A Corporate Leader & Corporate Mother
Gina Phillipps Black, corporate and commercial Attorney-at-Law, has been recognized as an IFLR1000 Woman Leader in Jamaica for 2022.
Publishing more than 750 practice area law firm rankings and more than 20,000 lawyer ratings across more than 235 jurisdictions, IFLR1000 undertakes qualitative research into law firms and lawyers to inform the publication of annual rankings, ratings and awards, and editorial content.
As an elite ranking category reserved for the most prominent women lawyers across the world working in the areas of law, IFLR1000 Women Leaders is an exclusive group of lawyers with outstanding reputations within their markets who either have expertise and experience of working on complex deals, or who have risen to hold leadership roles with their firms or their practices. For Gina Phillips Black, both these things are true.
Since commencing her legal practice as a corporate and commercial Attorney-at-Law in 1991, Gina was elevated to the partnership of one of Jamaica’s leading law firms, Myers, Fletcher & Gordon (“MFG”), where she currently heads MFG’s Commercial Department. Highly regarded by IFLR1000 for her Banking, Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions experience, Gina also has responsibility for MFG’s Corporate and Regulatory Compliance Practice Group and continues to represent multilaterals, foreign lenders and investors and major players in the local business community.
Gina, a member of the Board Tax Administration Jamaica between 2013 and 2021 and its Chairman between 2016 – 2021, also serves on the Boards of Directors of GraceKennedy Limited, a publicly listed company, and some of its subsidiary companies in the manufacturing and financial services sector.
As a wife and working mother in corporate Jamaica with three children, Zachary, Rebecca and Noah, her journey has not always been easy. It is no secret that, although fulfilling, being a mother is one of the hardest jobs by itself, let alone when coupled with a full-fledged professional life.
The tasks of raising children, taking care of the family, attaining personal goals along with a career are all understood to be common stress factors that working moms experience from time to time. Many working mothers often question whether they are giving enough time to their children.
Gina’s children, Zachary, Rebecca and Noah, firmly confirm that:
“Despite being the busiest person we know, she always has time for all three of her kids. There were no ifs, buts or maybes when it came to us. Even in the heat of a deadline and the most important of meetings, she answers our calls with her famous, “Is it urgent? Can I call you back?” Our favorite qualities in our mom are how humble and grounded she is. She deserves every recognition for all that she does.”
One could not agree with Gina’s children more. Motherhood, no matter how you dice it or slice it is never easy. Notwithstanding the unfortunate truth that women still battle old school mindsets of the ‘place of a woman’, Gina has attained professional success having moved beyond the restrictive barriers of a patriarchal society, achieving repeated international recognition, including that of IFLR1000.
Fellow Partner at MFG, Simone Bowie Jones, also noted that “Gina is an inspiration to me. I have seen firsthand how hard Gina works towards achieving work/life balance. As a mother, you will never quite feel that you have struck that balance but Gina’s dedication to her husband and family is best measured not by the hours in the day but by the strength of their relationships”.
As she continues to help to lead MFG, and as a stalwart in the legal and business community in Jamaica, Gina is truly worthy of all the local and international recognition she has and continues to receive.
From left to right: Rebecca, Stephen, Noah, Gina and Zachary
From left to right: Zachary, Gina, Noah, Stephen and Rebecca
