diversity matters

DIVERSITY MATTERS
Vol. 2016, Issue 1
Kassem L. Lucas
lucask@pepperlaw.com
IN THIS ISSUE
Andrew R. Rogoff
rogoffa@pepperlaw.com
Maria A. Feeley
feeleym@pepperlaw.com
Tambry Bradford
Elected to Partnership
3
Continuing the Tradition
4
War Stories
7
Welcome to the 2016 edition of Diversity Matters. In this edition, you will read about
On the Edge of Equality
10
the changes to WIN as we thank Maria Feeley for her leadership over the last three
It Takes a Village
15
years, the election of Tambry Bradford to the partnership in our Los Angeles office,
and the various events and activities of our affinity groups.
Brotherly Love and
Sisterly Affection
18
A Diverse Career
Honored
19
community. Pepper Pride facilitated discussion on issues surrounding the right to
Continuing Their Mission
21
marry. The African-American/Black Affinity Group is proud to salute Michael Reed,
The Veterans Group provided us with phenomenal presentations by veterans in our
who received the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Lifetime
A Diverse Celebration:
A Champion Is Named
and a Pipeline Is
Cultivated
25
Recognized for Diversity
27
A Celebration of Women
28
Honoring Dr. King’s Legacy
31
our annual diversity event to address fostering greater diversity and inclusion in
The Ultimate Sacrifice
33
the legal field. Lastly, we committed to providing implicit bias training to all of our
Committed to Equality
36
partners and of counsel in an effort to continue to make our firm a better place to
A WIN for All
37
Clothing for a Cause
39
attorneys on implicit bias this fall. Dr. Reeves is one of the leading legal diversity
Saluting Their Service
40
and inclusion consultants who specifically addresses implicit bias.
Achievement Award. And the Pepper Latina/o Caucus supported associate Daniel
La Luz’s mentoring and guidance of a young Philadelphia teen as part of our pipeline efforts.
This July, we again brought together our firm, clients and community members for
work and to provide the best representation for our clients. Dr. Arin N. Reeves of
Nextions Presentations & Dialogue Facilitation Services will begin training Pepper
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© 2016 Pepper Hamilton LLP. All Rights Reserved.
THE
POWER OF
DIVERSITY
At Pepper Hamilton, we are committed to a culture
of diversity and inclusion. Our differences make us a
stronger firm, united in the goal of providing
innovative counsel to our clients.
Diverse Talent.
Diverse Perspectives.
Unifying Pepper.
Berwyn
Boston
Detroit
Harrisburg
Los Angeles
New York
Orange County
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Princeton
Silicon Valley
Washington
Wilmington
pepper.law
Tambry Bradford Elected
to Partnership
Bradford was also selected as an LCLD Fellow for 2016.
Tambry Lynette Bradford was elected to the
partnership of Pepper Hamilton, effective January 1, 2016. Bradford, a member of the firm’s
Commercial Litigation and Health Care Services
Practice Groups, focuses her practice on a wide
range of complex commercial litigation matters
involving contract disputes, fraud, unfair competition, health care and products liability. Bradford
is resident in Pepper’s Los Angeles office and
is an active member of the Southern California
bar while maintaining a national practice. She
is a member of the California Minority Counsel
Program, where she serves on the Ambassadors Council. She is also a member of Pepper’s
Hiring Committee and has served as co-chair of
Pepper’s African-American/Black Affinity Group.
This year, Bradford also was selected for the Fellows Program of the Leadership Council
on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a national organization composed of the legal profession’s top
general counsel and managing partners.
Launched in 2011, the LCLD Fellows program is designed to increase diversity at the
leadership levels of the nation’s law firms and corporate legal departments. Over the
course of the yearlong program, participants are challenged to improve their professional
brand, build relationships that enhance professional development, participate in corporate
learning experiences, and sharpen stewardship and leadership skills.
Bradford is one of 227 attorneys from around the country who were selected as LCLD
Fellows for 2016 — the largest class in the program’s history. Other Peppers who have
participated in the Fellows Program include Andrea Toy Ohta (2014), Hyung Steele
(2013), Isla Long (2012) and Kassem Lucas (2011).
3
Continuing the Tradition
Pepper Hamilton’s Women’s Initiative has big plans for the future.
Pepper Hamilton has long been a leader among law firms when it comes to advancing
and supporting its female attorneys. From the firm’s first female partner, elected in 1960,
to Nina Gussack being named as the first female chair of the Executive Committee in
2007, Pepper’s women have been trailblazers in taking on leadership roles in the firm
while providing exceptional service to their clients.
In 2003, the firm founded its Women’s Initiative (WIN) to further enhance the efforts
of Pepper’s women, and the group recently selected new leaders — partners Yvonne
McKenzie, Stephanie Pindyck-Costantino and Sara Richman — to continue the tradition
of recruiting, promoting and supporting Pepper’s female attorneys.
McKenzie, Pindyck-Costantino and Richman have big shoes to fill. Under previous chair
Maria Feeley and vice chair Thao Le, WIN launched several initiatives, programs and
events to aid and enrich Pepper’s female lawyers and clients. Among these efforts was
a signature event — the Annual Celebration of Women — a gathering of female Pepper
lawyers, alumnae, clients and friends of the firm that honored the recipients of WIN’s
Remarkable Alumna and Remarkable Woman Awards.
“We have been very fortunate that many of our female partners and of counsel across
all of Pepper’s offices have been very supportive of, and have become very active in,
WIN, allowing us to engage more associates and generate great momentum for WIN. I
am confident that our new leadership will keep the momentum going and introduce fresh
concepts to keep our women engaged,” Feeley said.
“We are thankful for those who have gone before us, and we hope to continue on with
their success,” McKenzie added.
4
The first order of business for the new leaders of WIN is enhancing the group’s profile,
beginning with a new logo and mission statement, which reads, “WIN is dedicated to the
development, promotion and success of the women attorneys of Pepper Hamilton.”
They’re also planning events that engage Pepper’s clients and friends of the firm,
including a speaker series, and they’re working on new outreach initiatives to give back to
the communities in which Pepper practices.
“We want to make sure those outside of Pepper understand the firm’s strong commitment
to its women and to women’s issues,” McKenzie said.
In addition to these efforts, WIN also is focused on internal initiatives aimed at supporting
Pepper’s female attorneys. The group plans to launch mentoring circles in 2016 — a
program first developed by Feeley — which will allow small groups of Pepper associates
to meet with partner mentors in an informal setting. “Our goal is to develop relationships
organically across practice groups and offices,” Richman said.
A new focus for the incoming leaders of WIN is partner
development, and McKenzie, Pindyck-Costantino and
Richman plan to launch peer-to-peer coaching in the near
future to allow younger Pepper partners to learn from some
of the women leaders at the firm.
“We want WIN to assist both partners and associates. There
are many junior partners who could benefit from coaching
from their peers and more senior partners,” Richman said.
Yvonne M. McKenzie
Thao Le, for one, is excited for the new WIN leaders to build
on the successes she achieved as vice chair of the organization.
“At Pepper, we strive to be dynamic in meeting the needs of our clients and colleagues.
The change in WIN’s leadership is an example of this. Our women attorneys are very
diverse in terms of where they are in their careers and in their personal lives. To better
serve the upcoming generation of women attorneys, we thought WIN should be led by
a diverse group of women partners who are at different phases of their careers and
personal lives. The fresh ideas and energy that we can derive from Stephanie, Yvonne
and Sara is unlimited, and I am looking forward to the new direction that they will be
taking with WIN,” she said.
