Todd & Weld is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion internally and in the larger legal community. As trial attorneys, we understand that the creativity born of a broad range of knowledge, perspectives, and experiences is essential to our success on behalf of our clients.  As an organization, we believe our attorneys and staff benefit from a workplace reflecting the individual differences of the community.  As members of the bar, we acknowledge our unique social responsibility to foster a fair and representative justice system.

Inclusive work environment

Our commitment to diversity is reflected in our support of pipeline programs striving to develop the next generation of legal professionals.  Certain of our partners and associates have served in leadership positions with local affinity bar associations.  Our firm regularly sponsors events hosted by local affinity and minority bar associations.  We also regularly conduct firm-wide educational programs on varied diversity and inclusion topics.

Advocacy to advance a fair and representative justice system

Our firm has a long record of advocacy on behalf of minority and historically disadvantaged or underrepresented communities.  Notable examples include:

• To add its collective voice to the effort to end systemic racism, Todd & Weld LLP issued a statement reflecting its commitment to this critical cause and made a significant donation to the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.
• We represent the federally recognized Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, including in matters promoting and defending the Tribe's sovereign and aboriginal rights.  Several of our attorneys have been admitted to the bar of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Court.
• Todd & Weld is part of a team of Boston immigration, civil rights, and trial attorneys that jointly filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of children seeking damages against Trump Administration officials for forcibly separating the children from their parents.
• The firm secured a favorable settlement on behalf of employees of a major Massachusetts city related to their race and gender discrimination claims.
• We facilitated a settlement on behalf the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester, in a contentious dispute with the Town of Dudley, Mass., over the siting of an Islamic cemetery in that town, which allowed the Islamic cemetery to be established.
• The firm persuaded a federal judge to permit a civil rights class action to proceed against the City of Methuen, Mass., its police chief, and several individual police officers for using a factually inaccurate and coercive Spanish-language advice-of-rights form during OUI arrests.
• On behalf of a group of Puerto Rico law professors, we prepared and filed an amicus brief successfully urging the 1^st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a U.S. District Court judgment upholding Puerto Rico's ban on same-sex marriage.
• We obtained damages for the victim of a violent hate crime based on sexual orientation.
• In a case referred to the firm by GLAD, we represented the grandparents of a transgender child in a custody dispute, and resolved those issues in a way to support the child.  The case highlighted the unique needs and vulnerabilities of transgender people in the family law context.
• We achieved a $1 million settlement on behalf of South Middlesex Opportunity Council, an anti-poverty agency, in its landmark civil rights case against the Town of Framingham and Town officials to secure fair-housing rights for persons with disabilities.
• We successfully represented a Boston area Islamic group post-9/11 to combat highly organized, well-financed discrimination aimed at preventing area Muslims from building a mosque and cultural center in Roxbury.  The mosque, now completed, operates as a center for inter-faith dialogue and is the largest Islamic center in New England.
• A partner of the firm has been recognized by the National Lawyers Guild for his commitment to advancing social justice and equality.
• A partner of the firm was named by Best Lawyers in America as 2019 Civil Rights Law Lawyer of the Year in Boston.

Diversity and Inclusion Committee

The Todd & Weld Diversity and Inclusion Committee is comprised of partners, associates and staff.  The Committee members are: Nicholas Carter, Elaine Epstein, Max Stern, Lauren Bussey, Richard Novitch, Maryann Arsenault, and Shira Diner.