Event Title: Eliminating Bias in the Legal Industry: Actions to Recruit, Retain, and Advance Minorities and Intersectional Individuals in the Legal Profession
Event Type: MCLE Society Session
Location:
Zoom details will be emailed to registrants.
***Please note: If you are registering a Guest, Zoom details will not be emailed to your Guests. You must forward the Zoom details yourself to any Guests you have registered.***
Presenter: Dr. Ammar Saheli, Lindsey S. Mignano, Jay Lee, Liên Payne
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Time: 12:30 to 2pm
This Society Session will qualify for 1 hour of MCLE Credit, including sub-field credit for Recognition and Elimination of Bias.
Attendees MUST verify attendance with the Session Chair for the duration of the Session, in order to obtain MCLE credit.
Description:
Eliminating Bias in the Legal Industry: Actions to Recruit, Retain, and Advance Minorities and Intersectional Individuals in the Legal Profession
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How can organizations effectively and thoughtfully discuss race, gender, and intersectionality in the workplace?
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Why is it important for organizations to speak up and speak out on racial justice, and more broadly, social justice issues?
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How to influence the decision makers in your organization to care about diversity
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What are practical steps leaders can take to build a sense of belonging for and retain minority attorneys?
Presenters:
Dr. Ammar Saheli has served in the capacity of CEO for the past 13 years, Director of Student Support Services in the San Lorenzo Unified School District for 12 years, and Pastor of the West Oakland Church of Christ for almost 20 years. Dr. Saheli also teaches Advanced Counseling Process, Cultural Foundations, and Developmental Foundations for Counselors in the Graduate School of Counseling at San Francisco State University.
As a San Francisco native, twenty years ago, Ammar entered the ranks of public education from the world of mental and behavioral health, where he worked as a therapist serving adolescents, families, and couples. Through Saheli7 Educational Consulting and because of the unique experience of Dr. Saheli, he brings a holistic, responsive, restorative, psycho-educational and psycho-social approach to working with students, families, educators, leaders, service providers, Community-Based Organizations, corporations, and more.
Ammar is passionate and proficient in the conceptions and implementation techniques related to racial equity, antiracism, cultural competence and responsiveness, unconscious/implicit bias, Restorative Practices/Restorative Justice, and instructional strategies related to critical pedagogy. Ammar specializes in developing and implementing systems designed to address racial disproportionality, empowerment, and consciousness, while additionally managing the tough and necessary dialogues that are critical to moving systems, organizations, teams, students, and families beyond the impact of cultural bias and institutional barriers.
In addition to being the author of the 2018 book, Eerie Silence: Race/Racism Explored Across Educational, Theological, and Justice Continuums Amisdst America and Beyond, from San Francisco State University, Dr. Saheli has a BA in Psychology and Master of Science degree in Counseling, and a Doctorate in International & Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco.
Lindsey S. Mignano counsels national and international startups regarding business formation and expansion into US markets. Prior to founding her four-woman firm in 2016, Lindsey practiced at an international law firm. She graduated from Stanford University (2007), and University of California, Hastings College of the Law (2010). She currently sits on the Barristers Board of Directors for the Bar Association of San Francisco, a preeminent Bay Area bar association.
She has received the following professional accolades: Outstanding Barristers Award in 2017 from the Bar Association of San Francisco; Women in the Law Committee’s Outstanding New Leader Award in 2015 from DRI, an international legal organization for defense and corporate counsel; and Rising Star from 2016-2020 by Super Lawyers, an honor awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys under the age of 40.
Jay Lee is the Supervising Attorney for Business Law at the Justice and Diversity Center (JDC) of the San Francisco Bar Association. Mr. Lee oversees JDC’s Community Organization Representation Project (CORP), which provides pro bono transactional law assistance to hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area. Prior to joining JDC Mr. Lee was a corporate attorney, representing companies on incorporations, financial and technology transactions, and compliance, both as a solo practitioner and with Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto. Mr. Lee also served as the San Jose field office manager for the No on Proposition campaign in 2008, and has experience providing capacity-building technical assistance to nonprofit organizations funded by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Mr. Lee received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and her B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard College.
Liên Payne co-founded the women and minority-owned boutique firm Kennedy Payne, P.C. At the firm, Liên represented business, executive, and entrepreneur clients in pre-litigation negotiations and civil actions for breach of contract, fraud, and business torts. Prior to co-founding Kennedy Payne, Liên represented businesses across a wide range of industries at an international law firm, including prominent financial institutions, computer storage companies, auto-finance providers, and public entities. Liên also represented and advised business and individual clients in connection with state and federal government investigations, company inquiries, and criminal proceedings. Her pro bono work includes helping to conduct an investigation into the culture of the San Francisco Police Department as part of the Culture Working Group of the Blue Ribbon Panel convened by the San Francisco District Attorney in 2016.