5
For McKenzie, Pindyck-Costantino and Richman, their
increased involvement in WIN is motivated by both
personal and professional reasons. “I wanted to be
more involved with WIN so I would have additional
opportunities to work closely with other successful women.
The networking opportunities offered by WIN are a great
platform to help me connect with women internally, as well
as with clients and external referral sources,” Richman
said.
Stephanie Pindyck Costantino
McKenzie added, “I have had a strong female mentor in
Nina Gussack. I have been fortunate to work with her, learn
from her and receive her guidance and advice. She’s been instrumental in my career at
Pepper. As successful female partners, we owe it to others to pay it forward.”
Pindyck-Costantino noted that everyone involved in WIN is united by a common goal —
to help each other advance. “It is an important time for women in our profession and at
Pepper. This is a great platform for us to make a difference,” she said.
The new WIN leaders are aided in their efforts by the organization’s steering committee
— partners Joan Arnold, Hope Comisky, Julie Corelli, Nina Gussack, Kay Kress, Jan
Levine, Barbara Mather, Barbara Sicalides and Audrey
Wisotsky and Senior Director of Professional Development
and Recruitment Margaret Suender.
Those looking to partner with WIN or participate in upcoming
events should contact Yvonne McKenzie (mckenziey@
pepperlaw.com), Stephanie Pindyck-Costantino
(costantinos@pepperlaw.com) and Sara Richman
(richmans@pepperlaw.com).
Sara B. Richman
6
War Stories
Pepper’s Veterans Group hosts its annual Veterans Day event.
Each November, Pepper’s Veterans Group
commemorates Veterans Day with an event to honor
those who have served in the U.S. armed forces and
their families. The firm’s 2015 event shined a spotlight
on the many Peppers who served their country and
the various ways they are continuing to give back
today.
Veterans Group co-chair Thomas M. Gallagher, also
chair of Pepper’s Executive Committee, kicked off
the event by recognizing the veterans in attendance,
both in the Philadelphia office and firmwide via
Ed Toole speaks about his time in the Army
during the Cold War.
videoconference.
“This is a great opportunity for us to take a minute
and reflect on service — service to others and service
to our country. For those who have had that wonderful privilege of serving, we hear
people say every year ‘thank you for your service.’ And our immediate response is ‘thank
you.’”
Gallagher then introduced this year’s speaker, Commercial Litigation attorney Edward
Toole, who served in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1964. Gallagher recalled that Toole
was one of the first people he met when he joined Pepper 12 years ago and how Toole
became a mentor and a friend.
“I didn’t know at first that Ed had served in the Army, but it was no surprise to find out that
he was a veteran because he was a take-charge guy. I learned a lot from him about how
to be a lawyer and a leader,” Gallagher said.
Toole’s Army career coincided with the height of the Cold War, and he shared his unique
perspective as an American serviceman deployed in Germany during this volatile period
in history.
7
After completing the ROTC program
at LaSalle University, Toole was
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
artillery officer and deployed to Hanau,
Germany to lead an Honest John
missile unit. Toole’s unit was one of
four types of artillery units tasked with
handling nuclear defense operations.
Toole explained that molding his platoon
into a fighting unit was not without its
difficulties. Some of his men had been
drafted, while others were volunteers.
Tim Williams (left) from the Veterans
Multi-Service Center accepts Pepper’s donation.
The men varied in levels of competency
and motivation, and cultural differences
abounded. But Toole found ways to make it work.
“You learned very early on to listen and to gather the information you needed before you
made a decision. That was the most important rule for becoming a leader,” he said.
When Toole went to Germany in 1960, the Eastern Bloc had three million troops on the
ground, while the western allies had less than half that number. “We knew if the situation
devolved to conflict that it would be nuclear warfare. We engaged in a lot of cat-andmouse games. There were spies and operatives everywhere,” he said.
Toole, however, managed to find the humor in a tense situation. He remembered how a
Russian spy would — not so secretly — follow his unit whenever they left the base for a
training mission and how the Russian spy was, in turn, followed by an American spy in a
Volkswagen Beetle. After the mission was complete, Toole’s unit would bury their trash in
the forest, and the Russian spy would dig it up to look for intelligence.
During his deployment, Toole experienced some of the Cold War’s major events. His unit
was put on high alert during the Berlin Crisis of 1961, when the Soviet Union demanded
that western forces withdraw from Berlin. That incident resulted in the building of the
Berlin Wall. After the wall was built, Toole traveled to East Berlin on one occasion and
remembered the “huge dichotomy” between the prosperity of West Berlin and the wardamaged buildings in East Berlin.
8
Toole’s unit was put on high alert once again in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His
men assembled their missiles and were prepared for launch if they were given the order.
They received communications in the field directly from the Pentagon, which provided
updates on the progress of the Soviet ships and the U.S. Navy’s blockade. Toole
remembered that the situation brought out the best in his men.
“Morale was sky high.
The men were filled with
enthusiasm knowing they
were going to war and
were going to be doing
their jobs. I was amazed to
see that feeling among the
men,” he said.
Toole left active duty in
1964 to attend Villanova
Tom Gallagher presents the Veterans Group challenge coin to Ed
Toole.
University School of Law,
and he joined Pepper
Hamilton in 1996 as part
of the Clark Ladner merger. In recognition of his service to his country and to the firm,
Gallagher presented Toole with the Veterans Group challenge coin.
After Toole spoke, the event’s focus turned to the many ways Pepper and the Veterans
Group are giving back today.
Gallagher welcomed Tim Williams, the executive director of the Veterans Multi-Service
Center (VMC), and presented a check for $10,000 to the organization.
Williams, a retired Army Special Forces Colonel with more than 36 years of active duty
service, thanked Pepper for its contributions and volunteer efforts. Williams noted that
the VMC assists more than 3,000 veterans each year and that support from partners
like Pepper is crucial to its success. The organization is also part of the coalition to end
veteran homelessness in Philadelphia and has helped to secure housing for more than
1,350 veterans over the last two years.
9
On the Edge of Equality
Pepper Pride hosts seminar focusing on what’s next for the LGBT rights movement.
Last summer’s Supreme Court
decision in Obergefell v. Hodges,
which recognized the right of
same-sex couples to marry, was a
significant step forward for LGBT
rights, but the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) cautions
that there’s more work to be done.
That was the focus of a Nov. 10
panel discussion titled “On the
(Left to right) Pepper partner Kassem Lucas, James Esseks and Ian
Thompson of the ACLU, Reggie Shuford of ACLU-PA, and Pepper
partners Tom Wilczak and Nick Kouletsis helped make the CLE a
success.
Edge of Equality?” hosted by
Pepper Pride and the ACLU in
Pepper’s Philadelphia office.
Pepper Pride chair Nicholas
Kouletsis welcomed the attendees and introduced the panelists: James Esseks, director
of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project and co-counsel in
Obergefell and in United States v. Windsor, which prompted the 2013 Supreme Court
ruling that overturned the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); Ian Thompson,
a legislative representative in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office; and Reggie
Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
Shuford served as the panel’s moderator and asked Esseks to kick off the program by
giving some background on the Obergefell case.
“To put Obergefell in context, many people think it just kind of happened overnight, but
this is a movement that people worked on for a long time, dating back to at least 1970,
which is the earliest lawsuit we can find seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex
couples,” Esseks said. “The ruling in that case, Baker v. Nelson, dogged us until the
Obergefell decision overturned it.”
Esseks detailed the long road between the 1972 Baker ruling and the 2015 Obergefell
decision, saying that, while many view the courts as leaders in this and other civil rights
10
movements, a number of advocacy tools were used over the years to advance the LGBT
civil rights agenda, including lobbying efforts in state legislatures and on ballot questions.
