Corporate Equality Index 2008

The sixth annual Corporate Equality Index put out by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation shows an unprecedented 195 major U.S. businesses earned the top rating of 100 percent, up from 138 last year - a 41 percent increase. Apparently, the wingnut boycotts led by the likes of "Rev." Wildmon are not having the deterant effect the fundies claim. Given my profession, I check to see how law firs ranked. The following law firms rank a perfect 100 score:

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP 100
Alston & Bird LLP 100
Arnold & Porter LLP 100
Bingham McCutchen 100
Bryan Cave LLP 100
Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP 100
Crowell & Moring LLP 100
Dewey Ballantine LLP 100
Dickstein Shapiro LLP 100
Dorsey & Whitney LLP 100
Faegre & Benson 100
Foley & Lardner LLP 100
Foley Hoag LLP 100
Heller Ehrman LLP 100
Holland & Knight LLP 100
Jenner & Block LLP 100
Kirkland & Ellis 100
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP 100
Latham & Watkins LLP 100
McDermott Will & Emery LLP 100
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo 100
Morrison & Foerster LLP 100
Nixon Peabody LLP 100
O'Melveny & Myers LLP 100
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 100
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP 100
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 100
Powell Goldstein LLP 100
Sidley Austin LLP 100
Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal 100

Other worthy also mentioneds are as follows:

Baker & Daniels 95
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft 95
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP 95
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP 95
King & Spalding 95

Littler Mendelson PC 95
Seyfarth Shaw LLP 95
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP 95
Stoel Rives LLP 95
Weil, Gotshal & Manges 95
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP 93
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi 93
Debevoise & Plimpton 90
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP 90
Fenwick & West LLP 90
Kilpatrick Stockton LLP 90
McCarter & English 90
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP 90
Troutman Sanders LLP 90

Baker & Botts 85
Gordon & Rees 85
Howrey Simon Arnold & White LLP 85
Katten Muchin Zavis 85
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP 85
Perkins Coie 85
Proskauer Rose LLP 85
Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP 85
Steptoe & Johnson 85
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP 85
Thompson Coburn 85
Willkie Farr & Gallagher 85
Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati 85
Winston & Strawn 85
Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll 80
Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP 80
Covington & Burling 80
Duane Morris 80
Dykema Gossett 80
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP 80
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 80
Hogan & Hartson 80
Kaye Scholer LLP 80
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae 80
Lord, Bissell & Brook 80
Quarles & Brady 80
Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP 80

Stinson Morrison Hecker 80
Vinson & Elkins LLP 80
White & Case LLP 80
Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon 80

Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn 75
Fish & Richardson 75
Haynes and Boone 75
Hunton & Williams 75
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 75
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz 75
Chadbourne & Parke 70
Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP 70
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP 70
Andrews & Kurth LLP 65
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice 65
Howard & Howard Attorneys PC 48
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner 40

Hunton & Williams, based in Richmond, Virginia, was the only Virginia based firm to make the list (Troutman Sanders has Virginia offices, but is based in Atlanta). Not surprisely, no Norfolk law firms made the list at all. What is instructive is that the firms on the Corporate Equality list are among the most illustrious firms in the USA. One would think that firms that aspire to such lofty levels would get the message: granting full equality to LGBT employees makes semse - EVEN in Norfolk.

Inasmuch as all the Virginia top law schools (naturally not Regent or Liberty) require interviewing law firms to commit to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, perhaps schools like UVA need to do some better monitoring of compliance. I can name some local firms that should be barred from interviewing.