Weil is unique among law firms bringing affinity group members Firmwide for professional development conferences. BAAG hosted their fourth biennial conference in New York City in June 2015. BAAG members from the US and London offices convened to participate in:

• “One Size Never Fits All: Building a Professional Network & Developing Business in a Way That Fits You” presentation facilitated by Dr. Arin Reeves, President of Nextions
• A client networking reception featuring Michelle Roberts, Executive Director of National Basketball Players Association
• “Building Brand and Creating Preference” and “Business Development Recruitment, Retention & Advancement” Leadership Academy Workshops facilitated by Werten Bellamy, President of Stakeholders, Inc.
• A panel on public service and external leadership featuring Brennan Marcano, Executive Director, Council of Urban Professionals and Nicolaine Lazarre, SVP & General Counsel, National Urban League

In January 2017, Weil hosted a Multicultural Attorney Conference bringing together Asian American, Black/African American and Latino attorneys from across the US for professional development, client networking, and strategic planning. The conference featured a Talking Boldly Workshop facilitated by Vernā Myers, gender breakout sessions facilitated by Calvin Gladney and Tiffany Dufu, and a "Courageous Conversations About Race" panel exploring PwC's Color Brave efforts.

In September 2016, London BAAG co-hosted a Black Attorney Panel with Goldman Sachs on ‘Navigating Your Career’ including personal branding.

In May 2016, the London office hosted a BAAG client networking dinner including a conversation on personal branding and career navigation with Mac Attram and Margaret Casely-Hayford.

In May 2016, the Silicon Valley office hosted a California Elimination of Bias CLE workshop and networking reception with clients.

The Black Attorney Affinity Group (BAAG) at Weil and Estee Lauder Inc.’s Network of Black Leaders and Executives (NOBLE) co-hosted a cocktail networking reception in March 2014.

Other events have featured a Dodd-Frank panel discussion and networking reception with the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the premier organization comprised of African American senior executives in Fortune 500 companies.

BAAG members from the Dallas office held a networking reception featuring live music and a private exhibit viewing at the African American Museum. Rob McCray, Weil alumnus, private investor and corporate director, provided keynote remarks. The event was co-sponsored by American Airlines, J.L. Turner Legal Association, National Black MBA Association and Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

In November 2016, Weil hosted a US-Wide panel, “Racial Justice in America: Diverse Perspectives on the Current Crisis,” featuring William Bratton, Former New York City Police commissioner and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Kristen Clarke, President and Executive DIrector of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Don Cravins, Jr., Senior Vice President for Policy and Executive Director of the Washington Bureau of the National Urban League.

The Folks Party is a Weil tradition beginning in 1987 in which members of the Firm’s affinity groups, alumni and summer associates of color come together at a BAAG partner’s home.

In recognition of Black History Month in February 2015, Weil hosted a panel discussing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, its implications and impact 50 years later, and the Firm's involvement in the civil rights movement, including its long-standing history with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. The panel featured Leah Aden, Associate Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Political Participation Group, partner Carl Lobell and retired partner and panel moderator, Marsha Simms.

In 2016, to honor Reverend Martin Luther King’s commitment to service and the community, the Dallas office helped their neighbors affected by the tornados in Garland and Rowlett by collecting over 1,300 desperately needed items including hygienic products, baby products, and other household materials.

In 2015, the Firm hosted many community service projects in participating US offices. There were over 200 Weil volunteer participants across 5 U.S. offices benefitting 8 nonprofit organizations.

In summer 2016, BAAG and Latinos@Weil hosted a panel of alumni of color who are judges and a women of color discussion featuring Maria Fernandez of IBM.

Each summer the Dallas office hosts an annual multicultural luncheon. In June 2016, the featured speaker was Liji Thomas, Senior Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at Southwest Airlines.

In November 2015, Professor Kenji Yoshino of NYU Law School shared his award-winning findings on “covering,” or the pressure at work to downplay outsider attributes and addressed the critical role of “ethical bystanders” and “allies” in making society and the workplace more inclusive. The Dallas office also hosted a Diversity Month In-House Counsel Panel featuring Tracy Preston of The Neiman Marcus Group, Navin Rao of Michaels Stores, and Amy Roman of EnLink Midstream.

