Ten Remarkable General Counsels Speak at NAWL's 10th General Counsel Institute

Today’s world-class organizations require in-house counsel not only to be expert lawyers, but also to be multi-faceted, strategic, and motivational leaders who engage themselves, their law departments, and their organizations to achieve business objections.  On November 6th and 7th, 2014, the National Association of Women Lawyers® (“NAWL”) will present its Tenth Annual General Counsel Institute® (“GCI 10”) -- Strategic Leadership: Developing Legal Expertise and Skills to Enable and Empower Yourself and Others in the 21st Century -- to over 200 senior in-house women counsel from companies across the countryIn honor of the tenth anniversary of GCI, NAWL will have ten remarkable General Counsels speak at its event:
  • Donna Costa, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings America;
  • Beth DeSimone, General Counsel, CommunityOne Bank, N.A.;
  • Vicki Donati, General Counsel, Crate & Barrel Holdings, Inc.;
  • Cynthia Gibson, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc.;

Today’s world-class organizations require in-house counsel not only to be expert lawyers, but also to be multi-faceted, strategic, and motivational leaders who engage themselves, their law departments, and their organizations to achieve business objections.  On November 6th and 7th, 2014, the National Association of Women Lawyers® (“NAWL”) will present its Tenth Annual General Counsel Institute® (“GCI 10”) — Strategic Leadership: Developing Legal Expertise and Skills to Enable and Empower Yourself and Others in the 21st Century — to over 200 senior in-house women counsel from companies across the countryIn honor of the tenth anniversary of GCI, NAWL will have ten remarkable General Counsels speak at its event:

  • Donna Costa, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings America;
  • Beth DeSimone, General Counsel, CommunityOne Bank, N.A.;
  • Vicki Donati, General Counsel, Crate & Barrel Holdings, Inc.;
  • Cynthia Gibson, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc.;
  • Leigh M. Harlan, Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel, Tiffany & Co.;
  • Sandra Leung, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company;
  • Jennifer Rochon, General Counsel, Girl Scouts of the United States of America;
  • Brad Smith, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Microsoft Corporation;
  • Monica Weed, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Navigant Consulting, Inc.; and
  • Linda Willett, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Are you an in-house attorney?  Attend the event!  Are you outside counsel?  Consider sponsoring the event, reaching out to in-house lawyers you know, or sponsoring an in-house client by purchasing a ticket for her.  It’s a great point of contact with your client or prospective client and will spread the word about GCI 10!

The National Association of Women Lawyers is the leading national voluntary organization devoted to the interests of women lawyers and women’s rights.  NAWL was founded by a group of eighteen (18) women lawyers in New York City in 1899 and originally called The Women Lawyer’s Club (“Club”).  In 1915, women’s suffrage became the first major project undertaken by the Club.  Three-time Club President, Olive Scott Gabriel, argued for women’s voting rights across the country.  Four years later, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.  The Club’s membership mobilized to work for ratification by the states.  It also worked consistently on social legislation – including child labor laws, minimum wage, divorce and marriage laws, the right for a woman to keep her name after marriage, and the right for women to serve on juries. In 1923, due to increasing nationwide membership, the Club became the National Association of Women Lawyers.  That same year, it held its first national convention in Minneapolis with Chief Justice William Howard Taft.

In 1935, NAWL became one of the first national organizations to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment (“ERA”), first introduced to Congress in 1922.  The ERA became one of NAWL’s highest priorities for the next several decades.  In 1943, NAWL became an affiliated organization of the American Bar Association.  It led the creation of opportunities for women to serve in the military and had more than 150 of its members serving in the Woman’s Army Corp., Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, and the Marine Corp.’s Women’s Reserve.

In 1952, NAWL drafted the Uniform Divorce Bill, calling it “the greatest project NAWL has ever undertaken.”  In 1972, Congress passed the ERA and NAWL members embraced this victory by seeking ratification of the amendment by the states – a feat that would take until March 22, 1984 when Mississippi ratified it.  In 1985, NAWL began granting membership to male applicants.

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Two decades later, the Immediate Past President of NAWL, Stephanie Scharf, now a partner at Scharf Banks Marmor LLC, founded the General Counsel Institute (“GCI”).  Scharf targeted the meeting to senior corporate counsel who had the goal of advancing to the role of chief legal officer.  She recognized the need for in-house attorneys to build top-tier professional and management skills in a supportive and interactive learning environment and to learn from experienced officers and directors about the points of pressure and success for general counsels.  Together with NAWL President Lorraine Koc, then General Counsel and EEO Officer at Deb Shops, Inc. (now Senior Counsel at SugarHouse Casino) and NAWL President Elect, Cathy Fleming, then a partner at Edwards and Angell, LLP (now a partner at Hodgson Russ, LLP), Scharf quickly formed a planning committee which consisted of themselves, as a well as Carol Basri, then adjunct professor at University of Pennsylvania School of Law (now adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law), Caroline K. Cheng, Management Principal and Associate General Counsel at Deloitte LLP, Dorian Denburg, then Chief Rights-of-Way Counsel for BellSouth Corporation (now General Attorney for AT&T Services, Inc.), Michelle Speller-Thurman, then a partner at Jenner & Block (now Senior Counsel at Abbott Laboratories) and Betty-Lynn White (now an Adjunct and Area Chair for the University of Phoenix and Adjunct Professor at Albertus Magnus College).  The Committee arranged plenary and workshop sessions to foster frank discussions about what it takes to be promoted and provide the means to improve skills and knowledge in a collegial atmosphere.  They developed an innovative CLE program with opportunities to learn and network with other senior legal and business professionals and featured speakers Peter Harvey, then Attorney General of New Jersey, Catherine R. Kinney, then Co-Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange, and Carol Robles-Román, Deputy Mayor, New York City.  GCI met with rave reviews!

In honor of its tenth anniversary, NAWL will celebrate GCI 10 by having ten outstanding General Counsels from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, CommunityOne Bank, N.A., Crate & Barrel Holdings, Inc., Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Microsoft Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings  America Inc., Navigant Consulting, Inc., Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., and Tiffany & Co., who will share their insights on the unique challenges faced by in-house lawyers in today’s rapidly evolving business and legal environments, as well as the strategies, skills, and substantive knowledge necessary for in-house counsel to successfully lead their organizations and legal departments.  Keynote Speaker Brad Smith will discuss top leadership traits critical to leading, engaging, and motivating a global corporation.  Keynote Speaker Sandra Leung will address what it takes to thrive in today’s increasingly challenging business and regulatory environments.  Attendees will be able to network with these presenters and peers in a collegial environment, while increasing their effectiveness as women lawyers at the top tiers of their corporate law departments.

Additionally, GCI 10 will include CLE interactive workshops exploring best practices and actionable solutions on these leading edge topics:

  • Leading Through Expertise will address today’s hot topics relating to anti-bribery compliance, preventing data breaches, and what to know about global business in the cloud.
  • Leading and Balancing Growth and Efficiencies will address the globalization of commercial transactions, managing your law department more efficiently to drive business growth, and doing more with less and avoiding traps in business litigation.

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  • Developing Highly Effective and Ethical Leaders will address executive presence, multinational approaches to addressing a multigenerational workforce, and staying ethical in a cost-effective world.

Through programs like GCI, NAWL provides the tools for women in the legal profession to advance, prosper, and enrich the profession.  Perhaps most importantly, NAWL, through its members and committees, functions as the Voice of Women in the Law™, providing a collective voice in the bar, courts, Congress, and the workplace to make women’s concerns heard.

For further information and to register for GCI 10, go to Programs & Events at www.nawl.org.