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, President
In This Issue:
- Leadership Lessons at GlaxoSmithKline
- Pathfinder Program Featured in PD Quarterly for Leadership Training of Diverse Attorneys
- On-Demand Viewing of 2016 CLE Presentation Now Available
- Leveraging Leadership: A Conversation Between Members
- Thank You, May Regional Roundtable Hosts
- Mentees Learn What to Expect on the Legal Road Ahead
- Welcome, New Members!
- In the News
Did You Know?
You may now download a sortable, printable version of the LCLD Fellows Directory. We welcome use of directory downloads for regional event invitations and other networking purposes. Contact Jessica Smith for the password, which will change periodically for security reasons. (Note: As always, no password is necessary for browsing the directory online.)
Leadership Lessons at GlaxoSmithKline
By Caitlin Puffenberger, LCLD Communications Coordinator
LCLD Fellows at the GlaxoSmithKline offices in Philadelphia. (Photo by Rebecca Henasey)
Few things speak higher of a company than employee loyalty – and with 30 years at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) under her belt, Cristina Fernandez is certainly a witness to the pharmaceutical company’s inclusive culture. Fernandez’s story – from Cuban refugee to law student to GSK’s Vice President of U.S. Legal Operations Payer Markets (and a longtime LCLD Mentor) – was just one highlight in a day filled with candid anecdotes and advice from GSK leaders at the April 18 LCLD Fellows Learning Experience.
Daniel Troy, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at GSK, welcomed 32 LCLD Fellows to GSK’s Philadelphia campus to learn about the company’s commitment to diversity and leadership development. Like Fernandez, he spoke about his journey to GSK, sharing how his career path was guided in many ways by the jobs he didn’t get. Troy worked as an entertainment lawyer and was Chief Counsel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before coming to GSK in 2008. He now leads 350 lawyers in 50 countries.
While he spoke frequently about the role luck played in his career, he added a caveat for Fellows: “No successful person got where they are without luck. But you have to put yourself in the position to be lucky.” Read more and view photos.
The next Learning Experience will be hosted at PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) by Greg Jordan, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer. The event will take place June 8, 2016 at PNC in Pittsburgh, PA. For more information on how you can host a Learning Experience, please contact Nichole Velasquez, LCLD Program Manager.
Pathfinder Program Featured in PD Quarterly for Leadership Training of Diverse Attorneys
Carrie Fletcher (left), LCLD Pathfinder faculty member and Executive Director of Executive Education at Harvard Law School, and Lori Lorenzo (right), LCLD Program Director, wrote an article featured in the May 2016 issue of PD Quarterly called, "Forging the Path to Success: Supporting Diverse Attorneys through Leadership Development Training."
The authors describe how the LCLD Pathfinder Program addresses “a leak in the talent pipeline.” The Pathfinder Program helps early-career attorneys develop skills in relationship building, leadership, and career trajectory management so they can combat bias, social isolation, and other factors that prevent many diverse attorneys from advancing in their careers.
Editor’s note: This article is shared with permission from NALP and PD Quarterly magazine, but we ask that you not distribute it to others. Click here for more information on how to subscribe to PD Quarterly.
On-Demand Viewing of 2016 CLE Presentation Now Available
It's not too late to join in the conversation – the 2016 Mid-Year CLE presentation is now available on demand. Professor William D. Henderson's Building Inclusive Legal Teams: Systems for Solving the Legal Profession's Diversity Problem identifies issues in recruiting, retaining, and promoting diverse legal talent within law firms and corporate legal departments. Please share this opportunity across your legal department, as it is available to everyone within LCLD Member organizations.
Click here to register to view this presentation. Please note that the link is for individual viewing only. On-demand groupcasts need to be registered through groupcasts@pli.edu.
For questions about this presentation, please contact Lori Lorenzo, Program Director.
Leveraging Leadership: A Conversation Between Members
By Don Belt, LCLD Communications Director
Kate Adams (left) and Ellen Dwyer during the event.
In the latest in a series of LCLD regional events, Ellen Dwyer, Managing Partner, and her staff at Crowell & Moring welcomed a group of several dozen LCLD Fellows, Alumni, and Pathfinders to “Leveraging Leadership,” a special conversation with LCLD Member Kate Adams, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Honeywell International. The event was held at Crowell's Washington office and was moderated by Robert Grey, President of LCLD.
The two women engaged in a fascinating in-depth dialogue, bringing the perspectives of managing partner and corporate general counsel to a number of important issues, ranging from the value of LCLD programs to the pace of innovation driving the future of law—and what it all means to diverse attorneys.
“The profile of a successful law firm partner is going to change in significant ways because the old way of practicing is just not acceptable anymore,” said Dwyer, who is also a member of the LCLD board. “Our clients are looking for strategic advice and business-savvy folks with different life experiences. Just being able to think and see the world in a different way is going to be even more important [in the future]. I’m quite optimistic, actually, that all this change will lead to greater opportunity for folks who are not ‘mainstream.’" Read more.
