Diversity Equity & Inclusion

We are a firm member of the Women's Bar Association, and one of our partners was a founder and the first president of the WBA.  Our lawyers are serving or have served in such positions as chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association's DEI Committee, board member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, and board member of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.  Our sponsorships include the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys, Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association and Women’s Bar Foundation. 

The firm was the inaugural sponsor of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Race Equity Summer Fellowship Program launched in 2023, and will continue to sponsor the Fellowship in 2024.  In 2022, we participated in the inaugural Career Fair sponsored by the Boston Bar Association that focused on students of color and from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

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.

Other examples of leadership on DEI issues include the National Lawyers Guild recognizing Max D. Stern, a partner of the firm, for his commitment to advancing social justice and equality, and Best Lawyers in America naming Howard M. Cooper, a Founding Partner of the firm, as 2019 Civil Rights Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Boston.

We regularly conduct internal training, education, and engagement programs as part of our continual effort to foster a greater understanding of cultural diversity.  Programs have included presentations on:

• Civil rights litigation update presented by the Executive Director of the Lawyers for Civil Rights
• Implicit bias training
• A Pride month presentation about the challenges faced by LGBTQ individuals in the legal system
• An exploration of racism in the criminal legal system, led by the Director of the Massachusetts ACLU’s Racial Justice Program
• A tour of the Black Heritage Trail in Boston
• Celebration of Juneteenth with food provided by local restaurants 
• The work of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJP) presented by its founder, Northeastern University Law Professor Margaret Burnham

As members of the bar, we acknowledge our unique social responsibility to foster 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:

• On behalf of a minority client we obtained a federal jury verdict, including a punitive damages award, based on a Boston Police Officer's violation of the client's Fourth Amendment rights by unlawfully arresting him in his home without probable cause.
• The firm persuaded the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to dismiss a criminal complaint against a minority client stemming from a Black Lives Matter protest and worked with the DA’s Office on implementing systemic changes to policing conduct related to demonstrations.
• 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 go forward.
• 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 1st 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.