ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwire - August 19, 2010) - King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, has named Samuel M. Matchett chair of the firm's diversity committee. Matchett will be responsible for continuing to improve and implement the firm's diversity strategies, working with minority and female attorneys on specific development and advancement plans, and working with practice group leaders to ensure execution of diversity strategies.
Matchett is a labor and employment partner in the firm's business litigation practice group.
King & Spalding's diversity committee includes firm leaders and has directed action to advance diversity both within the firm and in the legal profession as a whole, including increasing the number of women and minorities hired, providing diversity and inclusion training to the firm's attorneys, establishing a minority attorney retreat and committing funds to a minority scholarship program. In 2006, the committee launched the King & Spalding Diversity Fellowship Program, which provides a $10,000 stipend and summer clerkship to up to four students each year.
The committee has helped the firm win acclaim for its diversity efforts, including being ranked for the sixth consecutive year by MultiCultural Law magazine among the top 100 law firms for diversity and for women as well as one of the top 25 law firms for African-Americans. Also this year, King & Spalding was named by the Project for Attorney Retention as one of the best law firms in the United States for retaining and promoting women lawyers, and Chevron Corporation awarded the firm its Law Firm Diversity Recognition Award for the second time. In 2009, both The Coca-Cola Company and Boehringer Ingelheim recognized King & Spalding as having the greatest commitment to diversity among their preferred-provider law firms.
"King & Spalding is committed to fostering an inclusive atmosphere that provides attorneys -- without regard for gender, race, sexual orientation or national origin -- with the training to become the best practitioners they can be," noted Matchett. "As the firm's Diversity Committee chair, I have an opportunity to help all of our lawyers realize their full potential and I am excited about the challenge."
Matchett's practice focuses on employment relationship matters, with an emphasis in labor and employment law litigation in both state and federal courts, governmental agencies (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) and arbitration tribunals. He routinely defends employers in litigation involving the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964 (Title VII), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and employment-related state law claims. Matchett also has extensive experience in employment discrimination. He is a recipient of the State Bar of Georgia's 2010 Commitment to Equality Award for demonstrating a strong commitment to promoting diversity in the legal profession.
About King & Spalding
Celebrating 125 years of service, King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Houston, London, New York, Paris, Riyadh (affiliated office), San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The firm represents half of the Fortune 100 and, according to a Corporate Counsel survey in August 2009, ranks fifth in its total number of representations of those companies. For additional information, visit www.kslaw.com.
Contact Information:
CONTACT:
Matt Hyams
212-827-4057
mhyams@kslaw.com