US Law firm Goulston & Storrs has announced the appointment of Ayeshah Johnson as the firm’s first Director of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I). She will work closely with the firm’s legal talent team, the Inclusion Advisory Committee, and firm leaders to expand on Goulston & Storrs’ inclusive foundation. She will also help ensure that D&I efforts are aligned with the firm’s values and strategic goals, and are practiced on a day-to-day basis, said the firm.
In addition to building the firm’s talent pipeline and fostering an inclusive environment where every team member can excel, Johnson will be developing community relationships and partnerships with outside organisations to assess inclusion strategies and bring best practices to the firm. This includes leading the firm’s participation in the Diversity Lab’s Mansfield 3.0 programme, which runs through July 2020.
Last year, Goulston & Storrs was one of only 50 law firms in the US to earn the highest Mansfield 2.0 Certified Plus designation for meeting pipeline consideration requirements and successfully reaching at least 30% diverse lawyer representation – women, lawyers of colour and LGBTQ+ lawyers – in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The Mansfield 3.0 programme has added lawyers with disabilities to the diverse candidate pool it measures. The firm was also recently named as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality, receiving a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index.
INVALUABLE EXPERTISE
“Diversity and inclusion are essential components to building a collaborative, collegial and successful workplace, and we are excited to have Ayeshah on board as our first D&I Director. We are deeply committed to integrating D&I into every facet of our firm, and Ayeshah’s expertise will be invaluable as we continue our efforts to increase the representation of diverse lawyers at our firm and in our leadership,” said Martin Fantozzi, Co-Managing Director at Goulston & Storrs. “This important work not only helps us enhance a firm culture where everyone feels they are real stakeholders, but also helps clients who benefit from the experiences and perspectives of a diverse workforce.”
As Fantozzi points out, Johnson’s solid D&I background and expertise highly qualifies her for the role. Johnson has more than 15 years of experience working with business leaders to improve workplace cultures and community relationships. Before joining Goulston & Storrs, Johnson was a D&I industry consultant. Prior to that she served as the D&I Manager at a 300-attorney law firm. She also spent six years as the Associate Director of Enforcement at the NCAA, where she established and led an employee resource group for people of colour, which became an integral part of the organisation’s business structure and helped increase engagement and professional development of the NCAA staff.
Johnson began her career as an attorney with a practice focused on human rights cases. “Creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace requires an ongoing willingness to embrace new concepts. Ayeshah brings valuable insights and new tools to our efforts to support diversity throughout the firm. I am looking forward to collaborating with her to develop and implement innovative D&I approaches in our workplace,” added Amy Moody McGrath, a Director at Goulston & Storrs and Co-Chair of the firm’s Inclusion Advisory Committee.
Sign up for our newsletter