After years of enduring defeats at the state level, the tide began to turn for the LGBT
rights movement in 2013, when DOMA was struck down.
“That sparked an incredible tsunami of marriage litigation in federal courts all around the
country that created in the courts in just two years a huge body of first district court law,
and then circuit court law,” Esseks said. “Almost all of it went our way, which created a
context in which it was plausible that the Supreme Court could rule in our favor, which
they did in Obergefell. This was a campaign that took many years, and a whole range of
different kinds of work — education work, organizing on ballot initiatives, lobbying in state
legislatures and in Congress, as well as litigation.”
Shuford asked whether the marriage equality ruling in Obergefell impacts other items on
the LGBT agenda, and Esseks said he believes its biggest impact is on culture change
and opinion change around same-sex couples and LGBT people.
“Winning cases in the Supreme Court is a cool thing. Winning or defeating ballot
initiatives, whichever one you want to happen, is a really cool thing. Passing pieces of
legislation that provide protections are cool things. But none of those things, in our view,
is what victory looks like. The goal of the movement is to change the way America thinks
about LGBT people, because if we can change those ideas about who we are, what
we’re like, how or whether we’re different from other folks, then all of the policy items we
care about will fall into place or be a lot easier to achieve,” Esseks said.
Esseks said that winning the right to marry is helping to overcome stereotypes and
cultural assumptions about who LGBT people are and the types of relationships they
have — for example, that gay relationships are about sex and not about love or that gay
people are not interested in having children. Cultural assumptions about marriage are the
polar opposite, he said — that it is about love, that married people will have kids and that
it is a lifelong commitment.
“To say to America, gay people want to marry, and many gay people live all of those
stereotypes and cultural assumptions about marriage, to show them through people
like Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case, who shared her life for 44 years with
her partner-then-spouse Thea Spire…that’s a story that says these people have lived
the kind of commitment that’s at the core of marriage. Stories like that helped show the
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country who same-sex couples are, and helped change their mind about these issues.
I think that winning the right to marry is going to pay dividends for us in lots of different
parts of the work we’re doing.”
Thompson spoke about the next phase of the LGBT rights agenda, which is focused
on non-discrimination measures. In 31 states (including Pennsylvania), there are no
explicit protections for LGBT people in areas such as employment, housing and public
accommodation.
“The ACLU is taking on this non-discrimination fight as a two-pronged effort,” Thompson
said. “We’re fighting for passage at the local, state and federal level of clear, explicit nondiscrimination laws. And, given the difficulty of passing legislation, particularly in Congress
these days, we are pushing for protections for LGBT people under existing laws that ban
sex discrimination.”
Thompson said the ACLU is supporting efforts to pass the Equality Act, which he called
“a truly comprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination bill.” The Equality Act would add
explicit prohibitions on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination to all federal
laws where clear, explicit protections against discrimination exist, such as the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunities Act. The bill would
also include additional protections for women and minorities under the Civil Rights Act
titles that ban discrimination in public accommodations and in federal funding.
“For the ACLU, near-term progress is getting the Equality Act over the finish line and
signed into law. The prospects for that are not great, despite the fact that President
Obama has endorsed it. That’s certainly a good mile-marker, but there’s a lot of work to
do over many years to put it in place,” Thompson said.
The ACLU is using existing bans on sex discrimination as a tool for putting broader nondiscrimination laws into place. Thompson cited a pair of EEOC rulings — Macy v. Holder
(2012) and Baldwin v. Foxx (2015) — finding that discrimination on the basis of gender
identity or sexual orientation violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and a proposed Labor
Department rule updating the definition of sex discrimination as examples of how existing
rules and laws are being amended to include greater protections for LGBT people.
“We’re going to continue to work for the passage at the local, state and federal level of
clear, explicit non-discrimination protection,” Thompson said. “We think those protections
12
are critically important, and it’s also important for the government to be on record saying
this type of discrimination is wrong, and we’re making it illegal. But at the same time,
because we want people to have real, tangible, concrete protections in the here and now,
we’re going to continue to aggressively push the argument that anti-LGBT discrimination
should be thought of as what it is — just another form of sex discrimination.”
Shuford, noting that Pennsylvania is among the states without explicit protections
for LGBT people, gave an update on the current state of the ACLU-PA’s efforts to
secure passage of such protections. In September 2015, bills were introduced in the
Pennsylvania House and Senate that would update the Pennsylvania Human Rights
Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, and would clarify a
statewide, uniform standard for religious exemptions.
“More than 500 businesses have signed on supporting this bill, and, while it’s a bipartisan
effort and the atmosphere is as ripe as it’s ever been for passage, I am a little short of full
optimism on its success,” Shuford said. “We will fight until it does, but it’s really hard to
predict how far it will go.”
The discussion then turned to parallels between
the LGBT rights movement and other civil rights
movements, with Esseks saying that the LGBT
movement wouldn’t exist without the leadership
of other civil rights movements that “quite literally
taught the country what civil rights means, and
what equality looks like.”
Esseks said that there are three main steps that
civil rights movements go through to reach true
(Left to right) Ian Thompson talked about the ACLU’s
current focus on passage of non-discrimination measures
before Reggie Shuford gave an update on an LGBT rights
bill recently introduced in Pennsylvania.
equality. “Step one, you’ve got to get rid of the
laws that require discrimination against you. Step
two, you’ve got to get laws passed that actually
ban discrimination. And step three, you have to
make sure that the principles of equality that are in the law books and court decisions
actually are reality in people’s everyday lives. That last piece is really hard. We still live in
a society that has very serious issues around race and gender, and there’s much more to
do.”
13
Esseks said that the LGBT rights movement’s recent success is part of “step one,”
getting rid of laws requiring discrimination, such as marriage bans, DOMA and the
military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“Those are major advances, but they’re ‘step one’ problems,” Esseks said. “At the core of
‘step two’ is the fact that there are limited protections at the federal level for hate crimes,
and, in 31 states, there are no explicit LGBT non-discrimination protections. I think the
‘step two’ work is even harder because it requires true culture change to penetrate to
every part of society and change people’s beliefs and actions.”
Thompson said that opponents of LGBT rights have shifted their strategy toward
“attempting to use religious liberties as a way to get around, undermine or override
protections for LGBT people against discrimination,” he said. “Unfortunately for our
opponents, and fortunately for us, this is not a new strategy. This is not something that
has only arisen in the context of LGBT rights. It is the tried and true playbook we’ve seen
before — when advances are being made in equality, there’s often an effort to try to turn
back the clock.”
Thompson said that there’s been a trend toward claiming religious exemptions to antidiscrimination laws, which has played out in high-profile ways at the state and federal
levels. He cited cases in which for-profit businesses that provide wedding-related
services, such as bakers or florists, have turned away same-sex couples based on
religious objections to same-sex marriage, as well as the case involving a Kentucky
county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses, not just to same-sex couples but to
anyone. Thompson also touched on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby
case, in which a for-profit entity successfully claimed a religious objection under the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to providing contraceptive coverage to its
employees.
“In the wake of that decision, and where we see the trajectory of these challenges
going, there is language in the Equality Act that says you cannot use RFRA to override
non-discrimination protections. It’s not just limited to sexual orientation and gender
identity. That applies, writ large, to every category that’s protected under the Civil
Rights Act, which is a really important protection in making clear that religious liberties,
while vitally important to protecting religious minorities, should not be used to engage
in discrimination, and absolutely should not be used to trump civil rights protections,”
Thompson said.
Partner Thomas Wilczak provided closing remarks, and invited guests to attend a
networking reception after the program.
