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:
- Register to Attend the LCLD Mid-Year CLE Webinar
- On-Demand Viewing Extended for 2016 CLE Webinar
- Fellow Alumnus Becomes General Counsel
- Save the Date for the Eighth Annual LCLD Membership Meeting
- Rx for Fellows: The Eli Lilly Company Learning Experience
- What's Working: Building Sustainable Partnerships & Pathfinder-Facilitator Relationships
- Thank You to the Sponsors of the Sixth Annual LCLD Fellows Alumni Leadership Symposium
- Upcoming Leadership Lunch & Leadership Lunch Plus Events
- Welcome, New Member!
- In the News
Did You Know?
You can now view Member profiles via the Membership Map.
Register to Attend the LCLD Mid-Year CLE Webinar
Registration is now open for Opportunity at the Crossroads: Using Authentic Leadership Presence to Interrupt Unconscious Bias, Friday, June 9, 2017, 12:00-4:00 pm ET.
Join LCLD Members in a conversation with Kate Ebner (l), Founder & CEO of The Nebo Company and Director of the Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University, and Kim D'Abreu (r), Principal Consultant at Diversity Dimensions Consulting, LLC and Leadership Coach at The Nebo Company, about using authentic leadership presence to interrupt unconcious bias.
LCLD Member panelists will include N. Cornell Boggs III, EVP & General Counsel at Toys “R” Us; Susan Lees, EVP & General Counsel at Allstate Insurance; Jorge Mestre, Managing Partner at Rivero Mestre LLP; Jodi Schwartz, Partner, Tax, at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and Teresa Sebastian, President & CEO of Dominion Asset Group, moderated by LCLD Program Director Lori Lorenzo.
LCLD has partnered with the Practising Law Institute (PLI) to apply for CLE credit for this seminar. This webinar may be of particular interest to LCLD program participants (1L Scholars, Mentors and Mentees, Pathfinders, Fellows, and Fellows Alumni), who we also strongly encourage to attend in addition to other attorneys at LCLD Member organizations. Please share this invitation with other lawyers and HR staff at your organization!
Click here to register to attend the seminar via live webcast or in person at PLI's New York City Conference Center. To set up a group viewing of the live webcast, please email groupcasts@pli.edu by Friday, June 2, 2017.
Please note that registration is managed directly by PLI; for any technical questions, please call 1-800-260-4754 or email info@pli.edu.
For questions about the event, please email Lori Lorenzo, LCLD Program Director.
On-Demand Viewing Extended for 2016 CLE Webinar
Did you miss last year's webinar, Building Inclusive Teams: Systems for Solving the Legal Profession's Diversity Problem, presented by Professor William D. Henderson (left) of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law?
All attorneys at your organization have another year--until April 21, 2018--to view this webinar on demand and apply for CLE credit with the Practising Law Institute (PLI).
View On Demand:
- Please click here for an individual viewing.
- If you would like to schedule a group viewing, please send an email to groupcasts@pli.edu.
- More more information about the webinar, please click here.
Please direct any technical questions about registration to PLI at 1-800-260-4754 or info@pli.edu. For questions about the content, please contact Lori Lorenzo.
Fellow Alumnus Becomes General Counsel
2012 Fellow Fred Rivera has been named Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Seattle Mariners. He was previously a partner at LCLD Member law firm Perkins Coie LLP. Congratulations, Fred!
Save the Date for the Eighth Annual LCLD Membership Meeting
On October 16-17, 2017, LCLD Members and their guests are invited to join us at the Eighth Annual LCLD Membership Meeting: The Power of Networks at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C.
On the evening of October 16, we will also host a Welcome Reception at the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
Featured speakers include Kenneth Frazier, Chairman & CEO of Merk & Co., Inc., and Joshua Cooper Ramo, Co-CEO of Kissinger Associates, and International Best-Selling Author of The Age of the Unthinkable and The Seventh Sense.
Registration will open soon. For questions, please contact Jennifer Denton, LCLD Membership & Operations Director.
