LGBT Network
Sullivan & Cromwell has a long tradition of supporting its LGBT lawyers and non-legal personnel and of serving the LGBT community through
pro bono legal representations and other contributions to LGBT causes (see LGBT
Pro Bono Activities below). The Firm is proud of, and values, this ongoing commitment to promoting equality and rewarding merit without regard to sexual orientation or gender identification.
The “LGBT Network” was organized in order to further the Firm’s commitment to the LGBT community as a whole, provide a nurturing social and professional community for LGBT individuals within the Firm and enhance the inclusive environment of the Firm overall.
Among other things, the LGBT Network:
- facilitates S&C’s involvement in LGBT pro bono work and its support of LGBT organizations;
- promotes recruitment of LGBT personnel; and
- organizes professional, social, and educational events.
Sullivan & Cromwell and our individual lawyers are proud to support many organizations dedicated to the LGBT community, just a few of which are listed below:
- ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and AIDS Project
- Empire State Pride Agenda
- Gay Men’s Health Crisis
- Hetrick Martin Institute
- Human Rights Campaign
- Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Lavender Law
- National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
- SAGE (Services for Advocacy for LGBT Elders)
- Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
- Stonewall Community Foundation
For more information about Sullivan & Cromwell’s commitment to the LGBT community, or about what it is like to be open at the Firm, please contact any of the following individuals, who represent a cross-section of the larger LGBT community at S&C:
LGBT Pro Bono Activities
Sullivan & Cromwell has a long-standing commitment to providing
pro bono legal assistance to members of the LGBT community. In addition to the
pro bono matters handled by our lawyers, the Firm also sponsors several
pro bono projects and community activities.
In 2007, S&C sponsored several new projects, including The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund’s name change clinic, which services low-income members of the transgender community in New York who are seeking to change their legal name to conform to their gender identify.
Below are a few cases in which S&C lawyers have provided such legal services:
- representation (with the ACLU) of a Florida student in a lawsuit against her school challenging its refusal to let students wear clothing or items demonstrating support of equal rights for gay and lesbian people;
- representation (with the ACLU) on sexual orientation discrimination issues relating to benefits at the NYPD, which does not offer the same benefits to officers’ same-sex domestic partners as it does to married officers’ spouses;
- representation of the Council of the City of New York in an action to compel the Mayor to enforce the Equal Benefits Law, which prohibits contractors from discriminating against domestic partners in providing benefits to married employees;
- representation (with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund) of the Gay Veterans Association in a lawsuit against the City of New York and the American Legion seeking the right to march in the Veteran’s Day Parade down Fifth Avenue;
- representation of the Gay Teachers Association (along with Lambda) in litigation against the City of New York seeking domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian school teachers;
- representation (along with the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and Lambda) of gay and lesbian members of the Armed Services in litigation challenging the constitutionality of “don’t ask/don’t tell” legislation;
- representation (along with Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project) of pre-arraignment detainees in a lawsuit challenging the practice of depriving such detainees of needed HIV medications;
- representation of the New York City Council in litigation seeking to enforce legislation which required City contractors to provide benefits to domestic partners of employees if such benefits were provided to spouses of employees;
- representation of child welfare organizations as amici curiae in litigation challenging Florida’s ban on gay and lesbian adoption;
- representation of social service organizations as amici curiae in litigation challenging New York’s prohibition of gay marriage;
- representation of various religious organizations as amici curiae in connection with a challenge to New York’s law making sodomy a crime;
- representation of Hetrick Martin Institute (a social service organization serving gay and lesbian youth, including the Harvey Milk School for gay and lesbian teenagers) in connection with developing domestic partnership benefit policies;
- representation of an applicant seeking asylum on basis of sexual orientation discrimination in Honduras;
- representation of applicants seeking asylum on the basis of sexual orientation discrimination in Egypt and Qatar (referred by The Lesbian Gay Immigration Rights Task Force);
- work with the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in connection with possible constitutional challenges to non-recognition of gay marriages, as proposed by the so-called Defense of Marriage Act;
- advice to the NYC Anti-Violence Project with respect to its practice of publishing information about people who are suspected of committing fraud or violent offenses against members of the LGBT community;
- representation of the Transgender Law & Policy Institute, an advocacy group, in establishing itself as a not-for-profit corporation. This matter was referred by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders;
- representation of the Lesbian and Gay Law Association Foundation of Greater New York, Inc., in establishing itself as a not-for-profit corporation;
- preparation of an amicus brief submitted by Lambda in support of the City of Santa Barbara’s defense of its domestic partner benefits law;
- preparation of an amicus brief submitted by Lambda and the ACLU in support of a San Francisco statute requiring City contractors to provide domestic partner benefits to employees; and
- assistance to the ACLU with a broad-based effort to bring cases in Southern states aimed at ending pervasive discrimination against LGBT students.
Benefits
In 1994, Sullivan & Cromwell became one of the first global firms to provide health coverage to the same-sex domestic partners of its employees. Today, the Firm also provides FMLA leave, adoption assistance, relocation assistance, and other benefits to same-sex domestic partners. Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers from the Estates and Personal Group also are available to assist with respect to powers of attorney, visitation instructions and healthcare proxies, which have particular importance to LGBT personnel and their families. Specific questions about the benefits provided by Sullivan & Cromwell may be directly addressed to
Melanie Corpuz.
Recent News
S&C earned the
top rating with a score of 100 percent in the 2009 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) and Best Places to Work Survey. This annual survey, conducted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, rates major U.S. businesses with respect to their treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees and consumers.
S&C ranked as a top law firm in the Vault ranking for “Diversity for Gays and Lesbians” for 2008.