Diversity and inclusion must be personal. Making history and even just experiencing it can be difficult. Words followed up by actions on mandatory diversity by corporate general counsel equals progress and success.
The Texas Bar Association’s two-day annual Texas Minority Counsel Program featured a star-studded group of speakers, including the general counsel of Starbucks, NASCAR, MasterCard, Target, American Airlines and Toyota. They provided guidance to younger minority lawyers and challenged law firms and corporate legal departments to be more strategy in their D&I efforts.
The program also honored two of its own – AT&T senior counsel Vicki Blanton and U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay of the Northern District of Texas – for their leadership.
Program co-chair Dilen Kumar, a corporate partner in the Dallas office of Kirkland & Ellis, said they wanted to reduce potential exposure to COVID-19 that comes with travel and large gatherings. So, they “reimagined” the traditional annual conference with a fully virtual experience.
The 450 attendees, which included corporate in-house leaders such as AT&T’s Juanita Harris and Toyota’s Derek Lipscombe, didn’t seem to mind, as the chat function on the video webcast was used by scores of participants to interact with panelists and with each other.
“It has been an incredible year for many different reasons,” NASCAR General Counsel Tracey Lesetar-Smith told the conference. “NASCAR has had its D&I initiative since 2015, but it had not gotten much attention.”
The media coverage related to the police shootings and subsequent protests brought attention to the issues of diversity and inclusion, Lesetar-Smith said.
“NASCAR banned Confederate flags from our races in 2015, but enforcement was lackluster,” she said. “It was enforced this year. Diversity is nothing if it is not personal. If we are going to have an impact, it must be personal.”
Thomas Kim, chief legal officer for Thomson Reuters, agreed.
“Sometimes, living through history is not easy,” he said. “General counsel are in a position to be a voice for change in the board room. We are in a position to enable the group to take risks.”
“When law firms call me to say you haven’t given us business in a while and [want to know] what they can do to stay in better contact with us, I always ask, ‘Do you have a rising super star who is a woman or ethnic minority who I should meet,?” Thomas said.
CECO General Counsel Chasity Henry, who received the 2020 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for Diversity and Inclusion, said it is “about action, not just words.
“I can write a letter to outside counsel saying they need to bring me a diverse group of counsel, but it all about enforcing it,” she said.
Henry said in-counsel is in a position to make sure law firms recruit, hire and retain a diverse group of lawyers.
Toyota Chief Legal Officer Sandra Phillips Rogers told attendees that general counsel need to be “agile and know how to pivot” in these tumultuous times.
“Organizations are looking to their people for leaders. No one knows what is next. No one knows what is around the corner,” Rogers said. “People want to see who you really are. They want to see your vulnerability and how you rally.”
Rogers said that leaders need to “challenge what is possible.
“Sometimes we are afraid to take risk because we are afraid to be shot down,” she said. “If you are not being shot down, it means you are not growing. We are afraid to ask for feedback. Be bold. Be confident. Step into your destiny. But be strategic and put the right people around you.”
TMCP Awards
The Texas Minority Counsel Program announced the recipients of two of its awards – Minority Corporate Counsel of the Year Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Two finalists for the award were Mey Ly Ortiz, managing counsel of employment & labor for Toyota, and Charlene Wandrisco, director and senior lawyer at American Airlines.
The winner of the award was Vicki Blanton, senior legal counsel at AT&T involved with executive compensation and ERISA. Blanton said she was one of five African American students in the Southern Methodist University Law School Class of 1991. She said D&I is more than just being there.
“It is not enough to be present, but there must be inclusion and now equity,” Blanton said. “Understand the concept of belonging. I look at how do I belong in this profession. We have grown comfortable to being uncomfortable in being the only one. I feel supported by my management and leadership to allow me to engage.”
Two finalists for the TMCP Lifetime Achievement Award were Daniel Hu, chief of the civil division of U.S. Attorney’s Office in Southern District of Texas, and Chief Justice of Fourth Court of Appeals Sandee Marion.
The recipient of the honor was U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay of the Northern District of Texas.
“The award has significance because the complexion of this country is changing,” Judge Lindsay said. “Having a diverse workforce makes good business sense. It is the right thing to do. The fight is not over.”