Diversity News

MCCA® Receives Special Achievement Award from The National Minority Business Council

MCCA® recently received top honors from the National Minority Business Council (NMBC) when Executive Director Veta T. Richardson accepted NMBC's prestigious Special Achievement Award on behalf of MCCA.

NMBC selected MCCA in recognition of the important role the association played in the University of Michigan's successful defense of the use of affirmative action in admissions policies in 2003. The University of Michigan turned to?MCCA to enlist support for the amicus brief to be filed on behalf of major corporations to underscore the business value of diversity.

With less than three weeks' notice, MCCA rallied its general counsel network to help move the number of participating corporations from 20 to 65, and the resulting Supreme Court opinion speaks for itself regarding the importance of the corporations' perspectives.

For these efforts, MCCA was pleased to accept the 2005 Special Achievement Award from the National Minority Business Council. MCCA considers its work on this historic case to be one of its most important contributions to the legal community because it helped to safeguard diversity in higher education for future generations of students.

MCCA® HONORS MIDWEST REGION DIVERSITY AWARD WINNERS

MCCA® is pleased to announce the winners of the Midwest region "Employer of Choice" and "Thomas L. Sager" diversity awards. The legal departments of three leading companies and a law firm were selected as a result of their inclusiveness efforts and initiatives.

Accepting the awards on behalf of their companies were: D. Cameron Findlay, executive vice president and general counsel of AON Corporation; Gary H. Pilnick, senior vice president, general counsel, corporate development and secretary of Kellogg Company; and Crane H. Kenney, senior vice president/general counsel and corporate secretary of Tribune Company.

The "Sager" award, which was named in honor of DuPont's vice president and general counsel, Thomas L. Sager, is given to a law firm for its commitment to improve hiring, retention, and the promotion of minority attorneys. The award was presented to the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. Accepting the award on behalf of his law firm was Duane Quaini, partner, litigation and business regulation.

REMAINING 2005 MCCA® EVENTS

Mark your calendar now to ensure that you don't miss out on attending these remaining MCCA® 2005 events:

• The Mid-Atlantic diversity dinner will be held on June 14, 2005 in Washington, DC at the J.W. Marriott.
• The Western diversity dinner will be held on September 28, 2005 in San Francisco, Calif. at The Palace Hotel.
• The 6th Annual "Creating Pathways to Diversity" conference will be held on November 2, 2005 in New York, N.Y. at the Marriott Marquis.
• The Northeast diversity dinner will be held on November 2, 2005 in New York, N.Y. at the Marriott Marquis.

For more information, go to www.mcca.com.

MCCA® THANKS SPONSORS OF THE 2ND ANNUAL GENERAL COUNSEL INVITATIONAL GOLF CLASSIC

Thank you to all participants at the 2nd Annual General Counsel Invitational Golf Classic. This event was a tremendous success, with over 120 golfers who gathered to play the infamous Blue Monster course at the Doral Resort & Spa in Miami, Fla.

Congratulations to our first-place team from the firm Adorno & Yoss who shot 12 under PAR with the team score of 60, clinching the victory to become this year's tournament champions.

With the support of our sponsors: Mercedes-Benz; Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Visa International; Shell Oil Company; Epstein, Becker & Green P.C.; Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP; Dorsey & Whitney LLP; Ernst & Young LLP; LexisNexis; Littler Mendelson PC; Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP; Stites & Harbison; PLLC/Dillingham & Murphy LLP, and the many others who were in attendance, we were able to raise $100,000 to support the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship program to help deserving students attend law school.

If you are interested in participating or sponsoring the 3rd Annual General Counsel Invitational Golf Classic, please contact Jennifer Chen at 202.282.5902 or email jenchen@mcca.com.

	(L to R): Tommy Shi, Mercedes-Benz; Gregory Victor, Adorno & Yoss; Henry Adorno, Adorno & Yoss; Veta Richardson, MCCA; Francisco Gonzalez, Adorno & Yoss; and George Yoss, Adorno & Yoss. (Back/Top Photo): Doc Walker, event emcee.
	Doc Walker, former Washington Redskins Superbowl Champion, and guest emcee for the Awards/Networking reception
	"Team Mercedes" Tommy Shi along with fellow team members Marc Sherman, Sam Jones, and Joseph Ching
	(L to R): Sara Hewitt, Brown Raysman; Deborah Israel, Womble Carlyle; MaryJo Anderson, DuPont Company; and Linda Madrid, CarrAmerica

---

From the May/June 2005 issue of Diversity & The Bar^®