Mentoring Moment: A Candid Conversation. Last week I had the privilege of participating in an IADC webinar "When Diversity of Trial Counsel Is More Than a Matter of Preference." Craig Thompson (Venable) moderated our panel and I was joined by Federal Judge Stephen Bough and Kamran Khan (Altria). More conversation than presentation, none of us claimed to have ironclad answers. But we uniformly saw the value in asking questions and challenging our industry to do better. Takeaways: 1. Clients and judges are DEMANDING diversity in the courtroom. 2. Diversity is meaningless without equity and inclusion, e.g., the lawyers making the pitch should deliver the services and financially benefit from the business. 3. Diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams. 4. Juries are often more fluid than demographics reflect. 5. The pressure to choose veteran trial lawyers, and their reluctance to step aside, are relatively insignificant considerations in the context of the social justice goals we aim to achieve. Special thanks to 3M, for letting me discuss its DEI leadership, and Zandra Foley, a member of our team, who gave me permission to talk about a recent occasion when conventional wisdom was ignored, allowing her to secure a victory for our client, and our profession. #IADC #3M #DEI
Well said, as always. It was a wonderful panel!
If you have the recording please share :)
Awesome Bernadette! I've been saying #3 for over a decade! I've seen it firsthand. The more diverse the team, the more diverse the experiences, talent, skills, ideas, etc. they bring to the team. No-brainer! And I loved that quote from our recent emotional intelligence presentation, something like: "if DEI is the destination, EI is the vehicle to get us there" and as always, communication - discussing it, asking questions - is key. Thanks for sharing!
Great subject matter and exceptionally interesting takeaways
Partner at Husch Blackwell
2yGreat takeaways Bernadette. Hats off to you for your tireless commitment for many years well before this became a current day imperative.