Posted by on Friday, February 7, 2014
Welcome to this week’s Diversity Dish and Happy Friday! This week we are sharing a very interesting story out of South Florida of women there being extremely intentional about closing the gender gap. The article is a bit longer than ones we normally highlight, but if you get a chance, do read it through (especially because it’s our only news story this week!). Enjoy this week’s Diversity Dish, stay warm and if you aren’t already, follow us on Twitter @CourtneyDredden.
1.31.14 Julie Kay writes in The Business Insider on women seeking to close the gender gap in South Florida. “Mercedes Sellek, who co-chaired the Status of Latinas in the Legal Profession study for the Hispanic National Bar Association, launched Ellesquire two years ago with Niza Motola, special counsel at Littler Mendelson.” The group, consisting mostly of Hispanic female attorneys, now has 80 members, including an accountant, law professors and public interest attorneys. They meet for breakfast or dinner once a month to network and share business development ideas. Kay quotes Adrienne Cornejo, vice president of legal affairs for Phoenix Group LLC, who notes that when she asks for a law firm recommendation, nine times out of ten, she is given the name of a man. Cornejo purposefully searches law firm websites looking for women in the relevant practice group. Cornejo said: “The reason I do that very deliberately is because if there's a chance that a woman will get credit for the business, then I've helped her build her book of business. That's the only way that the needle is going to move because women will not become partners until they have a book of business, and they will not have a book of business until we hire them.” Cornejo is right and it is wonderful that this group of women in South Florida have taken it upon themselves to do what they can to close the gender gap. Of course changes are also needed on the institutional level, but this type of networking can only help.
