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:
- Annual Membership Meeting Registration Reminder
- Diversity Professional Volunteers Needed
- Mentor Registration Reminder
- In Columbus, Creating an Ecosystem to Advance Diversity
- Fellows Alumni Survey
- What's Working: Communicating with Courage, Candor, and Clarit
- New Fellows Alumni Executive Council Officers
- Upcoming Leadership Lunch Plus
- Watch the 2017 CLE Webinar On Demand
- Welcome, New Member!
- In the News
Did You Know?
You can add an LCLD “Member” logo to your organization’s website or diversity and inclusion page.
Annual Membership Meeting Registration Reminder
On Monday, October 16 - Tuesday, October 17, 2017, LCLD Members and their guests are invited to join us at the Eighth Annual LCLD Membership Meeting - Vision 2020: The Power of Networks, at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in 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 will include Kenneth Frazier (l), Chairman & CEO of Merck & Co., Inc., and Joshua Cooper Ramo (r), Co-CEO of Kissinger Associates, and International Best-Selling Author of The Age of the Unthinkable and The Seventh Sense. A full agenda will be available in the coming months.
Click here to register for the meeting. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Mandarin Oriental hotel at the rate of $415 a night. Click here to reserve your room.
For questions about registration, please email Stella Askin, Programs & Events Specialist. For questions about the agenda, please contact Jennifer Denton, LCLD Membership & Operations Director.
Diversity Professional Volunteers Needed
Kal Shah, Diversity & Inclusion Co-Chair at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, addresses the group at the Diversity Professionals and Advisors Summit. (Photo by Jay Haas)
The following volunteer opportunities are available for Diversity Professionals looking to get more involved with LCLD:
- If you would like to help choose the location and direction for the second annual Diversity Professionals and Advisors Summit, and you are planning to attend the Annual Membership Meeting in October with your General Counsel or Managing Partner, please plan to set aside some time for a one-time planning meeting on Monday, October 16, before the Welcome Reception at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
- Help work on resources related to the diversity data initiative.
- Help work on resources for assisting members of your organizations with having difficult conversations.
Please contact Erin Hess, LCLD Strategic Initiatives Program Manager, if you're interested in getting involved in any of these projects.
Mentor Registration Reminder
Please help LCLD recruit attorneys from your organization to become Mentors for the 2017-2018 LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program. In the fall, registered Mentors will be matched with diverse, first-year law students in major cities across the country. Although registration will be open through August, Mentors will be matched in the order in which they registered.
Click here to register to become a Mentor for the 2017-2018 academic year.
We look forward to working with your organization as part of the Mentoring Program this year! Thank you in advance for your help.
For more information about becoming an LCLD Mentor, please review this brief FAQ page. For any other questions, please contact Nancy Richardson, LCLD Program Manager.
In Columbus, Creating an Ecosystem to Advance Diversity
By Don Belt, Communications Director, LCLD
Hosted by Bricker & Eckler, the Ohio event featured speakers including Albert Lin (2014 Fellow), Lindsay Ford Ellis (COTA), Richard Moore (LCLD Member), Lisa Kathumbi (2017 Fellow), and Jocelyn Armstrong (Columbus Bar Assoc.). (Photo by Ira Graham)
When he volunteered to host several dozen 2017 Fellows for a Leadership Lunch Plus in Columbus, Kurt Tunnell, LCLD Member and Managing Partner of Bricker & Eckler*, saw it as an opportunity to achieve several things at once.
Not only could Bricker provide valuable programming for the the Fellows, but the firm could also bring together other members of the Ohio legal community who were equally dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion.
So he invited a Who’s Who of prominent attorneys, including a number of LCLD Members and senior counsel, to serve as judges during a 90-minute session in which the Fellows delivered practice pitches for new business or in-house projects and received constructive feedback on their presentations. LCLD Members on the “pitch jury” included Rhonda Comer of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Linda Lu of Nationwide Insurance (2012 Fellow), Terri Meldrum of OhioHealth Corporation, Mark Smolik of DHL Supply Chain Americas, and Nicholas Zuk of White Castle Systems.
