Authorizing Council's Committee on Law and Government to hold public hearings examining the level of participation of minorities and females in private sector law firms that are awarded contracts by the Law Department of the City of Philadelphia and the process by which professional contracts are awarded.

WHEREAS, The Law Department of the City of Philadelphia and the City Solicitor award contracts to private sector law firms in cases where the Department lacks sufficient staff or where a conflict of interest prevents the Department from participating in a particular case; and

WHEREAS, It is a priority of the City of Philadelphia that Economic Opportunity should be available to all citizens regardless of race, gender or socio-economic backgrounds and should encourage businesses, particularly those that contract with the City, to make such opportunities available by promoting and hiring a qualified and diverse workforce reflective of the City as a whole; and

WHEREAS, Council wishes to review and evaluate minority and female participation levels within the law firms selected by and awarded contracts by the Law Department in an effort to clearly identify those firms who are succeeding in cultivating a qualified, diverse workforce, and conversely, identify those firms who employ a workforce not reflective of the Philadelphian population; and

WHEREAS, Council also wishes to evaluate the process by which professional contracts are awarded by the Law Department and encourage the distribution of such contracts to firms with a diverse workforce; and

WHEREAS, Council wishes to ensure that qualified minority or female owned law firms and or qualified law firms who have a high level of diversity in its workforce are adequately able to secure contracts with the Law Department of the City of Philadelphia; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council hereby authorizes the Committee on Law and Government to hold public hearings to examine the record of the Law Department regarding the participation levels of minorities and women in law firms that contract with the City and to explore measures that can be taken to achieve more representative participation.

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