2017 Spring - Diversity & The Bar Magazine

THE BAR

MCCA Empowering People. Inspiring Leadership.

Rainmakers Who Always Shine

Minority Women & Their Path to Partner Improving Gender Equity at Law Firms NAPABA’s Best Under 40

SPRING.2017

DIVERSITY

&

CONTENTS

Visit www.mcca.com for the latest information on our events, awards and research.

FEATURES

18 Rainmakers Who Always Shine

By Patrick Folliard MCCA’s Annual List of Rainmakers proves that the profession has talented lawyers who also have valuable business development skills. The list includes attorneys from around the country who practice a wide variety of law. Their success stories offer insight and value to lawyers at every career stage.

26 Attaining the Colorful 2.5%:

Five Tips for Minority Women on Their Path to Partnership

By Salmah Y. Rizvi In 1872, America’s first woman of color graduated from law school. Her success was short lived due to prejudice. However, how much has changed in 145 years? Learn how the three women we profiled became successful lawyers.

30 Marching Toward Gender Equality

By Lydia Lum Find out how large, elite law firms are trying to increase female partners and leaders.

33 NAPABA’s 2016

Best Lawyers Under 40

By Brett Schuster The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association recognizes 18 of the most distinguished attorneys from around the country and across the legal spectrum.

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SPRING 2017

MCCA® BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michelle Banks

Board Chair, Former EVP, Global GC, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary Gap Inc.

Jean Lee

COLUMNS 4 | NOTES FROM THE CEO

MCCA’s Learning Events Are Good for You Jean Lee

6 | INSIDE OUT

More in America Sonya Olds Som

8 | BRANDING CAPTAIN

Building a Network: It’s More Than Lunch Mamie Joeveer

1 0 | BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

Is Our IPO Market Trying to Tell Us Something?

Alonzo L. Llorens

1 2 | LITIGATION MATTERS

If I Knew Then....Part 2 Craig A. Thompson, Esq.

14 | THE ADR MOSAIC

A Celebration of Diversity in Alternative Dispute Resolution Theodore K. Cheng

President & CEO, MCCA

A.B. Cruz III

MCCA Chair-elect Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Office, USAA Enterprise Shared Services

Simone Wu

Immediate Past MCCA Chair, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer, Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Stuart Alderoty

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, CIT Group Inc.

Ricardo A. Anzaldua

Executive Vice President and General Counsel, MetLife, Inc.

Damien Atkins

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Panasonic Corp. of North America

PUBLICATIONS STAFF

16 | SPOTLIGHTING

Kannon Shanmugam Jennifer J. Salopek

40 | PROFILES IN PERSEVERANCE Haben Girma Tom Calarco

Owner & Founder, Brown Law Group

Clarissa Cerda

General Counsel & Corporate Secretary Pindrop Security

Duane Holloway

Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Ascena Retail Group, Inc.

Sandra Leung

Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Linda Lu

Senior Vice President, Chief Litigation Officer & Employment Counseling, Nationwide Insurance

H. Gwen Marcus

Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Showtime Networks Inc.

Suzan A. Miller

Corporate Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, Intel Corporation

Senior Counsel, Director of Education and Research

Advertising

Sophia M. Piliouras

Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Cox Communications, Inc.

Kenneth S. Siegel

President and Chief Administrative Officer, Diamond Resorts International

Dawn Smith

Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer & Secretary, VMware, Inc.

Mary E. Snapp

Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Philanthropies

Richard J. Wallis

Vice President/Deputy General Counsel, Office Product Group, Microsoft Corporation

Neil H. Wilcox

Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel, First Data Corporation

Michael T. Williams

Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, Staples, Inc.

Senior Vice President & International General Counsel, Wal-mart Stores, Inc.

Design/Art Direction

Kimberly A. Howard, CAE

Robin H. Sangston

Samuel M. Reeves

Editor-in-Chief

BonoTom Studio Inc.

Kimberly A. Howard, CAE

MCCA® Staff

Elizabeth Allard Mahzarine Chinoy Tieara Jones Sophia M. Piliouras Andrea Pimm Geoffrey Witherspoon Kevin Wong

GENERAL INFORMATION Advertising For advertising inquiries, contact

DEPARTMENTS

Janice P. Brown

Kimberly A. Howard, CAE

at kimhoward@mcca.com.

MCCA® Membership Please visit www.mcca.com/ membership for details.

General Information and Address Changes Send your questions, complaints and compliments to MCCA®, Kim Howard, CAE, Editor in Chief, kimhoward@ mcca.com. Address changes should be sent to membership@mcca.com.

Permissions and Reprints Reproduction of Diversity & the Bar in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. To obtain permission, visit www.mcca.com/dbmagazine and click on reprint request.

Copyright Copyright® 2017 by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, ­Diversity & the Bar is published four times a year and is distributed to supporters and subscribers, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.

The information contained in this publication has been provided to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA®) by a variety of independent sources. While MCCA makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information, MCCA does not endorse, approve or certify such information, nor does MCCA guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy or chronological sequence of any such information. Use of such information on the readers’ part is entirely voluntary, and reliance upon it should be undertaken only upon independent review and due diligence. References to any commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer or otherwise shall not constitute or imply endorsement, preference, recommendation or the favor of MCCA. MCCA (including its employees and agents) assumes no responsibility for consequence resulting from the

use of the information herein, or in any respect for the content of such information, including (but not limited to) errors or omissions; the accuracy or reasonableness of factual or other data, including statistical or scientific assumptions, studies or conclusions; the defamatory nature of statements; ownership of copyright or other intellectual property rights; and the violation of property, privacy or personal rights of others. MCCA is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims and denies liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to or reliance upon such information. No guarantees or warranties, including (but not limited to) any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular use or purpose, are made by MCCA with respect to such information.

Copyright in this publication, including all articles and editorial information contained herein, is exclusively owned by MCCA, and MCCA reserves all rights to such information.

MCCA is a tax-exempt corporation organized in accordance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Its tax ID number is 13-3920905.

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NOTES FROM THE CEO BY JEAN LEE

MCCA’s Learning Events Are Good for You A recent article from the Harvard Business Review titled “Lifelong Learning is Good for your Health, Your Wallet and Your Social Life” made the case that lifelong learning is vital to all of us with these four points.

1. Educational investments are an economic imperative.

2. Learning is positive for health.

3. Being open and curious has profound personal and professional benefits.

4. Our capacity for learning is a cornerstone of human flourishing and motivation.

MCCA offers you many opportunities annually to continue your lifelong learning. Whether you volunteer to speak, serve in an advisory role or attend one of our conferences, our learning events focus on career development, relationship building and education.

Our 2017 events promise to be even better and we will continue to make improvements with your feedback. The General Counsel Summit (GCS), scheduled from April 19-22 in Aventura, Florida, is a three-day event that provides substantive CLEs and professional development for our junior and mid-career lawyers.

Registration for GCS is currently open. Global TEC

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­ orum, scheduled for June 19-20 in F San Francisco, California, brings you the unique opportunity to earn your CLE in sessions that focus on how technology is challenging and reshaping the legal profession. The Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference, scheduled from Oct 3-4 in New York City, New York, is a full-day educational conference that shares best practices on how to improve diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. It also includes an opportunity for you to attend our sold-out Blueprint and Exchange programs. And, our annual Diversity Gala on October 4 is the premier national awards program that honors all of the work that you do—leading corporate law departments, law firms and individuals—to champion diversity and inclusion.

I hope that you consider attending our events in 2017. Thank you for your continued support of MCCA and its mission. ■ MCCA_law

www.facebook.com/mcca.law

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS MCCA is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the Thomas L. Sager Award.

The award is presented to law firms that have demonstrated a sustained commitment to improving the hiring, retention and promotion of diverse attorneys.

The award highlights MCCA’s continued commitment to magnifying the national visibility of diversity and inclusion champions in the industry. The Thomas L. Sager Award presentation will be made during the MCCA Diversity Gala and 20th Anniversary Celebration at the: American Museum of Natural History in New York City on October 4, 2017.

We look forward to reviewing all the nominations and to seeing you on October 4, 2017 at MCCA’s Diversity Gala and 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Nominations Deadline: April 30, 2017 For award details and to download the nominations form vist:

www.mcca.com/sager Empowering people. Inspiring leadershipsm

INSIDE OUT BY SONYA OLDS SOM

More in America “I BELIEVE IN AMERICA…” These words famously start “The Godfather,” one of my all-time favorite movies, which premiered in 1972, the year I was born.

The monolog about an outsider’s simple, innocent belief that diligence and being a good person are all you need to be successful in the United States— and the heart-wrenching, slowly dawning realization that intelligence, hard work, and good intentions are probably not enough to achieve the American dream. This monolog always resonates with me (not the illegality, though. I am not advocating organized crime or violence!).

I am the African-American descendant of slaves. But I, too, believe in America. The first person in my family to finish college, my parents raised me to be a faithful, God-fearing, smart, kind and hard-working and that these were all the skills I needed to be successful. It was only once I reached law school that I began to realize that there was more.

I spent my nights studying Black’s Law Dictionary—and the regular dictionary to help me understand Black’s Law Dictionary— before I even got to the actual cases. The practice of law had been dinner table conversation for some of my classmates for as long as they could remember. By the time they reached law school, so much knowledge had already sunk in and was intuitive. They could walk the

However, over the years of my law practice, and especially since I have been a legal recruiter, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of having something more...

The More Factor

In law school, for the first time, I met people whose parents were lawyers. Their parents’ friends were lawyers—influential ones.

They sat around the dinner table and on their family vacations discussing the law, their shared experiences, and connections, from infancy.

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walk and talk the talk—along with their many useful connections.

Some of my classmates assumed I was only in law school because of affirmative action and felt free to suggest that to me privately and even in class. I, too, at first assumed that all of my majority classmates

were there on pure, unadulterated merit. I always felt a certain amount of “impostor syndrome.”

My classmates were mostly, undeniably, intelligent and hard-working. However, over the years of my law practice, and especially since I have been a legal recruiter, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of having something more: The quiet ‘phone calls’ friends make on behalf of each other’s children.

The country club, fraternity and other organization connections that readily preface letters and emails of recommendation and introduction. The similarities in backgrounds of the mentors and mentees that lead to client and other relationships. The institutional knowledge and relationships being passed from person to person, at firms and companies, generation after generation—the more.

Even beyond the actual connections, the more includes an awareness of how to cultivate and use EQ (emotional intelligence) skills in the legal and business worlds: the art of making small talk and referencing shared life experiences. The confidence that comes from just naturally expecting that you will fit in and not stick out and be seen as “other.”

That comfort level lends itself to presenting so many of the qualities that companies seek in general counsel and other lawyers. Gravitas, command of a room, cultural fit, ability to “connect” are ­intangible

skills that may not ever be written on paper, but very much come into play in making the decision between two otherwise equally, substantively qualified candidates.

Three Steps to More

So, what can you do? First, recognize and accept that the more exists. That you will need to be more than just the smartest, hardest working person to learn about and be best positioned to seize a great many desirable opportunities.

Second, get organized and identify your resources: Who is in your network? Who is a part of your inner circle/personal board of directors—your top connectors and advisors? What are the alumni and other organizational relationships that you have in your corner? How are you nurturing those relationships (lunches, drinks, coffee, etc.)?

Third, develop a plan and strategy for how you are going to develop the more in your career.

You may need to invest in an executive coach or career coach, but at a minimum you should be frank in your self-evaluation and consultation with the trusted mentors and sponsors in your life.

I know that this article is not universal in perspective: There are minority lawyers who were born into wealth and privilege, and there are many majority lawyers who were not. I do think that minority lawyers, though, are d ­ isproportionately

encouraged by their parents/culture and the majority culture to believe in America and the meritocracy— while the well-heeled and well-connected continue to pull strings for each other.

so many talented lawyer options to choose from, you must check your ego at the door, and recognize that you are far from the only smart and accomplished attorney pursuing every opportunity. You’re going to

There are many, many unemployed and underemployed attorneys of all backgrounds whose lack of EQ skills and connections trumped their impressive IQ and accomplishments.

