Leadership
Our diverse base of attorneys contributes to the strong leadership at the firm, as leaders of practice and industry groups and members of our Management Committee. Women and minorities hold key attorney leadership roles, along with important administrative leadership positions. Our Diversity & Inclusion Committee meets regularly to discuss strategies and methods for bringing awareness to diversity and inclusion. The committee is pervasive throughout the firm working to engage all firm members in diversity and inclusion concepts, discussion and training. The committee considers, reviews and promotes policies and procedures supporting diversity and inclusion now and into the future.
Family Life
Barley Snyder promotes work/life balance through its Family Leave Policy, which allows both mothers and fathers to take up to six months of leave for the birth or adoption of a child and to work a part-time arrangement in the first year following the birth or adoption of a child. Utilizing family leave does not negatively impact an associate attorney’s eligibility for partnership or bonus. In addition, we have facilitated regular part-time arrangements with our attorneys, paralegals and staff who require a more flexible work schedule due to child rearing responsibilities.
Community Involvement
Barley Snyder’s attorneys are actively involved in public service and are in leadership roles at many organizations that promote and foster diversity such as various United Way chapters, Advoz, Church World Services, the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, the Boys and Girls Club of America, the Community Progress Council in York and more. Our commitment to public service is reflected in our partnership criteria which counts such service as an important component to admission to partnership with the firm, and that commitment has led the firm to many pro bono efforts throughout our footprint.
Social Justice
Our firm historically has handled a number of pro bono cases that helped advance social justice in our community.
In 1993, one of the biggest immigration pro bono efforts ever launched in the United States – the national headline-grabbing “Golden Venture” case – had its beginnings at Barley Snyder. In 1972, attorney Harry Rubin was the lead attorney in a case involving public accommodations for all which started in Harrisburg but went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court paving the way for future public accommodations laws. In 2010, the firm served as attorney for the family of U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder, who died in the line of duty, when Snyder’s funeral was protested and exploited by the anti-gay agenda of the Westboro Baptist Church. There is also a firm-wide effort in conjunction with local bar associations, law schools and the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center to help speed the process of immigrants obtaining their U visas. A U visa gives victims of crimes (and their immediate family members) who cooperate with a police investigation a faster path to citizenship.
“There is a history at Barley Snyder of being active in social justice cases like Golden Venture,” Barley Snyder managing partner Jeff Lobach said. “The firm and its attorneys have been champions of issues that affect the communities where we live and work. We have been committed to diversity and inclusion in the past, we are committed to it now and we will remain committed to it in the future.”
Barley Snyder has invested in our goal of diversity and inclusion in many ways:
- York College Community Opportunity Scholarship Program
- Participation in the former Lancaster Chamber of Commerce Diversity Day event where we have presented on issues related to diversity in the workplace
- Participation in the Mid-Atlantic Black Law Students Association (MABLSA) Job Fair
- Active participation in the local communities we serve through public service
- We offer an internal women’s professional group for female attorneys that meets to discuss community engagement, leadership opportunities and workplace confidence
- We provide a mentorship program for associates and lateral hires
- Annual scholarship provided to a high school student graduating from a local high school known for its rich diversity
- Support of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Lancaster held by the Community Action Partnership, benefitting Crispus Attucks Community Center
Many of our attorneys are fluent in foreign languages such as Spanish, French and Italian. The firm has been able to use those skills to review and translate employment policies, and has conducted various types of employment training on behalf of employer clients geared specifically to Hispanic employees.
