A Dynamic Year
From start to finish, 2003 marked a dynamic year for MCCA®. The year-end offers a perfect opportunity to thank you — our readers, advertisers, members, and financial supporters for helping us to continue to serve the legal community. Without your participation and support many of the following accomplishments would not have been possible:
- At the invitation of the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, MCCA became the first U.S.-based legal association to be invited to launch a diversity initiative in the United Kingdom. Spearheading the effort along with MCCA was the Kansas city-based law firm of Shook Hardy & Bacon, a Thomas L. Sager award-winning law firm. Together, we enlisted the participation of more than 100 British lawyers from leading corporate law departments, law firms, and the public sector.
- MCCA launched a value-added new service for readers of Diversity & the Bar® called the "D&B Brief." Each issue of the magazine contains timely articles on career management topics. In addition to reading the article, readers are invited to sign up for a free teleclass where they have a chance to delve into the topic by asking an expert for additional coaching and advice.
- Networking opportunities were increased threefold for participants in the MCCA network. In prior years, MCCA hosted one annual dinner in each of five key regions. We now host three events in five regions – so we've expanded from five dinners to fifteen separate events.
- MCCA's CLE Expo continues to set new standards in the industry by offering outstanding educational programs for in-house counsel. The CLE Expo also enabled diverse outside counsel to forge new business relationships and expand their networks.
- MCCA issued grants totaling more than $50,000.00 in support of diversity initiatives being undertaken by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY) and five regional chapters of the Association of Corporate Counsel-America (ACC).
- Our award-winning Creating Pathways to Diversity® research initiative issued several key reports addressing: career development for in-house women, the myth of the meritocracy in law firms, diversity challenges faced by gay and lesbian lawyers, and guidelines for mentoring across racial and gender differences.
- MCCA strengthened its reputation as the knowledge leader on diversity in the legal profession and the association received unprecedented levels of media coverage! In addition to being spotlighted in several key legal publications, MCCA landed in The Washington Post, Diversity Inc., and Black Enterprise magazines as well as on television programs, including CNN/Comcast "Local Edition," HU-TV "Evening Exchange," and BET News. Diversity & the Bar® magazine was also featured on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
These are just a few of the great things that happened this year with the support of a committed network of lawyers, a leading board of directors, an outstanding group of consultants, and a talented dedicated staff (cheers to Aisha, Jen, Tiffany, and Shawn).
We all look forward to working with you next year. Thanks again!
Veta T. Richardson
From the November/December 2003 issue of Diversity & The Bar®