In a nation containing over one million attorneys with less than ten percent being minority, three black women lawyers have decided to strike it on their own and open a bi-coastal firm focusing on communications and entertainment law work. The firm has carved out a niche to meet the needs of small companies seeking affordable legal representation and of corporations looking for minority outside counsel
WASHINGTON, DC (PRWEB) July 7, 2005 -- Former Willkie Farr and Gallagher LLC communications associate Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt opened The Ghatt Law Group LLC in June 2005. The firm will become the first black women owned communications law firm in the country.
Ghatt has formed strategic partnerships with Nicolaine Lazarre, an ex- Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP corporate associate who is based in New York city and Fatima Fofana, the Los Angeles-based attorney who once worked on multi-million dollar deals at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Together, the three have over two decades of media and policy experience and a history representing Fortune 500 companies.
The legal field is run by white men in their 50s" principal founder Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt said. Because there are still barriers out there for minorities and women trying to succeed in the profession, it is almost by necessity more so than choice that more of us are striking on our own and opening our own firms."
Before joining forces to create the new firm, the three had past school and work relationships. Jeneba Ghatt was Nicolaine Lazarres instructor when Lazarre was a student at Georgetown University Law Centers acclaimed in-school clinic, the Institute for Public Representation, and Ghatt was a master of law graduate fellow and staff attorney at the clinic. Fofana and Ghatt were students together at the University of Maryland and later the Catholic University of America School of Law where both published articles in the schools communications law journal, CommLaw Conspectus.
I was speaking with a black female law student recently who asked why there werent many black women owned law firms. I didnt really have a good answer for her then" Fofana said. It only made sense to do something about that."
The Ghatt Law Group joins the less than 500 minority or women-owned law firms in the country. The firms opening comes at a time when more and more corporations are trying to be responsive and meet the needs of their customers by, in part, hiring more minority outside counsel. When they cant be found at majority-owned law firms, companies are looking to minority-owned firms, and are particularly drawn to those housing lawyers trained by the highly respected major law firms.
The group advises small businesses, corporations and individuals on start-up, communications, corporate securities, commercial and entertainment law matters.
About The Ghatt Law Group LLC
The Ghatt Law Group is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland at 2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700 - #127, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815 (phone: 240-235-5028) with offices in Los Angeles and Manhattan. For more information, please visit http://lawgroup.ghatt.com
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