Reflecting On a Legacy-Honoring Cathy Lamboley
Ten years ago, MCCA published the first survey of women general counsel at the 500 largest U.S. corporations as ranked by Fortune magazine. MCCA marks increases in those ranks annually; but this year, we also mark the absence of a woman who led by example and helped to reshape the legal profession.
This issue of Diversity & the Bar® is dedicated in honor of Catherine Lamboley, who retired on July 1st from Shell Oil, where she served as senior vice president and general counsel for the past seven of her twenty-eight years at the company’s U.S. operations headquarters in Houston.
Cathy epitomizes the very best that a general counsel can be: intelligent, business-savvy, dedicated, and client-focused. But just as importantly, Cathy understood that, in addition to serving her client, it was important to serve the profession. Advancing diversity has been Cathy’s legacy, and I cannot think of another general counsel, male or female, who has made a bigger impact in this area.
To use a sports analogy, Cathy is the type of woman who clearly is capable of playing in a male-dominated business world, yet Cathy succeeded by playing by her own rules and by leading a charge to re-write the professional playbook so that the ball was passed to a lot more women a lot more often. Future generations of women lawyers will continue to be the fortunate beneficiaries of this legacy.
I happen to be one of them, and – on behalf of all of us – I thank Cathy Lamboley for all she has done to improve our opportunities. We wish you every happiness as you retire, although we suspect that retirement will only mark the start of your next phase of community service. Best wishes! DB
Veta T. Richardson
From the July/August 2007 issue of Diversity & The Bar®