14
It Takes a Village
Pepper associate Daniel La Luz teams up with the Hispanic Bar Association of
Pennsylvania to help a child in need.
In 2014, nearly 12,000 students in the Philadelphia
School District were considered truant, with more than 10
unexcused absences. Almost 40 percent of these students
were in grades K–8. With little support, many of these
kids may drop out of school. But one kid has turned things
around, thanks to a dedicated support system from Pepper
Hamilton and the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania
(HBA).
Jacqueline Romero from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania first encountered Donavin,
a 13-year-old boy who was having trouble in school, in 2014. Donavin had been living
with his grandmother but had recently moved back in with his mother.
The changes and upheaval had been difficult for Donavin. He began skipping school and
was having problems in his classes. Donavin’s mother believed he would benefit from a
strong role model, and she reached out to Romero, who worked with Magistrate Judge
Timothy Rice from the Eastern District to obtain a Big Brother for Donavin. When they
were informed there was a two-year-long waitlist, Romero reached out to some of her
contacts at the HBA.
Former Pepper associate and, at the time, HBA president Alexander Gonzalez and
Pepper alum Alejandro Salicrup immediately answered the call. They contacted fellow
Pepper associate Daniel La Luz. La Luz had a lot in common with Donavin, and they
believed he’d make an ideal big brother.
“We’re both from Hispanic backgrounds. I grew up in Northeast Philly, and he’s living in
Northeast Philly with his mom. The connection was there. I’m always willing to help, but I
did want to be able to commit fully to it,” La Luz said.
La Luz’s first order of business was to arrange dinner with Donavin and his mother. He
took the opportunity to introduce himself and to express that he was available whenever
Donavin needed someone to talk to. “It was all about opening a dialogue,” La Luz said.
15
They spoke about school and the importance of attendance, but La Luz didn’t want to
lecture Donavin. Instead, he focused on exposing him to successful individuals who
could inspire him.
The HBA has been integral to La Luz’s efforts. He has brought Donavin to many of
the organization’s events, ranging from Phillies and 76ers games to a barbeque held
at Gonzalez’s house. Along the way, Donavin has forged relationships with various
attorneys and judges from the Philadelphia region.
“If young kids aren’t exposed to success
and the things that success brings, then
they think it’s unattainable. In that regard,
my focus has been to show Donavin that
there are other people like him. Just through
talking and mentorship, we were able to get
him on the right course in his seventh-grade
year. He stopped cutting school. He started
taking things a little more seriously. He
Dan La Luz (right) attends a 76ers game with Donavin
and his mother.
started to say things like, ‘I think I want to be
an attorney,’” La Luz said.
After his seventh-grade year, Donavin spent the summer at camp, thanks to the efforts of
former Pepper associate Taylor Ocasio. La Luz noted that Donavin was reluctant at first,
but ended up loving the experience.
In September 2015, Donavin was scheduled to begin his eighth-grade year at Saint
Malachy Catholic School. When La Luz checked in to see how school was going,
however, he found out that Donavin had missed the first several days. Money was tight
at home, and the school had not yet notified Donavin’s mother regarding his financial aid
application. Until she knew aid had been secured, she planned to keep him at home.
La Luz knew that Donavin needed to get back to school as soon as possible, and
he quickly mobilized a team of Peppers and HBA members to help. La Luz began
by meeting with Donavin and his mother to stress that he should return to school
immediately, even if they were still figuring out how to pay. Romero and Judge Rice
contacted the school to check on the financial aid determination. Gonzalez and his wife,
Lisa, purchased Donavin’s school supplies, as his mother could not afford them. With the
help of the HBA, they put together a full care package — from a backpack to notebooks
to a USB drive.
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Within 24 hours, Donavin’s support team solved the funding issue by ensuring the school
made its financial aid decision. Armed with his new school supplies, Donavin was ready
to start classes. La Luz noted that this quick success was truly a team effort.
“I may be the primary point of contact with Donavin and his mom, but, if the firm, the
HBA, the federal court, Judge Rice and Jacqueline had not made their resources and
time available, a lot of this would not have been possible,” he said.
After Donavin returned to school, La Luz checked in again. “He told me how he was
extremely excited and how he was doing all of his work. He showed an improved attitude
and focus,” La Luz said.
This attention to his schoolwork has paid off in Donavin’s eighth-grade year. With the
help of La Luz, he won a scholarship from the HBA’s Legal Education Fund, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to the professional and educational advancement of Latinos in
the legal profession. And he recently was accepted to attend Cristo Rey High School,
a private Catholic school in Philadelphia, next year. Every student in Cristo Rey’s 2016
graduating class has been accepted into college — an impressive feat that bodes well for
Donavin’s future.
La Luz hopes that Donavin will excel at Cristo Rey and attend college, and they’re
already discussing long-term plans. They hope to apply for the HBA’s Sí Se Puede
program, which selects a high school senior who is interested in a legal career for a fouryear mentorship program designed to help them progress toward their goal of attending
law school and having a successful legal career.
“We want to get Donavin on the right path for a successful future and make him excited
about all the possibilities open to him,” La Luz said. With his guidance and the support of
Pepper and the HBA, it’s not hard to imagine the very bright future ahead.
17
Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection
Pepper honored for its work with the Veterans Multi-Service Center during its 2015 Week
of Service.
Pepper Hamilton was named one of the winners of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s
first-ever Brotherly Love, Sisterly Affection Awards. Winners, who were selected based on
charitable donations, social impact and community involvement over the last 18 months,
were honored at a cocktail party in Philadelphia.
The award recognizes Pepper’s work with the Veterans Multi-Service Center (VMC)
during last year’s Week of Service, which was held as part of the firm’s 125th anniversary
celebration. Peppers spent the day at the VMC providing lunch to more than 100 veterans, organizing activities at its day drop-in center, washing and detailing the VMC’s 17
vans, building a toy area and a children’s library at the Women Veterans Center, undertaking cleaning and painting projects and conducting a resume writing and interview skills
session. Additionally, Pepper made a $10,000 donation to the VMC.
More than 75 Peppers spent a day helping out at the Veterans Multi-Service Center in
Philadelphia as part of the firm’s Week of Service last May.
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A Diverse Career Honored
Michael Reed receives Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Higginbotham Award at annual
conference.
Pepper Hamilton special counsel Michael Reed received the Pennsylvania Bar
Association’s (PBA’s) A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. The award
was presented during the PBA’s 28th Annual Minority Attorney Conference.
The Higginbotham Award recognizes
the accomplishments of a lawyer
or judge who has demonstrated
dedication to the legal profession and
the minority community through civil,
community or legal service. Judge
Higginbotham, who died in 1998, was
a civic leader, author, academic and
federal appeals court judge who fought
tirelessly against racial discrimination.
The award holds special significance
for Reed, as he has been involved with
the PBA for many years. He served as
president of the organization in 2004–
2005 and was the first person of color
to hold that office.
Notably, Reed also co-founded the PBA’s Minority Bar Committee and served as its first
chair. The mission of the Committee is to assure full and equal participation of minorities
in the PBA, the legal profession and the justice system in general.
As the Committee’s founding chair, Reed was also instrumental in organizing the first
Minority Attorney Conference, which has become the Committee’s signature annual
event.
“In 1987, the Pennsylvania Bar Association president approached me because he wanted
to do something to reach out to and gain more involvement from minority attorneys in the
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PBA. An ad hoc group of interested lawyers was convened to discuss with the leadership
of the bar association how to proceed. That ad hoc group eventually coalesced into the
initial Minority Bar Committee that was appointed by the president,” Reed recalled.
