Perkins Coie Partner Joseph Q. McCoy Appointed to the Board of Directors of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms

CHICAGO (December 17, 2009) Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that partner Joseph Q. McCoy has been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms ("Chicago Committee") effective immediately to serve a two-year term.  The Chicago Committee is the preeminent voice and agent fostering racial and ethnic diversity in the Chicago legal community, impacting the broader legal profession.  Perkins Coie has been supporting the Chicago Committee for many years and has assisted the group's ongoing efforts via sponsorships, hosting of events and the provision of speakers and mentors.

McCoy is a member of Perkins Coie's national Strategic Diversity Committee and also is chair of the African-American Affinity Group.  In addition, McCoy serves on both the Chicago Hiring Committee and the Chicago Diversity Committee, and serves as the liaison between the two committees.  In these various roles, McCoy supports the firm's goal of "supporting the growth and development of a workplace that reflects the richness of the communities in which we live and work."

McCoy joined Perkins Coie LLP as a partner in 2008 and is part of the firm's Real Estate practice.  In addition to handling complex commercial real estate transactions across the country, McCoy has developed a niche practice representing airport concession operators and structuring other public/private partnerships between local government agencies and private subcontractors for the purpose of stimulating economic development.

As an active alumnus of Northwestern University School of Law (NUSL), McCoy serves on its Law Board and as an admissions interviewer and as an adjunct professor.

McCoy also serves as chairman of the board of the Urban Prep Academy, which provides college preparatory education to young men in inner-city Chicago.  McCoy has helped the charter school grow from a single site to three locations.  McCoy was a member of the 2007 Fellows Class of Leadership Greater Chicago, where he now is a board member and the former chair of the Selection Committee.  He also serves on the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago.

Perkins Coie supports and shares McCoy's commitment to diversity.  The firm was named, for the second consecutive year, one of the "2009 Best Law Firms for Women" by Working Mother magazine and national consulting firm Flex-Time Lawyers LLC.  For seven consecutive years, the firm has been named on FORTUNE magazine's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For".  The firm also recently received a perfect 100% rank by The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans, in the 2009 Corporate Equality Index and Best Places to Work Survey and named as one of the Yale Law Women 2008 Top Ten Family Friendly Firms.

About the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms: The Chicago Committee is a nonprofit, membership based organization founded in 1987 by ten minority lawyers. The organization was initially created to provide networking opportunities and support for minority lawyers in order to alleviate feelings of isolation at large law firms in the city. At its inception, the organization focused on hosting an annual reception for lawyers and summer associates. However, in the past 22 years, the organization has greatly expanded its scope, concentrating its efforts on providing substantive programming for its membership as well as minority law students, associates, partners.