Friday, July 7, 2006
Page 3
Musitano Elected Partner at Lord, Bissell & Brook
By TINA BAY, Staff Writer
Attorney Patricia Arias Musitano is the newest partner in the 46-member Los Angeles office of Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP.
Musitano, 35, was chosen along with six others to join the firm’s partnership effective July 1. Four partners were selected for the firm’s main office in Chicago and two for its New York office.
“I’m honored to have been elected to the partnership of the firm,” Musitano told the MetNews, adding that her achievement is due simply to persistence and consistently providing good work to clients over time.
A “very proud Latina” of Cuban ancestry, and now one of four female partners in Lord Bissell’s local. office, Musitano says her election sends a positive message about diversity to other law firms.
“Lord Bissell is a very successful law firm with large corporate clients that has not only made a commitment to diversity, but initially started with a diverse associate base in all the right ways—because L.A. is a very diverse community, the firm went about hiring the best associates they could find to fill their needs, as opposed to hiring people just because they are one ethnicity or another,” the attorney said.
“And since we have a diverse group of attorneys, we are able to fulfill certain business needs of certain clients more effectively, because our diversity is not just for racial and ethnic statistics but rather brings different perspectives and skill sets to our pool,” she added.
Musitano joined the 27 year-old Los Angeles office of Lord Bissell in 2001, after practicing for two years at the local firm of Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, LLP.
Admitted to the State Bar in 1998, Musitano has a business litigation practice that includes work with major financial institutions and litigation of commercial disputes and unfair competition cases. With considerable experience in the transportation, construction and manufacturing industries, her most significant trial work at Lord Bissell has been defending wrongful death aviation cases, she said.
Musitano is a member of the Latin Business Association and is involved with the California Minority Council Program, whose diversity efforts Lord Bissell actively supports.
A Miami native, Musitano received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida in 1994 and a law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1998. She served as an intern for Judge Shelby Highsmith of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP was established in Chicago in 1914. Specializing in complex monetary transactions, the firm has several hundreds of attorneys and supporting staff in offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Atlanta, New York, Washington D.C., and London.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company