Michael W. Blair

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP provides legal services. Practice areas include: complex acquisition, financing transactions, litigation & arbitration, tax, employee benefits, and trusts & estates. The company was founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and is headquartered in New York, NY.

The words "Leadership Council on Legal Diversity" are carefully chosen. Since the formation of the LCLD was announced in May 2009, the group has focused on developing strategies to increase diversity in the legal profession. Just as importantly, the LCLD has brought together the leaders of law firms and corporate legal departments to do that. At the time of the announcement, Rick Palmore, General Counsel of General Mills and former Chair of the LCLD Board of Directors underscored the significance of the effort: "LCLD is doing what no other initiative has done—uniting the legal industry's senior leaders in one organization to address and resolve the enormous diversity challenges in our profession." The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity has, since May 2009, organized a committee structure around four key strategic initiatives. Those initiatives are titled: Strategy & Innovation, Development, Partnerships & Teams, and Pipeline. At a glance, the initiatives will address the following opportunities and challenges: Strategy & Innovation. Research and develop a robust, new analytical tool to give more meaningful, sophisticated insight into the actual diversity of law firms and corporate legal departments. The objective of this committee's work will be to delve more deeply than quantitative measurements and "rankings." Partnerships & Teams. Identify, analyze, and promote successful diversity partnering efforts. The focus is on projects and programs that encourage collaboration between law firms, corporate legal departments, and other organizations with a commitment to diversity. Development. Work to ensure the development of diverse critical talent, creating ongoing programs to allow members to present and learn about successful programs for the development of diverse critical talent. Pipeline. Evaluate and support programs that encourage the entry of individuals of diverse backgrounds into the field of law. The committee will accomplish its objectives through collaboration with organizations committed to a more diverse profession. Taken as a whole, the work of the four LCLD Board committees will support the LCLD's stated goal to ". . .work in partnership to eliminate impediments and provide minorities and women with a full and fair opportunity to perform, to succeed, and to lead."