A CONTINUED 27
YEAR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INLCUSION:
Among the small to
mid-sized defense firms in Connecticut, Letizia Ambrose & Falls, PC has been
at the forefront of many efforts to be more diverse and inclusive, including
being the first workers’ compensation defense practice to sign the Connecticut
Bar Association Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Pledge and the first to have
a name female partner. We were also
among the first healthcare and employment defense firms to allow staff and
attorneys flexible schedules (especially for single parent households),
inclusive of telecommuting, since our inception in 1994.
We have been
members of the CBA Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the past five years
and are proud of our Managing Partner, John M. Letizia, who has been on the CBA
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee’s Subcommittee on Education since
2015 and was the Co-Organizer of its first education program on Discrimination
in the Workplace and is the Co-Organizer for the CBA 2021 Annual Connecticut
Bar Association education program being conducted by the CBA Diversity, Equity
& Inclusion Committee. Attorney
Letizia was requested to and provided at no charge diversity and inclusion
training to one of Connecticut’s largest healthcare associations and to the
insureds of Connecticut’s fourth largest workers’ compensation carrier.
The attorneys and
staff at Letizia, Ambrose & Falls have been and continue to be committed to
creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace. We regularly look for ways to recognize the
contributions and importance of people of color. As to this effort, for the past
10 years on Martin Luther King Day, we make individual donations to the MLK
Foundation in the name of each employee.
On the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s death, we purchased
from the Dr. Ernest Withers Museum an original photo of Dr. King taken just
hours before his passing. That photo hangs in our main reception area.
After the tragic events
that took place in the Spring of 2020, our Firm implemented a diversity and
inclusion training program focusing on race.
This training was conducted by Former Judge Angela Robinson, a
recognized expert in the area of diversity and inclusion for law firms. This program was attended by every lawyer and
employee of the firm. We also
established a matching fund for donations by employees to the New Haven Branch
of the NAACP and other charities and causes that support minorities suffering
unfair and discriminatory treatment.
As to our
recruiting efforts, with the assistance of the University of Connecticut Law
School, our Firm, for the past four years, has openly recruited minority law
school students at the annual UConn School of Law Job Fair. We have recently sought out and hired
attorneys of diverse races, backgrounds and experiences, including hiring Asian-American
and Ghanaian attorneys for open positions in 2019 and 2020. We are very proud that as of June 2021, over
90% of our paralegals and staff are women, members of the LGBTQ community, disabled
or fall within one or more of the other protected classifications.
Letizia, Ambrose
& Falls believes it is the responsibility of all employers to create and
maintain a workplace that values and respects diversity and inclusiveness.
