In Memoriam
Honoring those who helped build IILP.
When IILP started in the summer of 2009, we were filled with hope, determination, and dreams that our vision, coupled with hard work and the generous support of friends and allies would allow us to survive long enough to effect positive change and bring some of those dreams to life. While we have been the beneficiary of many kudos and compliments for what we’ve been able to accomplish, we know that if we’ve had any successes, it is in large part due to many people along the way who stepped up to give us the specific help we needed at a particular time. Sadly, we’ve lost some of those people, all much too soon. While we keep their memories close and like to think that we’re making them proud, we miss them. We do not want to forget them. Indeed, we’d like to make sure that others remember them, too, and leave no doubt that we still appreciate all they did to help us.
Director of Strategic Relationships, The Law Society
Stephen Denyer
1955 – 2024
Frequently in diversity work, there has been an emphasis on differences, the “D” in diversity. In that sense, Stephen Denyer was definitely different from IILP: a white British man who’d spent a long and distinguished career as a solicitor at Allen & Overy before joining the Law Society of England and Wales as Director of Strategic Relationships. On the surface there was nothing to suggest we had much in common. Except that we did. Stephen “got” IILP. He not only understood our vision, he embraced it. Indeed, he shared it. And we were completely on board with Stephen’s vision of a collaborative and cooperative global legal profession in which inclusion was not simply a priority, it was a core value.
IILP was fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with Stephen and the Law Society. We were thrilled to have Stephen’s input and help on our UK programming and, in turn, felt honored when he called upon us whenever he and the Law Society needed some help on this side of “the Pond.” Working with Stephen always had productive outcomes but, just as importantly, the processes leading to those outcomes were always joyful.
Stephen was not simply a friend and ally, but a trusted confidant with whom we could partner, seeking the best outcomes for both the US and the UK. We miss his wise counsel, keen observations, warm wit, and kindness. And we’ll continue our Anglo-American joint efforts as a testimonial to his legacy.
Martin P. Greene
1951 – 2023
Martin P. Greene was a true diversity, equity, and inclusion hero and IILP was lucky to have him as a steadfast and vocal leader on our Advisory Board. Martin prided himself on always speaking truth to power, saying what needed to be said, doing what needed to be done, and embracing candor and unvarnished truths. In doing so, he challenged everyone to be their best selves and we loved that about him.
When we were starting IILP, Martin was one of the lawyers we talked to about it. Typical Martin, he was full of encouragement. He emphasized that there remained so much work to do in the legal profession; there was no such thing as no room or need for a new organization that would advance a different approach to too-long persistent challenges. In his worldview, we needed more, not less, inclusion.
As we built IILP, Martin was one of our stalwarts. He got what we were trying to do. He gave us the benefit of his writing for publications and speaking at programs so that we could offer the kind of plain-speaking of hard truths about sensitive or provocative topics that needed to be aired publicly. If we have distinguished IILP and built a reputation for naming and examining elephants, gorillas, or other large beings in the room, Martin deserves credit for encouraging and celebrating it.
Martin was an early proponent when we embarked upon that research that resulted in IILP’s acclaimed report, “Diverse Outside Counsel: Who’s Getting the Business?” which examined and provided the legal profession with its first hard data about the diversity spend of corporate clients. Martin helped shape the data collection survey. And we were thrilled when we released the report, that Martin was able to speak on the program discussing it. He understood what that research could do to move our efforts forward in a meaningful way.
Whether one knew him or not, his legacy as a leader remains. Perhaps the best testament we can offer to him is to emulate him: by encouraging more candor when we talk about inclusion. By advancing the work beyond the awards and recognitions. By carrying on and fighting the good fight. By living inclusion in our daily lives.
Thanks, Martin, for all of it. You kept it real and made it fun.
IILP Advisory Board
Takeia R. Johnson
1984 – 2021
Creator & Editor-in-Chief, “Inclusion at Work”
IILP Advisory Board Member Bonita K. Black first brought Takeia Johnson to our attention when Takeia was working as an associate at Bonita’s firm. Knowing how important thought leadership and writing is to IILP, Bonita urged us to connect with Takeia, emphasizing her exceptional talent as a writer and a thought leader. Bonita couldn’t have been more correct.
IILP was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with and get to know Takeia. Takeia was a brilliant young woman. A supremely gifted writer whose talent was enhanced by a keen intellect and native curiosity, Takeia bravely wrote about subjects that the legal profession hasn’t always felt comfortable thinking about, much less addressing in public. She wrote in the hope of educating her fellow lawyers about sexual orientation, gender identity, cultural competency, mental health and well-being, and, with particular fervor, intersectionality. She wrote about these subjects, in large part because she was committed to truly fostering inclusivity in the legal profession: Takeia was passionate about eliminating any stigma around expanding the concept of diversity to encompass facets beyond a cisgender or monoracial/monoethnic identity. Takeia’s inquisitiveness and sensitivity were fused with her good-natured sense of humor and her warm and infectious smile. Hers was a smile that could even be heard in her voice during a telephone call or read in one of her emails.
Takeia was the creator, lead writer, and Editor-in-Chief of IILP’s blog, Inclusion at Work. We try to keep the blog alive in no small part as a tribute to Takeia’s life and because we miss her.
First Communications Director, IILP
Deborah G. Weixl
1950 – 2019
It’s fine and well to start a new organization like IILP, but it doesn’t help if hardly anyone knows about it or what you do. For IILP, Debbie Weixl was the answer. Debbie volunteered as our first “Communications Director.” She understood our mission and vision from the outset. She’d had years of experience working in communications and tons of contacts in media around the country and she generously donated her expertise and network to help us. Debbie drafted our press releases and phoned reporters she knew to encourage them to write something about us. She helped shape our fledgling media presence and fielded all the media queries her outstanding work generated. And she was always there as a sounding board when we were struggling to figure out how best to explain our then-incomprehensible approach to our work: addressing all types of diversity in all practice settings all over the country. This hadn’t been done before and there were many doubters about whether this new, small, minimally funded organization could survive, much less pursue such an audacious ambition. That we’re still here is due in no small part to Debbie’s work.
Ralph E. Smith
1951 – 2012
Before there were laser printers, electronic documents, and Google Share/Sharepoint/Dropbox, etc., the legal profession and everyone else regularly used snail mail and hard copies. Indeed, hard copies were a way of life. Printed letterhead and its accompaniments like envelopes and note pads were a normal and necessary part of business life.
Ralph Smith was a graphic printer who understood why IILP’s mission was important even for people like him who weren’t lawyers. He and IILP’s CEO, Sandra Yamate, had first met when Sandra was working at the ABA. They bonded over Sandra’s history of spending three years in high school taking print shop classes and learning about old-fashioned hot metal typesetting and “modern” offset printing. When Ralph heard about the launch of IILP, he was quick to offer his support: he donated all the printing for IILP’s early letterhead and envelopes of assorted sizes to help us get off the ground. He was a devoted alumnus of Indiana University at Bloomington and before his untimely passing was trying to arrange for IILP to collaborate with his beloved alma mater on some programming about diversity in the legal profession. We keep the last box of envelopes with IILP’s return address on them that Ralph printed to remind us of him.
Graphic Printer & Early Supporter
Advisor on Inclusion
Manjot Dhanjal
1958 - 2026
One of the things that distinguishes IILP from other organizations in the diversity, equity, and inclusion arena has been our inclusion of international perspectives and lawyers. We do this because we know that many of the organizations with which we work in the US are global in scope, that the differences in approach often allow us to reexamine our US strategies and biases, and that there is much Americans can learn about these efforts from our friends and allies around the world.
So, we were grieved to learn of the January, 2026 passing of Manjot Dhanjal. Manjot was the Director of Equality and Diversity for the Law Society of England and Wales from 2002 until a crippling stroke forced her to leave around 2007.
Manjot was the foundational architect behind the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme, which she designed to combat structural inequalities and socio-economic exclusion of women and minorities from the legal profession. She was an outspoken advocate against “casual recruitment” efforts that worked against law students from low income or minority backgrounds.
Manjot and IILP’s CEO, Sandra Yamate, met in 2002, while Sandra was still serving as the Director of the ABA’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. These two women immediately found common cause and developed a strong friendship, trading ideas, frustrations, and successes because their similar positions allowed them to understand the circumstances in which they were working better than almost anyone else they knew. The ABA Annual Meeting in Honolulu in 2006 was a highlight for them as they spent time strategizing about how to better advance diversity in the legal profession.
Many of Manjot’s ideas helped shape Sandra’s vision for IILP and its emphasis on inclusion rather than just diversity. Even after Manjot was unable to continue working, they would trade emails while Manjot was still able to do so and later, when Sandra would travel to the UK, she would try to make time to visit Manjot who was being cared for by her family in Birmingham. Sandra says that even as Manjot’s condition worsened, Manjot understood how IILP was working to bring their shared vision for the legal profession to fruition. It’s yet another reason why we at IILP consider our British programming efforts to be more than just an important facet of our mission but also a tribute to Manjot, who helped get inclusion started in the UK before it was even called “inclusion.”