Reed noted that the first Minority Attorney Conference held in 1989 featured Chief Justice
Robert N.C. Nix as the keynote speaker. Nix, the first African-American to ascend to the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court, drew a lot of press coverage, leading to a very successful
first Minority Attorney Conference.
Although Reed has received numerous awards over the years, the Higginbotham Award
is particularly important to him as he met Judge Higginbotham before attending law
school and was mentored by the judge.
“I greatly value and appreciate this award because of the extremely high regard I hold
for Judge Higginbotham and the extraordinary achievements he attained in his life.
This award is meaningful for me because I had a personal relationship with Judge
Higginbotham, and he had a significant impact on my life and career,” Reed said.
Tsiwen Law, a civil trial lawyer in Philadelphia and a past recipient of the Higginbotham
Award, presented the award to Reed at a luncheon during the Minority Attorney
Conference.
Pepper was well-represented at the conference, which was held in Philadelphia. In
addition to Reed’s award, partner Michael Hordell spoke during the “I Wish It Would Rain:
Government Contracts and Procurement for Minority Businesses” panel. And associate
Nefertiri Sickout followed in Reed’s footsteps — as co-chair of the Minority Attorney
Conference Planning Subcommittee, she was responsible for planning this year’s event.
20
Continuing Their Mission
Charles Widger discusses service and leadership at Pepper’s Annual Memorial Day
Ceremony.
Before kicking off the summer
with barbeques and visits to
the shore, the lawyers and
staff of Pepper Hamilton
gathered — as they do each
year — at the Veterans
Group’s Memorial Day
Ceremony to remember those
whose sacrifices have made it
Jim Murray provided his annual reflection on the purpose
of Memorial Day.
all possible.
The ceremony began with
remarks from Director of Strategic Services, and former Pepper Managing Partner,
James Murray, who provided his annual reflection on the origins and intentions of
Memorial Day. Murray said that the holiday is meant to remember and honor those
members of the U.S. military who have died in service to their country, but that the
weekend’s celebrations also held significance.
“Picnics, family gatherings and other happy events will take place this weekend, and that
is as it should be — for those are the very cherished things that our heroes have fought
to preserve,” Murray said.
He noted that the statistics for American military deaths can be numbing — more than
1 million have died in U.S. wars — but that the true tragedy lies in individual deaths. As
an example, Murray recalled three of his Air Force friends who died in the Vietnam War.
Each left behind an infant child who never knew their father.
“Multiply these individual tragedies by the statistics, and maybe then we can get some
sense of the depth of sorrow and grief that followed the loss of those many men and
women of our military,” he said.
Murray then introduced this year’s speaker, Charles Widger. After graduating from
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Gettysburg College in 1967, Widger joined the Navy and spent three years as a
lieutenant assigned to the USS Macdonough, a guided missile destroyer. He later
attended Villanova School of Law before embarking on a successful legal career and
founding Brinker Capital, a leading investment management firm. Earlier this year,
Widger made headlines by donating $25 million to his alma mater, which was renamed
the “Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law” in recognition of the gift.
Widger noted that he volunteered
to serve during the Vietnam War,
a time when support for the troops
was diminished due to the public’s
negative opinion of the conflict.
“It was a difficult period to
serve your country. One of the
refreshing and restorative qualities
of America today is its passion for
Guest speaker Charles Widger spoke about
his experiences in the Navy.
and commitment to our veterans.
To serve for the right reasons and
then be left adrift by a politically
divided nation is confusing to the young men and women who have stood in harm’s way.
It is morally wrong not to welcome them home, congratulate them for their service, and
support them in their need,” Widger said.
Despite these difficulties, Widger said that his time in the Navy taught him the importance
of leadership, teamwork and esprit de corps — principles to which he credits his current
success. He said that, before speaking at Pepper’s event, he consulted with three of
his friends who are also veterans. They each agreed that these principles were not only
essentials for victory, but for success in any enterprise.
Widger recalled his three years aboard the Macdonough and how his various missions
emphasized the importance of leadership, teamwork and esprit de corps. He spoke about
participating in refueling missions in rough seas, during which he relayed the commands
of the ship’s captain.
“Refueling operations cannot be successful without talented and respected leaders, welltrained and coordinated crew, and discipline,” he said.
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He also spoke about being stationed in the Mediterranean during the Cold War, when the
Macdonough served as picket ship for American aircraft carriers, using sonar to detect
Soviet submarines that might attack the carrier. The Macdonough also was the rescue
destroyer stationed behind the carrier during flight operations and picked up pilots who
missed their landings.
On one day, Widger was the
officer on deck when a pilot
failed to land and ejected from
his aircraft. The young 24-yearold Lieutenant Widger led the
Macdonough on a Williamson
Turn, working together with
officers and enlisted men on
deck, in the boiler room and
in the communication center
(Left to right) Villanova Law School graduates Jim Murray, Charles
Widger, Tom Gallagher and Joe Del Raso.
to execute the maneuver and
rescue the pilot.
Widger also spoke about the
experiences of several of his friends who volunteered to serve in the military. One of
these men, Captain Bob Rohrbach, is a former Navy SEAL who now leads recruiting for
the SEALs. In between his deployments, Rohrbach participated in the NASA recovery
missions for Apollo 11 and Apollo 14. He emphasized that his SEAL training made him
appreciate the importance of teamwork, preparation, attention to detail and planning for
the unexpected. These qualities helped him bring the Apollo astronauts safely home and
also helped him succeed throughout his career.
Widger noted that this was a common theme when speaking to his friends who had
served. They had first volunteered because the ideas of duty, honor and country were
important to them, but the principles they learned during service later enabled them to
rise to leadership positions in large organizations or to become successful entrepreneurs.
“Hiring veterans who successfully practice leadership and teamwork to build esprit de
corps and achieve an organization’s goals is a wise investment,” Widger said.
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To conclude his remarks, Widger shared a video of servicemen who have been awarded
the Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest military honor. It is presented by the
president on behalf of Congress to members of the military who displayed valor above
and beyond the call of duty. Since its establishment in 1861, only 3,500 medals have been
awarded.
Thomas M. Gallagher, co-chair of the Veterans Group, ended the ceremony by thanking
Widger for his service and presenting the Pepper Veterans Group challenge coin. He
noted that Widger began his speech by asking why military members volunteer to serve.
“We learned the answer today. It’s unbelievable that people like Chuck Widger and his
buddies would agree to volunteer to serve others, to serve our country, to serve their
communities. But we learned that’s what makes America great,” Gallagher said.
24
A Diverse Celebration: A Champion Is
Named and a Pipeline Is Cultivated
On July 19, 2016, Pepper Hamilton
attorneys and senior staff joined
members of the legal community,
clients and friends of the firm at the
11th annual Celebrate Diversity event
at the Arts Ballroom in Philadelphia.
Pepper’s managing partner, Thomas
Cole, and chair and vice chair of
the Executive Committee, Thomas
M. Gallagher and Julie Corelli,
respectively, all welcomed guests and
made remarks.
The event highlights the efforts of
Pepper in promoting greater diversity
and inclusion in the firm, in the legal
profession and in our communities.
Two of the evening’s high points were the presentation of Pepper’s 2016 Champion of
Diversity award and Judge James Giles’ presentation of the winners of his namesake
contest, the Honorable James T. Giles High School Essay Contest.
This year’s Champion of Diversity award was presented to Lois Kimbol from the
Philadelphia Diversity Law Group (PDLG), a consortium of Philadelphia law firms and
law departments whose goal is to increase the diversity of the Philadelphia-area legal
community. During Celebrate Diversity’s pre-reception program, Kimbol presented “The
Way to Foster Diversity Is Simple — But That Doesn’t Make It Easy.”
