Business Information

MISSION STATEMENT:  The firm takes pride in the racial, ethnic and religious diversity reflected by its attorneys and staff. Each of our offices reflects the diversity and makeup of the regions we serve. Our organization was built upon teamwork and equal opportunity. Diversity is more than just the visible aspects of a person such as race and gender, but also includes the unique cultural, cognitive, and experiential characteristics each person possesses. Our organizational goal is to hire and promote qualified department managing attorneys, associate attorneys and staff members who are rich in diversity. We will continue to be successful when people are treated fairly, allowed to advance and achieve their full potential.

• Do you have a written diversity strategy that has been communicated to your employees?  YES
• Do you have a policy that specifically prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression?  YES
• Do you provide opportunity for employees to voluntarily disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression through your company’s data collective procedures?  YES
• Do you have an equality or diversity and inclusion policy?  YES
• Do you have a policy that allows employees to work part-time with benefits?  YES
• Do you have a policy that allows employees to work part-time without benefits?  YES
• Do you have a policy that allows employees to work flexible hours?  YES
• OWNERSHIP:
  • Please direct inquiries to Mildred Gandarilla, mgandarilla@national-law.com
• WORKFORCE DIVERSITY:
  • Total Employees:  340
    • 227 female (67%) and 113 male (33%)
      Ethnicity Total Percent
      WHITE 240 70%
      HISPANIC 63 19%
      Two or More Races 11 3%
      Not Defined 1 <1%
      ASIAN 8 2%
      BLACK 16 5%
      AMERICAN INDIAN / ALASKAN NATIVE 1 <1%
      126 attorneys 45% are diverse
      340 total employees, 75% are diverse
  • Executive Management Diversity:
    • 9 members
    • 5 female
    • 2 Hispanic
    • 1 Asian
• RESOURCE DEDICATION:
  • Diversity and Inclusion Committee:
    • G. Jeffrey Vernis
    • Robert Bowling
    • Kristian Cross
    • Tarra Jenkins
    • Mildred Gandarilla
    • Shantel Jilani
    • Rebecca Gonzalez
  • Leadership within a Diversity Organization
    • Aleida Lanza, Paralegal is a Board Member of Miami Women Who Rock. This organization supports diversity by featuring women who support breast cancer awareness, treatment, and support groups for survivors of breast cancer. Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/WWW.MiamiWomenWhoRock.org/.  Aleida Lanza, Paralegal is President and CEO of Goalify, a healthcare technology company working on codifying applied behavior analysis for self-directed treatment (which also clinically extinguishes bias across environments as well as the acquisition skills for independence).
    • Shanthy Bala, Esq. is the Vice Chair of the Diversity Committee of the ABA Tax Section.
    • Kristian Cross, Esq. is the Chair of the Public Relations Committee of The Links, Inc. and is a member of the Executive Committee
  • DEI Awards and Recognitions
    • Vernis & Bowling was presented with the Target Corporation’s Law Department Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award in 2014.
  • Presenting a diversity-focused topic at a professional event
    • Aleida Lanza, Paralegal was a speaker at Stanford Medicine regarding Diversity in Healthcare Treatment.
    • Shanthy Bala, Esq. presented at the LCBA Pro Bono Committee September 2020 with Professor Francine Lipman – Discrimination in Federal Tax Auditing;Above the Board Chamber– Panelist on Diversity in the Work Place – June 2020
    • Presenting as a panelist for the South Asian Bar Association’s Feb 26 presentation on “Doing the Righteous Work”.
    • Andrew Bray was a panelist at the CLM Restaurant, Retail and Hospitality Conference in 2019. The topic was ““Color Blind: Restaurant and Retail liability for alleged racial discrimination”.
  • Publication of a diversity-focused article:  YES
  • Women and/or minorities that hold board member positions in any other organization:
    • Tammy Bouker, University of South Florida Executive Education Program, Advisory Board Member and University of Miami Alumni Association, Palm Beach County Chapter, Program Director.
    • Shanthy Bala, Esq., Lee County Bar Association Pro Bono Committee, Chair
  • Attendance at diversity focused events:  YES
  • Diversity Training:  YES
• FINANCIAL DEDICATION
  • Sponsorship of a Diversity Event: YES
  • Membership payments for employees to join diverse organizations:  YES
  • Supplier/Business partner diversity program:  YES
  • Social Responsibility: Volunteerism and donation to causes promoting equity partnering outside DE&I Groups:  YES
  • How do you demonstrate your commitment to DE&I organizations now and what are your future plans?
    • Vernis & Bowling is committed to meaningful goals and completing the actions that will fulfill those goals. This includes partnerships with and support of DE&I organizations. The firm has and will continue to support attendance at diverse events and membership of diverse organizations. Our employees are also featured speakers or panelists on topics involving diversity, equity and inclusion at various industry specific events.
      Our future plans include hosting industry related diversity seminars/webinars and working with HBCU’s locally on recruiting efforts.