At Pond Lehocky Giordano, gender diversity is not just a moral obligation, it’s good business, which is why the law firm is making gender and diversity a priority: Pond Lehocky is proud that 67 percent of its staff members, 56 percent of its managers and 40 percent of its attorneys are women.
Women’s History Month allows Pond Lehocky to highlight its gender diversity and inclusion efforts. As one of its women and diversity initiatives, associates Kajal Alemo, Danielle Webb, Ruxandra Osgood and Erica Shikunov participated in a roundtable discussion at the Women, Diversity & Change Summit in Philadelphia on March 20th, hosted by Centerforce USA. The topic of the discussion was Women & Self Advocacy: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
The event’s attendance doubled from last year, with about 300 people present to listen to more than 30 leading experts and speakers. The Pond Lehocky quartet held their discussion before four rotating groups of attendees. The participants shared effective strategies used by women of all ages and ranks to handle workplace challenges.
“Participants were really interested in hearing about others’ current situations at work and bouncing ideas off each other about uncomfortable topics such as raises, promotions, disproportional workloads and speaking out effectively,” Ruxandra Osgood said.
“A resounding is that when women are faced with a situation where they want additional resources, a raise or a promotion, they are reticent to ask for it, or if they do ask, are hesitant about being persistent until they get it,” Erica Shikunov said.
There was also conversation about being an ally to other women in the workplace. Shikunov said some examples discussed were “singing the praise of a female colleague who has trouble promoting herself, helping a colleague get facetime with a boss or supervisor and ensuring a female colleague gets credit for her good ideas.”
“Most exciting was witnessing the evolving perspective that though longstanding socialization has contributed to an asymmetrical playing field, we have more control over our experience now than ever before, ” Kajal Alemo said. “We must earnestly engage in these conversations and then hold ourselves accountable too.”
Getting diverse perspectives and fresh insights helps the firm better connect with its clients, who come from all walks of life. It also helps the firm deliver innovative legal solutions to clients’ most pressing problems. Learn more about our diverse initiatives at www.pondlehocky.com/diversity.
Pond Lehocky acknowledges that there is still a long way to go in the fight for gender equality. But the firm, known for its commitment to workers, believes it is well-suited to take a lead role.
Other Pond Lehocky gender diversity initiatives include:
- Women’s rights in the workplace, particularly gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Visit https://www.pondlehocky.com/ME for a special message.
- Mass Torts affecting women, including litigation over Talc products that cause ovarian cancer, mesothelioma and other conditions.