The Firm has hosted several documentary film screenings and discussions, such as “The Central Park Five” with an Innocence Project Managing Attorney and one of the exonerated members of the group; “Brother Outsider: The Bayard Rustin Story” with the filmmaker and Rustin’s surviving partner; “The Black List” with the filmmaker and producer; and a Luminary Screening of King: Man of Peace in a Time of War.

Weil performs outreach to urban schools and programs to introduce the legal profession to racial/ethnic minority students. The Firm has hosted middle school students from MS224 through PENCIL, an organization that inspires innovation in NYC's public schools through private-public partnerships. Weil has also hosted high school students from Summer Search for mentoring, college advising, and networking; recent high school graduates from Girls Inc. for their annual “College Shower;” students from college through advanced degrees for Disability Mentoring Day; and law students from Practicing Attorneys for Law Students for networking workshops.

Weil has a longstanding relationship with PALS (Practicing Attorneys for Law Students), a nonprofit organization committed to minority attorneys and law students, including hosting mock interview, 1L exam writing, and networking workshops.

Weil launched a Diversity Fellowship Program, which offers $10,000 scholarship awards to first-and second-year law students. Learn more about the winners of the first- and second-year Law Student Diversity Fellowships.

The Firm sponsors and actively participates in internship opportunities through DC’s Posse Foundation, the Dallas Judicial Intern Opportunity Program and the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Program (SEO). Weil’s New York Office has provided 81 summer internships to high school and college students from community based organizations since 2013.

Weil is a supporter of the Corporate Counsel Women of Color Conference, the Council of Urban Professionals, the Center for Talent Innovation, the Hispanic Lawyers Society of New York, the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Legal Outreach, and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

In June 2016, Weil hosted the Association of Black Women Attorneys’ Annual Associate Dinner, Do You Slay, a fireside chat on client exposure, leveraging power players, and other key steps to succeed as an associate at every level.

Weil is building on a previous connection to MS 224 in the South Bronx through PENCIL, an organization that inspires innovation in NYC's public schools through private-public partnerships. Weil engages with students in myriad ways throughout the year including mentoring, tutoring, and workshops. In addition, one of New York’s Pay It Forward teams, led by a group of summer associates, is collaborating with Kids Creative NYC to establish a performing arts program at the school. Recent programs include bringing the BioBus, a state-of-the-art microscope lab built inside a bus, to bring hands-on science education to the students; Weil employees leading a Building Your Professional Brand and Networking workshop for the students; and members of the Firm participating in a Career Day program.

Weil Pay It Forward is an inclusion and community service initiative that empowers associate and staff-led teams to turn $1,000 of Firm funds into lasting community impact. While the external community impact is profound, the internal connections fostered among colleagues and the opportunities for attorneys and staff at all levels to showcase their leadership skills are equally powerful. Since 2011, 58 teams in 7 cities have raised $593,892.

Two 2015 examples include:

Baby Buggy provides essential clothing, gear and services to families in need nationwide.

Black Girls Code strives to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields.

For more than six years, in one of the largest pro bono projects in the Firm’s history, Weil has been working with Human Rights Watch (HRW) in assessing the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Weil has assisted HRW review of a number of cases at the ICC for individuals with issued arrest warrants alleging war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Kenya, Libya, Uganda, and Darfur, Sudan. Since the project’s inception, Weil has worked over 6,200 hours assisting Human Rights Watch in this important endeavor.

For several years, Weil attorneys have been working on the Election Protection Program with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund as part of the nation’s largest nonpartisan program working to break down barriers to the ballot box for traditionally disenfranchised voters. Our multi-office effort aids the overall program by meeting with election officials, staffing hotlines to address voting rights, and serving as mobile legal volunteers on Election Day. Where necessary, our lawyers also litigate for improvements to the election process. The program is available to all voters across the country, but finds its greatest relevance in communities where voter disenfranchisement is a continuing challenge including African Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, senior citizens, young people, low-income voters, and individuals with disabilities.