Letter from Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Dear UVA BLSA Member:

As Chairs of our Diversity Committee and Hiring Committee, respectively, we have asked your officers to give you a copy of this letter for a simple reason: Patterson Belknap is committed to diversity, and we want students of color to know about our firm.

The experience of practicing law at Patterson Belknap stands out from that at any other major New York-based law firm. Why?

We give associates responsibility early in their careers – whether that means examining a witness at deposition or trial, working directly with a client on a deal or arguing a motion in court.

We like our associates, and they like us. We listen to each other as colleagues, value good ideas no matter who is offering them, and find professional satisfaction in working together on challenging matters. Perhaps that’s why Vault ranks Patterson Belknap as one of the top 10 best firms to work for. And in 2011, we were named to The American Lawyer’s “A-List” of 20 leading law firms nationwide, which is based on pro bono commitment, associate satisfaction, diversity, and financial performance. We are also perennially ranked among the top New York-based firms in The American Lawyer’s associate satisfaction survey.

Our commitment to pro bono has set the standard for others to follow – in each of the last seven years, we had 100% lawyer participation in our pro bono program, a result unmatched by any major firm to our knowledge.

We have reached far in pursuing diversity initiatives; not only do we have longstanding affinity groups and a diversity committee, we have worked with Legal Outreach and other organizations for over a decade to help high school students and junior high school students, to succeed and enter the pipeline to careers in the law.


On April 2, 2012, we launched the Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP Diversity Fellowship. The Fellowship, which includes an award of up to $15,000, will be offered to an exceptional rising second-year law student who shows the promise of becoming both an outstanding attorney and of contributing meaningfully to the diversity of Patterson Belknap and the legal community. The Fellowship will be awarded in the course of the regular fall recruiting season for summer associate positions and the Fellow will participate in the regular summer associate program at the Firm in the year after the Fellowship is awarded. Details can be found on our website at http://www.pbwt.com/recruiting-and-diversity- fellowship/.

Our firm is also proud of the many awards and recognitions that our attorneys and practices have received over the years. These include leading client- and peer-based rankings in top guides such as Chambers USA, as well as awards from highly respected publications including the National Law Journal, Law 360 and IP World.

If our practice excites you as much as it does us, we hope you will interview with us this coming fall (for either Summer 2013 or post-graduate employment). After reviewing the firm's website (pbwt.com), if you have any questions or need additional information about Patterson Belknap, please e-mail any of us (pcharvey@pbwt.com, rwlehrburger@pbwt.com, rrupton@pbwt.com, sezgliniec@pbwt.com). If we can't answer a question, we'll find someone who can.

In the meantime, we are attaching a copy of a brochure from "PAC." PAC stands for Patterson Attorneys of Color, a group formed by attorneys of color at our firm to assist with enhancement of workplace diversity. The firm also has affinity groups for women attorneys and LGBT attorneys.

We hope to see you this fall.


Sincerely,

Peter C. Harvey Co-Chair, Diversity Committee

Richard R. Upton Co-Chair, Diversity Committee

Robert W. Lehrburger Co-Chair, Hiring Committee

Sarah E. Zgliniec Co-Chair, Hiring Committee