Tunnell also engaged a professional improv company to give the visiting Fellows advanced training on their presentation skills. Read more.
If you’re interested in organizing an LCLD Regional Outreach event with our help, please contact Robert Grey, President of LCLD, or Don Belt, Communications Director.
*Bricker & Eckler was named an LCLD Top Performer organization in 2016. For more information on how to earn that distinction, please contact Jennifer Denton, Membership & Operations Director.
Fellows Alumni Survey
The Fellows Alumni Survey is an annual request for feedback from LCLD Fellows, classes 2011 through 2016. The survey results are a critical piece of LCLD’s strategic growth and an important tool for tracking the impact LCLD’s flagship program has had on Fellows’ lives and careers.
Most importantly, Fellows’ feedback helps LCLD position itself as a leader in lawyer development, so that Fellows can market themselves as some of the best trained, most sought after lawyers in the profession. Learn more.
Fellows Alumni, please click here to take this year's survey.
For questions about taking the Fellows Alumni Survey, please email Caitlin Puffenberger, LCLD Communications Specialist.
What's Working: Communicating with Courage, Candor, and Clarity
O’Melveny & Myers LLP is working to develop a feedback culture by encouraging colleagues to give, receive, and request feedback more frequently across all levels.
Research shows that traditional feedback and evaluation processes don’t always work for women, minorities, and Millennials. O’Melveny has already begun to make changes to its performance review systems. But to have a truly sustainable impact, firm leadership aims to create a culture of feedback.
“We see this as an underpinning,” said Mary Ellen Connerty, Leader of Diversity and Engagement. “Our attorneys and staff were requesting more frequent and in-the-moment feedback, and the annual process alone wasn’t meeting their needs. We wanted to introduce a simple feedback model that everybody understood, could adopt, and that would help us all be more courageous, direct, and clear in seeking and receiving feedback.” Read more.
To learn about What's Working in diversity, inclusion, and talent development at LCLD Member organizations, click here. To submit an initiative, please email Caitlin Puffenberger, LCLD Communications Specialist.
New Fellows Alumni Executive Council Officers
The Fellows Alumni welcomed fourteen new Executive Council (“EC”) members as part of the events of the Sixth Annual LCLD Fellows Alumni Leadership Symposium that took place in New York in early June. The EC is made up of twenty-six different positions, but twelve of the EC members are staying on for another EC term – either in the same capacity as last year or in a new role.
The LCLD Fellows Alumni Executive Council coordinates strategic initiatives, programming, and activities on behalf of the LCLD Fellows Alumni community. Please join us in welcoming and congratulating the 2017-2018 LCLD Fellows Alumni Executive Council!
Chair: Maritza Okata
Immediate Past Chair: Jason DeJonker
Chair Elect: Corey Lee
Secretary: Brian Seaman
Treasurer: Marilyn McClure-Demers
Chief Data Officer: Cassandra Headrick
Advocacy Group Committee Chair & Vice-Chair: Caryn Boisen & Aja Sae-Kung
Communications Committee Chair & Vice-Chair: Rakesh Gopalan & Danielle Rawls
Leadership Symposium Committee Chair & Vice-Chair: Patricia Palacios & Amy Ahn-Roll
Outreach Committee Chair & Vice-Chair: Joseph Hanna & Lisa Harris
Programs Committee Chair & Vice-Chair: Reena Ganju & Greg Wu (2012)
Regional Leads: Jean Kuei (Mid-Atlantic), Albert Lin (Mid-West), Patrice Jean (Northeast), Demetra Liggins (South) & Bonnie Lau (West)
At-Large Members:
Darwin Conner, Gerard Gregoire, Heather Hubbard, Jin Liu & Monica Patel
The Fellows Alumni EC Fellows are committed to fostering personal connections and sustained and targeted investment in diverse legal talent, as they strive to empower the Alumni and Fellows with the goal of cultivating leaders, transforming career trajectories, and advancing diversity in the legal profession.
