Diversity Matters

AP&S’s inclusive and diverse workforce has been essential to our success in the practice of law. A diverse workforce enables us to better understand and serve our clients, as well as the communities we serve. With this mindset, AP&S is committed to hiring, fostering and maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment where religion, color, age, gender, national origin, sexual orientation and marital and family status are understood, respected and valued as qualities that make us better attorneys, citizens and human beings. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee helps promote and guide the firm in our diversity mission.

Our attorneys reflect this commitment in their practice, in their interactions with clients, other members of the legal profession and the community. We take great pride and care in creating a firm environment which values, respects and encourages differences in attorneys, staff and the community.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

In 2006, AP&S established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee to support and promote diversity efforts within the firm, the legal profession and the community at large. The Committee is comprised of women, minorities, members of the Executive and Compensation Committees, shareholders and associates. Committee members are dedicated to diversity and bring that passion to bear in helping the firm implement strategies involving recruitment, hiring, retention, mentoring, training and various community outreach activities. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee meets regularly to monitor progress of those initiatives.

The Honorable Walter R. Stone 2L Excellence Fellowship

As part of our ongoing commitment to celebrate excellence and resilience within the legal profession, we are proud to offer The Honorable Walter R. Stone Excellence Fellowship to an outstanding second-year law school student.  The Fellowship awards a second-year law school student a scholarship of $10,000 and a Summer Associate position at Adler Pollock and Sheehan P.C. (“AP&S”), The $10,000 scholarship will be paid upon successful completion of the Summer Associate Program at AP&S. A 2L Fellow will also receive valuable networking, training and mentoring opportunities.

About the Fellowship

The Fellowship is named in Honor of the late Judge Walter R. Stone.  Judge Stone was the first African-American attorney in the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, the first African-American Shareholder at AP&S, a member of the AP&S Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) Committee and a champion of promoting inclusion for all.

*Applications for the 2025 Fellowship will be posted in September, 2024. 

Members of the AP&S Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee include:

Chair

Hamza Chaudary, Shareholder

Members

Celina M. Andrade, Associate

Robert P. Brooks, Managing Partner

Toni Bianco, Marketing Director

Kelly A. Kincaid, Shareholder

Robert I. Stolzman, Shareholder

Kristen R. Souza, Shareholder

Angel Taveras, Senior Counsel

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