts of America
• Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation
• Children's Medical Center Foundation
• Colorado River Foundation
• Cotton Bowl Athletic Association
• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
• Dallas 2012 Olympic Committee
• Dallas Opera
• Dallas Social Venture Partners
• Dallas Symphony Orchestra
• Dallas Theater Center
• El Paso Symphony Orchestra Association
• Family Services of Greater Houston
• Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
• Greater Dallas Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse
• Greater Houston Partnership
• Hill Country Conservancy
• Houston Grand Opera
• Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
• Houston READ Commission
• Humane Society of Montgomery County
• Jewish Community Center of Houston
• KIPP, Inc.
• KLRU
• Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas
• Meals on Wheels and More
• Promise House, Inc.
• Pulmonary Hypertension Association - National Board
• Ronald McDonald House, Austin
• SafePlace Foundation
• SER Jobs For Progress
• SMU Athletic Forum
• South Montgomery County YMCA
• Special Olympics Texas
• State Fair of Texas
• Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation 
• The Helping Hand for Children
• The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council
• TITAS
• United Way
• VICTORY Board
• Woodlands Rotary Club
• World Affairs Council of Houston
• YMCA - Town Lake Austin

Leaders in the Community:
The following is a list of organizations in which Winstead attorneys currently serve as pro bono general counsel or legal counsel or special counsel for projects.

• Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas
• Asian American Forum, Inc.
• Avalon Place Property Owners’ Association
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas
• British American Business Counsel - DFW Foundation
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
• Dallas Lutheran School
• Dallas Symphony Orchestra
• Dallas Tennis Association
• Dallas Texans Soccer Club
• DaVinci School
• DIAL - Developing Independent Adult Living
• Family Eldercare
• FUNED, Honduras
• Greater Dallas Chamber Young Professionals
• Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Houston Golf Association
• Houston International Seafarers’ Centers
• Jesuit College Preparatory School Young Alumni Association
• Jewish Federation of Greater Houston
• Kardivas, Inc.
• KIPP, Inc. (Knowledge is Power Program)
• Legal Aid of Northwest Texas
• LifeWorks
• Meals on Wheels and More
• Mercy Street
• Museum of Nature and Science - Dallas, Texas
• NCAA 2011 Men’s Final Four - Local Organizing Committee
• North Dallas Chamber of Commerce
• North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee
• Northwest Assistance Ministries, Inc.
• Prison Entrepreneurship Program
• Providence Homes Dallas
• Real Estate Council
• Regents School of Austin
• Salesmanship Club of Dallas
• Sam Houston Area Council - Boy Scouts of America
• Sinanian Development, Inc.
• Super Bowl 2004 Host Committee
• Texas Corinthian Yacht Club
• Texas Urban Forestry Council
• Uplift Education
• Winston School
• The Woodlands Children’s Museum
• YET Centers of Houston
• Young Widow - Chapter Two

Legal Aid Organizations:
Several Winstead attorneys volunteer for various legal aid organizations that are instrumental in preserving “equal access to justice.” Some of these organizations include:

• Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program
• Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
• Houston Volunteer Attorney Program
• Legal Aid of Northwest Texas
• Texas C-Bar
• Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas

For more information regarding Winstead’s pro bono legal assistance, contact John Reenan at 214.745.5109 or jreenan@winstead.com.