Seyfarth Shaw Scores High Marks in Annual Corporate Equality Index
Firm also Ranks in the 2009 Edition of the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms

Chicago, IL (September 2, 2008)—Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full-service law firms, today announced that it has earned a top ranking in the 2009 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The firm proudly joins 258 other leading U.S. businesses that earned top marks for their treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees and clients.

“Our top ranking in this year’s index highlights that Seyfarth Shaw values our diverse workforce and reflects our welcoming, inclusive culture,” said J. Stephen Poor, Chair and Managing Partner of Seyfarth Shaw. “We’re proud of the culture we’ve cultivated at Seyfarth Shaw—it helps us attract and retain top legal talent and professional staff, and it contributes to making this an exceptionally rewarding place to work.”

The seventh annual Corporate Equality Index rates 583 businesses on a scale from 0 to 100 percent on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. The 2009 edition of the CEI reports 259 businesses achieved a perfect score, a one-third increase over last year when the number was 195. The 259 top-rated businesses collectively employ more than 9 million full-time employees. These workers are protected from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because of their employers’ policies on diversity training, health care, and domestic partnership benefits. In 2006, the first year law firms were invited to participate in the CEI, 13 achieved a score of 100 percent. That figure has leapt to 64 in the latest edition, eclipsing banking and financial services firms.

Seyfarth Shaw also made the ranks of the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms. For the prestige rankings in the 2009 issue, Vault surveyed more than 18,800 associates at more than 167 major law firms across the country and asked them to rank firms in terms of how prestigious it would be to work for them. Vault also ranked the firms for their quality of life by asking associates to rate their own firms on issues such as treatment by partners, formal training, informal training and mentoring, hours and compensation and then scored the firms against each other.

“We’re delighted that others are learning what many of us have known for a very long time: Seyfarth Shaw is a terrific place to work,” said Judy Braun, Seyfarth Shaw’s Chief Talent Officer.

Seyfarth Shaw has over 750 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States including Chicago; New York; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco and Sacramento; as well as Brussels, Belgium. The firm provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services. Seyfarth Shaw’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business and social fabric. Clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, newspapers and other media, hotels, health care organizations, airlines and railroads. The firm also represents a number of federal, state, and local governmental and educational entities.