Alison Chen Featured in Houston Business Journal as a 2021 Outstanding Diversity Champion
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Houston Business Journal has profiled Akin Gump tax partner Alison Chen as an Outstanding Diversity Champion as part of the publication’s 2021 Diversity in Business Awards.
Chen told the Business Journal that she views diversity, inclusion and belonging as “a moral imperative.” If those with the ability and opportunity to affect real social change do not do so, she said, “we will lose the battle for talent and client loyalty and squander our opportunity to bring about social change that is long overdue in the legal community specifically and our society in general.”
Partnerships with various diversity-related organizations, Chen said, “provide access to cutting-edge research and innovations, as well as critical professional development and networking opportunities that can lead to career-long relationships.”
Chen also spoke of the successes that Akin Gump chairperson Kim Koopersmith and chief diversity and inclusion officer Nimesh Patel have had in ensuring that diversity and inclusion “align with the firm’s strategy, commitment to excellent client service, and key aspects of attorney recruiting, development, and promotion.” In particular, Chen highlighted last year’s restructuring of Akin Gump’s firmwide diversity and inclusion council “to incorporate attorneys in senior leadership positions from across the firm, including members of the management committee, practice group leaders and office partners in charge.”
Chen chairs Akin Gump’s women’s initiative efforts, and helps lead its Women’s Firmwide Resource Group. She is also a member of the firm’s Houston office diversity committee and the Asian Firmwide Resource Group.
This is the second diversity and inclusion-focused award Ms. Chen has received over the past year. In March 2020, the Asian Pacific Interest Section of the State Bar of Texas selected her as its 2020 Champion of Diversity. (Learn more here.)
More information about Akin Gump’s diversity and inclusion efforts and strategy may be found here.
