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.

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 18-member 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:

Members of the Firm:
Jennifer B. Rubin (Chair)
Rosemary M. Allen
Linda D. Bentley
Maryann Civitello
John M. Delehanty
Susan M. Finegan
Michele Floyd
Chip Phinney, III
Eddie Wang Rodriguez
Adam L. Sisitsky
Sahir Surmeli
Andrew R. Urban
Susan Neuberger Weller

Associate Members of the Diversity Committee:
Tania Rodrigues Cleary
Helen Gerostathos Guyton
Yolanda T. Howze
Narges M. Kakalia
Tyrone P. Thomas 
Paula J. Valencia-Galbraith

Professionals:
Kathy A. Armstrong, Corporate Practice Manager
Amy Fowler, Chief Marketing Officer
Heather Kelly, Manager of Mintz Levin Professional Development and Legal Professional Development
Michelle E. Leinbach, Litigation Practice Manager
Judy Prahl, Intellectual Property Practice Manager
David P. Salisbury, Director of Business Development, West Coast Region
Wendy L. Starr, Director of Human Resources
Katy von Mehren, Director of Legal Recruiting

How We Practice Diversity - Some of Our Accomplishments

  • Named a top ten family friendly law firm for 2010 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 three consecutive years (2008-2010), 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).
  • 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 Top-Ten Family Friendly Law Firm by Yale Law Women

ML Diversity News:  Recognizing Strength in Everyone (Winter 2010)

Mintz Levin Receives its Third Consecutive Perfect Score on Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2010 Corporate Equality Index

Eddie Wang Rodriguez Named Managing Member of Mintz Levin's San Diego Office

Karen S. Lovitch to Manage Mintz Levin's Health Law Practice

Former Yahoo! Inc. In-House Counsel Michele Floyd Joins Mintz Levin's Palo Alto Office

Mintz Levin Expands Washington, D.C. Telecommunications Practice With Addition of Sallye Clark

Mintz Levin Appoints Susan Berson to Chair of Israel Business Practice Group

Affinity Groups

The firm encourages and supports affinity groups.

MIATTY, Mintz Levin’s Minority Attorneys Group, has been meeting on a quarterly basis for over a decade. MIATTY’s mission is to strengthen diversity and inclusion within the firm. The organization strives to accomplish this goal by:

  • providing support and mentoring for attorneys and senior professionals of color in their professional development
  • raising awareness of the value and importance of diversity at Mintz Levin
  • building relationships with communities of color. 

To learn more about MIATTY, please contact Anthony Hubbard.

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 Maryann Civitello.

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:

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.

Current DevelopMintz

Health Care Reform:

Our Health Care Reform Working Group is closely following every aspect of this critical legislative initiative. Please click here for Health Care Reform: Analysis and Perspectives.