Company: Greenspoon Marder LLP
Diversity Team Name: Diversity Council
Diversity Team Leader: Myrna Maysonet
Website: www.gmlaw.com
At Greenspoon Marder, we strongly believe that by embracing our diversity and cultivating an inclusive environment, we enrich our employees, strengthen our firm, support our community, and enhance our ability to serve our clients across the globe. The firm has continuously fostered and instituted policies that promote diversity and inclusion within Greenspoon Marder. In fact, the firm provided same sex benefits to employees within the firm a decade before it was even considered to become law. Additionally, Greenspoon Marder consistently reviews and adjusts the firm’s methods of outreach to ensure it attracts a diverse pool of legal and professional talent, which includes its outreach to law schools and prominence in a wide variety of publications that attract and appeal to a diverse audience. Almost 70 percent of our employees are female and 39 percent identify as racial or ethnic minorities.
As a testament of such, in 2018, several of the firm’s female executives and attorneys were featured in Profile magazine’s “No Glass Ceiling at Greenspoon Marder.” Deputy Managing Partner Rebecca Bratter, Partners Rachel Gillette, Beth-Ann Krimsky, Myrna Maysonet, Dana Somerstein, and Senior Associate Alicia Lewis gathered at the firm’s headquarters for a roundtable discussion of how the distinctive culture at the firm came about naturally, the struggles they have seen women face at other organizations, and why celebrating diversity has strengthened the firm’s relationship with their clients, as well as the communities in which they live and work.
In 2019, Greenspoon Marder appointed Myrna Maysonet, a Hispanic lesbian, as chief diversity officer. She proudly serves as a mentor to the firm’s diverse attorneys and staff, and advocates for the rights of those who often aren’t sitting at the policy-making tables across the country.
Most recently, Greenspoon Marder launched a formal Diversity Council as part of its growing diversity initiatives. The Council had been tasked with creating, implementing, and promoting diversity and inclusivity across the firm. The creation of diversity policies without a committed mechanism to ensure their success is meaningless. The formation of the Council represents our firm’s commitment to continue our diversity and inclusive initiatives by putting meaningful mechanisms in place. For that reason, our Diversity Council is comprosed of a diverse group of voices across different genders, sexual orientations, races, backgrounds, titles, neurodiversitys, and geographical locations. They’re representative of Greenspoon Marder’s diverse family.
RECOGNITION
- Ranked as one of the “Best Law Firms for Minorities” – Law360, 2019
- Recognized as a “2019 Best Workplace For Women” – Fortune, 2019
- Recognized as one of the “Top 100 Law Firms for Women” – Women Inc., 2019
- Shortlisted as an “Outstanding Firm for Furthering Diversity and Inclusion” – Chambers Diversity & Inclusion Awards: USA, 2019
- Ranked, “Female Equity Partner Scorecard,” The American Lawyer, 2019
- Certified, Florida Unique Abilities Partner, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, 2019-2020
- Ranked, “Best Law Firms for Women,” Law360, 2018
- Recognized, “Florida’s Most Inclusive and Diverse Law Firms,” Daily Business Review, 2018
- Recognized, “Outstanding Firm in Advancing Gender Diversity and Inclusion,” Chambers Women in Law Awards, 2017
- Recognized, “Exceptional Employer,” Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Blind Services, and Vocational Rehabilitation, 2016