The important thing for ALL lawyers to remember, though, is that just being smart and hard-working is not going to be enough to reliably, consistently bring you sustained success throughout your career. There are many, many unemployed and underemployed attorneys of all backgrounds whose lack of EQ skills and connections trumped their impressive IQ and accomplishments. And there are many less than brilliant and diligent lawyers who always seem to land on their feet because of their high EQ skills and active networks.

In an increasingly contracting and competitive legal market where employers and clients have

have to use every skill and resource at your disposal to succeed. It’s good to believe in America. It’s good to dream. But you should do more than believe and dream. You must learn how to play to win. ■ SONYA SOM (ssom@ mlaglobal.com ) is a partner in Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Chicago office and focuses on strategizing and leading networking, business development and marketing initiatives for MLA’s In-House Practice Group recruiting team throughout the Midwest, with a special emphasis on diversity. You can follow her on Twitter @sonyaoldssom and connect with her via LinkedIn www.linkedin. com/in/sonyasom.

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BRANDING CAPTAIN BY MAMIE JOEVEER

Building a Network: It’s More Than Lunch THE VALUE OF A STRONG NETWORK IS UNDENIABLE when it comes to business development. Building a strong network, however, can be easier said than done. The challenge becomes even more daunting for younger attorneys who don’t know where to begin. I’ve found that taking the initiative to lead and be involved in office activities, professional activities and community activities is the key to building a network. It boils down to jumping on opportunities, being actively involved in organizations and searching for opportunities when they seem lacking.

Take Advantage of Hidden Opportunities

Many times I have been invited to attend a professional event such as a dinner or conference because a colleague had an extra ticket or an extra seat at a table opened up. I can remember debating about whether I wanted to chip away at my personal time to go to an event where I didn’t know anyone or have a strong tie to the event itself. Every time I accepted, the experience turned out to be better than expected. Often, I ran into people who I had met again. Creating a strong network is not something that happens while sitting alone in an office. The connection I made with the new colleagues added to my circle were a lot more natural and real than any random contact I have added on a social networking site. Each of those opportunities to increase my network would have passed me by had I rejected the invitation.

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Be an Active Participant

It’s tempting to rack up the résumé with a list of organizations that look good on paper, but in reality one’s real role is just filling a seat.

It’s like the gym membership bought at the first of the year but rarely used. It doesn’t result in anything beneficial. Everyone has time constraints but getting involved in an active way is what drives the organization forward and forces different people to work together and forge new relationships. Currently, I am co-chair of the Florida Bar’s Media Law Conference. We are planning our conference in April and through this role I have developed a close working relationship with many of the committee members. I started out as a member, but through active participation, I rose to a leadership position. This has been the case for me with many organizations that I joined. I have had to either plan a budget, discuss and implement a new idea, or help

launch a campaign. It’s these activities that helped me connect in a natural way with different members of the bar and the community.

Take the Initiative to Find Opportunities

Opportunities are not always straightforward, but that does not mean they are not there. To find opportunities, it’s also important to take the initiative and open doors where they may seem closed. Sometimes the simplest way is to ask.

Building an active network is a process that doesn’t have to be a challenge; in fact, it can become a natural result of a shared experience. Grabbing a bite is still a way to connect with someone new, but to build long-lasting active networks, it’s more than just lunch. ■ MAMIE JOEVEER (mamie.joeveer@ hoganlovells.com) began her career as a captain in the United States Marine Corps. She transitioned from the Marines and became a journalist for national news outlets. She is now a litigation attorney and also supports practice group business development efforts. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Miami City Ballet.

GENERAL C OUNSEL S UMMIT REGISTRATION

Join us for our Annual General Counsel Summit (GCS) at Turnberry Isle Miami Resort. GCS is a three and a half-day conference that combines golf, legal education and career development in an intimate and relaxed environment. Learn, connect and develop relationships while enjoying the amenities of a five-star resort and play a round of golf on its championship golf courses to support the next deserving LMJ Scholar.

Highlights Include: • Want to know what it takes to have and hold the top in-house job? Join Gwen Marcus (General Counsel, Showtime Networks Inc.) and Samuel Reeves (General Counsel, Intl. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) for a fireside chat about their personal journeys and perspectives on career and leadership.

• There has been a proliferation of research on what it takes to be successful.

But, what does that really mean? How is success defined? MCCA has teamed up with experts and is offering for the first time, Sources of Success™, a professional development program series designed for junior and mid-level attorneys. Learn about your inner ambition and if you have the “It Factor” to make your ambition a reality.

• Ever wonder if you can be high on marijuana and get CLEs? You’ll have to join us to find out. This year, we called for original CLE programs and they promise to be memorable thanks to our members and supporters.

www.mcca.com/gcs GCS Golf Tournament- April 22 Golfers of all levels to the forefront for a tee-off showdown at the 2017 GCS Golf Tournament. The Tournament will be held at Turnberry’s legendary Miller Course from 8 am – 1 pm.

Create your own foursome or sign up as a solo player to be placed with a group.

MCCA works diligently to pair law firms with in-house counsel. Golfers will have the opportunity to network with fellow attorneys while enjoying extravagant food and drink as you make your way through the course. A Champions Luncheon will be held following the tournament on the Laguna Lawn.

DATE: APRIL 19-22, 2017 LOCATION: TURNBERRY ISLE MIAMI RESORT AVENTURA, FL www.mcca.com/gcs ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES MCCA TEE TIME

Reserve one of the MCCA discounted tee time spots on Thursday, April 20.

SOAK UP THE SPA

Enjoy special MCCA discounted spa services at the four star âme Spa.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship opportunities are available for this event.

For more information please contact:

Elizabeth Allard at 202-739-5901 or sponsorship@mcca.com.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS BY ALONZO L. LLORENS

Is Our IPO Market Trying To Tell Us Something?

AS WE BEGIN THE NEW YEAR, it seems appropriate to look at a trend that some might find disturbing, which is the dramatic decrease in the number of initial public offerings (IPO) filed over the last couple of years. According to data provided by Renaissance Capital, creator of the Renaissance U.S. IPO Index, there were only 105 IPOs in 2016 compared to 275 filings in 2014 and 170 filings in 2015. This data raises several questions: 1. Why has there been such a decrease?

2. What are the implications?

3. What, if anything, should be done about it?

Some of the factors that may have played a role in the decrease include the following. First, many people continue to believe that the regulatory framework, currently in place, that governs the IPO process and governs publicly traded companies is too burden-

been lower than expected. Finally, some believe that shareholders of publicly traded companies place too much emphasis on short-term earnings, which prevents these companies from focusing on long-term growth. As such, some companies may be discouraged from going public.

If this trend of fewer and fewer IPOs continues, then I think that the implications can be far-reaching. A couple of points,

If this trend of fewer and fewer IPOs continues, then I think that the implications can be far-reaching. some. Moreover, they feel that the costs associated with the regulatory framework are too expensive. Second, some believe that it is no longer necessary for a company to go public to gain access to large amounts of capital as there is adequate capital in the private markets, both domestically and abroad. As a result, private equity funds and large institutional investors tend to be the primary beneficiaries of today’s deal flow.

Third, the returns in 2015 may have

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in particular, may be noteworthy.

First, the IPO market has always been a way for small investors to participate in the capital market and position themselves to earn a return on their investment. This is an important piece of the fabric that allows citizens to achieve the American dream. If the average citizen loses the ability to invest in the best companies, then it has a direct impact on that individual’s ability to potentially earn a reasonable return on investment.

Finally, if the vast majority of funding takes place at the private level, will we ultimately end up losing some degree of transparency in the process, which might ultimately result in adverse consequences to the private participants.

Given the above, what, if anything, can or should be done about this trend? First, some believe that the market is self-correcting and, over time, there will be a rebound in the number of IPOs no matter what. Second, the SEC and Congress should continue their ongoing analysis of the current regulatory environment and make adjustments, as needed. This includes the question of whether the securities framework needs to be either completely revamped or materially reduced. Finally, some may argue that there is too much emphasis on short-term earnings and that there should be more of a balance between short-term earnings and long-term growth.

At the end of the day, reasonable people can differ as to all of the items discussed above. However, what we all want is a system that works. Therefore, there should be constant scrutiny and analysis of the market and a constant effort to improve it, if necessary. ■ ALONZO L. LLORENS (allorens@gordonrees. com) is a partner with Gordon & Rees LLP and a member of the Business Transactions Practice Group.

Call for Authors ®

Everyone has a story.

Everyone has expertise.

Let’s put those together and help you get published.

If you are interested in writing for Diversity & the Bar® or you have a story idea, please contact:

Kim Howard, CAE Editor-in-Chief kimhoward@mcca.com www. mcca.com/ dbmagazine

1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004 202.739.5909 (P) 202.739.5999 (F)

LITIGATION MATTERS BY CRAIG A. THOMPSON, ESQ.

If I Knew Then…

Part Two

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.

—Lyndon B. Johnson IN THE LAST COLUMN, I ENDED BY PROMISING to continue discussing my “lessons learned” over the last twenty-plus years of practice, and to drill down further on how to build great relationships inside and outside the courtroom to succeed. Let’s go!

Never Lose the Personal Touch

It is sometimes easy to forget that clients, judges, juries and (gasp) opposing counsel are people. The Golden Rule should always apply, even when it hurts to do so. You should never be a pushover, but always treat people with the level of engagement and respect that you would expect. More, important, keep in mind that everyone involved in litigation has something going on in his/her life other than that piece of litigation. Find some

Keep It Super Simple (KISS)

I have realized over the years that while using big words and attempting to “sound like a lawyer” may be impressive to your family and friends, they do not necessarily impress or influence judges or juries. When preparing for trial and developing your narratives, remember to keep it simple. The best and most memorable stories we heard as children were those with the simplest messages: persistence beats arrogance; don’t be greedy; practice what you preach; don’t

I have realized over the years that while using big words and attempting to “sound like a lawyer” may be impressive to your family and friends, they do not necessarily impress or influence judges or juries. commonality in shared experiences, and remember the personal touch is always best. I have found over time that people detest phonies, and respond favorably to “real talk.”

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fly to close to the sun. The same holds true with litigation—if you can distill your case into an easily memorable line or theme, you are guaranteed to empower jurors who are with you or want to be with you to speak boldly on your behalf.

The Best Way to Write Is to Write Your Best

Legal writing has always been a major topic of discussion, and for litigators the written word is as important as the spoken word. The young me was always concerned about making sure I said things the “right way,” whether it was what I wanted to say or not. I was like a first-time Starbucks drinker: more concerned with using the correct phraseology and lingo to impress the other people in line than being clear about the drink desired. I have been in Starbucks, and have seen the tortured attempts at placing orders.

Mature me has realized that there is no “right way” to write.

While there are stylistic and jurisdictional requirements that vary and must be followed, the substantive aspects of writing are personal. Find your own writing voice, and write.

Do Not Be Ashamed of Your Theme Music

Finally, never be ashamed of your “theme music.” I have no doubt in my mind that there is a song, production, video or artist that gets you pumped. I have no doubt in my mind that when you hear–fill in the blank–you are ready to take on the world. I have no doubt that you get centered, focused and primed to win when your mood music comes on the air. You know what?

Play it!

Younger me thought that listening to the hip hop or other types of music that got me in the mood was unbecoming of a “focused, disciplined professional.” For a period of time, I stopped listening to the artists that got me ready to go, thinking it was not proper to have others know what I listened to, or out of fear that there would be some judgment. I realized that each of us needs “theme music,” with go-to songs or artists that get us ready for battle.

If Biggie Smalls gets you prepared to cross examine that expert, then get your ears ready to hear “Biggie.” If Steely Dan gets you in the right mood to deliver that opening statement to get the jury on your side, then pop in “Peg.” If Beyoncé triggers the emotional or psychological jolt you need to sit through that all-day deposition, then get in “Formation.” Whatever gets you where your need to be, do not be ashamed to play it and let it move you toward victory.

