Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
As a founding member of Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity, Murtha Cullina endorses and adopts LCD’s Message on Racial and Social Injustice. We look forward to collaborating with LCD and other leaders in the legal industry to create constructive, tangible, and sustainable change in our profession.
Our Firm is committed to strengthening our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts through recruiting and retaining minority and women attorneys and staff personnel from all backgrounds. We recognize that it is the outstanding people of Murtha Cullina who are the source of our strength and the Firm’s greatest assets. Promoting diversity and inclusion is an integral component of our quest for excellence, and we look for the same among our suppliers, just as our clients do to us.
As part of the effort to advance our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we pursue the following initiatives, among others:
- Improvement of the level of diversity, equity and inclusion within the Firm’s leadership positions, Firm committees and practice development efforts.
- Development of an attorney and senior administrative manager evaluation process to review and recognize the contributions made by our attorneys and department chairs to advance the Firm’s efforts to fulfill our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
- Emphasis of the Firm’s long standing policy that encourages reporting of any discrimination or harassment based on sex, race, national origin or other protected status.
- Participation in opportunities outside the Firm to explore diversity and inclusion initiatives underway with clients, community organizations, bar associations and minority organizations that share this common objective.
- Strong efforts toward recruiting of excellent minority and women attorneys and law students.
- Emphasis on retention and advancement of minority and women attorneys.
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee works closely with the Executive Committee, Recruiting Committee and Associates Committee to carry out these and other initiatives to help strengthen diversity and inclusion throughout the Firm.
In addition to our internal diversity and inclusion initiatives, the Firm and our attorneys are committed to supporting diversity in the legal community:
- Murtha Cullina was one of the first Connecticut firms to subscribe to the CT Bar Association’s Pledge of Gender Equity.
- We were a founding member of The Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities (CABO), the state’s first and only Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Chamber of Commerce.
Our attorneys are also members of the:
- Connecticut Black Bar Association
- Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association
- South Asian Bar Association
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Women Expanding Business
Women Expanding Business (“WEB”) was established several years ago as a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative of the firm that seeks to encourage, promote and support the professional development of women in our firm and in the business community. The group and its events are open to all attorneys who are supportive of the Group’s mission.
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee
John H. Mutchler, Chair
Dan C. Cohn
Andy I. Corea
Proloy K. Das
Jennifer Morgan DelMonico
Jodie L. Driscoll
Alyssa R. Ferreone
Deirdre D. Foley
Salvatore G. Gangemi
Juliana García-Uribe
Taruna Garg
Raquel Herrera-Soto
Madiha M. Malik
Amy McDuff
Vincent R. Merola
Lisa Newfield
Patricia E. Reilly
Arielle M. Smitt
Suzanne Brown Walsh
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Social Responsibility
We believe that being responsible citizens of the world requires us to support the communities in which we work and live in meaningful ways, ones that support and improve the well-being of people of all walks of life. We understand that social responsibility encompasses not merely money and goods donated, but our contribution of time, resources and expertise to community service, diversity and inclusion initiatives, pro bono work, sustainability and renewable energy. Our actions benefit our connected world today and for future generations.
Leading the Way
Our history of social responsibility activism starts at home.
We are one of the very few law firms anywhere to have not one, but two successive female managing partners, Elizabeth J. Stewart (2009-2014) and Jennifer Morgan DelMonico (2015-2020), who is currently serving. Both Elizabeth and Jennifer have also served as past Chairs of the Litigation Department.
Similarly, the Firm was one of the first in Connecticut to subscribe to the Connecticut Association’s Pledge of Gender Equity. We were a founding member of the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities (CABO), the State’s first and only Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Chamber of Commerce.
Serving our Communities
Murtha Cullina participates in the following legal, civic and philanthropic institutions:
Anti-Defamation League
Boston Bar Foundation
Boston Chamber of Commerce
Community Foundation of Greater New Haven
Connecticut Veterans Legal Center
Greater Boston Legal Services
Greater Hartford Legal Aid Foundation
Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce
Hartford County Bar Foundation
Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation
Leadership Fairfield County
Leadership Greater New Haven
New Haven Legal Assistance
New Haven County Bar Foundation
Many of our lawyers participate on boards involved with charitable works, cultural institutions, social and community services, historic preservation, pro bono legal services, renewable energy, child care services, and healthcare institutions, including:
Connecticut Appleseed
Connecticut Immigrant and Refugee Coalition
Easter Seals Goodwill Industries
Friends of New Haven Legal Assistance
HARC
Junior Achievement
Lawyers for Children America
Planned Parenthood Votes!
Saugatuck Child Care Services
South Shore Hospital
United Way
Additionally, our lawyers and staff support in numerous charitable organizations throughout the year, including:
Boys and Girls Village
Center for Children’s Advocacy
Hands of Hartford’s MANNA Community Meals
Operation Smile
reSET (Social Enterprise Trust)
The May Center (Boston, MA)
Pro Bono Work
Murtha Cullina has a long history of pro bono service. We work with the State-wide legal services programs to handle cases for clients they cannot serve. We also assist various non-profit organizations with their representation of children in juvenile and family court. Our corporate lawyers assist non-profits with governance issues, and we have also assisted organizations like Habitat for Humanity with real estate transactions. Our representation of military veterans has led to awards for our service. We also accept cases for indigent individuals from the federal court. The firm requires all attorneys to perform pro bono service. Dedicated attorneys provide much more time than the Firm requires.
Entrepreneur Group
Our Entrepreneur Practice Group gives back to our communities by offering free legal consultations for entrepreneurs and start-up companies. The primary goal of the Entrepreneur Group is to build a supportive community around entrepreneurship. To that end, Murtha Cullina has strong local relationships with community co-working spaces and entrepreneur centers including ReSET (Hartford) and The Grove (New Haven). Murtha Cullina’s entrepreneur attorneys mentor innovators on a daily basis, and at events such as the Innovation Summit, University of Connecticut’s Innovation Quest, as well as in connection with local accelerator programs.
When the Connecticut Legislature passed a bill allowing Benefit Corporations in the State, our Entrepreneur Group served as a great resoure to those interested in this unique kind of business. A benefit corporation is a type of business corporation, incorporated under the Connecticut Business Corporation Act, but with a broadened purpose to have a social impact.
