LGBT Lawyers

WilmerHale is committed to fostering a welcoming and collegial atmosphere for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender attorneys and staff. The firm recently achieved a top rating of 100 percent in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2012 Corporate Equality Index and Best Places to Work Survey in recognition of the firm's policies including same-sex domestic partner benefits and the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the firm's Equal Employment Opportunity and non-discrimination policies. The Corporate Equality Index is a comprehensive annual rating of corporations and law firms with respect to their policies and environment for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employees. 

To foster community involvement and the professional development of the firm's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender attorneys, WilmerHale lawyers formed an affinity group to facilitate networking and mentoring opportunities for the firm's lawyers. With support from the firm, this group of lawyers hosts a number of events throughout the year. Members of the affinity group are also active in the firm’s hiring process and act as mentors for LGBT summer associates. WilmerHale also regularly participates in recruiting initiatives such as the Lavender Law Career Fair and other targeted recruiting events at law schools.

The firm’s lawyers are also active participants in their communities. Lawyers from across the firm take part in professional networking initiatives such as Washington, DC’s GayLaw attorney network and the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association, and volunteer and raise funds for the firm’s pro bono clients such as the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG).

Finally, WilmerHale has long been known for its commitment to pro bono efforts. The firm was a charter signatory to the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Challenge in 1992 and, over the years, has received a number of awards recognizing its lawyers’ pro bono efforts, such as the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award and the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award. In keeping with this tradition, WilmerHale lawyers have also shown a longstanding commitment to causes of importance to the lesbian and gay community:

• Acting as co-counsel with the Lambda Legal Defense Network, a team of WilmerHale attorneys achieved victory for its client Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of Metropolitan Washington, DC (DC PFLAG) in opposing a challenge to a local high school curriculum providing lessons on sexual orientation and tolerance. As a result of the firm’s high-profile efforts, WilmerHale received DC PFLAG’s 2008 Pro Bono Award.
  
  
• WilmerHale is currently co-counsel to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a federal case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) on Spending Clause and Tenth Amendment grounds. Since 2004, Massachusetts has issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, DOMA (passed by Congress in 1996) defines marriage as between one man and one woman, rendering same-sex marriages invalid for all federal purposes. In 2010, a federal district court agreed with both of Massachusetts’s basic claims and held that DOMA (1) violates the Spending Clause by forcing Massachusetts to engage in invidious discrimination against same-sex couples, and (2) violates the Tenth Amendment because it encroaches upon the state’s sovereign authority to define marital status. The case is currently on appeal and is scheduled for argument in the First Circuit in April 2012.
  
• The firm argued United States v. Marcum, an appeal challenging the constitutionality of the military’s criminal sodomy statute under Lawrence v. Texas.
  
  
• The firm filed amicus briefs on behalf of a variety of organizations in cases relating to adoption of children by gay parents and same-sex marriage.
  
  
• The firm regularly provides pro bono assistance on corporate matters to LGBT-rights organizations such as the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and the national headquarters of PFLAG. For this work, WilmerHale was honored by PFLAG at its 11th Annual Honors Gala in early 2008.
  
  
• The firm’s attorneys have also devoted their time to advising and representing persons with HIV. These efforts have been recognized by awards from organizations including the Whitman-Walker Clinic’s Legal Services Program, which provides comprehensive pro bono legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS.
  
  
• The firm handled a two-week jury trial against a major teaching hospital on behalf of a gay plaintiff who claimed that the hospital had prevented him from visiting his critically ill partner because he was not considered “family.”