A Commitment to Excellence
First and foremost, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete is a team of exceptional legal professionals who know our clients’ businesses and are committed to providing the highest level of service. We are a smaller firm by design, and our hiring practices are deliberately focused on attracting the best and brightest talent at all levels.
At Constangy, we believe that equal employment opportunity and a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace strengthen our ability to serve our clients, colleagues and communities with excellence and integrity. We are committed to fostering a professional environment where individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are respected, supported, and empowered to thrive.
Our culture is grounded in the belief that opportunity should be accessible to all, and that fairness, excellence, and professional achievement should guide our hiring, promotion, and decision-making practices. We value diversity not as a matter of numerical targets or preferential treatment, but as a reflection of our core values and as a strategic imperative for delivering the highest-quality legal services. Through mentorship, training, outreach and inclusive policies, we strive to create pathways for success and a workplace where every voice is heard and every person is treated with dignity.
A Diverse Past
As a firm, Constangy was at the forefront of ensuring equal opportunity and advancing roles for women and people of color in the legal profession.
- In our earliest years, when women represented fewer than three percent of practicing attorneys, Mildred McClelland was one of the firm’s first partners.
- Before joining the firm in the 1960s, name partner Jim Smith served on the American Bar Association’s inaugural committee advising the early efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, helping to ensure and advance equal opportunity in the modern workplace.
- In 2015, we made history when Don Prophete joined the firm, and we became the first large law firm (NLJ 350) in the United States to have an African American attorney as a “name on the door” partner.
A Diverse Present
We embrace the shared goal of advancing diversity in the legal profession and proudly participate in efforts to recruit and retain diverse professionals.
Constangy is Mansfield Rule Plus certified. Mansfield is a structured certification process designed to ensure all talent at participating law firms and legal departments has a fair and equal opportunity to advance into leadership. Achieving this certification—rooted in our long-standing policies of equal opportunity and merit-based evaluation—placed Constangy in an elite group of firms recognized for their exemplary commitment to diversity.
We encourage and support our attorneys in advancing the legal profession and addressing needs in our communities. Constangy supports events and conferences hosted by diverse organizations aligned with our culture of mentorship, training, outreach and inclusion. We have sponsored the following national groups and events, in addition to many state and local initiatives:
- ABA Professional Success Summit
- Boston Medical Center
- Chicano Federation
- Filipino-American Lawyers of Orange County
- Gate City Bar Foundation
- Georgia Innocence Project
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Inner City Law
- Lambda Legal
- Minority Corporate Counsel Association
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
- National Bar Association Commercial Law Section
- National Employment Law Council
- National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
- Stakeholders Chart Your Own Course
- The Cheesecake Factory Oscar and Evelyn Overton Charitable Foundation
- The Kincaid Foundation
- The National Industry Liaison Group
- Women, Diversity & Change Summits
- Women of Color Conference
- Women, Influence & Power in Law
- Youth & Law Summit
The natural byproduct of our commitment to fostering an inclusive professional environment is a firm that is diverse at all levels—from our executive committee to the most junior level of our staff.
- Women and/or people of color make up 62% of the firm’s current attorney roster and 55% of our partners.
- Women and/or people of color account for 69% of the executive committee, 52% of office heads, and 49% of practice and industry group leaders.
- Seventy-five (75) percent of our associates are women and/or people of color, establishing a strong foundation for continued diverse leadership.
- In the past 10 years, 63% of our internal partner and equity-partner promotions have been women and/or people of color.
- In the past 10 years, 65% of attorneys joining the firm have been women and/or people of color.
This rich diversity is a cornerstone of the exceptional legal expertise and client service that Constangy is known for. It has contributed to a number of recent accolades:
- Seramount (formerly Working Mother magazine) has consistently named Constangy to its list of the 50 Best Law Firms for Women & Diversity.
- Best Law Firms recently ranked Constangy as a national Tier 1 firm in labor law (management) and litigation (labor and employment). In the 2025 edition, we received 36 metropolitan Tier 1 rankings across various offices and employment law disciplines.
- We have consistently ranked in the top 20 on Vault.com for best firms for women, people of color and overall diversity.
- The National Law Journal has named Constangy as one of the top 10 firms for women attorneys.
- Forty-six (46) percent of our partners were recognized in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.
- The American Lawyer Diversity Scorecard consistently ranks us among the top 100 firms for minorities and a top-five firm for African American attorneys. In 2023, we ranked in the top 20 firms for overall diversity.
- Twenty-two (22) of our attorneys were honored in the 2025 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
- Thirty-nine (39) Constangy attorneys currently hold Martindale-Hubbell’s prestigious AV Preeminent® Peer Review designation.
- Law360 named us in 2020 as a top 10 midsize firm (150–299 attorneys) for women attorneys, women partners and women in executive leadership.
A Diverse Future
We are guided by a commitment to professionalism and empathy—treating others with the same respect, honesty and diligence we would want for ourselves. We will continue to invest in mentorship, training, outreach and inclusive policies. These deliberate actions will ensure that our legacy of diversity and inclusivity endures.
Equal employment opportunity, diversity, inclusion and belonging will remain foundational to our firm culture. No matter our backgrounds, we are united in helping our clients predict, prevent and prevail in successfully navigating the complexities of labor and employment law, cybersecurity and data privacy.
