Firm hires its first all-female associate class

By Thomas Franz
BridgeTower Media Newswires
 
DETROIT — Corporate law firm Warner, Norcross and Judd LLP, based in Grand Rapids, has welcomed its first all-women associate class.

The firm recently announced it hired eight women, of which six work in the Grand Rapids office.

“I’d love to say it was this intentional idea that we should have this all-female class, but actually we hire new associates almost exclusively out of our summer associate program, and our summer associate program was all women,” said Carin Ojala, the firm’s director of recruiting and professional development.

Ojala started her career with WNJ in 1994 as a summer associate and has seen the firm increase its hiring and retention of women. She said the firm’s first mostly female associate class was in 2006, and since then only three classes weren’t either equally divided or had a majority of women.

“We’ve said that we don’t need to be intentional about it anymore. We just hire the best people who we think will be a good fit with our culture, and in this class it happened to be all women. Obviously, we couldn’t be more excited about it,” Ojala said.

The new hires are Ojone E. Ameadaji, Alexandra E. Chitwood, Sarah Harper, Nina E. Lucido, Brianna Richardson, Nicole A. Samuel, Ewelina M. Sawicka, and Kaitlin D. Sheets.

Ameadaji earned her law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law, where she was senior articles editor for the Journal of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems.

Chitwood earned her law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where she was executive editor of the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies.

Harper earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Lucido earned her law degree from the Michigan State University College of Law, where she was notes editor for the Michigan State University Law Review. She is based in the firm’s Macomb office.

Richardson earned her law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she was the topics editor of Elder Law Journal.

Samuel earned her law degree from the MSU College of Law, where she was Order of the Coif and managing editor of the Michigan State University Law Review.

Sawicka earned her law degree from Wayne State University Law School, where she was Order of the Coif assistant editor of Wayne Law Review. She is based in the firm’s Southfield office.

Sheets earned her law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where she was executive symposium editor for the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies.

“They are stepping into a time for women in the legal industry where it’s not a disadvantage to be a woman practicing law, it’s not unique or remarkable. I don’t think they think about it at all. I think they like the idea they have this all-female class, it’s exciting and different,” Ojala said.

Ojala said WNJ has placed an emphasis on retaining women by putting in place parental leave and flexible work policies.

“It’s not just bringing in women, it’s helping them succeed and retaining them. Women beget women, so as we’ve hired more women, our retention rates have increased exponentially,” Ojala said. “You need to have policies in place that help them in the work-life balance area, but you also have to make sure they have access to challenging and career-enhancing work.”