Tom Cardwell
Chairman and CEO
Akerman Senterfitt is a premier, full-service law firm, specializing in corporate, labor and employment, litigation, and intellectual property work. In addition to newly opened offices in New York, Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Los Angeles, Akerman Senterfitt has a solid presence throughout Florida and is now the largest law firm in the state. In fact, the firm's client history dovetails with Florida state history: A firm partner was instrumental in the routing of Interstate 4 through the Orlando area, the procuring of land for Disney World, and the founding of Sun Banks, now SunTrust.
(L to R): Veta T. Richardson of MCCA; Tom Cardwell of Akerman Senterfitt; and Sandra Phillips of Pfizer Inc.
The firm's diversity mission is twofold: to foster an environment in which minorities and women can perform proudly, and to give the firm's clients the benefits of a law firm fully balanced in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender. "Throughout the history of the firm, we have promoted diversity and are proud of this continued recognition," says Akerman Senterfitt Chairman and CEO Tom Cardwell. "Our diversity is ultimately a great asset to our clients, who benefit from our wide range of perspectives and innovative thinking."
Thirty percent of the attorneys at Akerman Senterfitt are women and 16 percent are minorities. Women and minorities are well represented in the partnership ranks: Thirteen percent of shareholders are minority and 22 percent are women. Furthermore, 10 percent of the firm's of counsel are minorities and nearly one-third are women. In 1999, the firm made a conscious decision to focus on diversity. Shareholder Judge Joseph W. Hatchett, who works out of the Tallahassee office, was asked to establish and chair a committee to concentrate on these efforts. The firm adopted an organized plan developed by the committee that consists of four programs to address attorneys' professional needs: community, balanced life, mentoring, and skills. The diversity committee also sponsored sensitivity training for everyone in the firm, not just the lawyers.
The firm encourages its attorneys to take on pro bono cases, seeing this work as vital to professional growth and development. Some of its recent cases include counseling the Performing Arts Center Trust in Miami on corporate development issues, and participation in the eMentoring Program with local high school students, a program sponsored by the Dade County Bar Association Young Lawyer's Division. The firm provided training through the Domestic Violence Committee of the Junior League of Miami and served on the Kids Care Committee, which works with the Human Service Coalition of Dade County to ensure all children have access to medical insurance benefits.
The firm's diversity strategies have yielded impressive results that have not escaped recognition. In 2005 and 2006, MultiCultural Law magazine ranked Akerman Senterfitt the number one law firm in the nation for Hispanic Americans. The magazine also named the firm to its list of "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity." Akerman Senterfitt was recently ranked number three nationally out of the 250 largest law firms in the country by the Minority Law Journal for the overall percentage of minority attorneys, and the Orlando Sentinel named it to its list of "Top Companies for Working Families" in 2004.
From the November/December 2006 issue of Diversity & The Bar®