Diversity Terms 2.0 will follow up last year’s highly popular training, The Words We Use in the D&I Conversation, and will be led by Eckert Seamans Employee Relations and Inclusion Manager Danielle Mundekis and PLDIC Executive Director Ena Lebel.

Come for a refresher and to find out what terms have been added. We will also spend time discussing what to do if you say the wrong thing. Additionally, after the session, we will provide our members with an updated glossary of terms. In the meantime, check out the current glossary. Upon registering for the program, you will be able to ask about particular terms you would like defined. 

At the PLDIC Board meeting on January 11, 2022, the Board elected new officers for a two-year term. Eric Cottle, Partner at K&L Gates, will step into the role of Board Chair (having previously served as Vice Chair); Frances Woodward, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Gateway Health, will serve as Vice Chair (having previously served as Secretary); Joseph Milcoff, Vice President of Litigation and Risk at FedEx Ground, will act as Secretary; and Peter Russ, Shareholder at the Pittsburgh Office of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, will continue to serve as Treasurer. Please join us in welcoming these new PLDIC Board leaders. Also, the Coalition would like to extend a special thank you to Don Bluedorn, Managing Shareholder at Babst Calland, for having served as Board Chair for the past two years.

Miss the 2021 PLDIC Annual Members Meeting? A video recording of the event is now available. To view the recording, you must be logged in to the PLDIC Members Only portion of the website. If your law firm or organization is a member of the Coalition, fill out this form to create your user account.

Additionally, new resources from our meeting speaker, Parker Analytics, continue to be added to the website. Check out the most recently added resource below.

Williams will discuss her new book, Bias Interrupted, on February 28 at 1 p.m. In her book, she shares the results of a decade-long research program with nearly 18,000 people in different industries. Her research shows that mentoring and other programs only help people navigate systems that remain fundamentally unfair, while bias training, while well-meaning, is ineffective or even counterproductive. Williams’ highly pragmatic approach begins with measuring progress at four key points where bias is transmitted in organizations: hiring, performance reviews, compensation, and promotion (as well as access to opportunities like key assignments). Williams then introduces bias interrupters: evidence-based, metrics-driven tools that can, over time, produce big changes.

The Coalition encourages all members to participate in one of our three committees (Recruitment, Retention, and Community Building), which advise on the direction and content of our programming and provide leadership opportunities. In 2022, the Recruitment Committee will continue to be led by Rosa Miller and Jessica Gangjee. The Retention Committee will be led by Krista Staley, and the Community Building Committee will be led by Aarthi Murty. Committee Chairs will be reaching out to current committee members in the coming months to start scheduling meetings for 2022. Learn more about what each committee does here. Interested in participating in a committee? Contact Ena Lebel.

20 Big Law firms have been dubbed “Inclusion Champions” by legal diversity organization Diversity Lab for their progress in diversity representation and tracking. Congrats to PLDIC members Morgan Lewis and Reed Smith for making this list!

Starting the new year with a calendar full of meetings? In this hybrid working environment, it can be hard to hold inclusive meetings. Here is a quick one-pager with simple strategies for running a more inclusive meeting and creating space for diverse perspectives.

Following the recent Rittenhouse and McMichael-Arbery verdicts, the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA) Young Lawyers Division Anti-Racism Committee will hold a virtual town hall meeting to discuss reactions to these events and how they have affected us. The discussion will include speakers from around the community in a conversation led by Miracle Jones of 1hood Media. There is no cost to attend, and the Town Hall is open to all ACBA members and non-members. 

The University of Pittsburgh invites participants to virtually celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Center on Race and Social Problems with the Florence Gibbs Momeyer Endowed Lecture featuring Haben Girma, the first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice.