It’s been over 30 years since then-GM General Counsel Harry J. Pearce issued what has come to be known as “the Harry Pearce letter” in which he asked GM’s outside counsel for greater diversity among the lawyers working on GM’s legal matters. Since then, other corporate leaders have emulated Harry Pearce, signing different diversity pledges and speaking or writing publicly to express their desire and commitment to see greater diversity among their outside counsel law firms. Law firms have striven to meet that request.
There has been progress but for many it has not been fast enough, robust enough, or organic enough for a profession of problem-solvers. Why?
Business.
There are many wonderful and excellent programs and projects aimed at increasing the legal profession’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”). But whether we’re talking about the pipeline, implicit bias, succession planning, networking opportunities, or anything else, the common denominator around which much of the profession’s DEI efforts revolve – for good or bad – is business: getting enough of it.
This has led the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession (“IILP”) to ask: Who’s getting the business? And how much of that business is going to lawyers who are white women compared to racial/ethnic minorities or openly LGBTQ+ or have disabilities?
Now, for the first time, we have hard data examining what that corporate diversity spend actually looks like. In a business case for diversity, who’s getting that business?
Join us for a virtual Summit where we will reveal our findings from “Diverse Outside Counsel: Who’s Getting the Business?” and ask panels of lawyers from large law firms, diverse-owned firms, and corporate law departments to comment on what they think the findings mean, what any next steps ought to be, and, ultimately, who’s responsible.
See Program Agenda.
Confirmed Speakers:
- Lydia Bueschel, Shareholder, Valentine Austriaco & Bueschel PC
- Bruce Byrd, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
- Brian Ellis, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Danaher
- Elisa Garcia C., Chief Legal Officer, Macy's
- Martin P. Greene, Partner, Zuber Lawler LLC
- Joan M. Haratani, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
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Erica Kelley, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
- Madeleine McDonough, Chair, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
- María Meléndez, Chief Diversity Officer, Sidley Austin LLP
- Lani Quarmby, Associate General Counsel and Managing Director, Bank of America
- E. Macey Russell, Partner, Choate Hall & Stewart LLP
- Marc Shelley, Global Head of Litigation, IP, Employment Law and Crisis Management, Anheuser-Busch In-Bev
- Nikki Lewis Simon, Shareholder and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Greenberg Traurig LLP
- Regina Speed-Bost, Founding and Managing Partner, SB Law PLLC
- Alan Tse, Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, JLL
- Akshay Verma, Director, Head of Legal Ops, Coinbase
- Jason Walbourn, Vice President, Law, Target
- Jason Wilson, Partner, Willenken LLP
- Brian Winterfeldt, Principal, Winterfeldt IP Group
CLE Accreditation:
CLE credit pending approval from Illinois (3.25 diversity and inclusion CLE credits), New York (4.0 diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias credits), California (3.25 recognition and elimination of bias credits) and Texas (3.25 CLE credits). Participants requesting CLE for other states will receive Uniform CLE certificates.
Final CLE accreditation approval is anticipated, but not guaranteed. CLE certificates will not be issued to participants until the sponsor receives accreditation approval.
Sponsorship opportunities are available. Learn more.
Thank you to our sponsors:
