Legal News

Seeking Recommendations for Our 'Diverse Attorneys of the Year'

By Brian Harris

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Every other year since 2007, The Legal has published a ?Diversity? supplement, alternating years with our ?Women in the Profession? supplement. They are similar in structure, containing a selection of contributed articles, a transcript from a moderated roundtable discussion and a list of individuals being recognized for their contributions as Pennsylvania lawyers, leaders and innovators.

This year, I?m in the midst of preparing for our 2011 Diversity supplement, and the pieces are falling into place: the articles have been assigned, the roundtable participants have been chosen and the date selected. Now all that remains is to find those special lawyers to honor as our ?Diverse Attorneys of the Year.?

Which is where YOU come in. These honorees can be from law firms of any size, solo practitioners, in-house counsel, government employees, public interest attorneys -- any minority attorney, of any age, whose practice is based anywhere in Pennsylvania. We welcome ALL of your suggestions.

There is no formal nomination process. All we ask is that you write us a letter of recommendation detailing why this person deserves to be recognized, including professional highlights over 2010. The letter should be signed by someone other than the recommended honoree, and that can be a colleague, boss, friend or client -- anyone who can speak to that person's merits.

The honorees will be selected by the editorial staff of The Legal, then profiled in our Diversity supplement, scheduled to be published in April, and honored at a luncheon scheduled for early June. We are very excited about this event, which in 2009 had almost 300 attendees!

But here?s the kicker -- we can?t honor these individuals unless they are recommended! So this is my special appeal to you. Please take the time to write a letter on behalf of the outstanding diverse attorney(s) around you. Don?t think to yourself, ?Someone else will do it,? because they may not. And if they do, all the better -- at least that person will be guaranteed consideration.

The letters of recommendation are due to me this Friday, and they can be e-mailed, faxed to 215-557-2301, or snail-mailed to Jaime Bochet, The Legal Intelligencer, 1617 JFK Boulevard, Suite 1750, Philadelphia PA 19103. If you have any questions about this process or the publication, please send me an e-mail or call 215-557-2368.

I hope to soon have my mailbox flooded with letters of recommendation for outstanding diverse Pennsylvania attorneys, so get writing!

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).