From the beginning, Williams Legal Advisory Group was intended to be an alternative to large law firms. We have never subscribed to the notion that bigger is always better, and we remain firmly committed to remaining a boutique law firm where the quality of our legal work remains high because of the caliber of the select professionals that we hand-pick to work at our firm. We also remain firmly committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion at our firm and within the legal profession generally, and to supporting the recruitment, retention, inclusion, and advancement of historically under-represented persons in all aspects and at all levels of the real estate and construction industries, including real estate finance.
We welcome every opportunity to partner with clients and co-counsel who share these values and who themselves promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in a meaningful and measurable way within their own organizations. We support our clients and co-counsel that are implementing environmental, social, and governance principles and criteria, are seeking (or that have obtained) Mansfield Rule certification, or are otherwise promoting and employing similar objective and measurable means of advancing equity. As an extension of this, we note that our firm that has been certified as a women-owned business by both the State of New Jersey and State of New York since 2010, and we have utilized green building, LEED, and other sustainable practice provisions and language in our real estate and construction contracts since the inception of our firm in 2008. Engaging our firm as counsel, or otherwise working in strategic alliance with our firm as co-counsel, often is a transparent and verifiable means of documenting utilization of a partner that advances the above objective benchmarks and criteria.
We believe that it is important that principled conduct and change through action not only come from the largest firms and companies, but from boutique firms and small companies, such as ours as well. Neither can do it alone and working hand-in-hand will advance these principles more so than working at odds or in competition with each other. We are committed to working collaboratively with like-minded partners.
Ultimately, we were founded on the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as sustainability, environmental responsibility, and resilience, and we remain deeply committed to advancing those principles.
