Shipman & Goodwin LLP
Counselors at Law

CULTIVATING DIVERSITY
March 2019

We are committed to achieving a workplace that is reflective of the clients we serve and the communities in which we live and work.

Shipman & Goodwin Names Five New Partners, Including Four Women

The Firm named Kelly Smith Hathorn, Katie P. Kasinskas, Matthew J. Monteith, Jessica Richman Smith and
Latonia C. Williams Partners of the Firm as of January 1, 2019.  

Kelly is a member of the Tax and Employee Benefits practice group and advises public and private sector employers on a variety of employee benefits issues, using her extensive experience with qualified plan design, drafting, administration/compliance and termination. She advises clients on the design and administration of welfare benefit and cafeteria plans, and is a frequent speaker on topics related to employer-provided health benefits. 

Katie is a member of the Business & Finance Practice Group and practices in our Stamford, CT office.  She advises clients on the structuring, negotiation and closing of complex lending transactions, loan restructurings and the purchase and sale of existing loans. She represents national banks, regional banks, insurance companies, private lenders and corporate borrowers in a range of secured and unsecured commercial financing transactions across numerous industries and markets, including manufacturing, retail, real estate, health care, clean energy and fine art. 

Matt is a member of the Business and Finance Practice Group, where he has a broad transactional practice. He represents venture capital and private equity firms in connection with portfolio company investments, acquisitions and dispositions and other debt and equity financings. Matt regularly helps to form, finance and advise high-growth companies in the software, mobile application, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, cybersecurity, consumer products and financial services industries through all stages of their growth. 

Jessica is a member of the School Law Practice Group and practices in our Stamford, CT office.  She represents schools in a variety of education, labor relations and employment law matters.  She negotiates certified and non-certified collective bargaining agreements on behalf of numerous public boards of education. In addition, Jessica advises schools on education policies and practices, investigations concerning students and employees, compliance with various laws impacting schools and other legal matters affecting educational institutions. 

Latonia is a member of the Business Litigation Practice Group and a commercial litigator with a focus on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, representing secured and unsecured lenders, insurance companies, equipment lessors, health care businesses and franchisors. She represents creditors in all aspects of bankruptcy proceedings throughout the United States, including defending against avoidance actions brought by debtors and trustees. 

“We are proud of our success in hiring, promoting and retaining female attorneys,” said Alan Lieberman, the firm’s Managing Partner. “The firm has a long-standing commitment to diversity that is reflected on a daily basis in our philosophy and practices.”  The firm’s history of promoting women to the partner level started with the naming of its first female partner in 1942, and continues to the present day, where 44% of all of the firm’s attorneys are women, 33% of the partners are women and 64% of our associates are women.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND RECOGNITION

Andrew Davis Named New Co-Chair of Diversity & Inclusion Committee

We are pleased to announce that Partner Andrew Davis, Ph.D. joined the Diversity & Inclusion Committee as Co-Chair in January.  Andrew will join Partner and Co-Chair Jessica Ritter in leading the Firm’s strategic diversity initiatives and continuing our ongoing and unwavering commitment to increase the diversity of the Firm and legal profession. In February of 2018, as part of the firm’s celebration of Black History Month, Andrew presented a fascinating account of the adventures and accomplishments of African-American Arctic explorer, Matthew A. Henson. Henson accompanied Admiral Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly 23 years, the most famous expedition of which, in April 1909, is recognized as the first to reach the geographic North Pole.  Andrew has extensive knowledge of Henson and worked with Henson’s Inuit grandchildren during several research expeditions to the Arctic. Henson’s story, which had been largely ignored, was told through a slideshow, personal anecdotes and artifacts that Andrew had gathered during his research.“Lawyer of the Year”Alyce Alfano was honored as Hartford Lawyer of the Year in Education Law by The Best Lawyers in 
America© 2019.  Alyce has experience with special education, regular education, bullying, residency and disciplinary issues.  She is a regular speaker and author on special education law both in Connecticut and nationally, and has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education.  
Alyce has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2012 and is a former recipient of the Lawyer 
of the Year distinction. 

