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While Littler Mendelson is the nation’s largest employment and labor law firm, our strength lies not just in our size, but in our diversity and depth of experience. At Littler, we view diversity as a core cultural value that is critical to our continued success. The firm welcomes and supports women lawyers and provides an inclusive environment where ideas are exchanged freely and everyone is given the opportunity for advancement. Littler is proud that 43 percent of its attorneys firmwide are women, and in its Minneapolis office the ratio of women shareholders to men shareholders is nearly 50/50. Just 17 months ago, Shirley Lerner became a Littler shareholder in a part-time capacity – a schedule that was beneficial to her at that time – and was immediately impressed by Littler’s supportive and networking environment. “There is a complete lack of gender bias or that typical macho sensibility you might find in other litigation firms. There really is nothing like the opportunity here,” she said. Jacqueline Kalk joined Littler as an equity partner when she was five months pregnant. After 10 years in the firm’s Atlanta office, she decided to move to Minneapolis to be closer to her family. “It took all of one week for the firm to approve the move,” she said. “They took care of everything.” As a full-time working lawyer and a single mother, Ms. Kalk has been impressed by the effort the firm makes to allow women to balance a career and personal life. “Being an attorney does bring a certain amount of pressure, particularly in litigation, but here the day to day stuff is simple. I can always leave the office in time to be with my young kids. If I need to work from home one day because one of my kids is sick, it’s no problem.” There is a pervasive culture of mentoring and support at Littler that benefits not only its attorneys but also its clients. Minneapolis shareholder Stephanie Sarantopoulos said, “From a leadership and development perspective, this place has been phenomenally supportive from the moment I walked in the door.” Ms. Sarantopoulos explains that it is common at Littler for senior partners to entrust newer attorneys with matters and clients, helping to build those interactions into long-lasting work relationships. “It is important in the sense of providing opportunities, but also in terms of development – really taking you along with them to meet clients and championing you to those clients and to other lawyers in the firm. They market you in a number of ways that let you rise.” Littler encourages its women attorneys to seek critical leadership and management positions within the firm. Kate Mrkonich Wilson serves on the steering committee of the firm’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, a group seeking to leverage Littler’s current strength in terms of percentage of women equity partners. “We are developing programs to encourage our female attorneys to seek future administrative roles in the firm. The idea is to offer hands-on learning seminars about all the various aspects of law firm practice to show people they can have a hand in running this firm,” Ms. Wilson said. Ms. Wilson, who just ended a
six-year term as the Minneapolis Office Managing Shareholder and now co-chairs
the firm’s National Retail Practice Group, explains, “We’re also looking
internally to make sure we’re developing Littler’s policies and career tracks to
encourage all people with different lifestyle choices to remain engaged and
focused. We want our attorneys to know that even when you hit a certain stage of
life development, you can still grow here. We’re trying to take the successful
examples of women in leadership roles and harness their experiences to show that
you can do it and we value it. Ultimately, it helps Littler stay ahead of the
game.” Back to 100% Club Main Page
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