Pepper Hamilton LLP — A Commitment to Diversity
Pepper Hamilton LLP, a multipractice law firm with more than 450 lawyers nationally, provides corporate, litigation and regulatory legal services to leading businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations and individuals throughout the nation and the world. Its diverse group of lawyers includes women, attorneys of color, members of the LGBT community and their allies, and attorneys with disabilities.
The firm is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion and works continuously to expand and promote opportunities for its lawyers and staff. These firm wide efforts — which are led by Partner in Charge of Diversity Kassem L. Lucas — include several affinity groups that offer support and programming for Pepper’s diverse community. These groups include the African-American/Black Affinity Group, Pepper Pride, the Veterans Group, the Pepper Latina/o Caucus and the Women’s Initiative (WIN).
The last year has been a particularly exciting one for WIN, which selected new leaders — partners Stephanie Pindyck Costantino, Yvonne M. McKenzie and Sara B. Richman — to continue WIN’s tradition of recruiting, promoting and supporting Pepper’s female attorneys. Some of WIN’s recent activities include attending the Pennsylvania Conference for Women with Pepper clients, sponsoring the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Lemon Run, and authoring an article on the under-representation of women in law for The Legal Intelligencer.
WIN is just one example of Pepper’s leading role in advancing and supporting women in the legal industry. From the firm’s first female partner, elected in 1960, to Nina M. Gussack being named as the first female chair of the Executive Committee in 2007, Pepper’s women have been trailblazers in taking on leadership roles in the firm while providing exceptional service to their clients. In 2016, the firm took another step forward by electing its first all-woman class of new partners and of counsel. In November, Abigail A. Hazlett (White Collar Litigation and Investigations), Shirley R. Kuhlmann (Corporate and Securities), Judith L. O’Grady (Health Effects Litigation) and Nilufer R. Shaikh (Corporate and Securities) were elected to the partnership, and Tracey E. Diamond (Labor and Employment) and Jessica A. Rickabaugh (Health Effects Litigation) were elected of counsel. For more information please visit www.pepperlaw.com.
