With the goal of enhancing women senior associates’ leadership skills, McGuireWoods held its 12th Women’s Leadership Development Forum (WLDF) May 2-3, 2024, at the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.

The associate-participants included Nicole M. Allaband, Jessica Barrera, Emily G. Blair, Laura J. Cooley, Megan Italiano, Emily Erb Kelley, Laura Grace Mezher, Alice O’Donovan, Sarah Y. Oh,  Anne Curtis Saunders, Samantha E. Aparicio Wallace, Kelly A. Warlich, Brooke A. Weedon and Madison K. B. Wyche.

Women Lawyers Network co-chairs Ali Baiardo and Elaine Sanderlin Ryan opened the two-day forum with a breakfast presentation, sharing stories and lessons from their individual career journeys. Afterward, a dozen McGuireWoods women partners joined the group for an “Ask Anything” dinner, to provide perspectives on life as a partner at the firm.

After breakfast on the second day with firm managing partner J. Tracy Walker IV, participants enjoyed a lunchtime panel featuring insights from WLDF alums — partners Elissa N. Baur, Anna C. Horevay, Melissa O. Martinez and Ashley B. Matthews.

Continuing the firm’s commitment to attorney development, 15 associates attended McGuireWoods’ 2024 Diverse Associates Leadership Program (DALP), held July 22-23, 2024, at the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. DALP equips top-performing associates of color and LGBTQ+ associates with the tools and leadership skills deemed essential to practice development and advancement into the partnership ranks of the firm.

The DALP participants included Roslyn A. Akel, Camille Bachrach, Christina T. Bassick, Ayana D. Brown, David N. Ezra, Taline R. Gettas, Aria Hangval, Alexander G. Keith, Kristin Lee, Armina A. Manning, William C. M. Matthews, Tolulope H. Olaniyan, Ami P. Patel, Noriya Shahadat and Daniel Withers.

The two-day program opened with welcoming remarks from partner Kenneth Neighbors, chair of McGuireWoods’ Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and Rosanna Koppelmann, director of diversity and inclusion. The program was facilitated by consultant Werten Bellamy, who specializes in talent development for top-performing attorneys at some of the nation’s leading law firms and in-house corporate teams.

Participants broke for lunch and an opportunity to get to know partners and firm leaders in attendance. Afterward, partners shared insights gathered along their career journeys and answered DALP participants’ questions during a panel moderated by Neighbors.

Firm Chairman Jon Harmon addressed the participants between the two afternoon programs, “Building Deep Internal Relationships” and “Elevating Levels of Emotional Intelligence: Making Informed Decisions.” Second-day programming opened with remarks from Managing Partner J. Tracy Walker IV, who led an interactive presentation on the principles of leadership. 

In 2023, McGuireWoods once again achieved Mansfield Certification Plus status after completing a 12-month certification program, from July 2022 to June 2023, thereby fulfilling a commitment to increase firmwide inclusivity and diversity in leadership.

The Mansfield Rule has become the standard by which law firms track and measure whether they have affirmatively considered at least 30% women, lawyers from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, lawyers with disabilities and LGBTQ+ attorneys for top leadership roles, senior-level lateral hiring, promotions into the equity partnership and participation in client pitch meetings. To increase transparency and broaden the slate of talent considered for opportunities, these firms’ advancement processes and leadership role descriptions are now written, clear and accessible to all qualified lawyers.

According to an Oct. 10, 2023, announcement from Diversity Lab, more than 240 law firms in the United States and Canada became Mansfield certified for 2022-2023. Nearly one-half of these firms, including McGuireWoods, qualified for “Mansfield Certification Plus,” meaning they voluntarily measure the outcomes of their inclusive processes and have achieved positive results.

Participating in the Mansfield program strongly aligns with McGuireWoods’ strategy regarding diversity and inclusion to focus on leadership, not just numbers. The firm’s Diverse Associates Leadership Program and Women’s Leadership Development Forum were designed to equip top-performing associates of color, women and LGBTQ+ associates with the leadership skills essential to their development and advancement into the partnership ranks of the firm.

Several years ago, the firm adopted the Rooney Rule when recruiting associates to ensure that women and attorneys of color were candidates for all open positions managed by the Attorney Recruitment & Professional Development Team. McGuireWoods’ implementation of the Rooney Rule pre-dated the announcement of the Mansfield Rule. The early adoption of the Rooney Rule helped the firm increase the diversity of its associate population, including increased numbers of women, lawyers of color, and lawyers from the LGBTQ+ community.

In 2022, McGuireWoods real estate and zoning lawyers, land use planners and government relations consultants released Part 2 of an in-depth study of zoning laws and housing segregation in Virginia, outlining specific policy reforms to eliminate discriminatory housing policies that perpetuate racial disparities.

The report, “Zoning and Segregation in Virginia: Part 2 — Expanding Housing Choices for the Future of Virginia,” builds on McGuireWoods’ previous study documenting how zoning was used as a tool to create segregated housing patterns that endure long after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited racial discrimination.

The recommendations in Part 2 focus on changes to Virginia’s planning and zoning laws at the local and state levels to increase housing choices, remove barriers to diverse neighborhoods and increase access to attainable housing.

The McGuireWoods team — led by Tysons real estate and land use partner Jonathan Rak and McGuireWoods Consulting senior advisor James Dyke — details the consequences of residential segregation and the positive outcomes the commonwealth can realize by ridding society of such segregation.

