The Leading Voice
Within the legal community, MCCA has emerged as the leading voice shaping the way lawyers look at the issue of diversity.
My first year as Executive Director of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association is less than nine months over and what a satisfying time it has been!
Within the legal community, MCCA has emerged as the leading voice shaping the way lawyers look at the issue of diversity, and our reputation as an information leader has spread beyond the borders of the United States. MCCA’s views on a variety of diversity issues have been widely sought. In the span of a few months:
- we were interviewed about the recent Coca-Cola racial discrimination settlement on BET News with Ed Gordon;
- our diversity mission was broadcast to the listening audience of a popular Washington-metropolitan area talk radio station;
- C-Span telecast MCCA’s Diversity Dinner Honoring the Employers of Choice for the Mid-Atlantic Region to a national audience;
- the keynote speakers we’ve hosted at MCCA’s regional diversity dinner series have included a dynamic state supreme court justice, a prominent federal judge, and one of the most influential members of the Bush Administration;
- we’ve taken our diversity expertise to the other side of the Atlantic to share perspectives with London First, an association of more than 300 British corporations who wish to learn from MCCA’s research;
- our innovative approach to diversity-related research has served as the basis for the development and launch of diversity initiatives at several leading corporate law departments and law firms; and
- we have been invited to speak at every major U.S. bar association conference for in-house counsel in addition to being featured in several leading publications.
At MCCA, I have witnessed the power of an enthusiastic and committed board of directors who give freely of their time, talent, resources, and networks to further the diversity mission we all share. MCCA has also had the opportunity to work with several other outstanding legal associations whose leadership is equally committed to making a difference in their geographic region.
Together, we are the agents for change in the profession. On the pages that follow, you will learn more about the work that they are doing to improve the profession. We salute these members of the bar and we encourage you to lend your personal support to these efforts!
Veta T. Richardson
From the September 2001 issue of Diversity & The Bar®