Diversity & Community Services Mosaics Newsletter: Fall 2014

Introduction
Kramer Levin Partners With the Global Fund for Women
Diversity Committee — Sponsored Events

Women’s Initiative Committee — Sponsored Events
Affinity Group — Sponsored EventsNews — Honors and Awards
Office Happenings — Support to Outside Organizations and Groups 

Diversity & Women’s Initiatives

Introduction

We hope you enjoy this edition of Mosaics, which details our recent diversity efforts. Kramer Levin’s actions — in particular, our diversity awareness programs and our fundraising work with the Global Fund for Women — set the firm apart from many others that share our commitment to diversity.

Kramer Levin’s work with the Global Fund for Women is reflective of our overall belief that a more inclusive workforce and engagement in our community make us better lawyers and more effective advocates for our clients.

Kramer Levin Partners With the Global Fund for Women

Kramer Levin’s Women’s Initiative Committee is dedicated to creating and maintaining an environment that enables women to flourish and become leaders in the legal community, both inside and outside the firm. In 2014, the committee broadened its scope to include the concept of “Women Helping Women.”

Committee members who explored this concept were captured by research on the importance of educating and empowering females in the developing world. Specifically, the committee learned that supporting the education of girls and women has been proven to have profoundly beneficial effects on entire communities and economies. After carefully researching numerous potential partners, the firm opted to work with the Global Fund for Women, whose mission is to advance the rights of women and girls worldwide by investing in and increasing the resources available to women-led organizations and women’s collective leadership for change.

With the new partnership in place, the Women’s Initiative Committee conducted a series of awareness and fundraising programs for Kramer Levin employees during the second half of 2014. In addition to their attendance at these programs, employees demonstrated their support by making contributions to the partnership’s cause, and the firm generously agreed to match these donations, up to a total of $20,000.

A summary of events conducted at the firm in support of this initiative appears below:

• On June 23, Blythe Masters, a Global Fund for Women board member and former chief financial officer of J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank, discussed the mission and work of the Global Fund for Women. 
  
  
• On July 15, the Women’s Initiative Committee sponsored a screening of the documentary series “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.” The committee showed a 40-minute segment of the four-hour series shot in 10 countries: Cambodia, Kenya, India, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Liberia and the U.S. The film, inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book of the same name, features women and girls living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable and working to change them. 
  
  
• On Aug. 6, the Kramer Levin Associates’ Committee and Women’s Initiative Committee cosponsored a fundraising summer social event for associates and special counsel at the Hotel Americano. All guests were encouraged to make a donation in support of the Global Fund For Women. 
  
  
• On Sept. 29, the Women’s Initiative Committee hosted an event for attorneys and clients titled “Transformation Through Education: Changing the World by Empowering Girls.” Musimbi Kanyoro, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, led the discussion, which focused on educating females as a pathway to realizing power and on the importance of pushing back against the systems that make women powerless and invisible and therefore perpetuate gender inequality.
  
  Kanyoro is an award-winning, passionate advocate for health, human rights and social change philanthropy. Women’s eNews recently named her one of the top 21 women leaders for the 21st century, and she was selected to speak at TEDx Women and at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nairobi; PhD from the University of Texas at Austin; and Doctor of Ministry from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. She was previously a visiting scholar at Harvard University. 
  
  
• The Women’s Initiative sponsored a series of “Jeans Days” at the firm. Employees who wore jeans were encouraged to make a donation in support of the Global Fund for Women.

Diversity Committee — Sponsored Events 

• In honor of National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month, on Oct. 7 the Diversity Committee hosted Angela Fernandez, executive director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, as part of the firm’s Diversity Speaker Series. Fernandez discussed the groundbreaking access to justice work for immigrants that NMCIR has been spearheading, including the first universal representation program for detained immigrants in the country and curtailing collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. Additionally, she outlined how community empowerment drives legal and policy changes.
  
  A graduate of Columbia Law School, Fernandez has 20 years’ professional experience in law, media, nonprofit management, government, policy development and advocacy. Her public interest law experience includes working with the Center for Human Rights Legal Aid in Cairo, Egypt, and providing pro bono legal services through the American Immigration Lawyers Association. 
  
