Careers

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is committed to a diverse workplace. We view diversity as an inclusive concept that encompasses, without limitation, race, color, ethnicity, gender and gender identity, nationality, religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation. We believe that diversity enhances the quality of service we provide to clients and makes our firm a more vibrant and fulfilling place to work.  Our commitment is to recruit, train, promote and retain talented attorneys and staff from wide range of backgrounds.

We are proud that, over the past decade, Cohen Milstein’s diversity efforts in the community and inside the firm have been recognized by the National Bar Association and The National Law Journal. Similarly, the NAACP and Chambers & Partners, among other diversity, equity, and inclusion organizations, have recognized our attorneys with their respective “Foot Soldier in the Sand” and “Outstanding Contribution to the Community in Advancing Diversity” awards.

With a long history of advocating for gender equality in the workplace, Cohen Milstein is proud to be recognized for creating a culture of equality and diversity within the firm. In its 2020 “Glass Ceiling Report,” Law360 ranked Cohen Milstein No. 3 in the nation (firms with 101 to 250 attorneys) for exceeding industry averages of female attorneys and female equity partners. Law360 has ranked Cohen Milstein in 2019, 2017, and 2015, repeatedly recognizing the firm as a “Ceiling Smasher” in the legal industry.

To ensure it maintains a diverse workplace, the firm has a Diversity Policy and an active Hiring and Diversity Committee that regularly reviews all aspects of its hiring, retention, and promotion practices. A Partner, Kalpana Kotagal, Chairs the firm’s Hiring and Diversity Committee and works closely with Human Resources staff and firm leadership to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Cohen Milstein has developed multiple ways to advance its Diversity & Inclusion goals:

• Recruiting: The firm posts job announcements with organizations, such as American Constitution Society, American Association for Justice, National Association for Law Placement, and other organizations with diverse memberships and advertises such announcements at law schools that have a high percentage of lawyers of color among their alumni. The firm specifically encourages applicants of diverse backgrounds to apply. Because of these and other efforts, the firm routinely fills 20 percent to 40 percent of its summer associate class with candidates of color.
• Mentorship & Training:  Cohen Milstein has a formal mentorship program, whereby one partner is assigned to one or more associates to provide career development guidance in order to help ensure that their associate mentees thrive, professionally. Similarly, Cohen Milstein’s Summer Associate program and Fellowship program involve informal and formal mentoring initiatives.  The firm also conducts an internal, firm-wide diversity and awareness training to prevent unintentional situations that could cause discomfort to minorities and women.
• Leadership: Eight of the firm’s 10 practice groups are led or co-led by female partners, and women of color, and the firm’s Executive Committee, which consists of five partners, includes two female partners, one of whom is a woman of color. Furthermore, the firm has multiple internal management committees, including the Compensation Committee, Hiring and Diversity Committee, and others – all include female partners, LGBTQ partners, and partners of color – in order to best reflect the current makeup of the firm and its future growth and staffing objectives.
• Thought Leadership: Cohen Milstein’s attorneys are nationally recognized thought-leaders in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) – across industry, including the law. For example:
  
  • Kalpana Kotagal, Chair of the firm’s Hiring and Diversity Committee, is one of the nation’s leading voices on how industry can implement DE&I initiatives. She is also the co-author of the "Inclusion Rider," a ground-breaking hiring contract provision that facilitates diversity in hiring best-practices. Originally created to address the gap in diversity hiring in Hollywood, it can be used in most all industries. Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand made the Inclusion Rider famous by referencing it in her 2018 Best Actress acceptance speech. It is now used by Warner Bros. and Hollywood luminaries, such as Michael B. Jordan and others.
  • Anita Hill, whose role in ending workplace harassment is nothing less than historic, is most famous for testifying before Congress in 1991 on the discriminatory and sexually harassing behavior of her former EEOC and DOE supervisor and then Supreme Court Justice nominee, Clarence Thomas. Ms. Hill continues her public advocacy work on behalf of Cohen Milstein, while also teaching as a University Professor at Brandeis University.
  • Julie Goldsmith Reiser, Co-Chair of Cohen Milstein’s Securities Litigation practice, is pioneering the use of shareholder derivative lawsuits to hold corporate boards accountable for failing to prevent systemic discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace. Two of these lawsuits alone have generated more than $400 million in financial relief and have established groundbreaking corporate governance reforms to improve board oversight in addressing these issues, while eliminating practices that have silenced victims, such as mandatory arbitration clauses, and instituting sweeping diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.