Microsoft Signs ABA’s Disability Diversity Pledge for Change

Posted by Mary Snapp
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Executive Sponsor for LCA Diversity and Inclusion

Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs department is very pleased to announce that it has signed the American Bar Association’s “Pledge for Change:  Disability Diversity in the Legal Profession. “  As a signatory to the Pledge, Microsoft affirms its commitment to the inclusion of people with disabilities as an integral part of its diversity efforts for the legal department and the legal profession.   Microsoft has also committed to encouraging other legal departments and law firms with whom it works to make similar commitments.  For more information from the ABA on the Pledge see https://new.abanet.org/disability/Pages/Pledge.aspx.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month provides the perfect moment for Microsoft to reaffirm its view that people with disabilities are equal participants in this industry-wide dialogue and in Microsoft overall effort to promote inclusion and diversity in the legal profession.   

Microsoft strives to promote diversity overall within the legal profession.  Microsoft is a founding member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity www.lcldnet.org and has long been a signatory to the Council’s Call to Action.  In addition, Microsoft has developed a Law Firm Diversity Program to encourage diversity within law firms representing Microsoft.

Microsoft is also a proud sponsor of the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities (www.nalswd.com).  Disability issues are a regular part of many panels, programs and presentations on legal diversity at Microsoft and we are honored to be recognized for our work in the book Disability and Business:  Best Practices and Strategies for Inclusion, by author Charles Riley, who identified Microsoft as one of the top two U.S. employers for people with disabilities.