You Are Unique

If you are a younger attorney reading this, please know that this profession needs you, and by that I mean the unique you that can help make this profession better and represent your

If you are a younger attorney reading this, please know that this profession needs you, and by that I mean the unique you that can help make this profession better and represent your clients as only you can. clients as only you can. If you are a more senior attorney, remember that your experiences are important, and sharing your wisdom will not only help the next generation of litigators, but sharpen your awareness of what makes you great. Our clients, this system and our profession will thank us for it. ■ CRAIG A. THOMPSON, ESQ. (cathompson@venable.com) is a partner with Venable LLP and a trial lawyer with 20 years of experience trying civil cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Association of Defense Counsel and lectures across the country on topics related to civil litigation. Connect with him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/getcraig and LinkedIn at www.linkedin. com/in/craigathompson.

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THE ADR MOSAIC BY THEODORE K. CHENG

A Celebration of Diversity in Alternative Dispute Resolution WELCOME TO THE ADR MOSAIC! This is a column about alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and diversity. It will discuss the myriad processes used by companies and individuals to resolve conflicts. Some will sound familiar from either personal experience or recent media scrutiny; others may strike you as novel and innovative. The column will also tackle diversity in the ADR field.

The neutrals who are retained to assist in resolving disputes are fast becoming a cohesive profession, and it behooves everyone who participates in ADR to identify ways to improve it for the benefit of all stakeholders. This inaugural column will give you a little taste of both.

What is ADR?

Initially, let me be clear about what ADR seeks to do. When a dispute arises, it is almost reflexive to immediately think about commencing a lawsuit to vindicate a position, obtain compensation, and/or achieve some measure of justice. But seeking a remedy in court entails an enormous expenditure of time and money (think, for example, e-discovery and high-priced experts), accompanied by delay and distraction. Sometimes, like when a binding, precedential ruling is needed, the dispute is far better resolved in court. At bottom, though, litigation lacks real flexibility in designing a process tailored to the dispute in question: additional expenses (time and fees) are incurred having to appear before a decision maker with usually little to no expertise in the subject matter of the dispute; confidentiality cannot be maintained because of the public nature of the proceedings; and control over the process is placed completely in the hands of a third-party.

One way to minimize these drawbacks is to consider using

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ADR processes such as mediation or arbitration. In mediation, the parties engage a neutral, disinterested third-party who facilitates discussion amongst the parties to assist them in arriving at a mutually consensual resolution. Rather than being a decision maker, the mediator tries to improve communications between the parties, explore possible alternatives, and ­address the underlying interests

parties. Like mediation, arbitration can resolve a broad array of disputes, and, if properly managed by the neutral, the parties, and their counsel, arbitration can result in a process that is fair, expeditious, and cost-effective. Both processes maintain confidentiality, and selecting the neutral—one who is well versed in process skills, with perhaps some knowledge of, or prior experience with, the subject matter of the dispute—is oftentimes critical to achieving a satisfying resolution or a fair and just result.

Selecting the Neutral

Because a lot can rest on the selection of the neutral, it is little wonder that the dearth of diversity in the pool of neutrals should be of concern to all stakeholders in the ADR field. By any measure, the state of diversity in ADR is dismal.1

Because a lot can rest on the selection of the neutral, it is little wonder that the dearth of diversity in the pool of neutrals should be of concern to all stakeholders in the ADR field. and needs of the parties to move them toward a negotiated settlement or other resolution of their own making. By contrast, arbitration is more like litigation, in that the parties engage a neutral, disinterested third-party to determine the merits of the dispute, but according to the rules and procedures that are agreed-upon by the

But there are sound rationales for why diversity is and should be an important factor in selecting a neutral. First, ADR processes essentially privatize what would ordinarily be the public function of bringing a lawsuit.2 As organizations like MCCA have advanced with respect to the judiciary, an ADR profession dominated by

individuals of one background, perspective, philosophy, ideology, or persuasion is neither healthy nor ideal.3 Instead, neutrals should reflect the diverse communities of attorneys and parties whom they serve. Achieving that diversity will also instill confidence in stakeholders that the process is fair and just.

Second, particularly in situations where more than one decision maker has been engaged (like a panel of arbitrators), the decision making process is generally improved, resulting in normatively better and more correct outcomes, when there exists different points of view.4 Aside from affording cognitive diversity, having a diverse panel typically adds new perspectives, while destroying the tendency to have the panel engage in unnecessary groupthink, so long as the decision makers are able to exercise independence of opinion.

I hope that gives you a flavor for the column. Please join me as we continue to celebrate the diversi-

ty found within the various ADR processes, as well as the diversity of the professionals who serve in the ADR field. Catch you next time on The ADR Mosaic! ■ THEODORE K. CHENG (tcheng@foxlex. com) is an arbitrator and mediator with the American Arbitration Association, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), Resolute Systems, and several federal and state courts, principally focusing on intellectual property, entertainment and technology disputes. He has also handled intellectual property and commercial litigation matters for the past 20 years and is currently a partner at the international law firm of Fox Horan & Camerini LLP in New York City. More information is available at www.linkedin.com/in/theocheng.

Endnotes

1 See, e.g., Theodore K. Cheng, “The Case for Bringing Diversity to the Selection of ADR Neutrals,” NYSBA New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Summer 2016) at 18 (“Historically, not only have

the various rosters and lists maintained by private ADR providers (and courts, for that matter) failed to reflect the pool of available and qualified women and minority neutrals, but the selection process has also repeatedly afforded opportunities to only a small percentage of this growing pool.”); Beth Trent, Deborah Masucci, and Timothy Lewis, “The Dismal State of Diversity: Mapping a Chart for Change,” ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Fall 2014) at 21 (“[T] he reason we are writing this article – and you are reading it – is because we have failed to achieve a level of diversity in the legal profession and ADR that even approaches being representative of our society, and that is not acceptable.”); Hon. Ariel E. Belen, “We Need More Diversity in Mediation,” Law360 (Mar. 15, 2013) (“Anecdotally, the evidence is very strong that among the thousands of mediators and arbitrators selected to resolve disputes every year, it is rare that a minority ADR practitioner is chosen.”).

2S ee Laura A. Kaster, “Why and How Corporations Must Act Now to Improve ADR Diversity,” Corporate Disputes (Jan.-Mar. 2015) at 36, 37; David H. Burt and Laura A. Kaster, “Why Bringing Diversity to ADR is a Necessity,” ACC Docket (Oct. 2013), at 41.

3 See Vincent T. Chang, Theodore K. Cheng, and James P. Chou, “Reflecting the Communities it Serves: Increasing the Diversity of the Federal Bench,” AABANY Advocate (Winter 2011) at 3.

4S ee generally Scott Page, “The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies” (Princeton Univ. Press 2007); James Surowiecki, “The Wisdom of Crowds” (Anchor Books 2004).

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SPOTLIGHTING BY JENNIFER J. SALOPEK

Toward Greater Diversity in the Supreme Court Bar: Kannon Shanmugam FROM THE LOOKS OF KANNON SHANMUGAM’S Twitter feed (@KannonShanmugam), you might think he is a sportswriter. Many of his tweets are about sports, particularly Kansas sports, particularly KU basketball and the Chiefs: ■■“I just had the honor of telling

@SenatorDole that Kansas beat Texas” (November 19, 2016) ■■“If all goes well, I’ll make it to New York just in time for a birthday treat—Kansas vs. Duke at Madison Square Garden” (November 14, 2016) ■■“The Royals’ reign ends tonight.

I thought their 30-year drought was epic, but 11 teams currently have longer ones” (November 2, 2016)

appellate lawyer and Supreme Court advocate. He represents the increasing diversity of the Supreme Court bar, but acknowledges that there is still a long way to go.

Shanmugam the lawyer is a self-described black sheep in a family of scientists. His father is an electrical engineer, his mother a computer scientist/programmer, and his brother a professor of computer science. Growing up in Lawrence, Kansas, Shanmugam

The law offered the same appeal as journalism: “I love writing, and enjoy the challenge of explaining facts.”

Indeed, when Shanmugam enrolled at Harvard College at the age of 16, he thought he might emerge a journalist. He worked as a sports writer and editor at the Harvard Independent, and spent two summers at the Kansas City Star. Eventually, however, he decided it would be hard to make a good living as a journalist, so he majored in classics at Harvard.

After spending a postgraduate year at Oxford University, courtesy of a Marshall Scholarship, he enrolled at Harvard Law School. The law offered the same appeal as journalism: “I love writing, and enjoy the challenge of explaining facts.”

Since his graduation from law school, Shanmugam has forged a distinctive reputation as a skilled

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performed well in school; during that time, skipping grades was in vogue with educators, so he skipped first and seventh grades, resulting in his high school graduation at the age of 16.

Theirs was one of only two Indian families in Lawrence; the other was the Srinivasans, whose son Padmanabhan (“Sri”)—in an epic example of how small the world is—is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and remains a close friend of Shanmugam’s.

“I am very proud of my heritage and my parents for coming to this country with nothing,” Shanmugam said. “Lawrence, Kansas, was very welcoming. I never felt as if I were being singled out or

treated differently because of the color of my skin.”

Although going to Harvard College caused “culture shock,” Harvard Law School was even more challenging. Shanmugam found influential role models and mentors in such professors as Dan Meltzer and David Shapiro, whom Shanmugam assisted with research for the Hart & Wechsler treatise on the federal courts. “They were both superb classroom teachers and incredibly generous with their time outside the classroom,” he said.

After earning his JD, Shanmugam became a clerk to Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He returned to England as an American Inns of Court Temple Bar Scholar during his clerkship.

He speaks often about Scalia’s legacy and his lasting impact on American jurisprudence at legal conferences.

“There was no one better to learn from as a young lawyer. I learned a lot during that year. Justice Scalia really sweated the details; he cared about the smaller cases every bit as much as he cared about the bigger ones. It was an important lesson: Not every case is glamorous but deserves the lawyer’s full attention,” Shanmugam said.

Scalia’s death was unexpected and a real loss for Shanmugam.

“He was a wonderful jurist and a wonderful mentor, tremendously loyal to and passionate about his

law clerks. Our relationship was a really special one.”

Shanmugam now heads Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation practice.

He is the only lawyer to have joined the firm as a lateral partner in the past 30 years. His first argument in front of Scalia and the rest of the court was “pretty scary—Scalia could be awfully tough on the lawyers who argued in front of him.

“For anyone who has clerked for a judge or justice, there’s extra added pressure,” he continues.

“You don’t want to let them down.

Frankly, though, I think that was subsumed into my general terror at the prospect of arguing a case before the Supreme Court.”

Since Scalia’s death, the Supreme Court has been functioning well despite its missing Justice, Shanmugam said. “They have carried on with their day-to-day work relatively seamlessly, and are working to achieve consensus to

the extent possible,” he said. “The dynamic is very different now at oral argument, due to Scalia’s absence. He loomed large, and his absence is very palpable.”

Shanmugam served as an assistant to the Solicitor General in the Department of Justice from 2004 to 2008, and said that he has witnessed increasing diversity in the profession since the beginning of his law career. He notes that the Solicitor General’s office is now half women, and that there is a “small pocket” of Indian-American lawyers. As to the Supreme Court Bar, “There is been a criticism of [it] historically has been that it’s not being very diverse. As a statistical matter, that is true. But we are seeing women and minorities breaking into the Supreme Court Bar, and becoming several of its leading members. There are signs that its makeup is changing.”

Another of the Bar’s members, Pratik Shah, co-head of Akin

Gump’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice, met Shanmugam upon joining the Solicitor General’s office in 2008. The two men had an immediate connection because of their shared South Asian background in a workplace that Shah describes as composed of “brilliant advocates who are regular people: engaging, personable and very gracious.” He notes, however, that Shanmugam “stood out even among the very well-regarded.”

Former OSG colleague Lisa Blatt, now head of the Appellate and Supreme Court practice at Arnold & Porter, who joined the office in 1996, calls Shanmugam “one of the most gifted writers I know.”

Shanmugam and Shah appear annually at the meeting of the South Asian Bar Association (SABA), as members of a panel discussion on the Supreme Court.

Vichal Kumar, current president of SABA North America, calls it “our most anticipated event at our annual convention.”

