Fish & Richardson Principal Ahmed J. Davis Receives 2016 "Diversity Leader" Award

Fish & Richardson announcedthat Ahmed J. Davis, a principal in Fish & Richardson’s Washington, D.C. office and the national chair of the firm’s Diversity Initiative, has received the 2016 Diversity Leader Award from Profiles in Diversity Journal. The award recognizes “the people serving as strategic partners in inspiring others to work toward diversity and inclusion change in the corporate scene.” Davis also was recognized as a Diversity Leader in 2015.

“We are very proud that Ahmed’s tireless commitment to making diversity an integral part of our firm has been recognized again with this award,” said Peter J. Devlin, president of Fish & Richardson. “At Fish, we have a long-standing commitment to building and sustaining an inclusive environment, for we know that people from different backgrounds contribute to a diverse mindset, which ultimately leads to better business decisions. In an increasing global workplace, this has become even more important to our firm and the legal community.”

As national chair of Fish’s Diversity Initiative, Davis leads the firm’s efforts to attract, retain, and advance a diverse legal staff. In 2005, Fish launched a 1L Diversity Fellowship Program, which provides annual fellowships to diverse first-year law students and includes a paid summer associate position, a $10,000 scholarship, and year-round mentoring. For the last four years, the firm has put forth women and minority attorneys for participation in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellows Program, which provides training, mentoring, and networking and assists the firm in retaining high-potential diverse attorneys and equipping them for leadership and client relationship roles.

Fish is consistently recognized as one of the country’s top law firms for diversity. In 2016, Fish was ranked as one of Vault’s Top 25 Best Law Firms for Diversity. In 2015 and 2014, Fish received a top rating of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which rates businesses for the treatment of LGBT employees in the workplace, and was ranked a Top Law Firm for Diversity by The American Lawyer.

At Fish, Davis is a trial lawyer who focuses his practice on complex patent litigation in a vast range of technical areas, including chemistry, biotechnology, medical devices, and mechanical and electrical engineering. Davis also is a member of the firm-wide Compensation Committee, the Diversity Hiring Committee, whose goal is to attract top diverse talent to the firm, and the Summer Associates Committee. Outside the firm, Davis is a regular speaker on issues relevant to the patent bar, and is an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999, his M.S. in chemistry from Emory University in 1996, and his B.S., cum laude, in chemistry from Morehouse College in 1994. Following law school, Davis clerked in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.