It was a privilege and honor to serve as the Chair of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law over the past year. When I was elected Chair-Elect in 2019, I pledged then, as I had throughout my ABA and professional career, to continue to focus on promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the profession and in the Section. As Section Chair, I am proud of the steps we took this year to institutionalize diversity, equity and inclusion into the Section. In addition to my DEI goals, I was focused on expanding our outreach to international lawyers and supporting new and young lawyers. We have made many strides in all of these areas over the past year, which are highlighted in my past couple of columns. I devote my last column to recent Section accomplishments as well as gratitude for our leadership’s collective efforts over the past year.
We continued to expand our outreach to attorneys internationally and to enhance our profile and collaboration with bar associations from around the world in the last couple of months. The Section’s Outreach to New and Young Lawyers Committee and the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) hosted a webinar on best practices for returning to the office after the pandemic followed by a networking event for our members to meet AIJA members. The webinar was excellent, and attendees from both associations enjoyed meeting each other.
Further to our efforts of promoting and recognizing the efforts of new and young attorneys, the Section created a new and young lawyer award. Up to two of these awards will be given each year. Nominations will soon be open for this award, which will be presented at the Annual Section Conference in November.
The Outreach to International Lawyers Committee hosted a webinar on the benefits and pitfalls of the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace followed by a networking event with the Employment Law Association of Ireland, Employment Lawyers Association (UK), Employment Lawyers’ Group (Northern Ireland), German Federal Bar, International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA), Inter-Pacific Bar Association, Italian Employment Lawyers Association, and Mexican Bar Association. The substance of the webinar was very helpful to attorneys from all jurisdictions, and the attendees continued to discuss the topic during the networking event while also enjoying getting to know attorneys from other bar associations. Thanks to Mercedes Balado Bevilacqua and Cristiano Cominotto for their energy and excellent work on planning and speaking on the webinar.
Two of the co-chairs of the Section’s International Labor and Employment Law Committee, Melanie Crowley and Ify Okoli-Watson, held the Section’s first ever Instagram live event. It was very informative and promoted other Section events at the same time. Thanks to Melanie and Ify for their creativity and execution!
The Section held its eighth Leadership Development Program (LDP) in July. Continuing our focus on DEI, this year’s LDP was designed to focus on enhancing inclusive leadership skills and Section governance knowledge. Lauren Stiller Rikleen, a leading researcher, speaker and author in the fields of leadership and inclusion, was the LDP facilitator. She was very well received by the 28 LDP participants representing the employer, employee, in-house corporate counsel, government and union constituencies. We are grateful to the LDP Committee co-chairs for their excellent work and collegiality particularly when dealing with curve balls in the planning process!
The results of the tireless work of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Committee (DEILP) came to fruition this summer. In support of our Section-wide mission to develop and retain a diverse membership and to enhance a sense of belongingness for our members, the Section launched five affinity groups: women attorneys, attorneys of color, attorneys with disabilities, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and new and young lawyers. We hope that these groups will cultivate spaces and activities for members who share common interests, experiences and identities. We encourage Section members to join any of the affinity groups by logging into their MyABA account, clicking “manage membership” and then “join committees” to select the desired affinity group(s) from the list.
In addition to working to launch the affinity groups, the DEILP Committee also wrote a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan to align with the Section’s current goals and provide resources. Also, as we know, measuring progress is integral to DEI efforts. As such, the DEI Plan contains important benchmarks. The Section also created, subject to Board of Governors approval, two new DEI officer positions to further our efforts to focus on and promote DEI in the Section. Thanks to the DEILP Committee for such meaningful and long-lasting work.
Thanks to the Executive Committee, Council Members and Officers, Standing Committee Co-Chairs and Program Co-Chairs, Administrative Committee Co-Chairs and Vice Chairs, and the other Section and Committee leaders for your hard work, dedication and creativity this year. Thank you also to the Section’s members for their engagement this year under unprecedented circumstances.
The Section could not have achieved all of these success without the Section’s phenomenal staff: Brad Hoffman, Rose Ashford, Judy Stofko and Fifi Adekola. I am beyond grateful for all of their efforts. Judy is retiring this month after three decades with the ABA. She has showered all of us with her kindness and has been a thoughtful, diligent, dedicated and all around great colleague. We wish her well in her retirement.
I wish Christopher Hexter well as he rolls off of the Executive Committee and thank him for his decades of service to the Section. I look forward to continuing to work with Kelly Dermody, Doug Dexter and Denise Clark on the Executive Committee over the next year and welcome Joseph Torres to the Executive Committee.
Thank you to Sheppard Mullin and my colleagues for supporting the Section and me. I have formed countless friendships with Section members over the past couple of decades, and I am grateful for the support of my friends and colleagues in the Section. I particularly appreciate Dean Emeritus Cynthia Nance for encouraging me to consider Section leadership and supporting me throughout that journey. I could not have ascended to the role of Chair or volunteered the significant time it takes to be Chair without the support of my family and, in particular, my sister Sarah Grant and my husband Steven Marsh. Words cannot express my gratitude to them.
As we move through the coming months with a resurgence of the pandemic, please remember how isolating and challenging it can be for many of our friends and colleagues who may be staying at home and having less human contact. I encourage you to be intentional about connecting and staying in touch with them and offering support or just lending an ear. I will be doing the same.
I look forward to staying in touch with all of you. Thank you for sharing in the professional honor of my career.