MCCA Launches its Academy for Leadership and Inclusion

MCCA Launches its Academy for Leadership and Inclusion

Washington, D.C. – MCCA’s Academy for Leadership and Inclusion is a groundbreaking, interactive training program designed to show leaders of legal departments and law firms how to define, create and sustain a diverse and inclusive work place. At this reception, MCCA will outline the various aspects of this new program. Any interested corporate counsel or law firm attorneys can learn more about MCCA’s Academy and may RSVP for the kick-off reception by going to www.mcca.com/academy.

MCCA kicked off The Academy at a reception on Monday, January 30, 2012,  in the Innovation Center at the Washington, D.C. offices of Microsoft Corporation.

“Effectively managing human capital is the greatest challenge of most organizations,” said Joseph K. West, MCCA’s President and CEO. “With our new Academy for Leadership and Inclusion, MCCA is excited to offer this substantive training that will enable our law department members and law firms that participate in our Firm Affiliate Network (FAN) to support, nurture and maximize the talents of their entire workforce.”

The training will consist of a four-hour educational program facilitated by Kathleen Nalty, Executive Director of the Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI). “CLI is proud to partner with MCCA on this effort to advance inclusiveness in the legal profession,” said Nalty. “This is a tremendous opportunity for MCCA and CLI to provide valuable and much-needed training to those in the legal profession who are interested in reversing abysmal attrition rates for diverse and female attorneys.”

Participants in MCCA’s Academy will learn concrete principles they can implement in their workplaces, such as:

• How to launch an inclusiveness initiative,
• The differences between diversity and inclusiveness,
• How to find hidden barriers in the organization that needlessly limit the career paths of diverse and female attorneys and cause higher attrition among these groups,
• Types of organizational, structural, and cultural changes legal organizations can make to eliminate barriers, and
• How to make the case for diversity and inclusiveness.

This new training program is being offered as an exclusive benefit for MCCA’s corporate members and law firm attorneys that are MCCA FANs.

During 2012, the training will be offered in 10 cities across the country: Houston in February; Chicago in March; Miami in April; Los Angeles in May; Washington, D.C. in June; and the dates for the training to be offered in the other cities — New York City, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis and Kansas City — will be released soon.

About MCCA

The mission of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association is to advance the hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse attorneys in legal departments and the law firms that serve them. MCCA furthers its mission by publishing research on achieving diversity and best practices in the legal profession, honoring innovative diversity programs with its Employer of Choice and Thomas L. Sager awards, and assisting diverse law students through the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship Program. MCCA’s work has been recognized with awards from the National Minority Business Council, Inc., the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association, and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Founded in 1997, MCCA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and also has a Southeast regional office in Atlanta, Ga. For more information, go to mcca.com.

About the Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI)

The Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing diversity in the legal profession by actively educating and supporting private and public sector legal organizations in their own individual campaigns to create cultures of inclusion. CLI was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Denver, Colo. Additional information can be found at www.centerforlegalinclusiveness.org, or by contacting Executive Director Kathleen Nalty at knalty@legalinclusiveness.org.