Breakout Panels Track 1 and Track 2 (CDC221019-C)

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

12:30 PM to 2:45 PM

Breakout Panels Track 1 (12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

Breakout Panel Room 1: Inclusive Leadership, The Foundation of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within your Organization

About the Program

Recently we have witnessed several firsts as attorneys of color rose to positions of power within the legal profession. Join this session to hear from lawyers who have broken barriers and represent a first within a particular Connecticut legal community leadership role. Explore the meaning of inclusive leadership, and practical tips on how to be an inclusive leader within the legal profession. Explore the concepts of diverse leadership together with inclusive and equitable leadership, and the interconnection and distinctions therein.

Presenters

Hon. Rupal Shah, Connecticut Superior Court, Middletown
Hon. Anne C. Dranginis, (Ret.), Pullman & Comley, Bridgeport
Margaret Castinado, Public Defender, Incoming President of the CBA, Hartford
Beck Fineman, Ryan Ryan Deluca LLP, Stamford
Marilyn J. Ford, Quinnipiac University School of Law, Neil H. Cogan Public Service Chair, Hamden
Eboni S. Nelson, University of Connecticut School of Law, Hartford

Breakout Panel Room 2: Promoting DEI in Corporate Legal Departments and when Retaining Outside Counsel

About the Program

This breakout session will be a moderated panel of representatives from a few CT-based companies to discuss their DEI initiatives.  The panel will not only discuss DEI initiatives within their companies and/or legal departments, but also how their organizations assess and promote supplier diversity, including how their corporate legal departments think about assessing DEI when retaining outside counsel and other external expertise.  

Presenters

Peter Lee, Cigna Corporation, San Mateo, CA
Marin Lorenson, The Hartford, Hartford

Moderator

Moy N. Ogilvie, McCarter & English, LLP, Hartford

Breakout Panel Room 3: Promoting Access to Justice While Advancing Racial Justice

About the Program

The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated a significant ongoing access to justice gap, in Connecticut and beyond. Recent examinations of the access to justice gap have also provided us with a deeper understanding of the disproportionate impact of the access to justice gap on people and communities of color.  Both the private and nonprofit legal sectors, in Connecticut and beyond, have responded with new pro bono initiatives and impactful projects that seek to shrink the access to justice gap while also promoting racial justice.  Learn more about these efforts, and how you can get involved, in this session.

Presenters

Kelsey Bannon, Greater Hartford Legal Aid Inc., Hartford
John Doroghazi, Wiggin & Dana LLP, New Haven
Michelle Pallak Movahed, McCarter & English, Newark, NJ
NaTonia Trammell, Legal Aid of North Carolina Inc., Raleigh, NC

Moderator

Natalie Wagner, Connecticut Bar Foundation, Harford 

Breakout Panels Track 2 (1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.)

Breakout Room 1: Building and Positioning your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Team for Success 

About the Program

Explore different models for bolstering your DEI efforts by utilizing a dedicated DEI professional or DEI team. What models are available for large and small organizations? What models work? How do you tailor the performance goals for a DEI professional or team to your particular organization or mission? How can small firms or other resource-limited entities benefit from outside consultants or other resources to supplement internal efforts? What does a dedicated DEI Legal professional do? How do you position this role for meaningful success? How do you assess that success? Explore these questions with a panel of DEI professionals including Directors of Diversity, a Diversity Committee Chair, and a Diversity Consultant.

Presenters

Alfredo G. Fernández, Shipman and Goodwin LLP, Hartford
Daryl McGraw, Office of the Chief Public Defender, Hartford
Tara Pollard, Day Pitney LLP, Hartford
Asker Saeed, Saeed Consulting Group, Glastonbury

Moderator

Jenn Shukla, Connecticut Bar Association, New Britain

Breakout Room 2: Understanding and Addressing Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession

About the Program

In recent years, several studies have illuminated the prevalence and impact of discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment within the legal profession. Other studies have shown how bias can impact diverse individuals and affect key functions within the legal profession in subtle but demonstrable ways. Several states, including Connecticut, have sought to respond to overt instances of discrimination and harassment in professional contexts by updating or revising existing rules of professional ethics.  These rules against discrimination and harassment in professional contexts, often building or drawing from American Bar Association Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(g), exist in more than half of the states, with several states recently enacting or considering similar rule changes. Join us to learn about various studies of the impact of discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment within the legal profession, and some of the measures taken by the profession, across the country, to address these concerns.

Presenters

Jonathan G. Martinis, The Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, Washington, DC 
Dr. Arin Reeves, Nextions LLC, Chicago, IL
Marcy T. Stovall, Pullman & Comley LLC, Bridgeport 

Moderator

Daniel A. Schwartz, Shipman & Goodwin LLP, Hartford

Breakout Room 3: Words Matter V. II 

About the Program

Words matter.  As Gautama Buddha said: “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”  Words can hurt, help, or heal.  Many words have nuances and hidden meanings, known mostly within social, racial, and ethnic groups, and often unappreciated for better and worse by others.  Some words can be used directly to discriminate.  Some words are wrongly and hurtfully used without conscious intention but sometimes with implicit bias. Some words may be used to help and heal and demonstrate inclusiveness and a shared appreciation of what is common across a wide range of groups.

Presenters

Margaret Castinado, Public Defender, Incoming President of the CBA, Hartford
Aigné Goldsby, Letizia Ambrose & Falls PC, New Haven
Carolyn A. Ikari, Connecticut Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Kimberly Jacobsen, State of Connecticut Commission on Human Rights, Hartford

Total Credits for Breakout Sessions

2.0 CT CLE Credits (Ethics)