For more information about hosting a regional event, please contact Jennifer Denton, LCLD Membership & Operations Director.
Thank You, May Regional Roundtable Hosts
LCLD would like to thank the following LCLD Members who are hosting LCLD Fellows Alumni Regional Roundtable events this month:
- Kevin Burke, Chairman at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP; Susie Lees, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Allstate Insurance Company; and Terry Truax, Managing Partner at Jenner & Block. They all spoke at a Regional Roundtable event on May 2 hosted at Hinshaw & Culbertson in Chicago, in addition to Chris Lewis, General Counsel at Edward Jones.
- Tim Baer, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Target Corporation, and Andrew Humphrey, Managing Partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, will host an event in Minneapolis on May 24.
If you're an LCLD Member who is interested in hosting a 2016 Regional Roundtable, please email Paula Aguila, Co-Chair of the Fellow Alumni Program Development Committee, or Anny Huang, the committee’s Roundtable Subcommittee Chair, for more information.
Mentees Learn What to Expect on the Legal Road Ahead
By Emily Coon, Legal Recruitment Coordinator at K&L Gates LLP, and Jessica Smith, Communications & Marketing Manager at LCLD
Valerie Jackson (right), Senior Advisor to the Management Committee at K&L Gates, moderates the panel discussion for the audience of LCLD Mentees and Mentors. (Photo by Matt Galando of K&L Gates)
The Pittsburgh, PA office of K&L Gates LLP hosted a Group Mentoring Program event on March 30, 2016, partnering with PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC). Fifty-one guests attended the event, not only including Pittsburgh-area LCLD Mentee law students and Mentor attorneys, but also other students from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Duquesne University School of Law. LCLD Member Greg Jordan, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of PNC, also attended.
The focus of the event was a panel discussion on the topic, “What I Did On My Summer Vacation: Exploring Employment Options and Opportunities for Law Students After the Semester Ends.” The panelists discussed their experiences on the subject, and what law students can expect when they spend their summer(s) working for a law firm, a corporation, the government, a nonprofit organization, or clerking for a judge.
Panelists included 2014 Fellow Alicia Powell, Managing Chief Counsel of the Asset Management Group at PNC; LCLD Mentor Nicholas Ranjan, Partner at K&L Gates; Sara J. Rose, Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania; and Lisa Stauffer, Senior Counsel at PNC. Thomas Smith, Administrative Partner of K&L Gates’ Pittsburgh office, delivered an inspiring welcome to attendees, and LCLD Diversity Professional Valerie Jackson, Senior Advisor to the Management Committee at K&L Gates, moderated the discussion. Read more.
For more information about the LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program, please contact Nancy Richardson, LCLD Program Manager.
Welcome, New Members!
Stephen Greenhalgh, Managing Partner, Bodman PLC. Our mission is to be the leading Michigan-based law firm, nationally recognized in the industries we serve, through a commitment to exceptional and efficient client service and an enjoyable work environment rooted in collaboration, respect, and diversity.
David McAtee II, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel, AT&T Inc. At AT&T, our mission is to connect people with their world everywhere they live, work and play – and to do it better than anyone else. To that end, our greatest asset is our people, who tirelessly serve millions of customers across the globe. We therefore consider diversity and inclusion to be key business imperatives, and our Legal Department is committed to consistent, measurable results in these important areas.
Mark Nance, Senior Vice President and Global General Counsel, Mylan NV. At Mylan, we are committed to setting new standards in health care. Working together around the world to provide 7 billion people access to high quality medicine, we innovate to satisfy unmet needs; make reliability and service excellence a habit; do what’s right, not what’s easy; and impact the future through passionate global leadership.
James Skochdopole, Managing Partner, Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP. As a premier, full-service law firm for over 35 years, we have earned our reputation for delivering exemplary results and value to our clients. We like what we do and enjoy working together to serve our clients. Our mission is to develop long-term relationships of mutual respect, trust, and understanding among our clients, our lawyers, and our staff.
In the News
Dennis Hopkins, 2014 Fellow and Partner at Perkins Coie LLP, was named a 2016 Diversity & Inclusion Champion by the New York City Bar Association.
Adine Momoh, 2013 Fellow and Associate Attorney at Stinson Leonard Street LLP, was profiled in Minnesota Attorney at Law magazine.
Alanna Rutherford, 2015 Fellow and Partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, was named one of the top 5 trial lawyers under 50 by Law360.
Travis Torrence, 2015 Fellow and Vice President, Legal, at Jiffy Lube International Inc. and Senior Legal Counsel for Shell Oil Co., was profiled in The National Law Journal.
Various LCLD Member organizations were also featured in the news.
Read the latest issue of the LCLD Weekly News Digest on major issues in diversity and the legal profession. If you would like to receive the news digest via email each Wednesday, please contact Caitlin Puffenberger, LCLD Communications Coordinator.
Jessica Smith, Communications & Marketing Manager, Editor
If you have any news or honors that are relevant to LCLD Members, please email Jessica Smith at jsmith@lcldnet.com.