Shanmugam has argued 18 cases before the Supreme Court, including several of the Court’s most significant recent business and criminal cases. He also uses Twitter to share information and updates about current cases. He most recently appeared before the Supreme Court in January in the case of Midland v. Johnson, which centers on a challenge to practices by debt collectors in bankruptcy proceedings. ■ JENNIFER J. SALOPEK (jjsalopek@ outlook.com) is a freelance writer in McLean, Virginia.

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Rainmakers who always Shine

By Patrick Folliard

MCCA’s Annual List of Rainmakers proves that the profession has talented lawyers who also have valuable business development skills. The list includes attorneys from around the country who practice a wide variety of law.

Their success stories offer insight and value to lawyers at every career stage.

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ANAND AGNESHWAR

Partner Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP New York Practice Area: Litigation Years Practicing: 21 “Rainmaker is not a label I particularly like. It sounds like you’re out for the next big catch,” says Anand Agneswhar, a litigation partner in Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer’s New York office who co-chairs the firm’s product liability practice group and heads its diversity committee. “To me that isn’t what being a successful lawyer who generates business is all about. I’m concerned about a client’s business and wellbeing. And that in turn hopefully has a ripple effect and brings in more business.”

Agneshwar, a musician whose first dream was to play guitar in a rock band, now represents pharmaceutical and consumer product companies in product liability and related litigation. “On the upside when you bring in business you gain a voice in a firm,” he says.

“But then the buck stops with you if something goes wrong with the case. You have to put together a great team, manage externally and internally, and make sure you’re doing well for the firm while giving your client the best service you possibly can.”

“Bringing in a matter is just the first step,” he adds.

“Constantly you have to be doing the best for the client and looking ahead. A new client is not just your next assignment. It’s a continuation of doing the very best.”

Part of what Agneshwar likes best about rainmaking is building a team and showcasing junior lawyers. “Recently we had a strategy meeting with a client where only associates presented. You get to think and partner creatively. It’s a luxury and responsibility.”

AMY L. BAIRD

Partner Jackson Walker Houston, TX Practice Area: Energy Law Years Practicing: 32 Early in her career, Baird was an in-house lawyer at a major interstate natural gas pipeline. “They really wanted the new lawyers to understand the energy business. So part of our job was to learn about the business, like pipeline operations and marketing and regulatory issues, from the senior business executives,” she says.

“It’s much harder to learn the business if you start out as an outsider lawyer. I was fortunate to have had this invaluable experience before going to a firm.”

Baird is an energy lawyer. As a partner at Jackson Walker, her practice includes energy contracts and litigation, and project development—everything in the midstream sector of the oil and gas business, meaning the part of the industry, “from the wellhead to point where retail sales begin.”

The most challenging and interesting aspects of Baird’s practice are one in the same: keeping up with the industry. “The energy industry is always evolving.

Prices for gas, oil and liquids are cyclical, meaning different opportunities and problems arise for clients as a result. And the industry changes enormously in response to changes in the regulatory structure. It can be a lot of work, but the evolution of the energy business is part of what makes it interesting—it would be so dull to do the same thing over and over again.”

Baird earned her BA and JD from the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama Law School, respectively, in her hometown of Tuscaloosa. She grew up just four blocks from the University’s stadium and is a passionate Alabama Crimson Tide football fan.

Rainmaking isn’t easy, she says. “You spend a lot of time keeping in touch with current clients to find out what their needs are, and looking for new clients.

It’s important to maintain contact with current and potential future clients about their legal needs. You don’t necessarily have to keep a spreadsheet like some of my more organized colleagues do to track their client contacts, but it’s always important to anticipate clients’ needs and make yourself and your firm helpful to them.

You can’t become complacent.”

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MARK W. BRENNAN

CAROLYN FAIRLESS

“I focus on becoming a trusted advisor for clients, building relationships, and being able to spot and create opportunities,” says Mark W. Brennan, a partner in Hogan Lovells’ Washington, D.C. office. His practice involves cutting-edge communications and privacy issues. Some of his clients include leading tech and e-commerce companies, “Internet of Things” pioneers, and global healthcare, financial and transportation clients.

Brennan’s formula for rainmaking success is to be proactive, patient and persistent. He advises seeking out opportunities to develop strong relationships wherever you can and being prepared to keep pursuing new work even if you hit speed bumps.

“Don’t overlook the persistence element,” Brennan said. “Know how you can add value, and convey your strengths clearly to clients and colleagues. And if a particular approach doesn’t work, figure out why and adapt for the next opportunity.”

In rainmaking, it’s also important to be yourself,” says Brennan, an out LGBT partner. “Sometimes, especially early on, you may feel like you need to follow a specific model that you have seen other successful rainmakers use. Of course, if you do that, you’re not really distinguishing yourself. By relying instead on your own authentic voice and style—one that comes naturally, you can spend more time and energy focusing on the client’s objectives.”

A native of Ocala, Florida, Brennan was the first in his immediate family to get a college degree. “My parents stressed the importance of a good education and encouraged me to pursue a professional career. I’ve been fortunate enough to have strong support from family and friends along the way.”

Carolyn Fairless first realized she was a rainmaker when her phone started to ring. “Clients were calling me directly. They expected me to be the lead lawyer,” she says. “It’s a huge compliment to have clients choose me, particularly in my work, which mostly involves representing other lawyers and other firms. They understand what it means to provide high quality legal services because they do the same themselves.”

Fairless is the managing partner of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, a national civil litigation firm based in Denver. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, professional liability defense and insurance disputes. “My clients trust me with their most important matters, and it’s important that I never lose sight of that. They put their confidence in me and I don’t want to disappoint them.”

As a woman in the legal profession, there have been challenges, says Fairless. “If you have a title as a woman lawyer, people sometimes question whether you’ve earned it or got the title just because you’re a woman. The great thing about having my own clients is that I know I’ve earned it, and that they don’t care about gender. They hire me because they want the best lawyer and the best outcome.”

Prior to law school, Fairless worked as a computer programmer in her native Louisiana. “I loved the problem solving but hated the solitude,” she recalls. At the same time her brother was applying to law school and suggested she follow his lead.

“We didn’t have any lawyers in the family and I didn’t know any lawyers, but nonetheless I took his advice and earned my JD at the University of Colorado Law School; it changed my life.

“I view my practice as doing the best I can do for clients. The consequence is often getting additional work. I never set out to be a rainmaker. That simply developed over time as I worked hard for my clients. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to do work I’m passionate about for clients I care about, and the business just followed.”

Partner Hogan Lovells US LLP Washington, D.C. Practice Area: Communications Law Years practicing: 12

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Managing Partner Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell Denver, CO Practice Area: Civil Litigation Years Practicing: 18

ARTURO J. GONZÁLEZ Partner Morrison & Foerster, LLP San Francisco, CA Practice Area: Trial Law Years Practicing: 31

“Once I get in the room with a client, I almost always get the work,” says Arturo J. González, a leading trial lawyer with Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. “I suspect it has to do with my confidence and presentation skills. I can comfortably converse with a CEO of a large corporation, or with a truck driver. I do a lot of research before a presentation, including the company, matter, opposing counsel, judge and the community where the case is pending.

I’ve never faced a question from a client that I didn’t think about before the meeting.”

A longtime rainmaker, González enjoys training his team to do the work. At the same time, he’s very hands on. “I pride myself on knowing the facts better than anyone in the courtroom when the case goes to trial. I delegate, yet I read every deposition transcript.”

González grew up in Roseville, California, a small railroad town near Sacramento. His father worked as a laborer for Southern Pacific. When he first met his counselor at the University of California at Davis, González made his higher education and career plans (which he later realized) clear—he intended to go to Harvard Law School and become a trial lawyer. “My counselor chuckled. In 1978, there weren’t a lot of Latino lawyers,” González says. “My counselor’s goal was more modest—to keep me in school through the semester.”

Today, González feels less pressured to bring in the next big case than to keep the firm practicing at an elite level. “Bringing in a big case is not enough. The generation that was here when I started is retiring. I need to make sure our troops are well trained and that we bring our ‘A’ game every time, without exception.”

SANG KIM

Global Board US Executive Committee Northern California Managing Partner Chair – US Tax Practice DLA Piper LLP Silicon Valley and San Francisco, CA Practice Area: International Tax Years Practicing: 21 Good lawyers don’t necessarily make rain. “I see it all the time,” says Sang Kim, DLA Piper’s managing partner of Northern California which includes Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Sacramento. “Business and client development requires some skills and talent but there’s a huge market component and luck involved too. For me it was coming to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. I am not sure that I would’ve had a material practice by my mid-30s anywhere else. I probably would have been more likely to make partner by serving firm clients.”

Born in Korea, Kim was eight when his family relocated to the United States where like many Korean immigrants, they settled in Queens, New York. “My father was a doctor but actually discouraged me from pursuing medicine. Frankly, I didn’t object either. I thought becoming a lawyer was sufficiently interesting and I took that proverbial leap of faith which I suppose is what most people do when they decide to go to law school.”

“For most people but perhaps more so for an immigrant minority attorney, clients don’t fall into your lap,” says Kim. “You hope for equal access and opportunity and equal treatment for equal performance. I think it’s important to figure out systems and every industry and organization has one. It became very obvious to me early on that lawyers who led client relationships had leverage and influence, but I wasn’t sure how to get there.”

Four years into his practice Kim had an epiphany: “If I take people out to lunch, the firm actually pays for it. For a young lawyer still paying off significant student loans, that was a winwin moment! So I began scheduling lunches with clients and contacts virtually every day of the week. I got to know more about them and their work. It was an immensely valuable opportunity to gather market intelligence and learn. I found myself asking lots of questions and never went to those lunches with a predetermined agenda to sell something.”

“People know what you do and eventually they began calling and asking for help on matters. Clients want to work with folks they are comfortable with and trust. So those lunches turned out to be very effective in laying the groundwork for future business development. It’s something I do to this day and encourage others to do so actively.”

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SAMUEL S. PARK

Partner Winston and Strawn Chicago Practice Area: Intellectual Property Litigation and Counseling Years Practicing: 17 “I’ve thought of other lawyers as rainmakers, but never myself,” says Sam Park, a litigation partner in Winston & Strawn’s Chicago office. “Generating business is a large component of our practice. But for me, it’s more about establishing good relationships with clients than going after the next job.”

Park landed his first client when his co-counsel on a case he had worked on as an associate went in-house. “I was pleasantly surprised when I got the call from him,” Park recalls. “It happened without my going out and doing pitches, because he was impressed with my work. And I already considered the client a friend, which made it all the better. My first experience of feeling directly responsible for a client and being connected to their business gave me a taste for what I wanted to do. It was exciting.”

He began his career as a general litigator, but over the years his practice became more specialized. Park now focuses almost exclusively on patent cases, and particularly those in which a pharmaceutical company is seeking to design around or invalidate a patent that covers a branded drug so the company can come out with a generic or biosimilar version. Like many patent attorneys, Park has a background in science.

The son of chemists, Park thought he’d follow in his parents’ footsteps. He received an undergraduate degree in biological sciences from the University of Chicago and spent a year working at a hospital with children with developmental disorders, but instead opted to enter the legal profession.

“You can’t control some of the factors that cause business to go up and down,” says Park, “but you can establish good relationships with clients and consistently give them great results.

Without great results, they won’t keep coming back.”

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LUIS SALAZAR

Managing Partner and Founder Salazar Law Practice Area: Commercial Litigation Years Practicing: 25 It didn’t take Luis Salazar long to set his sights on rainmaking. “Growing up in New York I helped in the family dry cleaners business. It was heavy customer contact twelve hours a day and dollars came in for good service. Early on, I had a sense of that exchange. At my first firm they gave origination bonuses. That definitely motivated me and it was something I understood.”

Salazar Law is a Miami-based commercial law boutique serving clients and business people in four areas: commercial litigation, commercial transactions, compliance and cyber security and financial restructuring. “We’re just ten team members and we’re small on purpose,” says Salazar, a former senior partner at a big law firm. “Having my own firm has given me more running room. I like developing clients in a conflict free environment. We eliminate those with a boutique.”

And the firm is purposely disruptive in its approach to the practice of law, he says. Salazar embraces alternative billing methods, diversity and technology. “We’re one of first firms of our size to contract and harness an AI legal research service.