  
• In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, on Oct. 27 Kramer Levin hosted Julia Pinover-Kupiec, senior staff attorney with Disability Rights Advocates, as part of the Diversity Speaker Series. She conducted a CLE discussion titled “Impact Litigation and Disability Rights in New York City.”
  
  Pinover-Kupiec’s practice focuses on class action and impact litigation concerning all types of access barriers that New Yorkers with disabilities face. She has brought about several key cases on taxi and subway accessibility, accessibility of polling places, and emergency preparedness for persons with disabilities. Pinover-Kupiec is the incoming chairperson of the Legal Issues Affecting People with Disabilities Committee of the New York City Bar. Pinover-Kupiec received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 2002, a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 2007, and an LLM from NYU School of Law in 2010. 
  
  
• On Nov. 11, Kramer Levin hosted Carol Robles-Roman, CEO of Legal Momentum and deputy mayor of New York City for 12 years during the Bloomberg administration, as part of the Diversity Speaker Series. She discussed diversity in the legal profession.
  
  Robes-Roman was the first woman to serve as counsel to a New York City mayor. She led the city’s efforts to combat domestic violence and human trafficking through the creation of Family Justice Centers in all five boroughs. Robes-Roman regularly speaks in the media on national and international trends in the law and courts, women’s rights, immigration, human trafficking, and domestic violence.

Women’s Initiative Committee — Sponsored Events 

• The Women’s Initiative Committee hosted events in July and October as part of its business lunch program for the firm’s women attorneys. The program hosts successful women in the legal and business communities to speak at small-group lunches and provides attendees opportunities to expand their networks and discuss issues of importance to women. 
  
  
• On July 16, Lilly Farahnakian, managing director and head of regulatory and compliance for research, Americas investment banking, and Americas control room at J.P. Morgan, hosted a lunch at the firm. 
  
  
• On Oct. 10, Monica Pal, a consultant who provides global legal coverage to Morgan Stanley’s investment research department on topics such as equity, fixed income, economics and derivatives research, hosted a lunch.

Affinity Group — Sponsored Events 

• As part of the Attorneys of Color Affinity Group’s “Meet the Partner” series, the group met litigation partner Dani James in July and corporate partner Thomas E. Constance in November.
  
  
• The Working Parents Affinity Group hosted Dana Rosenbloom on Oct. 20 to address parenting strategies for children ages four to 12. During the discussion, “Fostering Independence in Your Children,” Rosenbloom provided parents five main takeaway strategies for making their children resilient and fostering independence.
  Rosenbloom has a master’s degree in infant and parent development and early intervention, and she has worked with children and families for more than 10 years.

News — Honors and Awards 

• Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP earned a 100 percent rating on the 2015 Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. This index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. 
  
  
• The National LGBT Bar Association recognized Kramer Levin litigation associate Jason Moff as one of its “LGBT 40 Under 40” for 2014. Each year, the LGBT Bar recognizes 40 LGBT legal professionals (practicing lawyers, law professors, corporate counsel, members of the judiciary, politicians, etc.) under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their fields and have demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality. Moff was recognized at the Lavender Law Conference and Career Fair on Aug. 23 in New York City.

Office Happenings — Support to Outside Organizations and Groups 

• The firm was a sponsor of the ACLU and NYCLU LGBT & AIDS Project Annual Cocktail Reception, held on June 26 at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. 
  
  
• On July 24, the firm was a sponsor of the National Association of Women Lawyers 2014 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon. This event honored Anita Hill, professor of social policy, law and women’s studies, Brandeis University; Kim M. Keenan, general counsel, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Robert J. Grey Jr., executive director, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity; Lauri A. Damrell, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; and Lesley Weber (posthumously) of Allstate Insurance Company. 
  
  
• On June 24, Kramer Levin was a sponsor of the Annual Reception Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month 2014 at the NYC Bar Association. Of special note, Kramer Levin partner Jeffrey S. Trachtman was co-recipient of the Arthur S. Leonard Award, named for the distinguished law professor and scholar of LGBT rights. The award, presented at the event, is given annually to two members of the bar selected by the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights. 
  
  
• The firm was a sponsor of the National LGBT Bar Association’s 2014 Lavender Law Career Fair and Conference, held Aug. 21-23 at the Sheraton Times Square in New York City.