Ruden McClosky Tampa Office Awarded the 1st Diversity In Practice Office of The Year

Ruden McClosky’s Tampa office has been awarded the law firm’s 1st 2009 Diversity in Practice Growing in Diversity-Office of the Year Award. The Ruden McClosky Tampa office has led the way in diversity leadership, particularly with minority attorneys and women partners, growing from less than 10 percent minority in 2004 to more than 20 percent minority in 2008. Ruden McClosky’s Tampa Land Use Practice Group is the most diverse department in the law firm. The Tampa office is located at 401 E. Jackson St., Suite 815.

Ruden McClosky conceived the award program in 2008 to recognize commitment to diversity within the firm and encourage efforts to recruit and retain minority lawyers and personnel. Receiving the Office of the Year award from Evett L. Simmons, the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer, were Marilyn Mullen Healey, chair of the Tampa Land Use Practice Group; Debra L. Boje, partner in the Trusts & Estates Practice Group and member of the Diversity Committee since its inception; Bruce D. Lamb, partner in the Health Law Practice Group, and Valerie Williams-Hoeneisen, associate in the Real Estate Practice Group.

Ms. Simmons together with Carl Schuster, Managing Director of Ruden McClosky, launched the Ruden Diversity Initiative in December of 2004 with a vision to be known as a highly competent law firm that is inclusive and diverse. The firm's mission, through proactive recruiting policies and training and mentoring programs, is to build a well diversified, highly competent team of attorneys and staff, which operates on the principles of inclusion and cultural diversity.

Minority Law Journal Summer 2008 ranked Ruden McClosky 49th among law firms in the nation for diversity, with 17.4% of the firm's attorneys, and 6.1% of its partners comprising minorities. The Daily Business Review, in its Review 100 survey of Florida law firms, ranked Ruden McClosky the 8th largest law firm in Florida, and 7th in its ranking of firms with the most minority lawyers (28) in the state and in 2007 Multicultural Law Magazine, the magazine for diversity in the legal profession, ranked Ruden McClosky 17th for Hispanic Americans and 38th in the top 50 law firms for diversity among associates. The firm was ranked 74th out of 100 for the number of women attorneys and 75th out of the top 100 law firms for diversity overall. 

Ruden McClosky, now in its 50th year, is a full-service Florida law firm with 11 offices throughout the State. Locations include Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Naples, Orlando, Port St. Lucie, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach and one office in Caracas, Venezuela. For more information please visit News and Events/Media Room.