Taking her grandmother’s advice to heart, Lauren F. Verni is as giving of herself to colleagues as she is dedicated to her clients, according to current and former co-workers. And that commitment has paid off in turn in her career.
Verni’s professional interest in intellectual property law and the creative arts led her to Providence after graduating from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H. She worked for five years at Brennan, Recupero, Cascione, Scungio & McAllister LLP, focusing on bankruptcy, real estate and intellectual property law and related issues. Verni then moved over to Partridge, Snow & Hahn LLP, where she is a senior associate in the same areas.
As a sign of her professional achievement, she gives seminars to other lawyers on creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, and has been named a “rising star” in the Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor practice area by Rhode Island Super Lawyers.
But what Verni’s grandmother told her and showed her about altruism – Myrtle Hanke served as a town councilwoman for two terms starting at the age of 80 – plays itself out in a PSH initiative to support women attorneys at the firm and women in the Rhode Island business community.
Since December, the 34-year-old Verni has been the chair of the Women AdVocates for Enterprise at Partridge, Snow & Hahn, a program that starts with practice-area development of the women attorneys at the firm. But WAVE moves beyond the boundaries of the firm, helping women-owned and – operated businesses and nonprofits with legal, business and leadership services, with a particular emphasis on helping women excel in their roles at the targeted enterprises. •
