The New York County Lawyers' Association's (NYCLA) 96th Annual Dinner celebrating diversity in the legal profession will be held on Tuesday, December 14 in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The NYCLA Diversity Award will be given to Roderick A. Palmore, executive vice president and general counsel, General Mills, Inc., who wrote "A Call to Action, Diversity in the Legal Profession," urging general counsel to drive diversity by demanding results in the law firms with which they work, as well as in their departments. NYCLA's William Nelson Cromwell Award will be given to George W. Madison, general counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Boris Kostelanetz President's Medal will be presented to NYCLA Past President Catherine A. Christian, counsel for Special Projects, Office of Special NarcoticsProsecutor, New York County District Attorney's Office. The dinner, a black-tie event, begins with cocktails at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner and a program. Dinner co-chairs are Michele Coleman Mayes, senior vice president and general counsel, Allstate Insurance Company, and former NYCLA President Robert L. Haig.
The Dinner will recognize the signatories of NYCLA's Diversity Statement, which has been signed by nearly 150 law firms and corporations. NYCLA's statement provides: "The undersigned law firms and law departments support efforts to increase diversity in the legal profession. We call upon other law firms and law departments to join us in taking steps to implement such efforts. We believe that law firms should not object to requests by their corporate clients that the firms report the number of hours devoted to the clients' matters by minority lawyers. If our clients decide that they wish to publicly report the amounts of legal fees which they pay for services rendered by minority lawyers as emblematic of their commitment to increasing diversity in the legal profession, we would work with them to provide such numbers or estimates."
NYCLA's Annual Dinner is renowned as the "bench and bar event of the year." It will provide an opportunity for clients, spouses and friends to join in a festive evening.
To register for the event visit www.nycla.org.