Gibson Dunn donates thousands of lawyer hours and dollars each year to different diversity organizations and causes around the country, including, but not limited to the Asia Society; Association of Black Women Attorneys in New York; California Bar Foundation; Colorado Women’s Bar Association; Committee of 100; California Minority Counsel Program; Hispanic National Bar Association; International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission; Lambda Legal; National Association of Women Lawyers; National LGBT Bar Association; Williams Institute; National Association of Women Lawyers; Minority Corporate Counsel Association; Mexican American Bar Foundation; Mount St. Mary’s Pre-Law Scholarship; Legal Outreach; National Asian Pacific American Bar Association; New York City Bar Association; NY and LA AIDS Walk; Out Leadership; Prep for Prep and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity; and several diverse law student organizations.
The firm is a signatory to the New York City Bar Association’s Statement of Diversity Principles and was one of the first firms to join the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and Out Leadership.
Gibson Dunn provides funding, internship and scholarship opportunities for high school, college and law students through our affiliation with programs such as The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis); Filipino American Lawyers Association of New York’s Legal Advocate Mentorship Project (LAMP); LawBound; Leadership Council for Legal Diversity; Legal Outreach; Mount St. Mary’s College; Prep for Prep; the California Scholarship Foundation; Columbia University’s Leadership in Law Course for High School Students; Joint Minority Bar Judicial Internship Program for Law Students; the JTB – A Pipeline Organization; Mexican American Bar Foundation; Thurgood Marshall Internship Program and the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity.
Each summer, Gibson Dunn hosts two recently graduated high school interns from Prep for Prep, a leadership development and gifted education program. Prep for Prep identifies New York City’s most promising students of color and places them at independent and boarding schools throughout the Northeast. In addition, the firm hosts high school students from Legal Outreach, an organization dedicated to advancing youth in higher education, every summer. The students work with paralegals, associates and partners on projects ranging from drafting memoranda to negotiating settlements on behalf of fictional clients. The program annually ranks as one of the most engaging experiences for students. The firm also hosts an entering law student through the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) program, which provides superior educational and career programs to young people from underserved and underrepresented communities to maximize their opportunities for college and career success.
In 2009, Gibson Dunn filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in San Francisco on behalf of two couples challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment that limited marriage to opposite-sex couples. After a three-week trial in San Francisco, the court held that California’s law was unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. After the Ninth Circuit affirmed, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review. On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court issued its historic decision that restored marriage equality in California. On June 28, 2013, our clients Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, and Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, along with hundreds of other couples in California, were legally married. The next year we won again when the Fourth Circuit affirmed the Eastern District of Virginia’s ruling striking down Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of review allowed that ruling to take effect in Virginia and same-sex marriages to begin.