McGuireWoods selected partner Jasmine K. Gardner as its representative member for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) 2025 Fellows Program and associates Chauna A. Abner, Hayoung Chung, Micaylee A. Noreen and Jason M. Vespoli as representative members of the LCLD’s 2025 Pathfinders Program.
The LCLD Fellows Program, launched in 2011, helps high-potential, midcareer attorneys excel in leadership roles and build stronger client relationships. The LCLD Pathfinders Program furthers the professional development of lawyers early in their careers, which also helps strengthen talent pipelines of underrepresented attorneys.
Gardner, a member of the firm’s Financial Services & Securities Enforcement Department in Charlotte, focuses her practice on commercial litigation, representing corporate clients in the financial services, construction, trucking and healthcare industries. She represents Fortune 100 companies in disputes in federal and state court, mediation and arbitration. She is a founding board member of Young Black Lawyers of Charlotte, a nonprofit organization launched in 2023 to unite Black lawyers under 40 in the Charlotte area. In 2022 and 2021, The National Black Lawyers selected Gardner for its list of Top 40 Under 40 lawyers, and in 2022, Pride Magazine named her one of seven Influential Black Lawyers in Charlotte. For the past five years she was selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, for Commercial Litigation and named to “North Carolina Rising Stars,” for Business Litigation.
Abner, who practices in the Financial Services & Securities Enforcement Department in Baltimore, focuses on commercial litigation, contractual disputes and financial litigation. She represents businesses and individuals in commercial litigation in federal and state courts and in arbitration. Abner litigates high-stakes disputes between corporations and stockholders, members and managers of limited liability companies, and other entities. She also handles matters involving fiduciary duties, noncompetition agreements, and demands for books and records. Since 2021, The National Black Lawyers has continuously selected Chauna for its list of Top 40 Under 40 lawyers.
Chung, a member of the Debt Finance Department in New York, concentrates on bankruptcy, restructuring and workout matters, with a focus on secured transactions, debtor-in-possession financing, cash collateral matters, and creditors’ rights and remedies. Chung represents leading financial institutions, national banks, senior secured lenders and other creditor groups in and out of court. Before joining McGuireWoods, she served as a law clerk to Judge Colleen A. Brown of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Vermont and worked at another national firm. In 2024, she was one of 50 up-and-coming bankruptcy practitioners selected to participate in the NextGeneration Program of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.
Noreen, a member of the Financial Services & Securities Enforcement Department in San Francisco, is an accomplished trial lawyer who represents clients in multimillion-dollar business, civil conspiracy, and fraud claims; intellectual property litigation; employment matters; class action and mass arbitration claims; and high-asset trust and estates litigation. She served as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and for four years as the newsletter editor-in-chief for the I’Anson-Hoffman American Inn of Court.
Vespoli practices in the Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department in Washington, D.C. He focuses his practice on federal and state procurement, government technology, bid protests and government contract disputes, and regulatory compliance. Vespoli joined McGuireWoods from the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of General Counsel where he represented the commonwealth in high-profile procurement solicitations. He serves as chair of the Public Contract Law Committee of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.
“We are proud to have Jasmine, Chauna, Hayoung, Micaylee and Jason as the firm’s LCLD representatives this year,” said Atlanta partner Ken Neighbors, chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. “Commitment to diversity and inclusion is a core, unwavering value at McGuireWoods, and we are pleased to help build the pipeline of strong, diverse future leaders of the legal community.”
The LCLD is a national organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners dedicated to creating a more open and diverse legal profession. McGuireWoods has been a member and participant in the LCLD since the organization was founded in 2009. In 2023, the LCLD honored McGuireWoods with a Top Performers and Compass Award. The firm was one of only 75 LCLD member organizations to earn both honors.