Rx for Fellows: The Eli Lilly Company Learning Experience
By Nichole Velasquez, Fellows Program Manager, LCLD
Mike Harrington, GC of Eli Lilly and Company (center), welcomed Fellows to Indianapolis at a reception organized by Kiamesha Colom (above, right), a 2015 Fellow and Partner at LCLD member firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff. (Photo by Jay Haas)
The first LCLD Learning Experience of 2017 set a high standard, as more than 30 Fellows gathered in Indianapolis on April 19-20 to visit Eli Lilly and Company, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. The event was organized by LCLD Fellows Alumni Sonia Chen Arnold, Andrea Castetter, Averie Hason, and Kiamesha Colom, with an assist from Ashley Garry, a 2017 LCLD Pathfinder.
The Learning Experience kicked off on April 19 with a reception at the prestigious Skyline Club overlooking downtown Indianapolis, hosted by LCLD member firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP.
Benesch Partner Kiamesha Colom, a 2015 Fellow whose collaboration with Lilly GC Michael Harrington began at an LCLD event, set a tone for the Learning Experience with remarks stressing perseverance, innovation, and relationship-building. Managing Partner Gregg Eisenberg and many Benesch attorneys were on hand, along with Indianapolis LCLD Fellows Alumni, to welcome and share with the incoming Fellows. Read the full article and view photos.
The next Fellows Learning Experience will take place June 28-29, 2017 at the Oak Brook, Illinois, headquarters of McDonald's Corporation. It will be hosted by Jerry Krulewitch, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary. For questions about hosting a Learning Experience, please contact Nichole Velasquez, Fellows Program Manager.
What's Working: Building Sustainable Partnerships & Pathfinder-Facilitator Relationships
Continue reading to learn about What's Working in diversity, inclusion, and talent development at LCLD Member organizations.
Building Sustainable Partnerships
A regional effort, the new Sustainable Partnership Program was spearheaded by LCLD Members and a group of Fellows Alumni at Fannie Mae, Lockheed Martin, and Scripps Networks Interactive, and draws on Fellows in the Washington, D.C. area. The general counsel at these organizations are committed to interacting with, advising, and supporting the group of Fellows, who have made partner in the last 4-6 years. Learn more.
Thrive in Your Pathfinder-Facilitator Relationship
Program Facilitators are a key component of the LCLD Pathfinder Program, helping Pathfinders put the concepts and tools they gain throughout the program into daily practice. While LCLD helps establish that initial connection, it takes a personal commitment from both Pathfinders and Facilitators to enhance the impact.
LCLD spoke with Jessyca Deesing, a 2016 Pathfinder and Legal Counsel at Adobe Systems Inc., and Lisa Konie, Program Facilitator and Senior Director of Legal Operations, about how they made the most of their relationship. Learn more.
To learn about What's Working at other LCLD Member organizations, click here. To submit an initiative, please email Caitlin Puffenberger, LCLD Communications Specialist.
Thank You to the Sponsors of the Sixth Annual LCLD Fellows Alumni Leadership Symposium
LCLD Fellows Alumni from the classes of 2011-2016 will reunite for the Sixth Annual LCLD Fellows Alumni Leadership Symposium, June 1-3, 2017 in New York City. The conference will be hosted at Microsoft's Technology Center in Times Square, with some sessions and meals hosted at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP; Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton LLP; Proskauer Rose LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP; and Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
The Fellows Alumni will learn about transformational leadership from panels of LCLD Member managing partners and general counsel, mindfulness, envisioning a better justice system, and diversity and inclusion initiatives as they relate to the Freedom to Marry campaign and Major League Baseball.
In addition to a community service project benefiting the Eagle Academy for Young Men of Brooklyn, NY, and networking events, the third annual Rick Palmore LCLD Fellows Alumni Award for exceptional leadership and the Community Service Award will be presented at the symposium. We'd like to thank the following LCLD Member organizations that are sponsoring this symposium:
SUPPORTING SPONSORS
Hunton & Williams LLP | Jackson Walker LLP | Littler Mendelson P.C. | Pepper Hamilton LLP | Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila | The Procter & Gamble Company
Upcoming Leadership Lunch & Leadership Lunch Plus Events
LCLD would like to thank Chad Walker, Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Morton Salt, Inc., and 2012 LCLD Fellow, and Michael Smith, Managing Partner of Baker & McKenzie LLP's Chicago office, in advance for hosting a Fellows Leadership Lunch. The event will take place at Baker & McKenzie's Chicago office on May 30, 2017.