We’re forward thinking in meeting the demand in the market.

We can support in-house counsel and in crisis and go against big law and be successful. We pack a punch for our size.”

Name partner responsibility rests heavily on Salazar’s shoulders, but he insists Salazar Law is a group effort. “It’s up to everyone on our team to deliver for the client and make them want to stay here. We’re transparent in financials and process here.

We’re successful because we keep everyone involved.”

CHRISTINA GUEROLA SARCHIO Partner Orrick Washington, D.C. Practice Area: Trial Law Years Practicing: 20

As a young associate, Christina Guerola Sarchio developed a relationship with a Fortune® 10 client through her network at the Hispanic National Bar Association.

They began referring her small matters. Pleased with her work, they sent increasingly larger matters. Unfortunately, there was a senior partner who’d done some work years before and lost a big case, and the firm hadn’t been hired for truly impactful cases since. The senior partner also erected barriers to Sarchio’s bridge-building efforts with the client. To Sarchio’s surprise, the client intimated that if she were to leave the firm, they would follow.

“That was a ‘light bulb’ moment for me. I had some power,” she says. “So I left the firm and took the client with me. They’ve been a loyal client now for ten years.”

Now a litigation partner at Orrick’s Washington, D.C. office, Sarchio handles complex business disputes (many of which go to trial) ranging from breach of contract cases, to class action matters, to false advertising and sports law cases. She says, “Clients know I have extensive trial experience and a winning record. I can prep a case from the beginning as though we’re going to trial and send a message to the other side that we’re not afraid to try it. I get brought on for strong credentials.”

She never anticipated becoming a rainmaker when she was a senior associate and young partner. “I thought, I’m a Spanish girl from New York City. I didn’t go to the right prep schools, I don’t play golf. I’ll never generate business. I’ll just be a service partner,” she remembers. “But the fact is anyone can generate business so long as you’re in a position where you’re able to demonstrate your skills. People take notice. Put yourself out there, and don’t be deterred when you hit walls. I did it. You can do it.”

ANTHONY N. UPSHAW Partner McDermott Will & Emery Miami, FL Practice Area: Litigation Years practicing: 26

Anthony “Tony” Upshaw was already a rainmaker as a fifth-year associate.

“I’d become very involved in the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division, and wasn’t afraid to ask folks about business propositions. I asked them to trust me and send me work. And they did.” He credits his confidence to his five years of active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard before attending law school.

“I was never a baby faced associate,” he adds. “That might have helped.”

“Generating business instantly gives you some gravitas in a firm. I was able to work on partners’ litigation and build my practice. Also, there was suddenly a group of people who were working on clients that I brought in, and I was responsible for feeding them. A certain sense of responsibility definitely goes with that.”

Today, Upshaw is the partner-in-charge of litigation in McDermott’s Miami office. He focuses on defending clients in class action, mass tort, product liability and complex civil litigation.

Over the course of his career, he has tried over 30 significant civil jury trials to verdict.

Though he has never obtained business on a golf course, Upshaw considers his methods of generating business very old school: “Personal contact works even in today’s world of electronic interaction. Young and “senior” in-house lawyers appreciate getting to know me personally. Grabbing coffee, having lunch, meeting in person—these same basic tools that I can use in my personal life to connect with people also translate to success in my professional life.” ■ PATRICK FOLLIARD (epf2810@gmail.com) is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md.

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Charlotte E. Ray

5

Attaining Colorf

Tips for Minority Women

on Their Path to Partnership

By Salmah Y. Rizvi

In 1872, Charlotte E. Ray became America’s first woman of color to graduate from law school, specializing in corporate law. That same year, the Woman’s Journal wrote: In the city of Washington, where a few years ago colored women were bought and sold under sanction of law, a woman of African descent has been admitted to practice at the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Miss Charlotte E. Ray, who has the honor of being the first lady lawyer in Washington, is a graduate of the Law College of Howard University, and is said to…possess[-] quite an intelligent countenance.1

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Leslie Spencer

Jeannie Rhee

the ful 2.5% Newspapers owned by Frederick Douglass published advertisements for Ms. Ray’s legal practice which in turn enabled her business. Due to her skillful lawyering, Historian Monroe Alpheus Majors labelled Ms. Ray as “one of the best lawyers on corporations in the country.”2 Despite her excellence and connections, her success was short lived. Lawyer Kate Rossi remarked that “Miss Ray… although a lawyer of decided ability, on account of prejudice was not able to obtain sufficient legal business and had to give up active practice.”3 Once the legal profession effectively ostracized her, Ms. Ray reverted to teaching in the Brooklyn school system.

The racial prejudices which crippled Ms. Ray’s success as a corporate lawyer nearly 145 years ago continue to prevail in the United States today. Pamela Roberts, Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Women in the Profession wrote: Women of color experience a double whammy of gender and race, unlike white women or even men of color who share at least one of these characteristics (gender or race) with those in the upper strata of management. Women of color may face exclusion from informal networks, inadequate institutional support, and challenges to their authority and credibility. They often feel isolated and alienated, sometimes even from other women.4

Noiana Marigo

According to the ABA Journal, “eighty-five percent of minority female attorneys in the U.S. will quit large firms.”

Qualitative and quantitative data analyzed by a myriad legal organizations reinforce Ms. Roberts’ commentary. According to the ABA Journal, “eighty-five percent of minority female attorneys in the U.S. will quit large firms.”5 Furthermore, minority women continue to be the “most drastically underrepresented group at the partnership level, a pattern that holds across all firm sizes and most jurisdictions.”6 While women comprise 36 percent of the legal profession, only 21.5 percent of law firm partners are female.7 This percentage, however, is much lower for women of color than for white women. According to 2015-2016 National Association of Law Placement (NALP) Directory of Legal Employers, only 2.5 percent of our nation’s partners are minority women.8 With the odds stacked against minority women, how does one attain the 2.5 percent? Three outstanding female partners provided their insight. Though all three partners are minority women, they have differing upbringings. Leslie Spencer is African-American, with family roots in America spanning generations. Jeannie Rhee is a first-generation American, born in South Korea. Noiana Marigo is an international lawyer from Argentina, practicing in the United States. While Spencer is an intellectual property litigator for Ropes & Gray, Rhee is a white collar litigator for WilmerHale, and Marigo is an international arbitrator for Freshfields. Despite their divergent backgrounds, all three women provided similar insight into how they achieved the 2.5 percent. Here is advice gleaned from their interviews.

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“It is no secret that the legal field and corporate law is still not as diverse as many other professions, and those challenges remain and present challenges over the arch of one’s career. However, you must work against the discouragement that creates. You must assume that your career will be an uphill battle but not be discouraged by that.”

—Leslie Spencer

1.

Work Hard

All three women emphasized that hard work is the most important element of success. From a young age Marigo was exposed to hardworking lawyers in her family. Her late uncle was the most influential as he always told Marigo that she could achieve everything she ever wanted, but only with hard work. He would say to her “you have to study every day of your life. It doesn’t matter if you are on vacation or tired; you must learn a new thing every day.” Spencer also stressed the importance of hard work, and how women of color of her generation and the generations before her worked hard to create the opportunities which exist for women of color today.

Having migrated to America at the age of six with only one English-speaking parent, Rhee witnessed her parents work hard as foreigners in a new land and knew she would have to work hard to achieve the American dream. Working hard, Rhee said, requires going the extra mile and in someone else’s shoes no less. “If you are a government attorney, it is important to walk a mile in a defendant’s shoes,” she said. These women, raised with a strong work ethic, have continued to work hard and smart to achieve the careers they enjoy today.

2.

Find Allies

It is not possible to attain the 2.5 percent, however, simply by working hard. Aspiring women of color must find allies in their law firms in order to excel. Spencer explained how legal work is driven by a client’s demand. Clients often pay top dollar for the oldest, most experienced person to provide legal counsel. That person will more likely be an older white man who has been in the business longer than most. Women of color should not be afraid to reach out to such senior attorneys for work, because finding allies is important to for personal business growth as a lawyer. Marigo also mentioned that there will likely be a dearth of female role models on your career path. And, she said, “Being a woman of color

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or being from a different country makes it even harder to find role models.” Finding allies and role models in the workplace requires patience and sometimes requires looking across race and gender lines. For example, when Marigo first started working, she did not know about arbitration, the field in which she is a partner today. A male partner in Paris, however, hired Marigo for three months initially and took her under his wing. Marigo mentioned, since then, “He allowed me to grow the practice with him, and he has been a mentor and sponsor for me.” Rhee also reinforced how rising women of color should not be siloed into acquiring mentors who come only from diverse backgrounds. “Many people who look nothing like me have been extraordinary allies,” she said.

3.

Advocate for Yourself

While searching for allies and excelling in one’s career, these women of color partners also mentioned that it is important to advocate for yourself. Rhee elaborated on this: “We wait for someone to notice us. We wait to be given a seat at the table. As a rising woman of color, however, you cannot expect that if you work hard enough and long enough someone will notice you. No. You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone; you have to self-advocate,” she said. Rhee discussed how important it is to highlight your skills, ask for the speaking role, and layout your arguments at the conference table so that people in the firm can readily discern your value. Similarly, Spencer discussed the importance of advocating for yourself and not isolating yourself despite the reality of your double minority status as a woman of color. She elaborated on how challenging it is to “fight against both the external forces and the internal inclinations to isolate

“We wait for someone to notice us. We wait to be given seat as a table. As a rising woman of color, however, you cannot expect that if you work hard enough and long enough someone will notice you. No. You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone; you have to self-advocate.”

—Jeannie Rhee

yourself as not many people at the firm look like you.” It is important to continue to advocate for yourself despite these realities. Furthermore, when it comes to attaining the 2.5 percent as a minority female partner, your advocacy must not be empty; you must be ready for the challenge. As Marigo mentioned, “when it was time for promotion, I had to prove to everyone that I was completely ready and that I was already doing things at the partnership level. While others may be elevated based on potential, the bar is higher for women of color and making it requires more effort.”

4.

Do Not Let the Odds Deter You

Despite the imbalances, biases, and discomfort that accompany the road to partnership, a rising woman of color attorney should not be deterred by the odds. If she is, then the 2.5 percent will not grow. Marigo mentioned how important it is to understand the realities in which you operate but not to get discouraged by such realities. Rhee also noted that “the only way to be exceptional is to find the law that excites you, fulfills you, and challenges you enough that you have an opportunity to excel in that field. Do not let it deter you that no one else in that space looks like you.” The cultural odds may very well be against you, but ultimately, she said, “you have to have confidence in yourself.” Spencer said, “It is no secret that the legal field and corporate law is still not as diverse as many other professions, and those challenges remain and present challenges over the arch of one’s career. However, you must work against the discouragement that creates. You must assume that your career will be an uphill battle but not be discouraged by that.” Attaining the 2.5 percent requires walking the fine line of knowing the challenges imbedded in your environment while not letting those challenges get the best of you.

5.

Give Back

Lastly, what was most unique about these successful women is that giving back was essential to their success. Rhee was giving back to her family and community from a young age. “As a child of an immigrant, you end up advocating for your parents who are not able to advocate for themselves. You call places on behalf of your mother. You enroll children in school. You help where you can,” she said. Spencer echoed her approach to giving back. “It is important to give back and stay connected in a way that makes sense for you, that may be through church, through pro bono work, through organizations, through bar association programs.

It is important to be very mindful of these commitments even in your busiest times,” she said. For Marigo, she finds this drive to give back by sponsoring younger women of color. “I try to take it seriously, to sponsor them and get them the support they need to grow here at my firm,” she said.

“The only way to be exceptional is to find the law that excites you, fulfills you, and challenges you enough that you have an opportunity to excel in that field. Do not let it deter you that no one else in that space looks like you.”

