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:
- Welcome, New Members!
- Paulette Brown Named President-Elect of the ABA
- Next Steps for the 1L LCLD Scholars Program
- UPS and King & Spalding Host an LCLD Fellows Learning Experience
- Recent and Upcoming Leadership Lunches
- In the News
Welcome, New Members!
Lawrence P. Ingram, Managing Partner of Tampa Office; Michael D. Hunt, Firm Managing Partner, Phelps Dunbar
Since its founding in New Orleans in 1853, Phelps Dunbar has successfully combined valuable traditions and progressive ideas to become one of the oldest and largest firms across the South. The firm values practices that foster creative legal analysis and provide practical solutions to legal problems. Each of its five core practice groups--admiralty, business, litigation, labor and employment, and insurance and reinsurance--features attorneys well-versed inspecific matters and industries that allow the firm to individually tailor its services to clients' specific needs. It is the firm's priority to understand the unique aspects and background of clients' businesses to achieve their goals. Phelps Dunbar recognizes the importance of thorough and efficient high-quality services and draws upon the various experience that its attorneys have attained in specific areas to best serve its client base.
James B. Monroe, Managing Partner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Finnegan is dedicated to advancing the ideas, discoveries, and innovations that drive businesses around the world. From offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia, its 350 lawyers work with leading corporations and innovators to protect, advocate, and leverage their most important intellectual property assets. The firm's diverse client base covers a range of industries and technologies, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, industrial manufacturing, electrical components, medical devices, and computer technologies.
Paulette Brown Named President-Elect of the ABA
LCLD is excited to announce that Paulette Brown, Partner and Chief Diversity Officer at Member firm Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, has been nominated to become president-elect of the American Bar Association (ABA). Brown will be the first woman of color to lead the ABA, when she becomes president of the organization in 2015. We congratulate her on this historic achievement!
Next Steps for the 1L LCLD Scholars Program
Thanks to all Member organizations that have registered to participate in the 1L LCLD Scholars Program this year. If you haven't yet registered your organization, it's not too late--please click here to do so. We're looking forward to another wonderful group of 1L Scholars joining us at the 1L Scholars Retreat this June in Dallas, TX. If you've already registered your organization, please take a moment to provide your 1L Scholar(s)' name and contact information by clicking here. This will allow LCLD to know who is joining us for the retreat, and provide important information to the Scholars.
For questions, please contact Louise Bald.
UPS and King & Spalding Host an LCLD Fellows Learning Experience
by Rick Rufolo, Vice President, Labor and Employment, UPS
LCLD Member organizations UPS and King & Spalding teamed up to host approximately 40 Fellows for a Learning Experience, February 4-5, 2014 in Atlanta, GA. The event began at the UPS worldwide headquarters, where Teri McClure, Chief Legal, Communications, and Compliance Officer of UPS, addressed the group and talked about the importance of diversity at UPS. During the second day, the Fellows visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, heard from Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, and participated in a panel discussion on What it Means to be a Fellow at the offices of King & Spalding.
UPS and King & Spalding were honored to host such a great group of outstanding lawyers.
Click here to read the full article. If your organization would like to host a Learning Experience, please contact Courtney Nolde.
Recent and Upcoming Leadership Lunches
We'd like to thank LCLD Members who have hosted or spoken at a Leadership Lunch, having interacted with Fellows in a small group mentoring session over lunch. The most recent Leadership Lunch speakers were:
- Dennis J. Broderick, General Counsel of Macy's, and Thomas T. Terp, Managing Partner of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister. The lunch was hosted by Taft, Stettinius & Hollister on January 14, 2014 in Cincinnati, OH.
- Gary L. Sasso, President and CEO of Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, and Teresa M. Sebastian, General Counsel of Darden Restaurants. The lunch was hosted by Darden Restaurants on February 3, 2014 in Orlando, FL.
We'd also like to thank Joan Haratani, Partner at LCLD Member firm Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius, and Salle Yoo, General Counsel of Uber Technologies, in advance for hosting the upcoming Leadership Lunch on February 27, 2014 at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in San Francisco, CA.
If you'd like to learn more about hosting a Leadership Lunch, please contact Courtney Nolde.
In the News
Patrick C. Dunican Jr., LCLD Member, and Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons P.C., was recently interviewed by the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. In the article, Dunican discusses the Gibbons Diversity Initiative, which he and the firm launched in 2004 as a pioneering corporate diversity effort.
Martha L. Rees, Vice President & Assistant General Counsel of LCLD Member corporation DuPont, was recently interviewed by the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. The interview discusses DuPont's Diversity & Inclusion Initiative.
Benjamin F. Wilson, LCLD Member; Managing Principal of Beveridge & Diamond P.C.; and founder of the D.C. Diverse Partners Network, was recently honored with the 2014 Spirit of Excellence Award from the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. The Spirit of Excellence Award honors those who have excelled in their professional settings while paving the way for others. Click here to read the Beveridge & Diamond press release.
Valeria Chapa, 2013 LCLD Fellow; and General Counsel, Latin America at Honeywell International, was named as one of the top 17 in-house women lawyers in Latin America by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA). Chapa was also quoted in an article that discussed the results of LACCA's gender composition survey of more than 250 in-house counsel in legal departments across Latin America.
Jimmie L. McMillian, 2011 LCLD Fellow, and Partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, will receive the prestigious Legacy Award at the 9th Annual Spirit Awards Gala in Indianapolis, IN. McMillian will be honored for his three-year pro bono representation of the Madame C.J. Walker Theatre board.
LCLD Member law firms Baker Botts, Cooley, Hogan Lovells, and Sidley Austin have agreed to participate in the new OnRamp Fellowship program. The program will put women lawyers who have taken a break from the profession in yearlong jobs at these law firms. Click here to read more about the OnRamp Fellowship in an interview with Caren Ulrich Stacy, the program's founder.
