Diversity & Inclusion

Gibson Dunn believes that diversity and inclusion are essential to our continued success as one of the leading law firms in the world. For more than two decades, the firm has been focused on building an inclusive culture that enables all to thrive.

Our Vision

We deliver the highest quality legal services by fostering a culturally fluent, inclusive, and open environment that welcomes individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives to achieve Gibson Dunn’s core values of excellence, fairness, and individuality. The firm is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veterans status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Inclusion and Belonging

Gibson Dunn engages with its attorneys, staff, clients, and recruits through a range of programs designed to celebrate culture and heritage, foster a sense of inclusion and belonging and support recruiting and career development efforts, all while cultivating connection and community within and beyond the firm.

Each year, Gibson Dunn hosts hundreds of firmwide and local all-personnel programs celebrating heritage months and other cultural holidays and observances. Recent highlights include:

A Conversation with Don Liu (Executive Vice President and Chief Legal & Risk Officer at Target);
A Conversation with Actor and Writer Simu Liu in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month;
Pride Month Celebration: A Conversation with Gibson Dunn Partner Stuart Delery;
LA Area Black History Month Celebration featuring Gibson Dunn Partner Marcellus McRae;
Juneteenth Celebration: A Conversation with Deon Jones (Artist, Activist and Truman Scholar);
Ramadan Commemoration: Iftar Dinner and Panel with Amin Kassam (Deputy General Counsel, Bloomberg);
Holocaust Remembrance Day: A Conversation with Holocaust Survivor Fred Schoenfeld;
Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration: A Conversation with Dr. G. Cristina Mora (Author, Making Hispanics); and
Women’s History Month Celebration with Carla Hayden (Librarian of Congress)

Each year, Gibson Dunn works diligently to recruit lawyers with a diverse array of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences and to provide them with opportunities to thrive. In recruiting new associates, we reach many diverse law students through on-campus efforts and through our 1L Diversity Fellowship program. Gibson Dunn lawyers are actively involved in on-campus programming, including by participating on panels, conducting mock interviews, serving as mentors, and attending affinity group events. The firm engages in a number of other recruiting efforts that are consistent with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, including our 2L Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship, as well as supporting pipeline programs such as the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Fellowship and Barbri’s Law Preview program. Each of the programs continue to be open to all. Click here to learn more about these programs and how to apply.

Gibson Dunn understands that attorneys and aspiring attorneys who join the firm will need many tools to thrive in their practice. To that end, the diversity and professional development teams offer a range of supportive resources, including coaching and panels related to demystifying the path to partnership, maximizing the year-end review process and navigating law firms as first-generation professionals. We also facilitate discussions featuring Gibson Dunn alumni practicing in other contexts.

Gibson Dunn attorneys are encouraged to take advantage of the firm’s best-in-industry work-life integration policies, all while remaining on partner track; indeed, we routinely promote lawyers on reduced hours schedules to the partnership. The firm offers generous parental leaves, reason-blind leaves, flex-time arrangements, and other supportive mechanisms, including a transition period policy that enables caregivers returning from extended leaves the ability to temporarily practice on a reduced schedule while receiving full pay.

In addition, Gibson Dunn offers fertility and surrogacy benefits for partners, of counsel, and associates, providing up to $60,000 in coverage for eligible participants. We also support our working parents through the Gibson Dunn Families program, which provides individual coaching to expecting and new parents to help with off-ramping, on-ramping, and adjusting to having a new baby, and through local parenting affinity groups.

Affinity Groups

Every year, we host hundreds of diversity and inclusion programs; in 2024, we hosted more than 350 events across the firm. In addition, Gibson Dunn is proud to support over 15 active firmwide affinity groups, which host programming and activities designed to facilitate a sense of community for our attorneys. Below is a list of our affinity groups:

Asian American Affinity Group
Black Affinity Group
Christian Bible Study Groups
Disability Affinity Group
First Generation Professionals Affinity Group
Hispanic/Latino Affinity Group
Jewish Affinity Group
LGBTQ+ Affinity Group
LGBTQ+ Women’s/Non-Binary Affinity Group
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Affinity Group
Muslim Affinity Group
Parenting Affinity Group
Real Estate Attorneys of Color
Sabbath-Observant Affinity Group
South Asian Affinity Group
Veterans @ Gibson Dunn
Women’s Affinity Group
Women of Color Affinity Group

We also have local affinity groups in each of our U.S. offices and many of our international offices, including our Europe-Middle East-Asia (EMEA) Women’s Initiative. Gibson Dunn’s affinity groups and their events are open to all lawyers, regardless of background.

Community Impact

Beyond our work within the firm, we have also long championed diversity and inclusion efforts in the communities where we all live and work. For example, we were on the front lines in landmark court cases that helped to define marriage equality in the United States, including our work to overturn California’s Proposition 8. We have taken very public stances on a range of social justice issues, including condemnation of the rise in anti-Asian hate, anti-Semitic attacks, and Islamophobia, and launched a Racial Justice & Equity Initiative, which formalized our ongoing engagement in litigation designed to advance racial justice and equity. We donate to several diverse causes and national organizations, including ChIPs, Corporate Counsel Women of Color, Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, Out Leadership, and many local bar associations.

We are particularly proud of our involvement with The Alliance for Asian American Justice, a national pro bono initiative committed to standing up for victims of anti-Asian hate and preventing future acts of racialized violence. The Alliance is co-chaired by Gibson Dunn partner, Debra Wong Yang, who also serves on The Alliance’s Board of Directors. Gibson Dunn is joined by a group of Fortune 1000 General Counsel and over 100 law firms in this important effort. The Alliance is coordinating and driving law firm pro bono resources on behalf of victims to assist and support them in obtaining legal remedies. Our engagement in this space is just one of many examples of how Gibson Dunn champions diversity and inclusion not only within our firm and industry but also in broader communities across the globe.

Diversity & Inclusion

Our Vision

Inclusion and Belonging

Affinity Groups

Community Impact

Diversity Overview