Fostering a Diverse Culture of People and Perspectives

Hall Render’s Mission to Stay at the Forefront of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

Focused solely on health law, Hall Render is immersed in a diverse health care industry and embraces the opportunity to create a culture of diversity and inclusion. We work within an industry that provides services to people from all backgrounds. Keeping diversity and inclusion at the forefront of everything we do allows us to harness the power of our attorneys’ unique perspectives and provide clients with the best possible legal advice.

What do diversity and inclusion mean to Hall Render?

CF: At Hall Render, diversity means breaking through barriers. We believe that inclusion ensures that we are all engaged within our organization and encouraged to bring differing viewpoints to the table. Our diversity and inclusion values create an environment where differences are welcomed and respected, which enables us to be more effective in the work we do. We recognize that our differences can make us stronger, and we strive to be a leader in providing health law services that include the perspectives of a diverse group of attorneys and staff.

How has Hall Render worked to bolster diversity and inclusion efforts?

CF: Our firm-focuses on promoting and achieving diversity through our hiring, advancement and work assignment practices. Our Diversity Committee has established programs to keep diversity and inclusion as areas of priority. We felt this focus must be deliberate; it’s too important to our firm and would not have been accomplished by leaving it to chance.

Among these programs is a Diversity Internship for collegeaged students, which introduces future professionals to the health care industry, specifically to health care legal services. This program is in its fifth year, and this year, we welcomed back a law clerk who participated in our internship program as an undergraduate student. To already see incremental success in such a short time period inspires us to further develop these types of initiatives.

We’re fortunate to have firm leadership who recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion and fully support, and engage in, these efforts as we solidify Hall Render as the nation’s preeminent health law firm.

How important are diversity and inclusion in the health care industry?

CF: While health care innovation and disruption are often in the press, improving diversity and inclusion efforts may be the most important influencer in the future of health care. A more diverse health care workforce better supports our communities through job opportunities and positions the health care industry to best serve our communities through the care being delivered. We have seen a push among our clients to ensure their workforces are both clinically adept and socially empathetic to the needs of their communities.

Despite technological advancements, the provider-patient relationship will remain at the heart of the patient experience, and diversity of perspective in the delivery of health care is what will optimize patient outcomes. Our firm values the opportunity to share in the responsibility to support diversity in health care, and part of this responsibility includes building our own diverse workforce.

What advice can you give other organizations looking to improve diversity and inclusion efforts?

CF: Improving diversity and inclusion efforts should be ongoing. It’s important to keep advancing and to continually move forward with this type of initiative; it’s not something organizations can achieve once and then grow complacent in.

It’s also important to recognize that diversity and inclusion are not something you can win or lose. In the legal world, we’re competitive by nature so we want to win everything. But embracing diversity and inclusion is about continuing to aspire to develop a work environment that welcomes and respects differences of all kinds, not reaching an arbitrary goal line. To be successful, it takes a continuous strategic approach. Even when we think we’re “winning,” we can always keep improving! •