Our Commitment to Diversity

SFB is committed to fostering diversity in the legal profession and has a track record of making good on that commitment.

For each search we conduct, SFB strives to present a diverse candidate pool for our clients' consideration and, as a result, has placed many minority attorneys with "majority" law firms and corporations. Almost one-quarter of the candidates placed by SFB within the last few years are attorneys of color, approximately half of the total placed are female, and several are second-career candidates finding positions as junior attorneys.

Since the early 1990's Valerie A. Fontaine has written and spoken extensively regarding bias in the legal profession. She has developed an MCLE program on that subject that she has presented to numerous audiences including law school alumni associations, the California State Bar, Los Angeles County Bar, the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association, and various other Bar Associations, in addition to delivering the program in-house for several law firms. Valerie also has published various articles on diversity in the legal profession. (See: "Bias is a Bottom Line Issue" and "Nice Guys Finish First")  Her online MCLE program, "Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession", was available at www.cleonline.com from October 2000 to October 2003. 

The recruiters at SFB are actively involved on the boards of several organizations that give them access to attorneys from diverse backgrounds. In addition to our involvement in "majority" bar associations and professional organizations, through our long-time membership on the Board of Governors of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, which is an affiliate of the Multi-Cultural Bar Association, recruiters from SFB have participated in activities of the Black Women Lawyers Association, the Langston Bar Association, Mexican American Bar Association, Latina Bar Association, the Southern California Chinese American Bar Association, the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association, and the like. Our recruiters also are active members and on the boards of community organizations such as Sojourn Shelter For Battered Women And Their Children and an inner-city school literacy program. We network at a variety of other professional, civic, and charitable events.

Seltzer Fontaine Beckwith is a certified Women Owned Business Enterprise and is a signatory to the Call of Action promulgated by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Joint Task Force on the Retention and Promotion of Women.

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• Commitment to Diversity

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