Embracing Diversity
Mintz Levin's diversity commitment is a natural outgrowth of the firm's genesis: lawyers from diverse backgrounds who wished to practice law together even though they didn't fit the mold of lawyers at that time. Because the firm’s core values are based upon the search for diversity and demand for inclusion, our diversity initiatives today reflect what the firm has become: a celebration of differences that create a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere in which to practice law.
Mintz Levin has established a diversity scholarship for first-year law students of color. The scholarship provides the recipient with a paid summer position in the firm’s Boston or New York office, $10,000 toward the second year of law school, and a continuing working relationship with our firm throughout that year. |
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Our Committee’s Mission
The Diversity Committee's mission is to understand and value diversity in our firm and clients and to integrate diversity into our vision, culture, business, mission, policies and practices.
Please click on these links to read more about:
Our Diversity Committee
How We Practice Diversity - Some of Our Accomplishments
Our Affinity Groups
Our Community
Recruiting at Mintz Levin
Meet Our Diversity Committee
The firm's Diversity Committee weaves our mission into the firm's strategic planning and direction. Our committee reflects our firm's diversity and is chaired by a woman partner. We meet monthly and formulate and adopt policies that impact recruiting, retention, mentoring, and work allocation. Our committee is made up of attorneys and professionals from several offices and practice groups:
Jennifer B. Rubin, Member (Chair)
Nancy D. Adams, Member
Kathy A. Armstrong, Corporate Practice Manager
Linda D. Bentley, Member
Shelia Bridges, Manager of Attorney Development
Tania Rodrigues Cleary, Member
Megan Clouden, Associate Recruiting Manager
Peter F. Demuth, Member
Meryl J. Epstein, Member
Susan M. Finegan, Member
Helen Gerostathos Guyton, Associate
Yolanda T. Howze, Associate
Narges M. Kakalia, Associate
Samantha Katz, Marketing Manager
Heather Kelly, Manager of Mintz Levin Professional Development & Legal Professional Development
John B. Koss, Associate
Michelle E. Leinbach, Litigation Practice Manager
Carly T. Newhouse, Project Analyst
Andowah A. Newton, Associate
Chip Phinney III, Member
Judy Prahl, Intellectual Property Practice Manager
Eddie Wang Rodriguez, Member
David P. Salisbury, Director of Business Development, West Coast Region
Dawn Saunders, Of Counel
Wendy L. Starr, Director of Human Resources
Sahir Surmeli, Member
Tyrone P. Thomas, Associate
Paula J. Valencia-Galbraith, Associate
Susan Neuberger Weller, Member
How We Practice Diversity - Some of Our Accomplishments
- Named a top ten family friendly law firm for 2011 by the Yale Law Women's survey which recognized the firm as a leader in developing and practicing family friendly policies, including its leave and part-time policies, in-home and on-site emergency child care, and billable hours and compensation practices.
- Vault has ranked the firm among the top 20 law firms in the U.S. for diversity efforts for 2010.
- The firm has formally adopted and maintains a Flexible Working Arrangement (FWA) Policy, which permits attorneys to work modified schedules to fit family and other personal needs. FWA attorneys are eligible for partnership.
- Today, women lead numerous practice groups at Mintz Levin and nearly half of all attorneys at the firm are women.
- For four consecutive years (2008-2011), Mintz Levin has received a top rating of 100% on the Corporate Equality Index issued by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (the largest national GLBT advocacy organization). As a result, the firm has been designated one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” by the HRC.
- The percentages of women members and women associates at the firm exceed the average NALP percentages for firms of similar size (251-500).
- We have a formal and informal mentoring program in place to provide active support for minority and women attorneys.
- Mintz Levin’s Professional Development programs support the professional growth of our attorneys, with specific programs for women and minority attorneys.
We invite you to read more about some of our diversity successes and recognitions. Just follow these links:
Mintz Levin Named “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality”
Mintz Levin Named Top-Ten Family Friendly Law Firm by Yale Law Women
ML Diversity News: (Summer 2011)
Mintz Levin Announces Herman Mintz Diversity Scholarship
Mintz Levin Receives Gold Standard Certification from Women in Law Empowerment Forum
Affinity Groups
The firm encourages and supports affinity groups.
MIATTY is the affinity group for Mintz Levin minority attorneys and senior professionals, which seeks to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the firm. MIATTY regularly meets to discuss efforts in support of this mission and focuses on the achievement of the following objectives:
- Heighten awareness and understanding of diversity concerns.
- Provide support for recruitment and retention efforts of attorneys of color.
- Enhance relationships with affinity organizations and bar associations that support the goals of diversity and inclusion.
- Serve as a resource to foster networking and professional development of MIATTY members.
To learn more about MIATTY, please contact Tyrone P. Thomas and Fred C.Hernandez.
The firm’s GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) Group has been meeting regularly for many years and provides opportunities for mutual support, sharing concerns, and informal mentoring for the firm’s GLBT constituents. To learn more about Mintz Levin’s GLBT Group, please contact John B. Koss.
The Women's Initiative sponsors numerous programs aimed at supporting, retaining, and enriching the lives of women attorneys at Mintz Levin. Some of the events are social, but others are directed at business and other professional development and networking opportunities. To learn about Mintz Levin's Women's Initiative, please contact Susan Weller.
Our Community
Mintz Levin has been at the forefront of issues pertaining to lawyers of color. In 1986, two Mintz Levin partners were instrumental in creating The Boston Lawyers Group (BLG), a non-profit organization founded by a consortium of major Boston firms committed to improving the hiring and retention of lawyers of color. Today, the BLG brings together more than 45 prominent legal organizations, including minority law firms, corporations, and government entities. Members at Mintz Levin are active on the BLG's executive committee, and a Mintz Levin associate serves on the associate advisory committee. The BLG has raised awareness of diversity at senior levels at all major Boston law firms, enhancing the image of Boston as a place to live and work for attorneys of color, and dramatically increasing the number of attorneys of color practicing in the firms.
The firm participates in and supports numerous diversity-related efforts, sponsored by organizations including:
- American Intellectual Property Law Association
- ATHENA
- Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Youth (BAGLY)
- The Boston Lawyers Group (BLG)
- Boston University Law School Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA)
- Boston Women's Fund
- California Minority Counsel Program
- The Commonwealth Compact
- D.C. Minority Attorney Networking Series
- Earl B. Gilliam Black Bar Association
- Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives
- Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
- Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project (GMDVP) and the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (MLGBA)
- Just the Beginning Foundation (JTBF)
- Lambda Legal
- Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)
- National Black Law Students Association
- The National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Bar Association
- La Raza Lawyers of San Diego
Recruiting
Mintz Levin hosts an annual interview workshop for Boston-area law students of color and participates in job fairs for law students of color in Boston and Washington, D.C. We also participate in the annual Lavender Law Job Fair, sponsored by the National LGBT Bar Association. Our Washington D.C. office participates in The Road Show, started over 40 years ago by D.C. area firms, to encourage African American law students to try big-firm practice. Mintz Levin lawyers mentor women law students and law students of color, support on-campus student organizations, and speak at diversity and recruiting symposiums. The firm supports the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s minority student scholarship fund. The Boston office also participates in the Boston Lawyers Group 1L Summer Diversity Clerkship Program, a 10-week program where 1Ls split their time by working five weeks in a paid clerkship with a BLG member law firm or corporate office and the second five weeks working with a BLG member government agency.
