Connect with and learn more about our Pathways Conference sponsors. Attendees can visit exhibitor booths to watch videos, download materials, and directly request more information.

PARTICIPATING COMPANIES

Remarks by:
Jean Lee – MCCA’s CEO & President
Stuart Alderoty – MCCA Board Chair, General Counsel at Ripple

Presentation of the Paula L. Ettelbrick Award and the 2020 Rising Stars Award Ceremony

The disruption of 2020 has forced many legal organizations to take a new look at their workplace cultures. Between concerns about health and safety due to COVID, and renewed calls for racial justice across America, it has been nearly impossible to ignore what some might consider soft topics. Leaders in the legal community have responded, but against a challenging backdrop, with many – particularly people of color – experiencing little sense of belonging to their organizations.

In 2018, together with Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), MCCA developed a proprietary Inclusion Index Survey, to help organizations assess leadership, practices and culture to create a baseline metric of inclusion and measure progress over time.

The panel will discuss this year’s survey results, how legal organizations and their leaders are navigating this challenging year and what it means to be an inclusive leader to effectuate change and develop a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace during a time of uncertainty.

Moderator:
Tina Shah Paikeday – Global Head of D&I Advisory Services, Russell Reynolds Associates

Panelists:

• Deneen Donnley – Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
• Cynthia Dow – Head of Global Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Practice, Russell Reynolds Associates
• Eric Friedman – Executive Partner, Mergers and Acquisitions, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
• Jami Wintz McKeon – Chair, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
• Steve McManus – Senior Vice President & General Counsel, State Farm Insurance
• Dev Stahlkopf – Corporate Vice President, General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation

According to the 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, just over 19% of people with self-identified disabilities are employed. Succeeding in the workplace is not easy for employees with disabilities, who often face discrimination, especially in highly competitive industries such as tech and finance. They currently face even more challenges as we navigate a global pandemic, civil unrest and working remotely in large numbers.

This year we also celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA paved the way for decades of incremental changes to the way buildings, businesses and laws accommodate people with a wide variety of disabilities. The law’s effect has been profound, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

This panel will focus on the current remote work reality and the increased need to incorporate inclusive design and accessibility into the workplace. Accessibility is about creating products that are usable by everyone. Inclusive design is a mindset that involves understanding user diversity. Neither is optional and must be part of your business ecosystem and managed/measured. It starts with people and is imperative as your organization builds an equitable and inclusive culture, and diverse pipeline of talent.

Moderator:
Jamie Dean – Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP

Panelists:

• Jack Chen – Corporate Counsel, Google LLC
• Kareem Dale – Director & Senior Counsel, Discover Financial Services
• Kristina Launey – Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Businesses – and their employees, prospective employees, clients, and investors – are increasingly focused on the importance of having a workforce that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. What risks, if any, do businesses need to consider in the collection, disclosure, and use of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) information? After describing the legal framework for assessing potential discrimination-related risks associated with DEI data, this panel will discuss best practices and pitfalls in navigating how to balance these risks with DEI strategic goals and other business considerations. The panel will also discuss whether businesses can and should protect against disclosure of DEI data, as a “trade secret” or otherwise.

Moderator:
Darrell Gay – Partner, Arent Fox LLP

Panelists:

• Teresa Hutson – Vice President/Deputy General Counsel, HR Legal, Microsoft Corporation
• Alexis Mendoza – Vice President, Nokia Software General Counsel & Head of Customer Operations Legal for the Americas, Nokia Corporation
• Yves Nguyen – Corporate Counsel, Global Labor & Employment, Salesforce

Sponsored by:
 

Collaboration and creating a diverse and inclusive workplace are key to talent retention, innovation and risk mitigation. In recent years, there were many noteworthy employee challenges in corporate America and around the world. Those events suggest that the world is changing and although there is growing division, many were finding strength in numbers and we saw employees standing united in protest demanding changes in their work culture and/or policies to reflect their collective values.

Thanks to the vision and leadership of Paul Hastings, MCCA partnered with Paul Hastings, its clients and our corporate members, to closely examine how corporations and its leaders are changing culture in their organizations. We examined three different industries across the country: pharmaceuticals (Boehringer Ingelheim), technology (Intel) and finance (Barclays), and will discuss the case studies’ findings and what it takes to create a diverse and inclusive work culture.

Moderators:
Dr. Catherine McGregor – CEO, Catherine McGregor Research
Sophia Piliouras – President, MCCA Advisory Practice

Panelists:

• Evangelina Almirantearena – Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Intel Corporation
• Sheila Denton – Senior Vice President & General Counsel Legal / Government Affairs & Public Policy, Boehringer Ingelheim USA Corporation
• Jane Son – Director of Legal and Chair of the Americas Legal Department’s Diversity Committee, Barclays
• K. Whitner – Partner & Co-Chair of the Diversity Council, Paul Hastings LLP

Join us for a panel discussing on the important and rarely discussed component needed for the advancement of lawyers of color at law firms – Origination Credit. We will discuss the credit allocation process and some of the challenges that exist and how that specifically affects lawyers of color. Discussion will also focus on the meaning of origination credit, why it matters, and how corporate counsel can navigate and challenge compensation systems that are not aligned with the values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Moderator:
A. Scott Bolden – Managing Partner, Reed Smith LLP – Washington, DC

Panelists:

• Nassib Abou-Khalil – Chief Legal Officer, Nokia
• Michelle Banks – Senior Advisor, BarkerGilmore LLC
• Sandra Leung – Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
• Tom Robertson – Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation