Save the date: MCCA Conference 2010

For your planning purposes, please note that the MCCA Pathways to Diversity Conference is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis in NYC.　 As such, the ALFDP Fall Conference will likely be held on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 with a reception the evening of November 8th.

New ALFDP Board Members!

Congratulations to the following new board members who were recently elected at the 2009 Annual Fall Conference:

Vice President – Maja Hazell (Fried Frank)

Treasurer – Denise Robinson (O’Melveny & Meyers)

At-Large Member – Michelle Wimes (Shook Hardy and Bacon)

We would also like to thank the following individuals for their past service on the Board:

Vice President – Lovita Tandy (King & Spalding)

Treasurer – Nancy Philippi (Quarles & Brady)

At-Large Member - Alphonzo Grant  (Sullivan & Cromwell)

… and thank the following members for their continued service:

President – Sylvia James (Baker Botts)

Secretary – Kisha Nunez (Wachtell Lipton)

President Emeritus – Anna Brown (Shearman & Sterling)

Historian – Theresa Cropper (Perkins Coie)

At-Large Member – Rick Jones (K & L Gates)

New York State Bar Association’s Sixth Annual Constance Baker Motley Symposium: Diversity at the Downturn

On January 25, 2010, from 2 pm to 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton Hotel in New York City, the New York State Bar Association will present its Sixth Annual Constance Baker Motley Symposium: Diversity at the Downturn.  The Symposium, which is being sponsored by the NYSBA Committee on Minorities in the Profession, will address the shifting fortunes of lawyers of color in the legal profession during this economic recession.   

Diversity at the Downturn will explore the impact that the recession has had on lawyers of color in a variety of practice settings: law firm, law departments, public interest, and the judiciary.  Is there any evidence that diverse attorneys have been more deeply affected by the economic downturn than others?   What are the changes for diversity coordinators and where are the cuts in the private sector?  How are recent law graduates of color faring as they seek their first jobs?  What can and should the profession do to affirmatively further the full and equal participation of minorities in all aspects of the practice of law, in good times and bad? 

 Moderator:

Paula Edgar, Executive Director, Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc. (PALS)

 Panel:

Honorable Rolando Acosta, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department

Maja Hazell, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

John Higgins, Counsel, Nixon Peabody

Katherine Frink-Hamlett, Esq., President, Frink-Hamlett Legal Solutions, Inc.

Robert Grey, Interim Executive Director of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity

Assad Siddiqi, Vice President, Muslim Bar Association of New York 

 

PALS Program: Performance Evaluations as a Professional Development Tool

Performance Evaluations as a Professional Development Tool:

Demonstrating Your Value During Performance Evaluations

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

6:30 – 8:30 P.M.

Hosted By:

Jones Day
222 East 41st Street
New York, NY

 

Panelists:

Alphonzo Grant Jr., Special Counsel & Director of Diversity, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Michele P. Moorman, Manager of Professional Development, White & Case LLP

Maureen M. Reid, Principal, Maureen M. Reid LLC

Charmaine Slack, Partner – Jones Day

Other panelists to be announced.

 

This workshop is for junior attorneys of color who want to learn how to maximize the quality and frequency of their feedback opportunities while also showcasing their skills and development to the people who need to know.  Associates in law firms usually receive formal feedback once a year.  Properly preparing for that evaluation is no less important than preparing for a law school exam, and no attorney should enter an evaluation without a plan. We will help you understand how to get ready for those evaluation sessions.   However, it is often the informal feedback, delivered in real time, that can make the biggest difference in an associate’s career development, and we also want to help you make sure you get as much of that feedback as you can. 
 
Experts in the area will discuss how to complete self-evaluation forms, handle difficult questions, seek constructive feedback, and demonstrate professional growth and development during your year end evaluations and throughout the year.  Come prepared with your feedback anecdotes and questions.  And let us know, when you RSVP, if you think there is a particular issue or skill that is especially important for us to discuss.

Space for this program is limited.

Please RSVP at www.palsprogram.org/performeval  November 27, 2009. 

NAWL Fourth Annual Survey on Women in Law Firms

Please see below for a link to a press release announcing the release of NAWL’s (National Association of Women’s Lawyers) Fourth Annual Survey on Women in Law Firms.  There is also a direct link to the survey. 

NAWL Press Release – October 26, 2009

2009 NAWL Survey

Law Firm Diversity Demographics Show Little Change, Despite Economic Downturn

NALP recently released statistics examining the affect of the economic downturn on diversity demographics in law firms.  Please select the following link to view the full article: NALP Diversity Demographics Article 10/09

Natalia Martin Moderates NY City Bar Panel “Perspectives of Minority Female Judges and Litigators”

On Thursday, October 22, 2009, from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM, Natalia Martin will host “Perspectives of Minority Female Judges and Litigators” for the New York City Bar.  The program will discuss the special challenges that minority female attorneys often face during their careers because of their gender and race or ethnicity. This program will have a distinguished panel of minority judges and litigators discuss how their gender and race or ethnicity have impacted their careers and how minority women can continue to make strides in the legal profession. The panel will also discuss how minority and female attorneys can further their careers, particularly during the current economic climate.

Moderator:

·         NATALIA MARTIN, Director of Diversity, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Speakers:

·         HON. DEBRA A. JAMES, Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County

·         HON. VERNA L. SAUNDERS, New York City Civil Court, Housing Part;

·         KARLA G. SANCHEZ, Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP;

·         ERIKA McDANIEL EDWARDS, Partner, Donaldson, Chilliest & McDaniel LLP

 

Please click here for more information: Perspectives of Minority Female Judges and Litigators

 

2009 NALP Diversity Summit

The Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals has joined with the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) to sponsor the 2009 Diversity Summit, entitled: Implementing an Advanced Client-Driven Diversity Strategy: Tactics for Success.

The summit will be held on June 5, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.  For more information on the summit and to register please click here or visit the NALP website directly at www.nalp.org.

ALFDP President Emeritus Anna Brown Co-Chairs PLI Diversity Conference

On February 25, 2009, ALFDP President Emeritus Anna Brown is Co-Chairing PLI’s Beyond Diversity 2009:  The Next Generation.  The program originates from New York and is available nationwide via live webcast.   Current Board Member Alphonzo Grant will moderate a panel on “Expanding the ‘pipeline’:  what role should the legal community play.”  Other topics to be addressed include:

• The impact of the recession on diversity programs
• The views of General Counsel:  what are their diversity objectives for outside counsel
• The expectations of diverse associates — what partners and diversity directors need to know

Please click here for more information:  http://www.pli.edu/emktg/strongmail/LWN9_2.htm

Welcome…

WELCOME TO THE ASSOCIATION OF LAW FIRM DIVERSITY PROFESSIONALS!!

We are an organization of individuals who work in law firms across the country some of which have offices worldwide.

Our goals are (a) to support the professional development of the Association’s members, all of whom work as diversity professionals in law firms, (b) to encourage the continued development of the field of law firm diversity management ; (c) to develop best practices in the field, and (d) to advance diversity in the legal profession.

« Previous Page