As vice president of programs for PDLG, Kimbol designed and chairs the PDLG Fellows
Program, which chooses talented, diverse first-year law students to work for PDLG
member law firms and law departments during the summer. In addition to her work with
PDLG, Kimbol has consulted with the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas
Law School in the initial development of a series of academies for women associates at
different points in their careers. While in private practice, she was the first chairperson
of the diversity committee at her firm. In that role, she created programs designed to
understand the firm’s view of women lawyers, to promote the careers of women partners
and to help elevate other women lawyers to partnership.
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Now it its sixth year, the Honorable James T. Giles High School Essay Contest introduces
Philadelphia public and charter high school students to laws and legal decisions that
have a broad impact on our society, and recognizes them for their work. This diversity
pipeline program is designed to encourage participants to think about a career in law,
potentially leading to a more diverse legal profession down the road. This year’s essay
contest centered on Apple Inc.’s battle with the FBI over access to information on an
iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California massacre that
killed 14 people and injured 22 others. Students were asked to address the following
question:
Should tech companies, such as Apple, be forced to compromise the privacy of their
customers and the strength of their product security for the purposes of national
security or to investigate crimes against a person?
The winners of the essay contest received as follows: 1st Place – $1,000; 2nd Place –
$500; 3rd Place – $250; and Honorable Mention – $100. This year’s finalists are:
• Adriana Frazier, Academy at Palumbo, 9th grade
• Kei-shon Graham, Central High School, 11th grade
• Amaris Manning, Parkway Center City High School, 11th grade
• Waliyah Savoy-Hill, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering &
Science, 12th grade
The students, their families and teachers all attended the Celebrate Diversity event,
where Judge Giles presented them with their prizes.
Lastly, Judge Giles also presented a gift to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia as a
result of several fundraisers organized by Pepper’s summer associates to update the
clubs’ art and game rooms.
26
Recognized for Diversity
Pepper Hamilton receives the Dauphin County Bar Association’s Clarence Morrison
Award.
Pepper Hamilton’s Harrisburg office was honored for
its commitment to diversity by the Dauphin County
Bar Association (DCBA). Pepper received the
organization’s 2016 Hon. Clarence C. Morrison Award,
which is given each year to a deserving entity for its
work in promoting diversity. The award was presented
at the DCBA’s annual meeting in Harrisburg on Jan. 27.
Pepper was selected for the award because of
its continued support of the DCBA’s Capital Area
Managing Partners (CAMP) Diversity Initiative. Created
by the organization’s Equal Professional Opportunity
Committee, the CAMP program asks local firms to
support a minority first-year law student with a stipend and placement in order to expose
students to the practice of law and encourage them to consider Central Pennsylvania to
begin their legal careers.
“Pepper was one of the founders of the CAMP Initiative and has participated consistently
since it was established in 2004. We have always been impressed by the hard work and
dedication of the law students we have met through the program. It’s truly rewarding
to work with these students in the early days of their legal education and to see some
of them return to Central Pennsylvania to begin their practice,” said Thomas Schmidt,
attorney-in-charge of the Harrisburg office.
Pepper has had a CAMP intern since the inception of the program. Now-retired Pepper
attorney Anne Newman and of counsel Kathleen Mullen have run the firm’s summer
CAMP program for several years, and Mullen is doing so again this year.
Newman and Mullen attended the DCBA’s meeting and were joined by fellow Peppers
Thomas Schmidt, Brian Downey and Justin Weber to accept the Morrison Award on the
firm’s behalf.
Kassem Lucas, Pepper’s partner in charge of diversity, added, “We are proud to
support the Dauphin County Bar Association’s efforts, as their work toward a diverse
legal profession fits perfectly with Pepper’s own commitment to fostering diversity and
inclusion.”
27
A Celebration of Women
Pepper’s Women’s Initiative honors Kamil Ali-Jackson of Aclaris Therapeutics and Della
Clark of The Enterprise Center at its third annual event.
The Pepper Hamilton Women’s Initiative
(WIN) hosted more than 100 women
leaders, clients and friends of the firm for
its Third Annual Celebration of Women
in Philadelphia. The event featured
opportunities to network and to honor the
winners of Pepper WIN’s “Remarkable
Woman Award” and “Remarkable Pepper
Alumna Award.”
Before the event kicked off, guests had a chance to network
and enjoy an exhibit featuring work by local artists.
Commercial Litigation partner Maria Feeley
welcomed the guests and invited them to
enjoy an art exhibit by local female artists,
including Michele Gallagher (the wife of Pepper partner Michael Gallagher), Heather
McMordie, Sarah Bazilian, Tania O’Donnell and Dale Penneys Levy.
During the program, Feeley presented Kamil Ali-Jackson, chief legal officer of Aclaris
Therapeutics, with the Pepper Remarkable Alumna Award. Aclaris is a clinicalstage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing and
commercializing innovative and differentiated dermatology therapies.
Ali-Jackson was a Pepper associate from 1986 to 1990. In accepting her award, she
thanked Pepper and spoke about a recent article she read on “the art of cover-up.”
“As women, we often put all this energy into pretending to be not as smart or as
knowledgeable or as experienced as you are because you don’t want the other person to
be uncomfortable,” Ali-Jackson said. “I realized by practicing the art of cover-up, you’re
really defeating your ability to move and progress and evolve and learn and have others
learn from you, and you end up losing self-esteem rather than gaining confidence in your
abilities. You are as knowledgeable and as inventive and as strong and as smart as you
think you are. You’re not there to make the other person feel comfortable. You’re there as
a lawyer to give them legal advice and hope that they listen.”
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Pepper partner Julie Corelli presented Della Clark, president of The Enterprise Center in
West Philadelphia, with the Pepper Remarkable Woman Award. The Enterprise Center’s
mission is to cultivate and invest in minority entrepreneurs to work together to promote
economic growth in communities. It provides debt and equity capital needed to help
businesses start, grow and succeed.
Clark thanked Pepper for the honor and said, “I am delighted to accept this award, and I
want to thank Julie for nominating me. I’m honored that Pepper has decided to work with
The Enterprise Center because, when you’re trying to move the needle on an issue like
poverty, we cannot find any better way to reduce poverty than to encourage people to
help themselves through entrepreneurship.”
Clark called her work at The Enterprise Center “my assignment in life” and said she has
resisted opportunities to move on or take a more lucrative position. Clark cited the former
University of North Carolina basketball coach, the late Dean Smith, who served in that
role for more than 30 years, shaping and molding talent for the NBA, including the likes of
Michael Jordan.
“If you add up all of the talent that came from North Carolina, you can say hypothetically
that Dean Smith ran a billion-dollar company, though he never went off to coach in the
NBA. So, I’m planning to stay at The Enterprise Center until they tell me it’s time to go
home,” Clark said. “This is what I was born to do. There’s no other job that I want to take
on because I enjoy addressing and helping the city with the very complex issue of getting
people to fish for themselves.”
The WIN program also featured a presentation by Jane Golden, founder and executive
director of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Pepper partner Hope Comisky
introduced Golden, who explained that Mural Arts was established in 1984 as part of a
graffiti eradication project. Under Golden’s leadership, Mural Arts has created more than
3,800 works of public art since its inception. Comisky is a member of the organization’s
board of directors.
“Jane has overseen Mural Arts’ growth from a small city agency to the nation’s largest
public art program and a model of community development and restorative justice across
the country,” Comisky said. “Jane reached out to graffiti artists to turn their negative
energy to positive creative energy. She recognized their talent and helped channel it into
mural making.”