—Noiana Marigo

In a sense, these extremely successful women of color partners have benefited from a type of karmic success, believing strongly that they must use the power they have acquired throughout their careers to help propel those around them. Undoubtedly, aspiring women of color attorneys who are carving a path to partnership can benefit from the collective advice gleaned from the interviews of these three extraordinary, diverse women. Though women of color have faced a long history of discrimination in the legal profession, surely the ingredients of working hard, finding allies, self-advocating, not being deterred by the odds, and giving back are needed in the recipe for attaining the colorful 2.5 percent. ■ SALMAH Y. RIZVI (Salmah.Rizvi@ropesgray.com) is a law clerk at Ropes & Gray and served as the co-chair of the Women of Color Collective while at NYU Law.

1 Phebe A. Hanaford, “Daughters of America, or, Women of the Century” 649 (True & Company, 1882).

2 Monroe A. Majors, “Noted Negro Women: Their Triumphs and Activities” 184 (Donohue & Henneberry, 1893).

3 Darlene C. Hine, “Black Women in America” 30 (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed.

2005).

4 Janet E. Gans Epner, American Bar Ass’n Comm’n on Women in the Profession, Visible Invisibility vii (2006), available at www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/marketing/ women/visibleinvisibility.authcheckdam.pdf.

5 Lian Jackson, Minority women are disappearing from BigLaw—and here’s why (Mar. 1, 2016, 12:15 AM), http://www.abajournal.com/mobile/mag_article/ minority_women_are_disappearing_from_biglaw_and_heres_why.

6 Press Release, Nat’l Ass’n for Law Placement, Diversity Numbers at Law Firms Eke Out Small Gains – Numbers for Women Associates Edge Up After Four Years of Decline (Feb. 17, 2015), available at www.nalp.org/lawfirmdiversity_feb2015.

7 American Bar Ass’n Comm’n on Women in the Profession, A Current Glance at Women in the Law 2 (2016), available at www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/marketing/ women/current_glance_statistics_may2016.authcheckdam.pdf.

8 Nat’l Ass’n for Law Placement, Women and Minorities at Law Firms by Race & Ethnicity – New Findings for 2015 (2016), available at www.nalp.org/0116research.

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Marching Toward GEN

By Lydia Lum

How Large, Elite Law Firms are Trying to Increase Female Partners and Leaders WHEN EVA DAVIS ATTENDED A PITCH CONTEST last year, she wasn’t sure what to expect.

Eva Davis, partner and co-chair of the private equity practice in the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP.

The contest was supposed to yield new ideas to improve advancement and promotion opportunities for female lawyers at the nation’s largest firms. Having practiced law at three of these firms for 26 years, Davis felt certain that proposals would not be easy to implement because “very smart people at stellar firms have been searching for a solution to these problems for so long.”

But as the contest unfolded, she was pleasantly surprised.

COURTESY OF WINSTON & STRAWN LLP

NDER EQUALITY Caren Ulrich Stacy, founder & CEO of Diversity Lab.

COURTESY OF DIVERSITY LAB

“All nine proposals tried to address the problem in very different ways, almost providing an à la carte menu of solutions,” said Davis, partner and co-chair of the private equity practice in the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP. This year, many of those proposals are being further developed and implemented at firms where the initial brainstorming occurred. The ideas—some of which call for devising smartphone apps or embedding lawyers in client corporations—try to eliminate barriers to women’s successful business development and better reward non-billable and historically undervalued work disproportionately executed by women.

“I have never seen firms willing to work so hard to solve this problem as a collective community,” said Caren Ulrich Stacy, founder and chief executive officer of Diversity Lab, which convened the pitch contest.

The problems that Ulrich Stacy and Davis referred to are the longstanding disparities between men and women becoming partners and ascending to leadership at Am Law 200 firms.

Diversity Lab, in collaboration with Stanford Law School and Bloomberg Law, conceived and organized the contest, which featured 54 high-level partners, including Davis, all from different firms. The partners were divided into nine teams. Other team members consisted of Stanford law students and representatives from nonprofits and other organizations in the legal profession. For several months before the contest, teams held virtual meetings to devise proposals and fine-tune their presentations.

“Many of us who participated compete against each other for business and talent so it’s definitely noteworthy that so many senior-level people are willing to work together to solve this problem,” said Davis, part of the first-place winning team. “Many of us care well beyond our individual firms, and are happy to do what it takes to fix the problem.”

Since the contest, more than half of the participant firms asked Ulrich Stacy for help retrofitting and implementing one or more of the nine proposals. The remaining firms deployed proposals on their own. After noticing that the firms wanting assistance all gravitated

toward the same ideas, Ulrich Stacy suggested they eliminate silos and resume collaborating across firms as an alliance of sorts, to which they agreed.

One of the most popular ideas, dubbed the Mansfield Rule, is modeled after the National Football League’s “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview at least one nonwhite candidate for head coaching vacancies. Under the Mansfield Rule, firms would interview and consider at least one woman for senior-level positions such as managing partner and executive committee seats. The idea is named for Arabella Mansfield, the first American woman to pass the bar exam. When determining which firms to hire, clients could give extra consideration to those deemed Mansfield-certified by a third party.

Before last year’s pitch contest, Davis’ firm informally employed practices similar to the Mansfield Rule, but since undertaking strategic planning, have considered formalizing them. During strategic planning, the firm also pursued adopting aspects of the “SMART” platform, which was proposed by Davis’ MCCA.COM SPRING 2017 D I V E R S I T Y

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Marching Toward GENDER EQUALITY lawyers, and directs its annual legal spend to firms that score highest.

Ulrich Stacy said that based on news coverage of last year’s contest, chief legal officers from several other corporations contacted her, expressing enthusiasm for a variety of proposals and offering to help firms implement them. Ulrich Stacy’s group plans to support the participating firms for another year. She envisioned a face-to-face gathering of firms in 2018 that will focus on sharing knowledge about how gender bias is being

COURTESY OF PEPSICO INC.

Tony West, executive vice president of government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary of PepsiCo Inc.

team at the contest. SMART, which includes an app and dashboard and stands for Solutions to Measure, Advance and Reward Talent, is a gender neutral reporting and evaluation system that aligns a firm’s values and culture with compensation and promotion decisions. SMART aims to reward lawyers for tasks that have historically been non-billable, undervalued and ironically, conducted primarily by women, such as staffing work teams with a diverse group of individuals.

Lawyers can use the app to track their time spent on such tasks, and supervisors can determine whether the amount of time appropriately reflects the firm’s values.

Firms aren’t the only workplaces incorporating ideas from the pitch contest.

This year, PepsiCo Inc. began rewarding—and holding accountable—its in-house lawyers during annual performance reviews for their work with the company’s ongoing, outside counsel diversity program.

The idea for awarding credit to employees during performance reviews was partly inspired from the SMART platform, said Tony West, PepsiCo’s executive vice president for government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary. West was one of the judges at the contest. The outside counsel diversity program is based on surveying firms for who is staffing PepsiCo matters and who gets relationship credit. PepsiCo gives extra points to firms with answers that include women, minorities and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender

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This year, PepsiCo Inc. began rewarding—and holding accountable—its in-house lawyers during annual performance reviews for their work with the company’s ongoing, outside counsel diversity program. disrupted since incorporating ideas from the contest.

Another popular idea presented at last year’s contest put a twist on the traditional secondment concept. It calls for embedding two generations of female lawyers—a partner and an associate—with a client for a month and resuming the on-site assignment for several days a month for 11 more months. Known as the “Power Development Program,” this initiative encourages women to learn the client’s business, service their matters, identify professional development opportunities and gain economic credit for the relationship. The intent is to address the historic lack of economic power and influence among women at firms and the all-toocommon, non-strategic succession planning that results in many retiring partners transferring relationship partner status to those who look like them—meaning, other white men. ■ More proposals from last year’s pitch contest are detailed at www.diversitylab.com/hackathons.

LYDIA LUM was honored as National Journalist of the Year by the Organization of Chinese Americans. Now a freelance writer and editor, Lydia (lydialum999@yahoo.com) is a former reporter for the Houston Chronicle and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association recognizes 18 of the most distinguished attorneys from around the country and across the legal spectrum.

2016 NAPABA Best Lawyers Under 40

by Brett Schuster

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2016 NAPABA Best Lawyers Under 40

Mark Arimoto

Mark ­Arimoto serves as the director of A321 integration for Hawaiian Airlines, which is now in its 87th year of continuous service and is Hawaii’s biggest and longest-serving airline. As Director, Mr. Arimoto is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the integration of Hawaiian’s new fleet of fuel-efficient Airbus A321neo aircraft into the airline, from the design and customization of the aircraft, to the training of new crews and personnel, to the regulatory certifications needed to operate the fleet.

Mr. Arimoto joined Hawaiian as its first assistant general counsel in 2007 and ultimately served as its deputy general counsel until transferring to the operations department to oversee the A321 Integration Project in 2015. As deputy general counsel, Mr. Arimoto oversaw many of the day-to-day activities of the company’s legal department, including domestic and international litigation, commercial transactions, and government regulations.

Prior to this, he worked in securities litigation for a large international law firm in Boston, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Mr. Arimoto is a member of the Hawaii, California and Massachusetts bars. Mr. Arimoto is also active in the community and currently serves as chair of the Board of Directors for the Hawaii Cord Blood Bank and as a member of the Board of Directors of Maryknoll School. He was a member of the Pacific Century Fellows class of 2009 and the HSBA Leadership Institute class of 2012.

Mr. Arimoto graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude with an AB in biological anthropology and earned his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Hung Chang

Hung Chang is currently the president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, one of the largest and oldest affiliates of NAPABA. Under this role, Mr. Chang has championed many initiatives to engage both the legal community and the Asian American community at large.

His goal is to improve the collaboration between AABA and other bar organizations and to improve membership engagement by experimentation through analytics data. When he’s not “busy” delegating AABA matters to his team, he’s the director of intellectual property and open source at Harman International where he develops, structures and implements comprehensive strategy and process related to open source, data privacy, data security, intellectual property, and software development. Mr. Chang was able to thrive in the evolving landscape in the tech sector and in San Francisco generally through his determination and grit, and through support from the community. He hopes to contribute back to the community through his actions and leadership. When he’s not practicing law or inspiring others to improve the community, he can be found trying to catch an “Eevee or Snorlax” for his daughter.

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Anjan Choudhury

Anjan Choudhury is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Mr. Choudhury practices in a wide variety of matters focusing primarily on clients in the entertainment industry.

Mr. Choudhury’s clients include 20th Century Fox Television, Sony Music Entertainment, ABC Studios and Warner Music Group. He has represented clients in state and federal court as well as complex administrative proceedings, including before the Copyright Royalty Board.

Mr. Choudhury serves as counsel representing various Fox entities, including 21st Century Fox and others, in a widely publicized dispute concerning the television series “Bones.” He is also frequently tapped by clients including SoundExchange, Big Machine Label Group and MERLIN for his knowledge of digital business and legal issues facing record companies and content studios.

Recognized as a rising star in media and entertainment litigation by Variety, Mr. Choudhury is frequently invited to speak on legal matters in media, including the 2016 South by Southwest conference.

Mr. Choudhury maintains an active pro bono practice, having represented organizations such as the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. He is the immediate past president of NAPABA affiliate, the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California.

John Fetters

John Fetters is an equity shareholder with the Seattle law firm Mills Meyers Swartling, P.S. He represents individuals and businesses in a broad range of civil litigation matters, including business and complex commercial litigation, insurance coverage, municipal liability, personal injury, product liability and aviation law Mr. Fetters has tried cases to verdict in state and federal court and has handled many successful arbitration proceedings.

Super Lawyers Magazine selected him to its “Rising Stars” list in 2013-2016. He is a board member and president-elect of the Filipino Lawyers of Washington (FLOW) and is a member of the National Filipino American Lawyers Association (NFALA).

Kiran Jain

Kiran Jain is the chief resilience officer for the City of Oakland.

She has experience in both the public and private sectors working on urban innovation and community development. Ms. Jain served as chief strategy officer for Neighborly, a venture-backed company modernizing public finance to build the infrastructure people rely on to work, live and play. Prior to Neighborly, she served as a senior deputy city attorney for the City of Oakland focused on land use, urban redevelopment and municipal governance. In private practice, Ms. Jain focused on land use, environmental, finance and real estate law.