“The purpose of this report is to address the lack of racial integration in Virginia’s neighborhoods and to offer a collection of proposed solutions to this issue at the state and local levels,” Dyke said. “Our intent is not to assess blame or point fingers for past injustices, but rather to recommend specific steps that can be taken to eliminate the vestiges of discriminatory housing and zoning policies.”

The authors said zoning policies will play a major role in closing the significant wealth gap between Black and white Americans and called for “direct and intentional action” by state and local governments and the private sector.

For details, read “Zoning and Segregation in Virginia: Part 2 — Expanding Housing Choices for the Future of Virginia.”

The firm announced the recipient of the 2022 McGuireWoods scholarship at the University of Virginia School of Engineering & Applied Science: rising fourth-year student Justin Ngo.   Ngo visited McGuireWoods’ Richmond office on June 1, 2022, and met with some of the firm’s lawyers, including managing partner J. Tracy Walker IV and counsel George Keith Martin. Ngo’s family immigrated to the United States after the Vietnam War to start a new life. He is passionate about fairness and promoting diversity and believes his upbringing has shaped his independence and resilience.

While pursuing his computer science/engineering degree at UVA, Ngo has taken undergraduate courses in commercial law, media law, election cybersecurity and computer science ethics, which piqued an interest in intellectual property law. Ngo created a website in April 2022 to synthesize personal research on gene editor CRISPR and the legal implications of novel genetic technologies on intellectual disability. For the project, he interviewed genetic engineering and legal scholars and shared recordings on the website. He also designed a social media app to share verified news, petitions and fundraisers, and he is vice president of Alternative Spring Break, for which he organizes more than 300 students to participate in service trips and fundraising.  

“I was delighted to meet Justin and to learn more about his interests and about what he is doing in school,” Walker said. “He is an impressive young man. I am confident that he is going to find great success in law school and in all his future endeavors.”  

The McGuireWoods scholarship is part of a law school pipeline project the firm launched in 2019. In addition to awarding a scholarship each year to a rising fourth-year student interested in law school, the firm has partnered with the School of Engineering to develop and sponsor the school’s Future Leaders Speaker Series, where students can learn about careers outside of engineering.  

Walker, who graduated from UVA with a degree in mechanical engineering, has explained the firm’s focus on engineering students: “Engineering school graduates are particularly well-positioned to do well in law school and to go on to successful careers as lawyers. Engineering schools, like business schools, focus on team-based problem solving, a particularly important skill set for lawyers. It is a demanding curriculum. Students who thrive in that environment have developed strong analytical skills and are poised to do well in law school and beyond.”

In 2020, Bank of America honored McGuireWoods with its Law Firm Diversity & Inclusion Award in recognition of the firm’s collaboration and leadership advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

In selecting McGuireWoods for the award, Bank of America evaluated the firm’s internal culture for recruiting, retaining, mentoring and promoting lawyers of color, women and LGBTQ+ lawyers, and veterans. It also considered the firm’s external efforts to advance diversity and inclusion, including significant initiatives in which McGuireWoods and Bank of America worked together.

“We value our partnership with Bank of America and the opportunity to collaborate on innovative initiatives to advance diversity and inclusion,” said McGuireWoods chairman Jonathan Harmon. “D&I are priorities for Bank of America and McGuireWoods and we are honored to receive this recognition.”

In February 2020, McGuireWoods and Bank of America organized a program called “Partnering for Progress in Diversity & Inclusion,” which drew more than 200 attorneys from law firms, corporations and government to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. Introduced by Bank of America global general counsel David Leitch, Harmon led a wide-ranging discussion with distinguished lawyers on the challenges and opportunities facing companies and law firms and their shared need to make meaningful progress building and nurturing diverse and inclusive teams.

Joining Harmon were panelists Amy B. Littman, Bank of America’s head of global compliance and operational risk; Robert J. Grey Jr., president of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity; Wade Henderson, noted civil rights lawyer and interim president of the Leadership Conference and Civil and Human Rights; and Mark W. Johnson, chief legal, governance officer of Kimball International. Each shared stories of peers and mentors who paved the way for their advancement, explained how in-house and outside counsel can work together on diversity and inclusion, and discussed how to accelerate progress.

In August 2020, McGuireWoods and Bank of America co-hosted a two-part CLE webcast that included Harmon’s one-on-one discussion with Professor Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of “How to Be an Antiracist,” and a panel moderated by partner Robert Muckenfuss, chair of the firm’s Complex Commercial Litigation Department.

Joining Kendi on the panel were McGuireWoods partners Ava Lias-Booker, chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and Tanya Greene, as well as Bank of America deputy general counsel Jack Sena and associate general counsel and senior vice president Justin Goggins. They discussed the role lawyers play identifying racist policies and finding a path toward racial equity; how individuals can dismantle policies that promote inequality and be agents of change; recruiting and retaining diverse lawyers; and the importance of pro bono service and civic engagement. The webcast drew more than 1,100 attendees, including McGuireWoods and Bank of America lawyers.

“We are grateful to David Leitch and his team at Bank of America for their leadership and support in this important effort,” said Muckenfuss, who helps manage McGuireWoods’ relationship with Bank of America. “We look forward to continuing our work with Bank of America to promote diversity and inclusion in our workplaces and communities.”