Fish & Richardson Principal Ahmed J. Davis Receives 2015 "Diversity Leader" Award

Fish & Richardson announced today that 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 2015 Diversity Leader Award from Profiles in Diversity Journal. The award recognizes "outstanding" individuals "whose work to leverage the power of their companies' diverse workforce is instrumental to…business success."

"This is a great honor for Ahmed and we are very proud that his work to further the diversity of our firm and the legal community has been recognized with this award," said Peter J. Devlin, President of Fish & Richardson. "At Fish, we strongly believe that diversity in the legal profession is not merely the right thing to do, it makes good business sense."

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. In September 2014, Fish became one of 15 top law firms to participate in the pilot OnRamp Fellowship Program, which matches experienced women lawyers who want to re-enter the legal profession with law firms for a one-year paid fellowship.

Fish is consistently recognized as one of the country’s top law firms for diversity. For the past two years, 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 ranked as one of the Vault's Top 25 Best Law Firms for Diversity. The firm also has been included for seven consecutive years in MultiCultural Law magazine's list of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity.

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 and its Diversity Hiring Committee, whose goal is to attract top diverse talent to the firm. 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.