We'd also like to thank Bricker & Eckler LLP in collaboration with Nationwide? in advance for hosting a Leadership Lunch Plus on June 8. The event includes an extended afternoon program that includes a panel of judges, local bar association representatives, and a Language of Leadership conversation of general counsel and managing partners moderated by Robert Grey, LCLD President. The program will be followed by a networking reception for Ohio LCLD Members and program participants. Look for an article about the event this summer.
For questions about hosting or speaking at a Fellows Leadership Lunch, please contact Nichole Velasquez, Fellows Program Manager.
Welcome, New Members!
Brian H. Batzli, Managing Director, CEO, and Chairman of the Board, Merchant & Gould, P.C. Merchant & Gould, a national intellectual property law firm, has helped innovators around the globe strategically manage, protect, and leverage their IP assets for over 115 years.
We are guided by these principles:
- A commitment to excellence and integrity in all our relationships
- A dedication to achieving innovative solutions throughout the full range of our intellectual property practice
- A responsibility to give back to our communities
Cultivating a diverse workforce is a key part of our core values. Our comprehensive diversity effort includes enriching our own firm, engaging in our communities, and developing future talent for the profession.
Merchant & Gould is proud to be a member of LCLD and its mission to create a truly diverse legal profession.
Jennifer Grady, Managing Partner, Richards Kibb & Orbe LLP. RK&O is a community of individuals from varied cultural, ethnic, religious, educational, and geographic backgrounds. We have successfully achieved diversity through organic means and we remain committed to sustaining diversity within our firm.
In furtherance of this commitment, the RK&O leadership has established and offers ongoing support to a diversity committee charged with promoting and fostering diversity and inclusion within RK&O and in our local communities.
By hiring, retaining, and promoting lawyers and staff who offer diverse perspectives and experiences, we foster inclusion and we are able to achieve the best results for our clients.
In the News
Ricardo Anzaldua (l), LCLD Member and Executive Vice President and General Counsel of MetLife, and Richard Meade (r), Diversity Contact and Vice President and Chief Legal Officer – International at Prudential, were named 2017 Diversity & Inclusion Champions by the New York City Bar.
LCLD Members Kim Koopersmith (l), Chair of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and Stephen Immelt (r), Chief Executive Officer of Hogan Lovells US LLP, interviewed each other on their roles leading large law firms, including on their diversity and inclusion strategies.
Jami DeLou, Diversity Contact and Associate Director of Talent Development, Diversity & Inclusion at Jenner & Block LLP, received the Illinois Diversity Council’s inaugural DiversityFIRST Award.
Marilyn McClure-Demers, Diversity Contact, 2014 Fellow, and Associate General Counsel at Nationwide Mutual Insurance, wrote about the important work the Ohio Women’s Bar Association has done over the last 25 years in her President’s Message.
Lisa Kathumbi, 2017 Fellow and Partner at Bricker & Eckler LLP, was sworn in as the first African-American President of the Ohio Women’s Bar Association.
Jimmie McMillian, 2011 Fellow, spoke about his work as Senior Corporate Counsel at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Jennifer Prioleau, 2017 Fellow and Division Counsel at HP Inc., spoke about the innovative work HP is doing.
Brandon Vaughn, 2017 Fellow, was named Co-Chair of Robins Kaplan LLP’s Diversity Committee.
Marlen Whitley, 2011 Fellow, was named the first Executive Director for Diversity Recruiting at Reed Smith LLP.
Jenai Brackett, LCLD Mentor and Senior Associate at Frost Brown Todd LLC, discussed diversity and mentoring with The Indiana Lawyer.
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.
Jessica Sabesan
Communications & Marketing Manager, LCLD Insider Editor
If you have any news or honors that are relevant to LCLD Members, please email Jessica Sabesan at jsabesan@lcldnet.com.