Legal Career Panel at Eastern Connecticut State University

On November 14, 2018, Associate Alfredo Fernández (second from left) organized and participated on a legal career panel at Eastern Connecticut State University in conjunction with the Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association. The panel included representatives from a wide spectrum of legal paths, including private practice, public service, in-house and government representatives. In organizing the event, Alfredo worked closely with the firm’s 2018 Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity summer intern, Jonah Badiab (’19), in his role as President of the university’s Organization for Latin American Students (pictured at podium).

Gay Attorneys Find Acceptance, Thanks in Part to Client Initiatives

Kevin Roy was featured in an article in the Connecticut Law Tribune entitled “Gay Attorneys Find Acceptance, Thanks in Part to Client Initiatives.” The article, which appeared in the February 20 issue of the Connecticut Law Tribune interviews three gay and one transgender attorney regarding changing attitudes toward gender and sexual orientation among law firms and their clients.The shift has taken place in large part because of the demands of clients that firms report on the diversity of attorneys working on their matters. Those demands have driven focused recruitment and diversity, prompting firms to participate in events such as the annual Lavender Law Conference, which is geared toward the LGBT community.  “We think attending the conference is the right thing to do in order to reflect the community and client base,” Roy said. “Our firm also has a strategic plan, and one of the major points in the plan is diversity.  ”While there are equal opportunity employment laws, Roy said there are no pitfalls in targeting gay attorneys for hire from the conference. “We make similar efforts in all forms of diversity.”

MENTORING

Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity’s Mentor/Mentee Kickoff Dinner

On October 18, 2018 Shipman & Goodwin hosted the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity’s (LCD) Annual Mentor/Mentee Program Kickoff Dinner in our Hartford office.  The Mentor Program offers law students of color the opportunity to be paired with a practicing attorney from a LCD member firm, government agency or corporation who will serve as a mentor and personal resource throughout the school year.  In addition, the Kickoff Dinner marked the official start of the program and provided an opportunity for mentors and mentees to formally meet.  The group heard from LCD President Joaquina Borges King who discussed the importance and power of mentoring as well as Connecticut Superior Court Judge Kevin Doyle and Associate, Dame Catalan who shared their stories about their own mentor/mentee relationships and the impact those relationships have had in their legal careers.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Former Connecticut Associate Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz Joins Shipman & Goodwin
Former Connecticut Supreme Court Associate Justice Joette Katz  joined the firm in January as a partner in its Business Litigation Practice Group. She will be resident in the firm’s Stamford and Hartford offices.

Immediately prior to joining Shipman & Goodwin, Joette served as Commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Children and Families for eight years, a high-profile leadership position to which she was appointed by then-incoming Governor Dannel Malloy in January 2011.

“Joette has had an exemplary career of public service on behalf of the State of Connecticut. Her experience in the judicial and executive branches of state government over a lifetime, as well as her commitment to our state, are extraordinary,” said Alan E. Lieberman, Managing Partner. “We are honored that she has chosen this firm as her new professional home.”

As Commissioner of the State Department of Children and Families, Joette was responsible for children in the Department’s custody and under its guardianship, as well as for overseeing the Department’s service delivery statewide, and for providing legal advice on a regular basis for the Department’s litigation matters at trial and on appeal. Shipman & Goodwin Celebrates 100 Years

PLEDGES $250,000 TO BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 
Shipman & Goodwin, marking its centennial year serving clients and supporting the communities in which it works, recently launched a series of events to celebrate its 100th year. The first of these is a pledge of $250,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford to support their capital campaign to open a facility in the South End of Hartford that will serve more than 1,500 children with vital afterschool services and programs.  This donation is in keeping with Shipman & Goodwin’s long relationship with Boys & Girls Clubs throughout Connecticut.

“There is no more fitting way to begin to commemorate the firm’s 100-year legacy than in our hometown with an organization whose history in Hartford is even longer than our own,” said Managing Partner, Alan E. Lieberman. “The firm has sponsored events and volunteered for years at Boys & Girls Clubs in Connecticut and we are thrilled to expand our commitment to the Clubs’ endeavors on behalf of our youth.”

