Closing law firm will leave legacy of promoting diversity

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A national firm that will be closing at the end of the month will leave behind a legacy in one of the nonprofit groups it founded.

Gonzalez Saggio and Harlan started the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms in 2001. NAMWOLF is a nonprofit trade association that promotes diversity in the legal profession.

When Gonzalez Saggio and Harlan first started the group, it understood the diversity challenges in the legal field and created the group to provide a forum for women and minorities as well as the law firm they own and show how they are advantages for businesses, said Joel Stern, NAMWOLF’s CEO. He said GSH partner Jerry Gonzalez and chairman Emery Harlan were instrumental in the group’s success.

“Even though GSH as a law firm is going away, its legacy of NAMWOLF will go on forever, and that’s an amazing legacy,” Stern said.

Stern said that in 2005, before his involvement with the group, NAMWOLF had about a dozen member law firms. Its membership has since grown to more than 150 member law firms. Moreover, Stern said, NAMWOLF now has hundreds of active Fortune 500 lawyers who want to give women and minority-law firms a chance to compete for business.

“That most likely would not have happened without GHS investment,” he said.

Gonzalez Saggio and Harlan put out a statement Tuesday that its equity partners had decided to close the firm effective Feb. 29.

The firm was established in 1989 by Harlan and Gonzalez in Milwaukee. It has 15 offices nationwide. The firm’s clients include midsize to Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft. Follow @erikastrebel