Civil Rights Audits
Enhance your reputation. Build on your values. Identify and mitigate risk.
Corporations are facing increased pressure from board members, shareholders and the public to perform civil rights audits in order to better address racial disparities.
While the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state attorneys general investigate and prosecute alleged civil rights violations, more and more companies are electing to embrace proactive audits. Our team’s combined knowledge of civil rights law and investigations, and experience conducting sensitive audits and producing confidential reports and risk assessments, allows us to conduct efficient reviews uniquely suited to our clients’ businesses. As regulators turn their attention to these issues in both enforcement and rulemaking areas, and reputation increasingly drives market value, companies should weigh the benefits of conducting a civil rights audit against the risks of failing to do so.
Our Work
Successful Audits
At Brownstein, we look for ways to customize the audit process to enhance our clients’ reputation and values, corporate culture and diversity efforts. Simultaneously, we seek to mitigate the risk of litigation and public relations and reputational harm. A successful civil rights audit will:
- Set clear goals
- Identify risks
- Create a plan for moving forward
- Uphold confidentiality
- Publicly report areas of concern and steps taken to address concerns
Our team
Our team’s background includes:
- Deep familiarity with civil rights issues and investigations.
- Experience authorizing civil rights investigations and coordinating with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division and other state attorney general offices with civil rights.
- Leading litigation for civil rights jury trials through verdict and appeal.
- Bipartisan congressional experience.
- Advocating on equity issues in front of the DOJ and the Department of Labor on behalf of a leading trade association.
- Experience preparing and implementing compliance and audit programs that satisfy federally-regulated financial institution partners.
- Work on algorithmic bias audits.
- In-house crisis communication strategists who ensure messaging resonates with key stakeholders and the public.
Related Practices
