- Meet Miller Canfield
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At Miller Canfield, we live our values. Our community and culture demonstrate the firm's commitment to equal opportunity under the law and help attract and retain skilled professionals in the field. This is good for the firm, our future and our clients.
For decades, Miller Canfield has been a leader on opportunity and inclusion, both within the firm and in the community. We believe that diversity of experience, thoughts and opinions are essential to our firm culture and to our success. We are proud that our team of lawyers, paralegals and administrative staff reflects the communities in which we live and do business, and we continually strive to ensure that Miller Canfield remains a place where there is equal opportunity for all.
Our commitment to promoting opportunity and inclusion starts with our management team. We were one of the first major law firms in the country to elect an African American chief executive officer, Leonard Givens, who was instrumental in incorporating the Michigan Minority Business Development Counsel. Beverly Hall Burns has served as Deputy CEO of the firm. Our Board of Managing Directors includes Danielle Mason Anderson (the current chair), has included Amy Johnston, Jerome Watson and Amanda Van Dusen, and was previously chaired by both Johnston and Megan Norris (who also recently served as Chief Executive Officer).
We demonstrate our commitment to inclusivity and opportunity in a variety of ways including:
- Business development training for new and experienced attorneys, with a focus on building teams
- Mentoring for new attorneys
- Diverse and exciting work assignments for associate attorneys
- A committee of dedicated principal attorneys and firm leaders who support the Director of Recruiting and the firm’s efforts to maintain its culture and community through inclusivity and equal opportunities for hiring.
- Annual meetings and reviews to ensure that attorneys have opportunities to work on matters that reflect their interests and professional goals
- Reduced-hours path to principalship
- Reduced and flexible work schedules
- Trainings for attorneys and staff
- Women of Miller Canfield, which meets several times a year to discuss practice development goals and to support all firm attorneys through client engagement
- Oversight and review of firm structures and policies to ensure compliance with equal opportunity law
- Refinement of the RFP process to ensure inclusion of attorneys reflecting diverse experiences and thoughts
- Strengthening pipeline initiatives for attorneys of all backgrounds
- Strategic lateral hiring that reinforces inclusivity
- Tutoring elementary school students enrolled in Detroit Public Schools through a program initiated by "Retooling Detroit," providing monetary support for related computer equipment and software
- We have sponsored and hosted the Just the Beginning Foundation's High School Summer Legal Institute, which introduces metro Detroit high school students to the legal system and mentors them through the federal court
- Participation and leadership roles in various bar associations including, but not limited to, the B’nai Brith Barristers, Catholic Lawyers Society, Hispanic Bar Association, Wolverine Bar Association, and Women Lawyers Association of Michigan
- Participating in the African American Partners Collaborative, which was co-founded by Saul Green and includes African American partners from all the larger metro Detroit law firms
- Recruiting at state and national law schools that foster pipeline initiatives to foster inclusivity and ensure equal opportunity for all applicants
As a firm, Miller Canfield has also earned recognition for its efforts to support inclusivity, both within the firm and in the legal community.
We are a signatory firm of the Grand Rapids Bar Association's Managing Partners Diversity Collaborative Agreement, signed in 2011. The agreement is a formal commitment among 12 major Grand Rapids law firms and the GRBA to collaborate and champion diversity and inclusion in the West Michigan legal community through education, hiring, retention and promotion.
In 2016, Miller Canfield was one of 54 top law firms nationwide selected to participate in the Women in Law Hackathon, an innovative program to provide equal opportunities to women in the legal profession. The firm is an "Honor Roll" member of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, and we have sponsored and presented the Outstanding Diversity Award for the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce. Miller Canfield was the first Michigan-based firm to earn Mansfield Plus Certification, which measures whether law firms consider all qualified candidates, including historically underrepresented lawyers, for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions and lateral positions.
In 2018, we became the first law firm to sponsor the Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce. In addition, we were recognized by OutFront Kalamazoo for our support of the LGBTQ community.
Miller Canfield attorneys are regularly named by Michigan Lawyers Weekly in its annual Women in the Law recognition and awards. In addition to being recognized for their professional accomplishments, Women in the Law are also recognized for the ways they support other attorneys.
Principal attorney Harold Bulger was named in the Michigan Chronicle's Men of Excellence, which recognizes leaders who are visionaries and who are champions of economic empowerment and opportunity.
Saul Green was honored by the Wolverine Bar Association and the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association with Trailblazer Award recognitions for his work in paving the way for diversity in the legal profession. Saul has won the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion's Humanitarian Award and was selected to serve as co-chair of the State Bar of Michigan Open Justice Commission’s Task Force on Racial/Ethnic and Gender Issues in the Courts and Legal Profession.