From 2010 through 2013, she served on the board of Asian Law Caucus, the nation’s first legal and civil rights organization serving low-income Asian Pacific American communities. Ms. Jain also served as the founding attorney for Kiva, a nonprofit microfinance platform with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. She also pioneered the partnership between Kiva Zip and the City of Oakland to crowdfund local economic development. Prior to law school, she worked at the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany.

Ms. Jain earned an AB in economics and minor in environmental science from Barnard College, a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University, and a JD from Georgetown University.

Irene Kao

Irene Kao is the intergovernmental relations counsel at the League of Minnesota Cities, where she advocates on behalf of cities at the state legislature, specifically on issues of data practices, open meeting law, land use, employment and civil liability. The League of Minnesota Cities is membership organization serving over 800 cities through advocacy, education and risk management.

Ms. Kao is a past president of the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association, where she still coordinates judicial selection efforts that have resulted in three times the APA judges on Minnesota’s state court bench. She is also the first person of color appointed as the board chair of the Minnesota State Board of Continuing Legal Education, a former board member of the Minnesota State Bar Association, a board member of the Infinity Project (addressing gender equity in Eighth Circuit judicial appointments), and a board member of Habitat for Humanity Minnesota. She was awarded the 2012 Member of the Year Award by the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the 2015 Outstanding New Lawyer of the Year Award by the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Before law school, Ms. Kao was a college administrator, where she received local and national awards for her work in social justice education.

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2016 NAPABA Best Lawyers Under 40

Edward T. Kang

Edward T. Kang is a partner in Alston & Bird’s Government & Internal Investigations group. Mr. Kang is committed to continuing the professional achievements and civic, firm and community involvement that earned this recognition. His background includes: Focusing on sensitive, high-stakes internal investigations for businesses across a range of industries and on a global scale. He specializes in white collar defense, compliance with the FCPA and FCA, OFAC sanctions, and complex commercial litigation.

Mr. Kang served for eight years as a federal prosecutor in the DOJ’s Criminal Division and at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut where he was involved in investigations such the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the CIA’s destruction of videotapes depicting enhanced interrogation techniques used against Al Qaeda detainees.

He serves as the firm’s D.C. co-chair for the Diversity National Steering Committee and Diversity Regional Committee, a member of the Hiring Committee and Associates Committee, and D.C. lead for the Litigation & Trial Practice team. Mr. Kang serves as co-chair of NAPABA’s Government Enforcement and Compliance Committee and is an active member of the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court.

Linda Lin

Linda Lin is currently vice president, assistant general counsel at QBE North America (QBE) where she serves as the lead legal advisor to executives and underwriters of QBE’s Specialty Business Group, which includes management and professional liability, accident & health, trade credit, surety, aviation, inland marine, healthcare and the Specialty Program business. Prior to joining QBE, she served as senior complex claims director at Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), where she supported BHSI with respect to management, professional, employment practices, fiduciary, fidelity and cyber liability matters. She began her career in the insurance industry at Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) in management liability claims. Prior to LIU, Ms. Lin was a litigation associate at the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. She also served as law clerk to the Hon. Dora L. Irizarry, U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of New York. She received her BA in philosophy, politics and law with honors from Binghamton University and her JD cum laude from Brooklyn Law School, where she was a member of the Moot Court Honor Society.

Ms. Lin is a past president of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY). She currently serves as co-chair of AABANY’s Advisory Committee and Judiciary Committee. In 2011, Ms. Lin was appointed by the New York City Council as a Commissioner on the New York City Districting Commission and tasked with redrawing the City’s Councilmatic district lines. In 2009, she founded and directed the Joint Minority Bar Judicial Internship Program (JMBJIP), which places law students in judicial internships throughout the New York City metro area. In 2015, JMBJIP merged to form the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program, which now provides high school and law school students an opportunity to intern with judges in the New York City area.

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Van-Dzung Vu Nguyen

Van-Dzung Vu Nguyen is a partner in the Commercial Litigation group in Crowell & Moring LLP’s Orange County office.

Ms. Nguyen represents clients in high-stakes litigations in the areas of antitrust, insurance, healthcare and complex commercial litigation. Her wins include a multi-million dollar award in an antitrust price-fixing case that was listed on The Daily Journal’s Top Plaintiffs’ Verdicts: Top Arbitration Award list. She has also been recognized by the Southern California Super Lawyers as one of the Up-and-Coming 25: 2016 OC Rising Stars and as one of the Up-and-Coming 50: 2016 Women Southern California Rising Stars.

Ms. Nguyen serves as the chair of recruiting and the co-chair of the Summer Associate Committee in her office.

She is a past president of the Orange County Asian American Bar Association, and has also served as the organization’s president-elect, treasurer, secretary and board member. She also serves as the secretary of the Federal Bar Association-Orange County (and will be president in 2019). Ms. Nguyen is member of the OC Executive Advisory Council for Asian Americans Advancing Justice. She was part of the Host Planning Committee for the 2010 NAPABA Annual Convention and the Host Planning Committee for the 2012 NAPABA Western Regional Conference.

Rajiv D. Parikh

Rajiv D. Parikh is a partner with Genova Burns LLC, a mid-size law firm with offices in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Mr. Parikh is the first APA partner in the firm’s history.

He is a trial lawyer focusing on complex commercial, defamation and business litigation. Mr. Parikh is also a leader in election, voting rights and campaign finance law and litigation.

He currently serves as general counsel to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee—the only South Asian lead counsel to a state party nationally. He has also served as counsel to a number of campaigns and political action committees, including Senator Cory Booker, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman and others. Mr. Parikh also serves on the leadership boards of a number of bar organizations including the South Asian Bar Association of North America and Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, and civic and charity organizations including America Needs You-NJ, New Leaders Council, and the Share & Care Foundation. He was recently honored by the Anti-Defamation League of New Jersey as a recipient of its Sidney Wilf Distinguished Young Professional Leader Award.

Mr. Parikh earned a JD degree from Rutgers University School of Law and a bachelor’s from Rutgers University. He has been a proud member of APALA-NJ for 10 years.

Kirupa Pushparaj

Kirupa Pushparaj is the director of intellectual property at Square, Inc., where he leads a team that is responsible for all aspects of Square’s intellectual property globally. He protects Square’s innovation and rights by managing its patent and trademark portfolios and is responsible for all intellectual property disputes/claims (patent, domain, trademark, copyright, and trade secret).

Before working at Square, he was IP counsel for Lab126, the digital technology arm of Amazon.com, and was at Perkins Coie LLP prior to that. Before starting his practice of law, Mr. Pushparaj was a senior design engineer at Intel Corp., working on semiconductor circuits and process technology.

Manita Rawat

Manita Rawat is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Duane Morris and practices primarily in intellectual property law, including patent prosecution and litigation.

Ms. Rawat has technical backgrounds in biochemistry and applied mathematics with a concentration in computer science, aerospace engineering, and statistical analysis.

As a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, she has significant experience in patent preparation and prosecution and patent office post grant proceedings (including inter-partes review and reexamination), working primarily with mechanical, aerospace and software technologies. Ms. Rawat counsels her clients in a variety of issues related to intellectual property, including patentability analysis, invalidity opinions, portfolio management and analysis of pre-litigation and litigation matters. Ms. Rawat also assists clients in patent licensing and transactional matters, including structuring, negotiating and drafting agreements.

Ms. Rawat is a 2005 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. Ms. Rawat also studied at St. Peter’s College - University of Oxford, United Kingdom, through the Intellectual Property Law Scholars program. Ms. Rawat is fluent in Hindi and knows basic German.

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2016 NAPABA Best Lawyers Under 40

Yanin Senachai

Yanin Senachai is a staff attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice– Los Angeles, where she started as a Skadden Fellow in 2012 with a project focusing on combating wage theft and labor exploitation of Asian undocumented low-wage workers.

Ms. Senachai represents low-wage workers in administrative and civil claims for unpaid wages, retaliation, employment discrimination and human trafficking.

She also assists victims of trafficking and workplace crimes in petitioning for immigration relief.

Ms. Senachai earned her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she won the 2012 Francine Diaz Memorial Award, the Jim Fahey Safe Homes Fellowship for Women and the Berkeley Law Foundation Phoenix Fellowship for her commitment to social justice. In 2016, she received the Dale Minami Public Interest Fellowship, named after the Asian American civil rights litigation leader.

Prior to law school, she coordinated a national resource center at the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence. Ms. Senachai earned her undergraduate degree at Stanford University.

She is a proud board member of the Thai American Bar Association.

Mansi H. Shah

Mansi H. Shah is a trailblazer for women-intech and the APA community in her chosen profession—law—and among the technology companies she represents. With a talent for litigating complex disputes, Ms. Shah has achieved numerous victories for her clients and is known for her professionalism, creative approach to solving challenges, and zealous advocacy. She has proven herself not only a respected IP lawyer, but also a dedicated advocate, mentor, and leader within with the APA, legal and tech communities.

Ms. Shah is a member and leader in several organizations, including SABA North America, SAWAN, IABA-Chicago, and SABA Northern California, as well as a myriad other organizations. A champion of diversity and inclusion initiatives, she—as a partner at the IP law firm Merchant & Gould and founding member of its Silicon Valley office, as well as one of the few APA female partners—has personally helped improve the APA/female/ persons of color partnership statistics in the firms where she has worked. A dynamic yet humble leader, Ms. Shah’s tireless efforts at mentoring those in the legal profession and in the business world, and raising awareness of the challenges they face, have truly benefited and lifted the greater APA community.

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Brian W. Song

Brian W. Song is a partner in the New York office of BakerHostetler. Mr. Song has broad experience as a general commercial litigator, but focuses his practice on securities litigation and white collar criminal defense. He currently represents the SIPA Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Mr. Song began his legal career in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and served on active duty from 2003 to 2007. He has continued his military service in the U.S. Army Reserve and currently serves as a defense appellate counsel for the Defense Appellate Division, U.S. Army Legal Services Agency. In 2014, Mr. Song founded AABANY’s Military & Veterans Affairs Committee. He is also a co-chair for NAPABA’s Military & Veterans Network Committee. He serves on the New York City Bar Association’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession and is also actively involved with the Council of Urban Professionals, completing their 10-month fellowship program in 2014, and serving on the Fellows’ Board. Mr. Song received his BS from the Johns Hopkins University and his JD, cum laude, from Boston University School of Law. He also received an LLM in securities law and financial regulation with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center.

Michael Tan

Michael Tan is a staff attorney at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP).

His practice includes litigation and advocacy relating to immigration detention and immigrants’ access to education.

He is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School and also holds a master’s in comparative literature from New York University.

After law school, Mr. Tan clerked for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked at IRP as a Skadden Fellow and Liman Public Interest Fellow.

In 2014, he was awarded a California Lawyer of the Year Award in Immigration Law for his work on Rodriguez v. Robbins, a class action lawsuit challenging the prolonged detention of immigrants without bond hearings.

Outside the ACLU, Mr. Tan serves as a steering committee member of the Detention Watch Network.

Nisha Vyas

Nisha Vyas is a senior staff attorney with Public Counsel’s Community Development Project in Los Angeles, California. Her work includes providing counsel to community-based organizations, including legal advice and capacity building support to nonprofit affordable and supportive housing providers, and affirmatively enforcing laws to ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing and protections against displacement in the region.

With a background in community law and fair housing, Ms. Vyas’s advocacy is rooted in the belief that all persons should have access to safe, decent and affordable housing of their choice. Ms. Vyas started her career as a staff attorney, and later, deputy litigation director, with Southern California Housing Rights Center. There, she represented tenants and homeowners in challenging discriminatory practices on the basis of race, national origin, familial status, sexual orientation, disability and other protected characteristics in federal and state courts.

In 2010, Ms. Vyas was selected as the Jay M. Spears Clinical Teaching Fellow by Stanford Law School. At the Stanford Community Law Clinic, she taught and supervised second-and third-year law students in representation of low-income clients in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties in an array of litigation and advocacy matters including housing and workers’ rights.

Prior to joining Public Counsel, she served as the pro bono director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, where she implemented new initiatives to centralize pro bono needs to more effectively serve clients and communities.

