Invictus

Newly appointed Justice Cleo E. Powell, an alumnus of the University of Virginia School of Law and member of the Diversity Conference of the Virginia State Bar, will return to her alma mater on Thursday, November 10, 2011, as the keynote speaker at a three-day conference on diversity within the legal profession. The conference is sponsored by the Law School’s Center for the Study of Race and Law, the Diversity Conference of the Virginia State Bar, the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and the Black Law Students Association.

On Friday the program will open with a welcome by law school dean Paul G. Mahoney, followed by a discussion led by Shawn J. Chen of Cleary Gottlieb on the Value Added by Diversity. Other participants on the Friday program will include Erica Moeser, president of the National Conference of Bar Examiners; W. Scott Street, chair of the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners; Professor Dan R. Ortiz, immediate past chair of the Law School Admission Council; and Peter Pashley, psychometrician of the Law School Admission Council.

Kim M. Keenan, general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will be the keynote dinner speaker on Friday evening.

The Saturday program will open with a panel on the benefits of expanding the pipeline for a diverse profession and will be followed by a panel on the road to firm partnership. Supreme Court Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn will be the keynote luncheon speaker on Saturday. An open forum on best diversity practices developed by law firms, followed by informed discussion and cocktails will conclude the program.

Participants on the Saturday program include G. Michael Pace of Gentry Locke, Rakes and Moore; Michael HuYoung of Barnes and Diehl; Dana T. Weekes of Patton and Boggs; Richard C. “Rip” Sullivan Jr. of Reed Smith; Jacquelyn E. Stone of McGuire Woods; Tyree R. Jones Jr. of Reed Smith, Manuel A. Capsalis, former president of the Virginia State Bar; and Kenneth Imo of Wilmer and Hale.

This program will cover a wide range of issues and improvements desired to make the legal profession representative of the diverse society in which we live.

The conference is being coordinated by Professor Alex M. Johnson of the University of Virginia School of Law.

All members of the bar and law students are invited to this important conference.