Our Commitment
Our Involvement
Our Support
We are proud of our many diverse cultures and backgrounds. Diversity fosters an environment of varying perspectives and differing views. We like it that way. So do our clients.
Our Commitment . . .
Stradley Ronon has a long-standing commitment to the community, where our lawyers work and live, and to promoting minority participation in the legal profession.
• We were one of the first law firms to adopt the “Statement of Goals” of Philadelphia Law Firms for Increasing Minority-Representation and Retention. This Statement was adopted under the leadership of our partner, André Dennis, during his term as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.
• The firm is a founding member of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group (PDLG), an organization of law firms and corporate counsel promoting minority-lawyer hiring and retention in the Greater Philadelphia Region. Stradley Ronon partner André Dennis is a member of the group’s board of directors.
• Stradley Ronon was the first participant to sign on for Drexel University College of Law’s Minority Fellowship Program. To promote the program, which provides minority students with six-month cooperative education placements and $15,000 per year for living expenses, the firm started the “Stradley Challenge.” This fundraising effort was extended to members of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group – of which the firm is a member.
• Stradley Ronon was one of the few law firms in Philadelphia to have a female managing partner. Despite all the women graduating from law school, only 16 percent of partners in law firms and just 5 percent of managing partners across the country are female, according to Legal Times. In Philadelphia, that percentage is even lower. Jane Landes Foster served as managing partner from 1999 to 2005.
Our Involvement . . .
Our attorneys take pride in and actively “give back” to many minority organizations. Their commitment is evidenced by the various leadership positions they hold and the honors they have received.
• Stradley Ronon Diversity Group Chair Frances Gauthier of our Wilmington, Del., office is an active member in numerous professional organizations aimed at improving and increasing multicultural awareness. Ms. Gauthier serves as vice chair of special events to the Delaware Bar Association’s Multicultural Judges and Lawyers Section and is a member of the Women and the Law Section. She also co-chairs the corporate sponsor committee of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Delaware Chapter. Ms. Gauthier is treasurer and an executive committee member of the Delaware Pro Bono American Inn of Courts and she serves as secretary and board member of Delaware Volunteer Legal Services.
In addition, Frances Gauthier received the Leadership Award from the Multicultural Judges & Lawyers Section of Delaware State Bar Association in 2003 for her work to improve and increase multicultural awareness in the bar. In recognition of her efforts locally, in 2002 Ms. Gauthier was selected as one of five lawyers to participate in the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law Ambassadors Program, where she worked towards the Section of Business Law’s goal to increase participation by attorneys of color throughout the country in the activities of the section. Furthermore, in 2005 she was appointed as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Fellows and Ambassadors Committee.
• Associate Carolina Spaventa serves on the board of directors of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania. She was also appointed secretary of the association’s Legal Education Fund, a nonprofit organization that raises money for charitable and educational purposes.
• Danielle Banks received the Cecil B. Moore Community Service Award from the Temple University Beasley School of Law Black Law Students Association. Ms. Banks was selected as a Temple alumna whose service in the legal profession and the community exemplifies the legacy of Cecil B. Moore, Esq. – a Philadelphia lawyer and activist during the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s who fought on behalf of his mostly poor, African-American clients.
• André Dennis received the First Union Fidelity Award in recognition of his continuous commitment to the legal profession through his founding of, and ongoing involvement in, a number of public-interest initiatives, as well as his steadfast representation of many “under-represented” people and “unpopular” causes.
• Delaware Office Director Claire DeMatteis received the Girls Incorporated of Delaware “Strong Smart & Bold” award for being a role model for girls and young women in the workplace. Girls Incorporated of Delaware advocates for girls and young women, helping them overcome the effects of discrimination, develop into self-sufficient and responsible citizens, and focus on their special needs.
• Bennett Picker serves as a member of the National Task Force on Diversity in ADR of the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution. The goal of the National Task Force is to promote greater use of mediators and arbitrators with diverse backgrounds. As chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Mr. Picker founded the Association's Committees on Women in the Profession and Minorities in the Profession. These two Committees have adopted model policies over the years that have made a meaningful difference in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the nation.
Our Support . . .
Through financial contributions, volunteering and fundraising, Stradley Ronon supports numerous minority and women’s groups with diverse purposes, including:
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ACLU Foundation of Pennsylvania
Akiba Hebrew Academy
American Asian Bar Association
American Civil Liberties Union
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Jewish Committee
Anti-Defamation League
Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Asociacion De Puertorriquenos En Marcha, Inc.
Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia
Bernard and Ruth Siegel Jewish Community Center
Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America
British American Business Council
Center for Legal Education, Advocacy & Defense Assistance
Commercial Real Estate Women
Community Legal Services, Inc.
Delaware Commission for Women
Drexel University College of Law’s Minority Fellowship Program
Forum of Executive Women
Girls Incorporated of Delaware
Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Women Take Charge Program
Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition
Hillel of Greater Philadelphia
Hispanic Bar Association
Jewish Community Relations Council
Jewish Home and Rehabilitation Center
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Jewish Law Day
Large Firm Women Litigation Partners Network
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania
Minority Attorney Conference
Multicultural Judges and Lawyers Section of the Delaware Bar Association
National Association of Women Business Owners
National Black Law Students Association
National Jewish Medical and Research Center
Pennsylvania Bar Association, Annual Minority Attorney Conference
Pennsylvania Bar Association, Women in the Profession Committee
Perleman Jewish Day School
Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, Inc.
Philadelphia Law Firms for Increasing Minority Representation and Retention
Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP)
SeniorLAW Center
South Jersey Minority Chamber of Commerce
Urban League of Philadelphia
Villanova University Law School, “Why Diversity Matters” Seminar
Women Advocate Committee of the Section of Litigation,
American Bar Association
Women’s Business Development Center
Women’s Resource Center
Women's Center of Montgomery County
World Jewish Congress
Zionist Organization of America
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