In 2016, the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford honored Shipman & Goodwin with its Corporate Partnership Award for the firm’s many contributions throughout the years, including: devoting an annual Lawyer Retreat to volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club in Stamford, with more than 80 attorneys from the firm’s Connecticut and Washington, D.C. offices tackling landscaping, painting and building projects; raising funds for the Club’s summer camp and school-year programs; and sponsoring the Annual City Chic Gala, Corporate 5k Road Race, and the Diplomas2Degrees program. In 2017, more than 90 Shipman & Goodwin attorneys from Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C. spruced up the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford’s Asylum Hill facility in preparation for the Club’s Summer Fun Camp.

“As the very first Boys & Girls Club in the nation, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford has been opening doors for youth in need since 1860,” said Samuel S. Gray, Jr., President and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford. “Now, Shipman & Goodwin’s generous gift will help us open doors for 1,500 new kids annually in Hartford’s South End.”

100 ACTS OF KINDNESS (100AOK) CAMPAIGN
As part of its Centennial Celebration, this February Shipman & Goodwin also launched its 100AOK Campaign, a pledge to have attorneys and staff contribute to the achievement of at least 100+ acts of kindness. Giving back and paying it forward are responsibilities integral to the firm, and the goal is to achieve 100 percent participation in the 100AOK campaign, for each and every member of the firm to give back more and to pay forward more.

CULTIVATING DIVERSITY

Heritage Month Celebrations

We celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month on October 4, 2018 with a presentation entitled, “From Spanish Speaking to Latinx, A Detras Pa’lante of Rice and Beans Success Stories.”  Our guest speaker, Dr. Anthony De Jesús, integrated research documenting the experiences of important Puerto Rican/Latino historical figures with a discussion on the current state of Latinx identify within the U.S.  Dr. De Jesús is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Equitable Community Practice at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT.  

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the firm invited Chief Mutawi Mutahash (Many Hearts) Lynn Malerba to our Hartford office on November 2, 2018 to speak with us about the Mohegan Tribe’s history, why economic development is so important for their trial nation and national issues around Indian policy.  Dr. Malerba is the 18th Chief of the Mohegan Tribe and the first female Chief in the Tribe’s modern history.

The firm hosted a Black History Month celebration on February 13 with featured guest speaker Dr. Stacey Close and a presentation entitled, “Southern Migration and the Transformation of Black Connecticut”.  Dr. Close is the Associate Provost/Associate Vice President for Equity and Diversity and Professor of History at Eastern Connecticut State University. He frequently lectures and presents on themes surrounding Black history in Connecticut. In keeping with this year’s national theme of “Black Migration,” we were delighted to have Dr. Close join us to highlight the migration of millions of black Americans from southern states to urban industrial centers of the North, Midwest and West, and particularly to Connecticut.

The Other Boys of Summer

In January, Shipman & Goodwin was the lead sponsor of the New York City premiere 
of “The Other Boys of Summer,” a documentary film exploring civil rights through the stories and lives of the Negro League Baseball Players. 
Several members of the firm attended the event which featured a moving, entertaining, and inspirational documentary about this important part of American civil rights history. 

The Achievement Gap

On February 5, as part of its “In Community” Series, the Firm hosted The Achievement Gap: Legal and Education Challenges.  The panel featured: Dr. Carol Birks, Superintendent of New Haven Public Schools; Dr. Enza Macri, Associate Superintendent of Middletown Public Schools; Dr. Richard L. Schwab, Professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education; and Dr. Robert Villanova, Director of the Executive Leadership Program at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education.  Partner and Co-Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee Jessica Ritter introduced the panel and Partner Tom Mooney moderated the discussion.  The impressive panel discussed barriers that remain today in connection with the Achievement Gap as well as expectations of progress going forward. This presentation was the 14th in Shipman & Goodwin’s In Community series, presentations focusing on a variety of issues facing our workforce and community.

Contact Us:

To learn more about our commitment to diversity and our diversity initiatives, please contact our Diversity & Inclusion Committee Co-Chairs: Andrew N. Davis, Ph.D. at (860) 251-5839 or adavis@goodwin.com or Jessica L. Ritter at (860) 251-5034 or jritter@goodwin.com. 

For a complete list of diversity events/sponsorships, visit www.shipmangoodwin.com/diversityevents.

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