Sheryl L. Axelrod, Esq.
Sheryl L. Axelrod is a lawyer and President & CEO of The Axelrod Firm, P.C., a woman-owned law firm with offices in Philadelphia and Washington, DC. She provides strategic, results-driven advice and representation to companies concerning their commercial, employment, bodily injury, and appellate litigation matters. In recognition of her litigation skills and ability to assess cases, she is among the less than 130 attorneys in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to have been appointed by the judges of the Commerce Court of Philadelphia to serve as a Judge Pro Tempore (JPT) / Settlement Master in the Commerce Program. She has also been appointed to the elite roster of not only AAA Arbitration panelists for commercial disputes, but for large, complex commercial disputes, so in addition to being available to advise and represent clients in litigation, she serves as a Settlement Master / Mediator, Discovery Master, Arbitrator, and Receiver.
Ms. Axelrod has been rated by her peers as one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania. One of her trials, a David versus Goliath commercial litigation victory for her client-defendant, was published in “Pennsylvania Jury Verdict Review & Analysis” which covers the verdicts in the largest cases in Pennsylvania. She is a Fellow in Litigation Counsel of America, a by-invitation-only organization of top trial lawyers that accepts less than one- half of one percent of the country’s lawyers.
She is also an award-winning expert speaker and writer in the equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion space and the creator of the copyrighted, “Axelrod’s Tools to Become A Diversity Champion.”
She is the recipient of multiple diversity awards including:
1. The National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF) Advocacy Award;
2. Two Diversity Awards from the Diversity Law Institute (DLI);
3. The Temple Law Alumni Association (TLAA) Women’s Champion Award;
4. The TLAA Service Award; and
5. The Litigation Counsel of America Peter Perlman Service Award; and her law firm, The Axelrod Firm, is itself the recipient of a DLI diversity award for its work in the diversity space.
Her articles have been published by the American Bar Association (ABA), the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, the Women Lawyers Journal, and the Forum of Executive Women. Her article on the profitability of diversity was listed among the ABA’s Top Resources.
She serves as Co-Chair of both the NAMWOLF Advocacy Committee and DLI’s Advisory Committee. She also serves on Women Owned Law’s Advisory Board and as Co-Chair of its Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.
Ms. Axelrod is a past President of TLAA and the founder of the TLAA:
• Women’s Initiative (now called the Women’s Leadership Initiative),
• Diversity Committee,
• Women’s Champion Award, and
• Diversity Leadership Award.
She has been inducted into The League for Entrepreneurial Women of Temple University Hall of Fame. She has been profiled by the American Bar Association, Profiles in Diversity Journal, INSIGHT into Diversity, Women to Watch™, Ms. JD, by Law360 which featured her in its distinguished Female Powerbrokers series, and by Thomson Reuters which profiled her in its “Fearless Persona Campaign,” a nationwide series covering the attorneys who are changing the landscape of the legal industry for the better.
She is regularly invited to serve as a keynote speaker, including on GOOD Guys’ programs, advocating for men to champion gender equity. She served by appointment of ABA President Laurel Bellows on her distinguished Gender Equity Task Force and earlier in her career, served as an ABA Diversity Fellow.
Ms. Axelrod is a member of the Forum of Executive Women on which she served as Co-Chair of its Inclusion Committee. She currently serves on that committee and on the Forum’s Women in Executive Leadership and Governance Committee. She is also a member of Women of Influence. By appointment of the Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, she also serves on the Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Panel.
She served on the Executive Council of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP), as Co-Chair of WIP’s Diversity Committee, and on the PBA Diversity Team. She has undergone ally training, twice.
Ms. Axelrod received her Bachelor’s degree Cum Laude in Economics from Brandeis University in 1990. She received her law degree from Temple University in 1993 after having won the 1992 Samuel J. Polsky Moot Court Competition. Upon graduation from Temple Law School, she clerked for the Honorable Sandra Mazer Moss, a distinguished and award winning (now retired) jurist.
Ms. Axelrod is Jewish, speaks Spanish fluently, has two slow-learning brothers, and is the mother of a Jewish Latina.