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    September 07, 2023

    The Section

    Denise M. Clark, Chair

    As summer days start to shorten, so has our time with our 2022–2023 Section Chair, Doug Dexter. I am fortunate to follow Doug, as his leadership has continued our efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion within the Section. This past year, those efforts have resulted in an increase in diverse members attending our Annual Section Conference and Midwinter Meetings, an increase in the number of diverse speakers at all of our meetings and webinars, and an increase in our diversity at the leadership level.

    For many years, the Section of Labor and Employment Law (LEL) has endeavored to increase our diversity and provide opportunities for diverse lawyers to engage and thrive within the Section. The LEL has embraced DEI teachings and constructs to include all members of the labor and employment bar through the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge©, our Leadership Development Program, and DEI events at our Annual Section Conference and Midwinter Meetings. Doug’s time as chair reflects a high point in those efforts. The efforts of our member firms and organizations to do the same only make the LEL more successful.

    As we start a new bar year, challenges to DEI efforts of our member firms are under attack by the American Alliance for Equal Rights. The LEL encourages those firms to continue with their DEI efforts to promote meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion in the practice. We should not turn away from where we have come, as that only defines us. So, as we start a new bar year, let’s embrace who we have defined ourselves to be: the bar of employment and labor lawyers who collectively represent the best in the field and who also know the importance of including all attorneys who want to join us no matter their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or disability. We hold most important the diversity and inclusion of all because we know that ensures a successful LEL.

    Let us have a great bar year!

    Denise M. Clark

    Chair, Section of Labor and Employment Law

    Denise M. Clark is the founder of the Clark Law Group, PLLC, in Washington, D.C. She is Chair of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law for the 2023-2024 bar year. Denise's practice is focused on litigation in the areas of disability discrimination, retaliation under several employment statutes, and ERISA pension and disability claims

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