29
Over the last 30 years, Mural Arts has helped to build relationships, empower
communities and spark economic revitalization. Today, Mural Arts targets every
Philadelphia neighborhood, enrolling 2,000 individuals annually in its three programmatic
initiatives and engaging an additional 18,000 people in its projects.
“Our assignment is to stretch art as far as it can go, and, when we think it’s gone far
enough, we have to go further and further and further. We’re a program that is highly
aspirational, but incredibly pragmatic,” Golden said.
Golden recounted the early days of the Mural Arts program and how she immersed
herself in the graffiti world. “I felt like an anthropologist,” she said. Golden quickly began
to understand that the city’s graffiti artists were not only highly organized, but also
educated about art.
“They had been drawing from comic books since they were young, and they had an
uncanny knowledge of abstract expressionism,” Golden said. “They’d been stealing
the magazine Art in America, sneaking into the Art Museum – which I pointed out was
breaking the law – but these kids had genius and talent that had sadly and historically
gone unrecognized. What I thought then is what I think today – we need to offer our
young people every opportunity and option possible so they can change. Anything less
than that is quite frankly just not even a conversation. Non-negotiable.”
Golden said that Mural Arts faced intense skepticism at first, as residents of
neighborhoods where the program was establishing a foothold told her they were
interested in issues such as jobs and housing, not art. But, as Mural Arts incorporated
neighbors’ feedback into their designs, creating public art that was meaningful to the
community, it became a sign that things could change.
“To me, it was a sign of the profound power of art, because the murals became a
beacon. They became a focal point, and people saw it as a beginning instead of seeing
the neighborhood as being a liability. People saw potential everywhere, and that was
fantastic and inspiring,” Golden said.
Golden closed her remarks by saying, “There are always going to be problems in
the city that are vast, amorphous and intractable, and often the truth is our traditional
interventions are going to fail us. We have to continually embrace innovation and
creativity if we’re going to crack the code, and artists can do that.”
30
Honoring Dr. King’s Legacy
Pepper Hamilton sponsors Villanova Law’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture.
As part of its week-long celebration
of the life of the pioneering
civil rights leader, the Villanova
University Charles Widger School
of Law hosted its annual Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Lecture, sponsored
by Pepper Hamilton, on Jan. 26 at
the law school.
Dr. Yasser Payne (left), seen here with Pepper partner
Kassem Lucas, was the speaker at Villanova Law’s
Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture, sponsored by Pepper.
Pepper sponsors Villanova Law’s
annual King Lecture as part of a
partnership that earned the firm
the George B. Vashon Innovator
Award from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) in 2013. In addition
to the lecture sponsorship, the program includes the awarding of two three-year, fulltuition scholarships to Villanova Law School in Pepper’s name. The primary scholarship
recipients are racial or ethnic minorities, and the scholarships are awarded based on
merit and financial need. It also includes the Pepper Pathways Program, in which Pepper
annually hires two Villanova School of Law minority students as first-year summer
associates with an option for these students to serve as part-time law clerks during the
academic year.
Five Pepper scholarship recipients were in attendance at the lecture — Simeon Poles
’17, Malia Freitas ’16, Mikella Wickham ’18, Kavida Gobalasingham ’18, and Sydney
Naylor ’17 — as was Pepper Partner in Charge of Diversity Kassem Lucas.
“Pepper Hamilton has been a wonderful partner with our law school for many years, and
we are grateful to the firm and its employees for the generous support of our students
and faculty. The Pepper Hamilton LLP Diversity Initiative, which includes sponsoring
the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture and funding the Pepper Hamilton LLP
Scholarships, helps to promote and support diversity at Villanova Law and within the
legal profession at large,” said Villanova Law’s John Y. Gotanda, the Arthur J. Kania
Dean and Professor of Law. “The lecture, which is a highlight of our annual celebration of
the legacy of Dr. King, brings leading scholars to Villanova Law each year to explore the
issues of social justice, politics, racial identity and spirituality.”
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Speaker Dr. Yasser Payne and Pepper’s Kassem Lucas (center) met with Villanova Law
students who received Pepper scholarships, including (left to right) Simeon Poles ’17, Malia
Freitas ’16, Mikella Wickham ’18, Kavida Gobalasingham ’18, and Sydney Naylor ’17.
This year’s speaker was Dr. Yasser Payne, associate professor of Black American
Studies at the University of Delaware, who addressed the timely topic, “School-to-Prison
Pipeline in the 21st Century: Understanding the Educational Experiences of the Streets
of Black America.” Dr. Payne received his doctorate from the Graduate Center — City
University of New York, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National
Institute of Drug Abuse (NIH-NIDA) that involved a re-entry and intervention-based
research project at New York City’s Rikers Island jail designed to reduce recidivism, drug
use and risky behaviors leading to HIV/AIDS.
32
The Ultimate Sacrifice
Pepper hosts an event with Colonel Tom Manion of the Travis Manion Foundation.
In April 2007, 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion of
the U.S. Marines Corps was killed in action in
Iraq. On the ninth anniversary of Travis’s death,
his father, retired Colonel Tom Manion, visited
Pepper Hamilton’s Philadelphia office to talk about
his son’s sacrifice and how we can honor our
country’s fallen heroes.
Col. Manion spent 30 years in the Marine Corps
before joining Johnson & Johnson in 1990. Since
his son’s death, however, he has worked tirelessly
to preserve Travis’s memory. The Manion family
Colonel Tom Manion spoke about his
book, Brothers Forever, and his work
with the Travis Manion Foundation.
founded the Travis Manion Foundation, which
engages with veterans and families of the fallen in all stages of their personal journeys
and offers them unique opportunities to empower them to achieve their goals. Manion
also authored Brothers Forever, which tells the story of Travis Manion and his Naval
Academy roommate, Navy SEAL Brendan Looney, who was killed in Afghanistan. The
two are buried side by side in Arlington National Cemetery.
Pepper associate Ryan Peters, co-chair of the Veterans Group, introduced Col. Manion
at the event and noted that the program held personal significance for him because
Travis Manion and Brendan Looney were his classmates at the Naval Academy.
“Brendan and Travis were also with me in my first deployment in Fallujah. Brendan
was my intelligence officer, and, after working with him throughout that deployment, we
convinced him to go to SEAL training. I would also see Travis in Fallujah. In between
missions, we would catch up. Unfortunately, two weeks after I left, he made his ultimate
sacrifice. Brendan made it through SEAL training successfully and took over my platoon
when I went to law school. Shortly thereafter, he and former members of my platoon went
down in a helicopter in Afghanistan,” Peters said.
Col. Manion began his speech by explaining why he wrote Brothers Forever. “This story
is an example of all of the brave men and women serving in uniform today. It’s not just
about Travis and Brendan. It’s about all those who serve,” he said.
33
He noted that his goal has been to raise awareness for our country’s armed forces.
Despite still having thousands of troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, Manion
said he believes many Americans have an “out of sight, out of mind” outlook on the
military. He recalled how Travis expressed this concern to him during their last phone call
in 2007.
“The last time we spoke, he shared a
different message with me than he had
shared before. He said, ‘We’re fighting in the
streets every day, and I don’t think America
knows what we’re doing here.’ On April 29,
2007, we got the knock on the door. I shared
that last talk with my wife and daughter. We
knew there would be media at the house, and
we decided to speak to them. As a family,
Ryan Peters (right) presented Col. Manion with the
Veterans Group challenge coin.
we’ve been talking ever since,” Manion said.
Shortly thereafter, Manion decided to write a book about his son’s experiences and
sacrifice. He met the Iraqis his son served with and noted that an Iraqi outpost was
named after Travis — an honor that has only been bestowed twice on Americans. When
Brendan Looney was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, however, Manion decided to expand
the scope of his book.
