Anticipating the New Year: A Fresh Look
Your participation as readers, attendees, and financial contributors enables this association to continue to advocate for diversity in the legal profession.
As this year closes, MCCA® looks forward to celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2007 and I will mark the completion of my sixth year as executive director. These are milestones that I view with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, it feels gratifying to lead an organization that has been an important advocate for diversity progress. Yet, at the same time, it feels disappointing that the legal profession continues to need to be reminded and prodded to do the right thing.
The encouraging news is that over the past 10 years, the number of corporate counsel taking a stand in support of diversity has increased significantly. They are the leaders whom MCCA celebrates and in this issue of Diversity & the Bar®, we are pleased to profile the top corporations that are making a difference not only within their organizations, but also within the legal profession as a whole.
For its 10th Anniversary, MCCA is planning to significantly step up the resources we offer those who are seeking to lead diversity progress, and we'll also undergo a couple of facelifts. Some of the new things you can anticipate for 2007 include:
- Diversity & the Bar is being totally redesigned. We will add new columns to cover issues of work/life balance and profile lawyers who inspire all of us to pursue our avocations.
- MCCA's web site will be transformed to offer increased diversity resources and information in a more user-friendly format.
- The MCCA Diversity Dollars Grant Program will expand to offer one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) in financial support of worthwhile diversity programs selected through a competitive application process.
- Mentoring will receive increased emphasis and MCCA will launch a global mentoring network that will transform our ability to support the career developmental needs of lawyers in our network.
- A fun, revamped Diversity Dinner Series in celebration of MCCA's 10th Anniversary will offer increased networking and spotlight regional leadership in a surprising and innovative fashion!
In addition to it being a good time to look forward to the future, the year-end is also the perfect time to say thank you to our many supporters. Your participation as readers, attendees, and financial contributors enables this association to continue to advocate for diversity in the legal profession.
Veta T. Richardson
From the November/December 2006 issue of Diversity & The Bar®