Ms. Vyas serves on the boards of the UCLA Law Alumni Association, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County, and the South Asian Network, and is a past president of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California Public Interest Foundation. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UCLA School of Law, where she completed the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy.

Greg Wu

Greg Wu is employee benefits counsel at United Airlines and responsible for advising the company on a wide range of domestic and international benefit matters. At United, Mr. Wu is also on the leadership team of UNITE (the United Airlines Multi-Cultural Business Resource Group), a Pro Bono & Community Service Program Leader, and chair of the Social Committee.

He also serves on the Honorary Board of the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago. Even though Coach K failed to offer him a basketball scholarship, Greg took his talents to Duke University, and after going undrafted by the NBA, he attended Harvard Law School. ■ BRETT SCHUSTER (bschuster@napaba. org) is the communications manager for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

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PROFILE IN PERSEVERANCE | BY TOM CALARCO

Haben Girma: The Deafblind Lawyer Advocating Inclusion WHEN HABEN GIRMA IS ON STAGE, her eyes sparkle. Her passion is instantly communicated. She is a deafblind woman who wants to share her message with the world.

“I’m just grateful that the audience is giving me their time and attention, that’s incredible,” said the 28-year-old attorney, the first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and now a speaker in demand.

Haben, whose mother was a refugee from the African nation of Eritrea, has made it her mission to educate the world about the true nature of disability and to free us of the misconceptions and prejudices we have about it.

“I grew up hearing my mother’s stories,” she said, “and it taught me how to find solutions regardless of the challenges.”

Saba Gebreyesus, Haben’s mother, fled Eritrea through Sudan during a war for independence from Ethiopia. It took her two weeks, traveling by night through the desert and jungle, evading wild animals like hyenas and the ongoing fighting.

“My mom lived in Sudan for a few months. She met lots of wonderful, caring people,” she said. “A refugee organization helped her get to the U.S.”

38 D I V E R S I T Y & T H E B A R SPRING 2017 MCCA.COM

Haben was born in Oakland, California. Thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, all schools are required to make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Haben attended mainstream schools that provided braille instruction, cane travel, and assistive technology instruction in addition to mainstream courses like math and science.

The education offered to Haben by the Oakland Unified School District is sadly unusual. Only about six percent of Deafblind students have access to qualified teachers.

The majority of schools struggle to provide access to students with disabilities.

Special education professionals can teach students with disabilities important skills like traveling safely with a cane. The right tools and training will allow a blind person to travel independently. “Many blind people don’t get that training,” she said.

In addition to offering more training, Haben believes we need

to change how we talk about disability. We sometimes talk about disability in harmful ways. For example, “Non-disabled people should feel grateful they don’t have disabilities. This perpetuates hierarchies of us versus them, continuing the marginalization of people with disabilities.”

Haben further explains, “Our whole system of oppression is based on hierarchies. When you classify one group of people as less valuable than another, you perpetuate a harmful hierarchy.”

When talking about disability, we should challenge ourselves to avoid using the word inspiration.

“The overuse of the word, especially for the most trivial things, has dulled its meaning. People sometimes even use the word as a disguise for pity. For example, ‘you inspire me to stop complaining about my problems because I should feel grateful I don’t have yours.’”

Haben points to the late Stella Young, a disability advocate who did a great TEDx talk on the inspiration cliché. Young emphasized that disability is neither bad nor exceptional, and that just because a disabled person managed to get up every morning doesn’t make them an inspiration.

Haben wants people to realize that disability is just another facet of the human condition. “We can always find alternative techniques to reach goals and accomplish tasks. These creative solutions are equal in value to mainstream solutions.”

One of her messages is that “disability” is the source of innovation, and the story that she likes to tell deals with the invention of the first working typewriter. An Italian inventor named Pelligrino Turri invented a typing machine so that his blind lover could send him letters. “Disability drives innovation,” said Haben, “encouraging people like Turri to think of new ways of communicating information.”

“All of us are different in some way,” she said, “and when you bring people who are different together, you have new perspectives and new ideas. This difference drives innovation.”

Haben has experienced this herself, having developed a communication system that uses a braille display and keyboard. People type on a standard QWERTY keyboard while she reads their words in braille.

“Knowledge,” she points out, “can be communicated through sight, sound, and touch, which is how I obtain knowledge.”

Using her highly developed sense of touch, Haben enjoys dancing. “I do partner dances,” she said. “I feel the beat through the people I dance with. My favorite is Salsa.”

A story that she likes to tell, which led to her role as an advocate for disability rights involved her resolution of a personal problem.

For her undergraduate years, Haben

attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. The food company managing the college cafeteria refused to provide access to the menus, so often the cafeteria would serve chocolate cake and Haben would miss out.

Frustrated, she took matters into her own hands and explained to the cafeteria manager that she deserved access to the menus like every other paying customer. The company resisted, saying they were too busy and that she needed to stop complaining.

“I told the manager that if he would not send emails consistently, I would sue,” she said, explaining to the cafeteria manager that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) required businesses to make reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities. After learning about the ADA, the cafeteria complied. Life was once again, “delicious.”

It was this early personal experience that led her on the path to becoming an educator and advocate for disability rights.

Perhaps a greater turning point in her life came when she was in high school

and went to Mali, through buildOn, a non-profit that encourages students to make a difference in the world.

“We helped build schools in developing countries and when we returned, we did presentations about our experiences. I learned that stories are powerful ways for people to take action.”

Haben found her voice through these buildOn presentations. On stage, she comes alive, exuding charisma. She said she can perceive her audience’s reaction, as she is able to hear high-pitched sounds.

“I’m very focused on the audience. I can hear loud applause or loud laughter, but not chuckles or giggles.”

Following graduation from Harvard Law School, Haben worked as a civil rights attorney for Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley, California. However, last year, she took a leap of faith and struck out on her own as an educator and speaker.

“I’m communicating important messages so this is my form of lawyering,” she said, “and I also do consulting for people, creating my own ways of teaching and helping the world.”

For her efforts, Haben has been recognized by President Obama as a White House Champion of Change, a Forbes® 30 under 30, and a BBC Women of Africa Hero.

“I teach people to see disability as an asset that can contribute to their organization. I want people to see the story of disability driving innovation, inspiring new technologies, bringing people together, and connecting everyone.” ■ TOM CALARCO (tomcalwriter@yahoo.com) based in Loveland, Ohio, is a freelance writer and author of seven books on the Underground Railroad.

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MCCA® LAW DEPARTMENT MEMBERS The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) acknowledges the support of the following law departments whose financial contributions have helped to advance the goal of furthering diversity in the legal profession.

3M Company

DTE Energy Company

KeyCorp

Staples, Inc.

AARP

Duke Energy Corporation

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

Starbucks Coffee Company

Abercrombie & Fitch

Eaton Corporation

LifeVantage Corporation

Accenture LLP

Emergent BioSolutions

LPL Financial LLC

Allstate Insurance Company

Entergy Corporation

Marriott International, Inc.

Altria Client Services

Exelon Business Services Company

MassMutual Financial Group

American Express Company

Exxon Mobil Corporation

McDonald’s Corporation

Symplicity Corporation

Anthem, Inc.

Fannie Mae

Merck & Co., Inc.

The Conference Board, Inc.

Ascena Retail Group, Inc.

Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh

MetLife Inc.

Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

Mondelez International

A. Schulman, Inc. Avis Budget Group Becton, Dickinson and Company BIC International Bloomberg LP Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Flagstar Bank Freddie Mac Fujitec America, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide State Farm Insurance Companies

The Vanguard Group, Inc. TRM LLC

Morgan Stanley

Twitter, Inc.

National Grid

UBS Financial Services

National Urban League

UnitedHealth Group

Gap Inc.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Genentech, Inc

New York Life Insurance Company

General Electric Company

NFM, Inc.

United Technologies Corporation

GlaxoSmithKline

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Verizon Communications

Google Inc.

Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Office Depot, Inc.

H.J. Russell & Company

Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Honda North America, Inc.

Pearson, Inc.

Walmart Stores, Inc.

HP Inc.

PepsiCo Inc.

Waste Management

Huntington Ingalls Industries

Porzio Life Sciences, LLC

IBM Corporation

Premier Media Inc.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC

Prudential Financial

Intel Corporation

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

Xcel Energy

International Paper Company

Resources USA, Inc.

Xerox Corporation

JM Family Enterprises, Inc.

Salesforce.com, Inc.

Dell Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Sempra Energy

DHL America

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Shell Oil Company

Discover Financial Services

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.

SourceAmerica

Carter’s, Inc. CBS Corporation Ceannate Corp Chevron Corporation Choice Hotels International, Inc. CIGNA Corporation Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Comcast NBCUniversal ConAgra Foods, Inc. Converse Inc. Cox Communications Inc. Crawford & Company DAP Products Inc. Darden Restaurants, Inc. - [GMRI, Inc.]

United Services Automobile Association “USAA”

Visa Inc. VMware Inc.

Wells Fargo & Company Wyndham Worldwide

Yazaki North America Inc. Zara USA, Inc.

Become a MCCA member today. Take advantage of member benefits from professional development and education to networking to research and thought leadership resources. Learn more at www.mcca.com/membership.

40 D I V E R S I T Y & T H E B A R SPRING 2017 MCCA.COM

MCCA® LAW FIRM AFFILIATES MCCA® acknowledges the following law firms who have joined MCCA to further advance diversity in the legal profession.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Cozen O’Connor

Law Office of Ricardo E. Oquendo, Esq.

Saul Ewing LLP

Alchemy-Partners, PC

DeMahy Labrador Drake Victor Rojas

LimNexus LLP - [Formerly Lim Ruger &

Schiff Hardin, LLP

Cabeza (DLD Lawyers)

Kim]

Arent Fox LLP

Drinker Biddle & Rheeth LLP

Littler Mendelson PC

Arnstein & Lehr LLP

Duane Morris LLP

Loeb & Loeb LLP

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP

Dunlap Codding

Marrero & Wydler

Singh Law, PLLC

Baker Donelson, [Formerly Ober Kaler

Elliott Greenleaf

McGuireWoods LLP

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC

Grimes & Shriver]

Epstein Becker & Green PC

Miles & Stockbridge PC

Stevens & Lee

Barta, Jones & Foley, PC

Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Beveridge & Diamond PC

Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett &

Blank Rome LLP

Dunner LLP

Monty & Ramirez LLP

Bookoff McAndrews, PLLC

Fish & Richardson PC

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP

Fisher & Phillips LLP

Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Bressler Amery & Ross PC Brown & Associates, PLLC

Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

Thompson Coburn LLP

Brown Law Group

Forman Watkins & Krutz, LLP

Nixon Peaboby LLP

Troutman Sanders LLP

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Hamilton Miller & Birthisel LLP

Anderson Kill PC

Miller Law Group Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP

NOSSAMAN LLP Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart

BuckleySandler LLP

Harrity & Harrity, LLP

Burns White LLC

Hudson & Calleja, LLC

Butler Snow LLP

Husch Blackwell LLP

Caldwell Leslie & Proctor, PC

Ice Miller LLP

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP

Innis Law Group LLC

Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, PA

Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore, LLC

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Jackson Lewis PC

Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A.

Cooley LLP

Jones Walker LLP

Roig Lawyers

Cottrell Solensky & Semple, PA

Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck LLP

Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP

Courington Kiefer & Sommers LLC

Kenyon & Kenyon LLP

Sanchez & Amador LLP

Cowles & Thompson PC

Kobre & Kim LLP

Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard PC

PC Pepper Hamilton LLP Phelps Dunbar LLP

Sheppard Mullin Richter Hampton LLP Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP

Stinson Leonard Street LLP Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

Vinson & Elkins LLP Waas Campbell Rivera Johnson & Velasquez LLP Walsworth - WFBM, LLP

Porzio Bromberg & Newman PC

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Proskauer Rose LLP

Willenken Wilson Loh & Delgado LLP

Quarles & Brady LLP

Winston & Strawn LLP Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP Zupkus & Angell, PC

Become a MCCA member today. Take advantage of member benefits from professional development and education to networking to research and thought leadership resources. Learn more at www.mcca.com/membership.

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