© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
Finalist: Legal Dept. of the Year for Diversity
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 10) – Little did Keitha Wright know that when she left Houston for law school in 2003 that it would change her life. Little did everyone else know the impact she would have on the face of the legal profession in North Texas.
“Going to Howard Law School was the best decision I ever made,” she says. “It felt like walking into history.”
Wright is one of an increasing number of young African-American women rising in the ranks of corporate legal departments who are committed to improving diversity in the profession.
Only a decade after becoming a lawyer, Wright is now senior counsel at Irving-based G2 Secure Staff, which employs nearly 8,000 professionals handling securities services, baggage handling and passenger assistance at 54 commercial U.S. airports.
“Keitha is an outstanding lawyer who understands the needs of her clients and the business,” says Kimberly-Clark Assistant General Counsel Chasity Henry, who nominated Wright for the 2017 Outstanding Corporate Legal Department of the Year for Diversity. “She rolls up her sleeves to get the work done, giving practical, business-oriented advice while limiting the company’s risk.”
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce that Wright is a finalist for the diversity honor. The Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards finalists and winners will be honored on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Bush Institute.
“I am so excited that diversity efforts are being recognized and promoted,” she says. “Diversity has always been important to me and it should be important to everyone.”
Born and raised in Houston, Wright was the first person in her family to graduate from college.
After receiving her law degree in 2006, she spent eight years practicing labor and employment law and commercial litigation at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal – now Dentons – and Bryan Cave.
Xerox Business Services – now Conduent – hired Wright in January 2015 as its vice president and corporate counsel, providing legal advice to all of the company’s business divisions regarding labor and employment matters.
“Xerox was attractive because it has a true commitment to diversity,” she says. “I loved my time at Xerox. It is a well-oiled machine and a good training ground as my first in-house counsel role.”
In August 2017, G2 Secure hired Wright to be its only in-house lawyer, advising the company on all legal matters.
She conducts internal investigations, manages all litigation matters, prepares position statements, drafts vendor and customer contracts, conducts trainings for business leaders and human resources personnel, handles labor disputes and provides day to day advice and counseling.
“Right now, I am most proud of successfully transitioning from being a key member of a large legal department at Conduent to being the legal department at G2,” Wright says. “The transition has required me to stretch and grow as I am ultimately responsible for all legal matters affecting G2.
“G2 has a long-term commitment to diversity and prides itself on inclusion and a positive work environment,” she says.
For the legal profession as a whole, “the number of women of color has steadily gone down since 2009 and the recession. The legal profession is the least diverse of all the professions and that is unacceptable.”
“Keitha has always been a strong advocate for diversity/inclusion in the workplace,” says Munck Wilson Mandala partner Walter Herring, who has known Wright for more than seven years. “She mentors young lawyers and law students of color and is actively involved in an impressive array of community organizations promoting diversity and inclusion.”
Wright hosts a quarterly gathering of Howard University law school alums and is active in the NEW Roundtable, a new group of African-American women business lawyers who work for the advancement of women of color in the legal profession. She also is co-chair of the J.L. Turner Legal Association’s Black Women’s Association Committee.
“It’s very important that corporate legal departments enforce diversity on the law firms they hire,” Wright says. “I’ve seen situations where law firms included minority lawyers on their pitches for business without the minority lawyers even knowing they were part of it and with no intention of having minority lawyers work on the matter.”
Wright says GCs need to police their outside law firms to make sure that women and minority lawyers are actually getting critical legal work and getting face time with the in-house counsel.
“For me, becoming a lawyer was a big personal success,” she says. “Now, I consider it to be a personal responsibility to be zealously committed to diversity and to do my part in helping our profession reach its full potential, which includes increasing the number of lawyers of color.”
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