The former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), William E. Kennard, was featured speaker for the DC Minority Attorney Networking Series on July 24 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The ongoing series was co-founded by Arnold & Porter LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, LLP and is now sponsored by more than 40 law firms in the Washington, DC area.
Mr. Kennard is currently the managing director of global telecommunications and media for The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms, with offices in 18 countries. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of The New York Times Company, Hawaiian Telecom and Insight Communications. Mr. Kennard previously served as the FCC's general counsel from 1993 to 1997. In November 1997, President Clinton appointed Mr. Kennard as chairman.During his tenure as chairman, Mr. Kennard shaped policies that brought the Internet and wireless phones to a majority of American households, sparking major investments in new broadband technologies.
The DC Minority Attorney Networking Series was founded by Fried Frank's Attorney of Color Affinity Group in March 2005. Arnold & Porter and Fried Frank teamed to co-organize the series, which is intended to provide opportunities for minority attorneys in the DC metropolitan area to network and build alliances, while also encouraging professional development. Since the launch of the series, more than 1,500 minority attorneys have attended.
In addition to Arnold & Porter and Fried Frank, more than 40 leading law firms in Washington, DC also have agreed to sponsor the Minority Attorney Networking Series. Those firms include: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Arent Fox LLP; Baker Botts LLP; Bingham McCutchen LLP; Blank Rome LLP; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Chadbourne & Parke LLP; Covington & Burling LLP; Crowell & Moring LLP; Davis Wright Tremaine LLP; Dickstein Shapiro LLP; Dow Lohnes PLLC; Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP; Fulbright & Jaworski LLP; Goodwin Procter;Hogan & Hartson LLP; Howrey LLP; King & Spalding LLP; Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP; Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP; McDermott Will & Emery LLP; McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP; Miller & Chevalier Chartered; Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; Morrison & Foerster LLP; O'Melveny & Myers LLP; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP; Powell Goldstein LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Steptoe & Johnson LLP; Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; Wiley Rein LLP; Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP; Williams & Connolly LLP; WilmerHale LLP; Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, and Venable LLP.