BALTIMORE – Chambers & Partners has named Michael A. Brown, Nelson Mullins’ chief diversity partner, as a finalist for its Chambers USA Awards 2023 in the area of Diversity & Inclusion: Outstanding Contribution.

These awards celebrate firms and individuals who are furthering the advancement of diversity and inclusion in the United States. Winners will be announced at virtual awards ceremony on June 15, 2023.

Brown is the Firm’s chief diversity partner. In this role, he is the partner accountable to Nelson Mullins’ Executive Committee for the execution of the Firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and the ultimate success of its diverse attorneys, many of whom are historically underrepresented due to their race, gender and sexual orientation. 

His accomplishments include hiring Kat Taylor, the Firm’s first director of diversity, equity and inclusion; raising the number of Black equity partners from one to seven in the past five years, and establishing Nelson Mullins’ Diverse Lawyers Sponsorship Program and the Firm’s DE&I credits policy.

“My commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion is authentic and models for other Firm leaders action in how we create equity and inclusion in our workplace culture. If we truly want to see more faces like mine be successful in the profession, we have to invest in individual attorney success and it will take a lot more than just me to do it,” Brown said. “I'm proud to lead the way, but to move the needle everyone has to commit to changing the culture in the legal profession to promote a more thoughtful and empathetic path forward.”

In 2019, Chambers chose Nelson Mullins’ M&A Externship Program as a finalist for its Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, an award that recognizes a company’s dedication to reaching out to their local or global community and affecting change to increase the representation of diverse candidates in the legal profession.

Chambers Diversity & Inclusion aims to promote the advancement of inclusion across the global legal profession through research, training, workshops, tourism and awards. Its awards represent the culmination of Chambers’ research and celebrate firms and individuals who are furthering the advancement of diversity and inclusion in the United States.

Established in 1897, Nelson Mullins is an Am Law 100 firm of more than 1,000 attorneys, policy advisors and professionals with 33 offices in 17 states and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to www.nelsonmullins.com.