Welcome to the LCLD INSIDER, our monthly newsletter. This publication is for you, and we welcome your feedback and ideas, as well as any news you might be interested in passing along. Please share the INSIDER with your support staff, diversity directors, and marketing departments to keep them better informed about what LCLD is doing.
-Robert Grey, Executive Director
In This Issue:
- Registration for the Fourth Annual LCLD Membership Meeting Now Open!
- Welcome, New LCLD Members!
- Sign-Up to be a Mentor for the 2013-2014 LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program
- 2013 1L Scholars Attend the Third Annual 1L LCLD Scholars Retreat
- LCLD Law Deans Roundtable Discussion on Diversity in the Nation's Law Schools
- Fellows Attend Learning Experience Hosted by Eli Lilly and Company
- In the News
Registration for the Fourth Annual LCLD Membership Meeting Now Open!
We're excited to announce that registration is now open for LCLD's Fourth Annual Membership Meeting, which will take place September 19, 2013 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC. Additionally, the LCLD Board of Directors will host a reception the evening of September 18, 2013.
During the event, Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of the provocative article, "Why Women Still Can't Have it All," in The Atlantic magazine, and Denise Keane, General Counsel of Altria Group, Inc., will engage in a conversation on "The Question of Leadership." The conversation will be followed by an interactive discussion with Teri McClure, General Counsel of UPS, and Stasia Kelly, Co-Managing Partner of DLA Piper, moderated byMichele Coleman Mayes, General Counsel of the New York Public Library.
Members will also get a chance to hear from experts on the numbers. The leaders of the National Association of Legal Professionals, the American Bar Foundation, the National Association of Women Lawyers, and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association will talk numbers and unique trends in a discussion moderated by Aric Press, Editor-in-Chief of American Lawyer Media.
We invite you to view the full meeting agenda and to register to attend.
Crawford & Company - Allen W. Nelson, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Administrative Officer
Scharf Banks Marmor LLC - Stephanie A. Scharf, Managing Partner
Sign-Up to be a Mentor for the 2013-2014 LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program
It's that time again! Since the winter of 2012, the LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program has matched more than 1,400 Mentor attorneys to an equal number of students in more than 30 cities across the U.S. As the program continues to grow, we want to encourage you and members of your organization to get involved in the 2013-14 program, which will launch in the fall of 2013.
- For more information about the program and what is expected of participants, please visit the LCLD website here.
- For information about the cities where we are seeking Mentor attorneys, please visit the LCLD website here.
- Finally, to enroll as a Mentor or to enroll Mentors from your organization, please visit the attorney enrollment page.
If you have questions about the program or about enrollment, please contact Sarah Wintle.
2013 1L Scholars Attend the Third Annual 1L LCLD Scholars Retreat
The Third Annual 1L LCLD Scholars Retreat was held June 17-19, 2013 in Denver, CO. This year's retreat brought together 144 1L Scholars and 26 LCLD Member representatives, speakers, and LCLD staff. The retreat began with a Welcome Reception and energizing opening remarks from Robert Grey.
During the retreat, the Scholars heard from 13 speakers and panelists. Topics ranged from preparing for the on-campus interview and call back interview processes, to how hiring decisions are made and how to develop your brand and career-defining relationships. The Scholars also heard from two influential panels. The first panel was made up of three LCLD Fellows. The second panel, moderated by 2012 Fellow Bruce Strothers, gave Scholars the unique and privileged opportunity to hear from two leaders and legends in our profession: Laura Stein, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of The Clorox Company, and Robert Grey, LCLD Executive Director and Partner at Hunton & Williams. The keynote speaker for the banquet dinner was Marcy Cox, Assistant Dean of Career Development at the University of Miami Law School of Law and 2011-2012 President of NALP. Lori Lorenzo, LCLD Deputy Director, led the event as the Mistress of Ceremonies, moderated several sessions, and delivered inspiring closing remarks.
We want to thank all the participating LCLD Members for their support of this year's Scholars Program. If you have any questions, please contact Karin Plastina or Louise Bald.