“Losing Brendan was like losing another son. I realized this book was not just the story
of Travis and his Marines — that maybe it was the bigger story of everyone in uniform,”
Manion said.
Manion also spoke about how his son and Brendan joined the military out of a desire
to serve, and not out of obligation. He recalled a conversation between Travis and his
brother-in-law before Travis was deployed on another tour of duty. When asked what
would happen if he did not go back, Travis’s reply was “if not me, then who?” It became
the motto for the Travis Manion Foundation.
“Travis and Brendan put on the uniform because they loved this country and everything it
stands for — not because they didn’t have any other choice,” Manion said.
The Manion family used $200,000 raised through a memorial fund for Travis to start the
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Travis Manion Foundation. The foundation began several initiatives to help veterans and
the families of fallen heroes. (Pepper has been a longtime supporter of the foundation,
providing pro bono services and annually participating in the 9/11 Heroes Run.)
Col. Manion noted that the foundation offers veteran services, including mentoring and
internships for veterans seeking their next careers. The organization also connects
veterans with young adults through its “Character Does Matter” program, which aims
to inspire future leaders by teaching kids about the courage, integrity, leadership and
service of America’s armed forces.
The foundation’s “Expeditions” program assists families of fallen soldiers. Through this
program, the foundation organizes and funds service-based trips for families of the
fallen to come together and serve others in honor of their fallen heroes. These trips have
included building homes for families in need in Guatemala and renovating a residential
facility in Pennsylvania for women rescued from domestic human trafficking.
“We honor the fallen by challenging the living,” Manion said.
The event concluded with Ryan Peters presenting the Veterans Group challenge coin to
Col. Manion, who also signed copies of Brothers Forever for attendees.
Col. Manion signed copies of Brothers Forever after the event.
35
Committed to Equality
Pepper earns a 100 percent rating on the 2016 Corporate Equality Index.
Pepper Hamilton achieved a perfect
100 percent rating on the Human Rights
Campaign Foundation’s 2016 Corporate
Equality Index. This is the fourth year the
firm has received the top score and been
designated as a Best Place to Work for
LGBT Equality.
The 2016 Corporate Equality Index is a national benchmarking survey and report
on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality, including
nondiscrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgenderinclusive health care benefits, competency programs and public engagement with the
LGBT community.
The 2016 report rated 1,027 businesses, with a record 407 receiving a perfect score.
Ninety-five major U.S. law firms, including Pepper, earned a 100 percent rating, putting
the legal industry ahead of all other business sectors in LGBT inclusion policies.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to
achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all
Americans, the organization strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and
realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
36
A WIN for All
Volunteers from Pepper’s Women’s Initiative help MANNA in its mission to feed and
comfort the sick.
Last fall, volunteers
from Pepper’s WIN
(Women’s Initiative)
group spent the
afternoon on the
bustling assembly
line at MANNA, a
Philadelphia nonprofit
that for 25 years has
cooked and delivered
WIN volunteers (from left) Melissa Hatch O’Donnell, Sara
Richman,Andrea Toy Ohta, Leah Greenberg Katz, and Emily
Auerbach at MANNA’s kitchen.
nutritious, medically
appropriate meals to
residents battling lifethreatening illnesses,
such as cancer, renal disease and HIV/AIDS. The WIN members, working with other
MANNA volunteers, packaged and labeled more than 800 turkey meals for delivery to
residents.
The service opportunity was planned and organized by Pepper partner Andrea Toy Ohta,
who explained that the service work had a twofold goal.
“Our associates were eager for opportunities to connect with the partners and other more
senior colleagues,” Ohta said. “I thought that a service event would be a nice, relaxed
forum to facilitate these interactions.”
MANNA was a perfect partner for the service opportunity because of the firm’s
longstanding relationship with the organization (partner William Scari is on the board of
directors, and many Peppers have volunteered there, including during the firm’s 2015
Week of Service), its proximity to Pepper’s Philadelphia office, and its mission. 37
“In recent years, I have personally observed that sound nutrition and compassion go a
long way in improving the quality of life of those who have life-threatening illnesses, and
so was thrilled to find an organization like MANNA for our WIN service event,” Ohta said.
WIN volunteers enjoyed helping MANNA, and getting to know each other better.
“It felt great to know that WIN helped MANNA’s clients receive a healthy and delicious
meal,” said volunteer Emily Auerbach. “As a new member of Pepper’s Commercial
Litigation Practice, this was also a great opportunity to get to know some of the inspiring
women behind Pepper’s success, women who are not only great attorneys but great
people.” Leah Greenberg Katz, another volunteer, added that “community service is extremely
important to me, but busy work and family schedules can interfere with my ability to
volunteer. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to take a moment during the work
week to give back to our community. I also think it’s valuable for Pepper to publicly
demonstrate its commitment to our community. Volunteer projects like these are a great
way to do that.”
Other volunteers included Melissa Hatch O’Donnell and Sara Richman.
MANNA started in 1990 “to help comfort people dying of AIDS at a time when
ignorance of AIDS and the stigma associated with the disease was at its height” and
has since expanded its mission to help those who are battling other life-threatening
illnesses. MANNA and its volunteers prepare, package and deliver 65,000 meals per
month, enough to feed its clients three meals a day every week, year-round.
38
Clothing for a Cause
Pepper Hamilton donates to the Veterans Multi-Service Center’s new thrift store.
Pepper Hamilton continued to support the
Veterans Multi-Service Center (VMC) in March
2016 as lawyers and staff generously donated
new and gently used clothing, shoes and
accessories to help stock the VMC’s thrift store.
The VMC, which exists to “serve those
who served” by providing a comprehensive
resource center to veterans in need, recently
purchased a thrift store in Philadelphia’s Mayfair
neighborhood to further its mission. The store
will serve as a space to collect and distribute
donations to transitioning veterans and will
provide job training opportunities for veterans to
help with the transition into the civilian workforce.
Jean Dicus with a few items donated
during the clothing drive.
All proceeds will benefit VMC programs.
The clothing drive, which was sponsored by
Pepper’s Veterans Group and organized by legal secretary Jean Dicus, brought in
dozens of boxes and bags full of donations. While most of the donated items made their
way straight to the thrift store’s shelves, a select few pieces were featured in the VMC’s
“Rewrite the Runway” charity fashion show. The fashion show featured veterans and
VMC supporters modeling some of the thrift store’s merchandise to raise awareness and
funds for the VMC.
A volunteer from the VMC picks up Pepper’s donations for the
thrift store.
39
Saluting Their Service
Pepper’s Veterans Group helps make the Travis Manion Foundation 9/11 Heroes Run a
success.
Team Pepper is all smiles after the event.
Members of the Pepper Hamilton Veterans Group, family and friends came out in force
for the 9/11 Heroes Run 5K in Philadelphia, organized by the Travis Manion Foundation
on Sunday, September 13. The Pepper team included more than 10 runners and
walkers, backed by the terrific Pepper Pit Crew to keep everyone well supplied with
water, snacks or any other need. Aided by picture-perfect weather, more than 300 runners finished the 5K. The Pepper
Veterans Group opted not to run the route in formation this year, but was still wellrepresented — every Pepper runner or walker finished, and two Peppers were in the
ranks of the top 30 overall finishers. Joseph Tate was the first Pepper in at #15 (and #3 in
his age group) with a time of 21:13, followed by Kyle Dolinsky at #24.
Joe Tate, Karen Hardy and Jean Dicus at the wellstocked Pepper Pit Crew table.
40
Pepper alum Desa Burton
crosses the finish in style, with
an assist by Noah Robbins.