Diversity


Briggs and Morgan promotes and facilitates a working environment of inclusion, respect and opportunity for all employees. We are committed to hiring attorneys and staff of diverse backgrounds and cultural heritage. Briggs and Morgan is committed at all levels of the firm to develop and drive the firm's diversity strategies and mission.

Briggs strives to attract and retain minority lawyers and staff and is engaged in a number of diversity programs within the legal community. We are a founding member of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, a collaborative consortium of local law firms and corporations committed to attracting, recruiting, advancing and retaining lawyers of color in Minnesota.

Women serve in leadership roles within the firm; many Briggs attorneys are active in legal and professional associations and nonprofit organizations serving the Twin Cities community.

In addition, Briggs annually contributes to and participates in the Minnesota Minority Recruitment Conference and is a benefactor sponsor of Minnesota Legal Diversity for prospective minority attorneys. We work in conjunction with the Minority Corporate Counsel Association to create awareness and share best practices with corporate legal departments and we have pledged to follow the SAGE (Self Audit for Gender Equity) as developed by the Minnesota State Bar Association. 

We have also provided financial support to minority individuals interested in pursuing or furthering their legal profession through scholarships, such as:

  • The Briggs and Morgan/Honorable Samuel L. Hanson Diversity Scholarship, which was established at William Mitchell College of Law in 1994 as a scholarship and endowed in 2000 to provide funding for diverse students in good academic standing with financial need;
  • The Frederick L. McGhee Memorial Scholarship, created in 2000 to assist minority students in attending the Minnesota Minority Recruiting Conference; and
  • The Native American Indian Law Students Association, which provides funds to association members who attend the Annual Federal Bar Association's Indian Law Conference.

Briggs sponsors a variety of activities and events supporting diversity. All Briggs and Morgan women attorneys are members of Minnesota Women Lawyers (MWL). The firm is currently an anchor sponsor of MWL's capital campaign. Briggs has sponsored the Women in Leadership Forum hosted by the College of St. Catherine, where past speakers have included:  Coretta Scott King, Sherron Watkins (Enron's whistleblower), actress Lily Tomlin, humanitarian Jehan Sedat and human rights activist Mavis Leno.

The firm promotes public dialogue about issues affecting women and, together with Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, has completed two years of sponsoring a monthly series on topics related to women's human rights. The firm also sponsors quarterly diversity forums designed to inform lawyers and staff about the importance and substance of diversity issues. In recent forums, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis discussed the Case for Diversity in Law Firms, Professor Robin Magee from Hamline University School of Law discussed racial profiling, Senator Mee Moua discussed her experience being the first Hmong state senator in the nation, and Holocaust survivor Jack Sutin discussed his experience as a young man confronting Nazi persecution.

Briggs and Morgan supports attorney involvement in a variety of firm management, professional and community roles to further promote and encourage diversity in our workplace. Our Diversity Committee, which includes attorneys and staff, promotes and facilitates a working environment of inclusion, respect and opportunity for all employees through education, special initiatives, and hiring and retention practices.