Connect. Empower. Transform.
For questions about the Fellows Alumni program, please contact Courtney Nolde, LCLD Fellows Alumni Program Manager.
Upcoming Leadership Lunch Plus
We'd like to thank Squire Patton Boggs and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. in advance for hosting a Leadership Lunch Plus event on July 28, 2017. For this special event, Fellows and Pathfinders are invited to lunch and networking at Squire Patton Boggs' New York office, followed by a guided tour at Abercombie & Fitch's flagship store.
The event will be hosted by Fred Nance, Global Managing Partner at Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP, and Stacia Jones, Vice President, Associate General Counsel, and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Abercrombie & Fitch Co (LCLD Diversity Contact and 2016 Fellow). Additional speakers include 2016 Fellows Arooj Sheikh, Associate Legal Counsel at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., and Traci Martinez, Partner at Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP.
For questions about hosting or speaking at a Leadership Lunch, please contact Nichole Velasquez, LCLD Fellows Program Manager.
Watch the 2017 CLE Webinar On Demand
Did you miss the live presentation of Opportunity at the Crossroads: Using Authentic Leadership Presence to Interrupt Unconscious Bias? If so, there's still plenty of time to watch it on demand. LCLD has partnered with the Practising Law Institute to apply for CLE credit for this seminar until June 9, 2018.
The program features Kate Ebner, Founder & CEO of The Nebo Company and Director of the Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University, and Kim D'Abreu, Principal Consultant at Diversity Dimensions Consulting, LLC and Leadership Coach at The Nebo Company, along with several LCLD Members, who discuss using authentic leadership presence to interrupt unconcious bias.
We encourage you to share this on-demand webinar with your lawyers, LCLD program participants, and HR staff!
Please click here for individual viewing. Please note that no credit will be offered for group viewings of this on-demand program.
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.
Welcome, New Member!
Allen Robertson, Managing Partner, Robinson Bradshaw. At Robinson Bradshaw, we believe we can better solve our clients' problems when our team is made up of diverse individuals. We are dedicated to promoting an inclusive work environment in which people with different backgrounds share a commitment to our core ideals of professionalism, excellence, and teamwork. We recognize that both the professional and personal rewards of our shared efforts are enhanced by this spirit of diversity.
In the News
Brad Smith, LCLD Immediate Past Chair and President of Microsoft Corp., shared the company’s new effort to expand Internet access to rural areas.
Stephen Beard, LCLD Member and General Counsel at Heidrick & Struggles, discusses the evolving role of general counsel in corporate governance.
Bernhard Goepelt, LCLD Member and Senior Vice President and General Counsel at The Coca-Cola Company, discusses his legal department’s approach to diversity.
In a conversation on pay equity, Kim Rivera (l), LCLD Member and General Counsel of HP Inc., says the mentoring she received from LCLD Board Chair Laura Stein (r), was an important part of her success.
Tony West, LCLD Member and General Counsel of PepsiCo, discusses his role with Modern Counsel.
Pallavi Wahi, Seattle Office Administrative Partner at K&L Gates LLP, was recently appointed Chairwoman of the firm’s Diversity Committee.
Joe Hanna, 2014 Fellow and Partner at Goldberg Segalla, spoke about his practice and his participation in the Fellows Program with the Buffalo Law Journal.
Elizabeth Livingston, 2017 Fellow and Senior Associate at Griesing Law LLC, published an article on “The State of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under Title VII” for The Legal Intelligencer.
Mini Kapoor, 2015 Pathfinder and Associate at Haynes and Boone, was featured in an article on a federal judge’s “young lawyers” rule.
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 Specialist.
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.
