A longstanding commitment that has guided the development of our Firm

One of our fundamental priorities is the recruitment, retention and promotion of attorneys and staff of diverse backgrounds.  With diversity, we can bring varied talents, perspectives and ideals to the practice of law.  Our commitment is longstanding and has guided the development of the Firm throughout the four decades since its inception. 

We believe diversity is an integral part of the foundation of a successful business enterprise.  We consistently strive to cultivate a diverse workforce as it is essential to our continued ability to provide the highest quality of legal talent and services to our clients.  Some of the Firm’s major practice groups are or have been chaired by principals who are women or persons of color.  In furtherance of our commitment, the women attorneys of our Firm have formed Women Building Bridges ("WBB").  WBB is comprised of women attorneys at the Firm dedicated to assisting women in their career development efforts both within and outside of the Firm by encouraging women to become leaders in their fields of expertise and in the community. 

We have extended our commitment to diversity beyond our Firm and into the legal community.  In 1991, the Firm became a charter member of The Connecticut Law Firm Group on Minority Hiring and Retention, whose mission has been to increase the number of women, minorities and persons of color successfully practicing law in Connecticut’s largest law firms.  R. Dial Parrott, a principal in the Firm, serves as current Vice President and is the immediate Past President of this organization.  Since 1996 principals from our Firm have served on a special executive committee formed to expand the Group’s mission to include a wider and more effective network of law firms, corporations, government agencies and non-profit organizations.  The group is now entitled The Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity ("LCD”) and its membership has substantially and consistently increased throughout the past decade.  As a statewide consortium, LCD’s mission is to share ideas and resources to support recruitment, retention, assimilation and mentoring of women and minority lawyers with the goal of increasing the top legal talent practicing in Connecticut.

Our attorneys consistently become leaders in a wide variety of organizations in order to improve the overall attractiveness of Connecticut as a place where women and minority lawyers choose to practice.  Members of our Firm have taken active roles in the George W. Crawford Law Association, the Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association, the Hartford County Bar Association Diversity Committee and the American Bar Association Corporate Counsel Diversity Committee.  Attorneys in the Firm have also actively participated in the Greater New Haven NAACP, the Connecticut State Conference of the NAACP, the Urban League of Greater Hartford, and the Charting Your Own Course Foundation, a national consortium of minority lawyers whose goal is to assist in the development of minority lawyers locally, as well as across the country. 

In furtherance of our attempt to aggressively seek and hire members of minority groups, we participated in the University of Connecticut School of Law’s Cultural Diversity Initiative program.  We have also recently contacted the guidance departments at certain Hartford and New Haven area high schools volunteering to provide internship programs for minority students. These programs have been a valuable asset in attracting minority students to our workforce.

With offices in two of Connecticut’s largest metropolitan areas, the Firm also recognizes a responsibility to support organizations and programs that provide assistance to inner city residents.  We have established Updike, Kelly & Spellacy Charitable Foundation to provide funds for charitable and community organizations and events.  The Foundation supports organizations such as Camp Courant, Urban League of Greater Hartford, Capital Area Foundation for Equal Justice, National Conference for Community and Justice and Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity as well as organizations which are committed to revitalizing our urban areas, such as Riverfront Recapture.

We encourage all members of our Firm to donate their personal time, commitment and energy to community programs and activities.  We believe these outside activities strengthen and enrich our commitment to diversity.

We are an equal opportunity employer.  It is our policy that equal employment opportunity be provided to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, creed color, sex, age, national origin, religion, marital status, ancestry, qualified physical disability, or sexual orientation.  Our commitment to this policy and its implementation serves as a primary goal of the Firm’s Recruitment and Diversity Committees.

We are proud of our history of commitment to diversity.  We pledge to continue to be a law firm in which people of diverse backgrounds want to work; a place where we can all thrive professionally and become part of an organization dedicated to serving the needs of diverse clients in a global marketplace.