Collins Saint Named One of Triad Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity
Brooks Pierce attorney Collins Saint has been named one of the Triad Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity. The award, which will be presented June 23, celebrates individuals and companies who have worked to establish and advance diversity and inclusion efforts in the workplace and across the Triad.
Saint advises and litigates on behalf of public and private educational institutions, school boards and employers with a focus on diversity and civil rights issues, including issues related to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and religion. Saint has provided pro bono legal support in a number of lawsuits related to LGBTQ+ rights across North Carolina, including representing dozens of transgender clients in completing the process to have government recognition of their identity. He has also organized and led 13 name change and gender marker clinics around the state and participated in four others since 2017. These clinics have helped more than 200 individuals understand how to legally change their names or gender markers.
In 2019, Saint and another Brooks Pierce attorney, wrote an amicus curiae brief on behalf of 16 nonprofits arguing that North Carolina law violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by denying domestic violence orders of protection to certain victims of same-sex domestic violence. In December 2020, the N.C. Court of Appeals agreed, finding the law unconstitutional as it applied to LGBTQ+ individuals in dating relationships. The N.C. Supreme Court upheld that decision earlier this year.
Saint regularly provides educational seminars to other attorneys, business leaders and educational organizations on topics related to diversity and inclusion, including on civil rights issues impacting LGBTQ+ and disabled individuals, how to be an effective ally and strategies to create more inclusive workplaces.
He serves on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Task Force on Integration, Equity and Equal Justice, which is working to make the association a more equitable and inclusive organization. This year he established and was appointed the inaugural chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the NCBA. Saint also chaired the NCBA Young Lawyers Divisions’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee for two years. Outside of North Carolina, he is the current chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the incoming Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Personnel and Policy.
Saint served on the board of directors for the North Star LGBTQ+ Community Center in Winston-Salem for three years, including as its chair, and is currently co-chairing the Board of Trustees for Triad Stage and leading its Organization Health and Culture Committee. At Brooks Pierce, Saint serves on the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, working to ensure the firm utilizes best practices and careful deliberation to promote a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.
