News | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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NEW YORK CITY—Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Theresa Sprain moderated a panel discussion on “#MeToo One Year Later: Lessons Learned and Best Practices” at the 2018 Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference.
In addition, attorneys Kevin Hall, Ericka Johnson, Kevin Lyn and Alexandra Villarreal O’Rourke represented the firm at the conference, which took place Oct. 1-3 in New York City.
During Sprain’s session, panelists discuss the lessons employers, law firms, and legal departments have learned in the year since the allegations regarding Harvey Weinstein gave rise to the #MeToo movement. The panel also explored best practices for policies and procedures to ensure not only legal compliance, but to support a culture of inclusion through employee recruiting, mentoring, and training.
Joining Sprain in the discussion were Microsoft Assistant General Counsel Jack Chen, Target Director/Employee & Labor Relations Counsel Sandro Garofalo, Ross Stores Group Vice President for Legal & Global Compliance Kevin Clunis, and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP attorney Samantha Grant.
Womble Bond Dickinson is a Strategic Sponsor of MCCA.
Kevin Hall is a skilled commercial litigator and political law attorney whose practice intersects at the four corners of law, business, politics and public policy. He has represented Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation and elected officials facing ethics charges, criminal prosecution, and/or impeachment and removal from political office. On the business side, Hall has tried commercial cases to verdict in state and federal courts including claims such as breach of contract, business torts, unfair trade practices, unfair competition, commercial disparagement, and federal and state class actions.
Ericka Johnson focuses her practice on business bankruptcy and corporate restructuring matters and is experienced in representing a variety of parties in interest in complex Chapter 11 cases. She has represented debtors, debtor-in-possession lenders, official committees of unsecured creditors, secured and unsecured creditors, trustees, plan administrators, officers and directors, vendors, and asset purchasers.
Kevin Lyn is an experienced intellectual property attorney who helps clients prepare, prosecute and commercialize patents. He has counseled clients on matters related to mechanical, electrical, electromechanical, business method, software and Internet-related technologies. He serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee.
Alexandra Villarreal O’Rourke leads Womble Bond Dickinson’s Financial Regulatory team and co-leads the firm’s Fintech team. She draws upon her background in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to advise clients on mission-critical compliance questions and risk management as well as state and federal financial regulatory engagement, investigations, and enforcement. She also has significant experience on Fintech and Artificial Intelligence regulatory matters and helps clients navigate the evolving legal terrains on those topics.
Theresa Sprain is an experienced employment litigation attorney. Her practice includes representing employers in age, race, sex, or disability discrimination claims and retaliation matters. In addition, Sprain routinely provides strategic employment advice regarding corporate transactions, including analysis of agreements, due diligence and preparation of executive agreements.
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(L-R) Jack Chen, Kevin Clunis, Samantha Grant, Sandro Garofolo and Theresa Sprain
