Julia Fish Snowden, left, and Tamu Lewis of Finn Dixon & Herling in Stamford. (Courtesy photo)

As partnership diversity remains at the forefront of debate in the national legal community, several Connecticut law firms have kicked off 2019 by bolstering their female partner ranks.

At Stamford's Finn Dixon & Herling, the commitment to women was underscored in a Jan. 1 announcement that the firm has promoted not only two women, but two women of color to partnership positions. Tamu Lewis, a debt finance and real estate attorney originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and fellow debt financing team member Julia Fish Snowden, whose immediate family hails from Nicaragua, are two of three attorneys who were promoted to start the new year. Corporate attorney Neil Ruben rounded out the class.

“It's especially exciting for me to see the progression of women at the firm for the last two years,” Lewis said. “It means a lot to me to see the growth of women at the firm and see how the team at the firm has been bolstered by having partnership and associate teams that are more diverse. I think that certainly serves the firm better, serves our clients better and serves the Stamford community better as well.”

Snowden said Finn Dixon has taken actions to support women, including approving a maternity leave policy that matches those offered at big law firms and focusing on mentorship programs for young female associates. Founded in 1987 and now 55 attorneys strong, Finn Dixon boasts a debt financing group that has 50 percent female partners, along with half of its force of lawyers being women. “I think that speaks to it being a long time coming. It's the kind of progress that you can't just implement in one day.”

Finn Dixon also has the distinction of having hired former Connecticut U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly as a partner last June, and being the firm where current state Attorney General William Tong worked as a litigator.

Alexis Gettier (left) and Ruth Moskowitz partners with Day Pitney. (Courtesy photos)

Staying on the I-95 corridor, Connecticut's largest law firm Day Pitney, with five Connecticut offices including Stamford and Hartford, also started off 2019 with the promotion of two female attorneys to partner, in the form of trusts and estates attorneys Alexis S. Gettier and Ruth S. Moskowitz. Bringing experience in complex estate issues in Connecticut and nearby states, both attorneys said a culture of support was a key part of their success that they are paying forward to up-and-coming female associates.

“It's really an honor and an exciting time,” Moskowitz said. “I think it's an affirmation of Day Pitney's approach toward women and the inclusion of women. It's reassuring to be part of an organization that has a tradition of supporting and promoting women.” Moskowitz noted that she works out of the firm's Greenwich office, where six of the seven attorneys on staff are female.

In contrast, Gettier said she works in an office with mostly men, but she said “that hasn't changed the equation.” “I have felt so supported as a woman and as a mother here, and as a working attorney,” she said, noting that Day Pitney's parental leave policy is forward-thinking and attracts queries from attorneys at other firms. “The word on the street is that Day Pitney is ahead of the curve on these things, and other firms are clearly looking to us as an example of what they should be doing for their employees,” she said. “I'm sure that affects the bottom line as well.”

Longtime Day Pitney female partner Namita Tripathi Shaw said newer partners are experiencing a culture that has been years in the making. “I think Day Pitney has been at the forefront” of supporting women, she said. “My daughter is 18 years old. Eighteen years ago, when I asked the firm for a longer than usual maternity leave they said OK, and when I asked the firm for a part-time schedule they said OK. At the same time, they allowed me to get good work, and they respected my schedule. It took longer to make partner but that was OK, because I got to keep the schedule I wanted and I still got to do great work. The reason I stayed at Day Pitney was because of that supportive culture.”

Former Connecticut Supreme Court Justice and DCF Commissioner Joette Katz. (Courtesy photo)

In Hartford, the highest-profile female hire of the year thus far has been the installation of former Connecticut Supreme Court Justice and Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz as a partner at Shipman & Goodwin. Katz told the Connecticut Law Tribune recently that she would be dividing her time into four key areas, including mediation, government/appellate work, child safety and pro bono cases. The job, she said, is tailor-made to her broad experience. “I was thrilled as our conversations progressed that Shipman really wanted to know what I wanted to do,” she said.

“Joette has had an exemplary career of public service on behalf of the state of Connecticut,” Shipman & Goodwin managing partner Alan Lieberman said. “Her experience in the judicial and executive branches of state government over a lifetime, as well as her commitment to our state, are extraordinary. We are honored that she has chosen this firm as her new professional home.”

Kathleen Dion of Robinson & Cole (Courtesy photo)

Over at nearby Robinson & Cole, education attorney Kathleen Dion starts the new year with a promotion to partner. The former appellate clerk for Connecticut and 2009 graduate of Western New England University School of Law said gender rarely crosses her mind on the job. “I never noticed any difference between how my male colleagues were treated and how women were treated,” she said. “My sponsors have been both male and female partners, so I didn't have a feeling of isolation. I've never really considered gender most of the time, though I still occasionally get confused in court as someone who is going in for jury duty or as a court reporter,” she said.

Dion said one of her responsibilities at Robinson & Cole has been to serve as a parental leave mentor, a job that has expanded with her ascent to partner. She said one of the biggest parts of the job is to reassure associates that issues will be handled in their absence. “There is a ramping-down period and a ramping-up period,” she said. And though many attorneys are Type A people who tend not to enjoy these forms of planning ahead, Dion said they are important to success. “I tell them, 'This is going to be less stressful for you,'” she said. Dion also co-chairs the Connecticut chapter of the Women's White Collar Defense Association.

Candace Cunningham of Robinson & Cole

Robinson & Cole also promoted real estate attorney Candace Cunningham to partner effective Jan. 1, highlighting her work on multi-million-dollar national loans, transit-oriented affordable housing in Florida and extensive experience with commercial lenders. Cunningham's pro bono work includes assisting the Connecticut Rivers Alliance and American Institute of Architects, as well as representing the state's Community Economic Development Fund.

 

Hartford and Westport-based DanaherLagnese started 2019 with the announcement that Alice Vautour would be the firm's newest female principal. A civil litigator in medical malpractice defense, she represents health care practitioners in licensing cases before the Connecticut Department of Public Health and advises health-care clients on risk mitigation and patient safety issues.

Alice Vautour of DanaherLagnese

Vautour's practice focuses on defending health care providers in a variety of medical specialties, including cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine.

Co-managing principal Joyce Lagnese officially welcomed Vautour and health care/insurance attorney Stuart Johnson as principals on Jan. 1. “These attorneys are extremely capable and serve the firm and its clients in an exceptional manner,” Lagnese said. “We are excited to have them in the firm.”

Erica Dorsey of Ohlandt Greeley Ruggiero & Perle (Courtesy photo)

And finally, back in Stamford, Ohlandt Greeley Ruggiero & Perle kicked off 2019 by promoting patent attorney Erica Dorsey to partner. Dorsey focuses on drafting and prosecuting patent applications, as well as preparing noninfringement, invalidity and patentability opinions for national and international clients. She serves on the board of the Connecticut Intellectual Property Law Association and is a past board member of the Fairfield County Bar Association.

Partner Ned McMahon sang Dorsey's praises. “I know there are a lot of partners in Connecticut that are women,” he said. “But in the field of patent prosecution, there are much fewer women partners. The combination of a law degree with an engineering degree where women have been traditionally underrepresented makes this a much more exclusive group that Erica as joined.”

If you have news of other female attorneys and partners—or news in general about your firm that you'd like to share, send it to [email protected].