Legal Happenings
Morris Manning’s LGBTQ Business Practice: Advocacy Beyond the Rainbow
June 05, 2023
In October 2022, while serving as an ambassador of the OUT Georgia Business Alliance, Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP associate Charles E. Hicks came across some interesting data. A study indicated that, during the pandemic, LGBTQ-owned and -operated businesses were more likely to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and less likely to receive it than similar businesses.
Drawing upon exchanges with LGBTQ business owners, Hicks felt that this disparity was due to the lack of sophisticated representation. This realization drove Hicks to pitch the idea of establishing a practice group dedicated to serving LGBTQ-owned and -operated businesses, and in April, Morris Manning became the first Southern law firm to do so.
Hicks’s pitch to managing partners described an underserved community and a growing marketplace. “Eleven percent of millennials identify as LGBTQ,” Hicks says. “Twenty percent of Gen Z identify as LGBTQ, according to Gallup. Almost 25 percent of high school students identify as something other than heterosexual,” he points out. “As a law firm, we see this emerging demographic, and one thing we always try to do is prepare for emerging trends and meet [clients] where they are.”
Market research leading up to the formation of the LGBTQ business practice group found that LGBTQ business founders commonly sought representation that advertised itself as gay-friendly, which meant that they typically retained small firms or solo practitioners. Hicks felt that the limited resources and expertise available in this context could account for the disparity in PPP approval rates.
“When you are trying to raise money, or scale up your business, you need a firm with a little more sophistication,” says Hicks, co-leader of the practice group. “At Morris Manning we provide a full suite of business services. We are an Am Law 200 law firm; we’ve got litigation; we’ve got corporate work; we’ve got real estate. We’ve got hundreds of attorneys across all areas of law.”
Morris Manning’s footprint helped strengthen Hicks’s case to launch the new practice group. The firm’s largest offices are located in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., two of the three Southeast cities with the largest LGBTQ populations. (The District’s LGBTQ population is second only to Miami’s.) This fact wasn’t lost on the firm, which has previously engaged the LGBTQ community through its MMMpact pro bono program.
“We’re trying to be more focused and bring people more opportunities that fit in their wheelhouse,” says managing partner Simon R. Malko. “If we pool our resources, we can make a much bigger impact.”
MMMpact’s efforts have included assistance to the LGBTQ community. Last June, the firm partnered with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s Gender-Affirming Name Change Project, which trained more than 50 attorneys on how to provide pro bono name change and gender marker services for transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary individuals.
Malko was among the partners who helped guide Hicks through the creation of the practice group’s business plan and its presentation to the firm’s management committee. “I take a lot of pride in the fact that we’re the kind of firm in which a young lawyer can have an idea, go to senior management with it, and have them say, ‘let’s do this.’ It says a lot about Charles and about our culture of inclusion, that he felt it was a safe place to do that.”
An Ecosystem of Excellence
The timing of the practice group’s launch in April instead of during Pride Month was intentional, according to Hicks.
“We want to show communities in Atlanta and D.C. that we’re not just slapping a rainbow sticker on something,” Hicks says. “In June, all of these companies come out of the woodwork to change their logos, but then July comes and the rainbow is gone. Our goal is to create an ecosystem of excellence that will help people feel welcome and included and connect them with folks that will help them grow their businesses. This is a structural and systemic change, and the resources are real.”
Jessica A. Rodriguez, litigation partner and member of the LGBTQ practice group’s advisory council, says that the firm’s D.C. office has been working to deepen its relationship with the local LGBTQ community. Most recently, Morris Manning joined the District’s Equality Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit organization supporting local LGBTQ businesses.
Like her colleagues, Rodriguez sees broad opportunity in a growing demographic. “This community is large and growing. They are in need of services, and we want them to know that we are here and ready to provide those services for them,” Rodriguez says.
As a litigator, Rodriguez has a particularly strong sense of the importance of a meaningful attorney–client relationship. “It’s important to partner with a law firm you can trust, one that understands you, understands your business, and understands your motivations,” she says.
The benefits of inclusivity often extend beyond the direct beneficiaries. Clients today value diversity, Rodriguez says, even when they are not themselves members of the communities served.
“One thing that we’re seeing is that our clients, especially larger corporate clients, want to ensure that their partners have diverse employees and serve diverse clients,” she adds.
Morris Manning is also proud of its recruitment and retention opportunities. “A quarter of our incoming class of summer associates identify as LGBTQ,” Rodriguez says. “Our firm is working not just to strengthen the community in its business pursuits, but we’re doing it on the inside, too. We’re trying to have this diversity through and through.”
Hicks notes that while four of the dozen summer associates identify as LGBTQ, 10 identify as members of diverse groups. “People want to come and be a part of what we’re building in the South — a more inclusive, welcoming, non-stereotypical law firm doing excellent corporate, real estate, and litigation work,” he says.