LCLD Law Deans Roundtable Discussion on Diversity in the Nation's Law Schools
The LCLD Law Deans Roundtable on Diversity in the Nation's Law Schools, an initiative of the Strategy & Innovation Committee, was created to address the issue of the lack of diversity in the legal pipeline. Hosted on June 19, 2013 at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder, Colorado, 32 professionals including law firm Managing Partners, General Counsel, and law school Deans, participated in a dialogue with one main goal: to work together and take actionable steps to increase diversity in the legal pipeline.
As it stands, the legal professional field is less diverse than the medical profession, the accounting profession, and the ranks of the country's business executives. Currently, only 8.5 percent of the nation's lawyers are African-American or Latino. This compares to 12 percent of the nation's doctors, 15 percent of the nation's MBA graduates, and 16 percent of the nation's accountants. None of our professions comes close to matching the diversity of the nations's population, but the reality is that lawyers rank last.
The leaders at the Roundtable remain focused on seizing the opportunity to take on systemic approaches to move the bar on diversity in the nation's law schools. For more information, including the agenda, a list of participants, and recent news on the subject, please click here.
Fellows Attend Learning Experience Hosted by Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company, an LCLD Member corporation, graciously hosted more than 30 Fellows from the Class of 2013 at their Indianapolis headquarters on Friday, June 21, 2013. Mike Harrington, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Eli Lilly, joined the Fellows for the entire Learning Experience. The day included a panel on Leading Lilly Legal, an overview of the pharmaceutical industry and the company's innovation strategy, diversity and inclusion initiatives, the customer quality experience, and access to medicine, as well as a tour of Heritage Hall. Several Eli Lilly and Company executives including, but not limited to, the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Vice President and General Patent Counsel, and the Vice President of Human Resources, dedicated their time and insight to the Fellows.
The Learning Experience kicked off with a welcome dinner hosted by Barnes & Thornburg. Local participants in the 1L LCLD Scholars Program and LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program joined the Fellows for the dinner, which was followed by an exceptional panel. Panelists included Jennett Hill, General Counsel for Citizens Energy Group and LCLD Fellow Alumni; Joseph Smith, Partner at Faegre Baker Daniels; Thea Kelly, Senior Counsel for The Dow Chemical Company; Carl Butler, Corporate Counsel at Angie's List; and Joe Perkins, Senior Counsel at Cummins Inc.
LCLD would like to thank Eli Lilly and Company and Barnes & Thornburg for all their hard work and hospitality. We would also like to thank Faegre Baker Daniels for the generous gift bags they put together for the event.
We are currently looking to schedule additional Learning Experiences later in 2013 and throughout 2014. For more information on how to host a Fellows Learning Experience at your company, please contact Louise Bald.
In the News
Stasia Kelly, Co-Managing Partner (Americas) of DLA Piper and LCLD Board Secretary;Kim Koopersmith, Partner & Chairperson of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and LCLD Member; and Susan C. Levy, Managing Partner of Jenner & Block and LCLD Member were all featured in this month's issue of the ABA Journal magazine. Their paths to the top are profiled in the article.
Susan L. Blount, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Prudential Financial and LCLD Board Member, received the Corporate Leadership Award at the 2013 New Jersey Institute for Social Justice Awards Gala on June 6, 2013. The Corporate Leadership Award is presented to a corporate leader who has shown a particular concern for improving the lives of urban citizens and others.
Gary L. Sasso, President & CEO of Carlton Fields and LCLD Board Member, was interviewed for Above the Law's "ATL Interrogates" series, which gives notable law firm partners an opportunity to share insights and experiences about the legal profession and careers in law, as well as about their firms and themselves. Read the full interview.
Kate Adams, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Honeywell and LCLD Member, has been selected by The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel as General Counsel of the Year for companies with revenues over $1 billion.
Thomas L. Sager, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of DuPont and LCLD Member, was featured in an article by Progressive Law Practice. The article discusses the essential role he played in establishing the DuPont Legal Model, which features instructive principles designed to increase diversity among corporate legal departments and the outside law firms with whom they conduct business.
DLA Piper, an LCLD Member law firm, recently won five European Women in Business Law Awards from the Euromoney Legal Media Group. DLA Piper won the "Best in Country" award for the Middle East, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. In addition, Agata Uceda, EMEA Transfer Pricing Director, received the award for "Best in Transfer Pricing." The European Women in Business Law Awards celebrate the best initiatives undertaken by law firms for gender diversity, innovation, minority women, mentoring, work-life balance, pro bono work, and talent management.
