Women Owned Law Announces Winners of 2020 Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WOMEN OWNED LAW MEDIA CONTACT:
Nicole D. Galli, President | [email protected] | 215.525.9583

National non-profit recognizes Cynthia Towers and Rosanna Berardi as Women Legal Entrepreneurs of the Year and Barbara Stevens as Champion of the Year.

PHILADELPHIA (February , 2020) – Women Owned Law (WOL), the national nonprofit networking and advocacy group for women-owned law and legal services firms, announces that Cynthia (“Cindy”) Towers, Co-Founder/President & CEO of JURISolutions Legal, and Rosanna Berardi,  Founder and Managing Partner of Berardi Immigration Law, will receive the Woman Legal Entrepreneur of the Year award. Barbara Stevens, Vice President and Corporate Counsel of Prudential Financial Inc., will receive the Champion of the Year award.  The awards will be given at Women Owned Law’s Symposium on Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Law on March 11, 2020, at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline Institute of Trial Advocacy in Philadelphia.

Cindy Towers is a nurse-turned-lawyer who began her legal career in 1991, specializing in products liability and medical malpractice litigation. In 1997, Cindy launched JURISolutions Legal (JSL) then known as JuriStaff with a colleague who shared her vision that purchasers of legal services could achieve significant value by utilizing lawyers in non-traditional ways. Under her leadership, the company has strategically grown its portfolio of offerings, entered new markets, and expanded its geographic footprint.  JSL is now one of the largest Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) certified legal services firms in the country. Cindy is personally and professionally devoted to diversity and inclusion, as well as mentoring and supporting other women, and spends a significant portion of her time on such endeavors.  As Nicole Galli, President of Women Owned Law, who nominated Cindy for this award states, “Cindy has devoted countless hours to WOL, along with many other organizations. She can always be counted on to share her knowledge and experiences, offer advice and encouragement, and execute on key volunteer tasks no matter how busy her schedule is.”

Rosanna Berardi founded her firm, now known as Berardi Immigration Law, as a solo practitioner in Buffalo, New York in 2005.  She had a vision of developing a team of immigration lawyers, paralegals, and assistants that would become the premier immigration legal services provider in her region. In less than 10 years, she grew the firm exponentially from a solo practice to a team of 13 employees. While the firm’s headquarters remains in Buffalo, it also has offices in Rochester, N.Y.; Beverly Hills, Calif.; London; and Toronto. Rosanna sees the value in developing her employees both in and outside the office and serves as a resource and mentor for her team.  As her partner, Jennifer Behm, who nominated Rosanna for this award, explains, “Rosanna constantly strives to assist women in reaching their full leadership potential, and her entrepreneurial spirit has allowed her to build a successful immigration firm from the ground up.  Her work ethic, unwavering spirit, responsiveness, and values have enabled us to help our clients achieve the American Dream.”

Barbara Stevens is a corporate attorney at Prudential and heads the Technology and Enterprise Contracts Law group. Barbara has worked on diversity issues for more than 15 years. She is an active participant in her department’s inclusion and diversity programs, and in the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms.  Through her work in these programs, she has introduced many diverse and women-owned firms to Prudential. As a result of her work in the company and more broadly, Barbara is widely recognized for her leadership and results. In a particularly innovative approach to inclusion, Barbara has engaged women and minority-owned firms as the lead counsel in substantial matters and has established business partnerships with others, including larger, majority-owned firms. This has enabled the women and minority-owned firms to play the lead role, and not be relegated to less significant aspects of the matter. Nancy Mertzel, Vice President of Women Owned Law, who nominated Barbara for this award, stated, “Barbara is a true leader and champion. She has made a real difference in the lives of many diverse and women attorneys, and continues to lead the way for other in-house attorneys seeking to encourage their companies to strive for and reach their diversity goals.”

ABOUT Women Owned Law: Women Owned Law is a national nonprofit networking group for women owned law and legal services firms. The mission is to connect and advance women legal entrepreneurs. Women Owned Law supports its members and other women entrepreneurs in the law in their business endeavors at every point in the business life cycle. Women Owned Law advocates on behalf of women legal entrepreneurs and has been instrumental in raising the profile of women entrepreneurs in the law. For more information, visit www.womenownedlaw.com.

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