Baltimore partner Ava Lias-Booker, who chairs McGuireWoods’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is a member of the firm’s Associates Committee, spoke at the 2021 Virtual DAPP Direct Client-Readiness Boot Camp on May 23, 2021. Continuing her commitment to mentoring aspiring lawyers, she spoke to 60 women of color pursuing legal careers.
As part of the panel presentation, “The Anatomy of a Law Firm and Summer Associates: Your Goals and Theirs,” Ava helped lead a discussion about law firms as a business, the role and value of the summer associate, and why being a summer associate is so important as the foundation of a legal career.
The nonprofit Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (DAPP) aims to diversify the legal profession by expanding opportunities for women of color law students to secure summer positions at law firms and corporations following their first year of law school.
Ava chairs the firm’s Baltimore litigation group and is the office’s former managing partner. In 2020, American Lawyer Media’s Corporate Counsel magazine selected Ava for its Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards recognizing accomplished women attorneys at law firms and in-house legal departments across the country.