On September 24, 2019, the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) presented Lowenstein Sandler’s Chair and Managing Partner, Gary M. Wingens, with a 2019 LCLD Compass Award for his participation in and support of LCLD’s mission and programs.

LCLD is an organization of more than 300 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who have dedicated themselves to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession. Its programs are designed to attract, inspire, and nurture talent in society and within member organizations in order to help a new and more diverse generation of attorneys ascend to positions of leadership.

Lowenstein works closely with the LCLD to build pipeline programs designed to develop diverse lawyers through training, networking, and access to law firm leaders and in-house counsel executives. The firm participates in several LCLD programs, including the LCDL Fellows program, which identifies, trains, and advances the next generation of leaders in the legal profession, and the 1L LCLD’s Scholars Program, which provides diverse first-year law students with valuable professional experiences while introducing them to the value of relationships and network-building.

These initiatives complement the firm’s other commitments to inclusion and diversity such as the Lowenstein Sandler LS Scholars Program, which offers paid summer associate positions and scholarships to promising, diverse first-year law students, and employee resource groups such as the Diversity Leadership Network, which focuses on recruiting, supporting, and promoting attorneys from diverse backgrounds; the LGBTQ Alliance, which advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ community inside and outside the firm; and the Women’s Initiative Network, a grassroots program that supports and empowers women attorneys to achieve professional and personal success. 

“Because diversity and inclusion are part of Lowenstein Sandler’s DNA, LCLD programs are a natural fit for us; they mirror our firm’s abiding commitment to diversity, and they provide us with effective ways to implement those values through mindful hiring, retention, and leadership practices,” said Wingens. “We credit a great deal of our firm’s success to our continued cultivation of a culture that welcomes and encourages diverse perspectives.”

Lowenstein Sandler has received numerous accolades for its diversity and inclusion programs, including:

  • A perfect (100 percent) score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index: Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality
  • Ranked among the 60 best law firms for women by Working Mother
  • Selected as one of WomenInc. Magazine's “Top 100 Law Firms for Women”
  • Received the Freddie Mac inaugural Award of Excellence for Enhancing Law Firm Diversity & Inclusion
  • Named an NJBIZ Best Place to Work in New Jersey
  • Named a Crain's Best Place to Work in New York City