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V O L . X X I V N O. X V I I A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 1 8 26 "I do that every single solitary time," she says. When asked to speak at a DisruptHR confer- ence in Portland recently on the gender pay gap, she chose to speak about #MeToo and Time's Up, comparing women's anger over sexual harassment and sexual assault to "fiery-hot" lava flowing from the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. But she urged lis- teners to "embrace this opportunity and change our corporate landscapes for the better." She's aimed to do that at Bernstein Shur through sexual harassment training for firm leaders that included mandatory discussion groups on Joanne Lipman's book "at's What She Said: What Men Need to Know (And Women Need to Tell em) About Working Together." e focus was on dynamics between men and women at work and what the firm can do to make things better. "is is a really great place to work and a really great place for women," she says. "at doesn't mean we can't make some improvements." Fortin was a driving force behind a groundbreaking new parental leave policy at the firm that gives 16 weeks of unpaid leave to all parents among its attorneys and staff members regardless of gender. e policy, which took effect in May, removes any distinction between primary and secondary caregivers and provides equal benefits to all new parents as a result of birth, adoption or foster care placement. It also gives parents flexibility on how to use their unpaid leave time. roughout her own career, Fortin has made it a priority to be very present in the lives of her own children and cheer them on at sporting events — her 16-year-old son in football, basketball and baseball and her 14-year-old daughter in soccer, bas- ketball, swimming and track. She also confesses that early in her career she felt overstretched and like she couldn't devote enough time to work, family or community service. "I spent a lot of years feeling like I was failing at everything, and that's a tough way to go through your profession," she says. For that reason, she says it's important to have conversations about flexible-work options with both men and women who plan to start families. "We try very hard to create an environment where people don't feel like they have to pick between family and career," she says. Asked about measuring the success of the diversity and inclusion committee she helped set up, Fortin says, "that will probably be a work-in-progress forever." She notes that there is diversity among attorney and staff in terms of people of color and sexual orientation, and gives a lot of the credit for that to the firm's human resources director, Mary Beth S. Turcotte. Fortin's community service includes several years on the board for the Maine Women's Fund and later on its grant committee, motivated by the desire to improve economic security for women. Next year, Fortin will chair the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" luncheon. "Educating women about women's health is very important to me," she says. "I'm excited to be a part of that." R e n e e C o r d e s , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t r c o r d e s @ m a i n e b i z . b i z » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Joan Fortin, center, meets with Bernstein Shur colleagues, attorneys Katherine Joyce, left, and Kate Knox, in the Portland office.

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