Committed to fostering
inclusion and participation
Building a community of a more diverse group of lawyers
Supporting and encouraging
diverse lawyers
Striving to retain diverse attorneys
Making the legal profession stronger
and more productive
Together we are able to meet evolving challenges
Supporting diversity
at all levels
Building a community from entry-level to management
OUR MISSION
The Philadelphia Diversity Law Group (PDLG) is committed to fostering participation of a more diverse group of lawyers in the Greater Philadelphia region and beyond to make our legal profession stronger, more equitable, and more inclusive. To fulfill this mission, PDLG creates programs to enhance recruitment, retention, advancement, and promotion of lawyers of diverse backgrounds by law firms and corporate law departments.
Recognizing that many students starting law school have not had significant exposure to family members or friends who are lawyers or in law school, PDLG presents a free annual Boot Camp for entering law students. The four evening PDLG Boot Camp is designed to demystify law school, including by providing a taste of 1L law school courses, guidance on doing law school well and an introduction to many careers open to lawyers.
Welcome & Congratulations 2023 Program Fellows
Deborah Adeyemi-Boboye
Temple University
Nimah Bhura
Stevens & Lee
Drake Broussard
Saul Ewing
Dylan Brown
Eckert Seamans
Arpan Chakrabarti
Post & Schell
Reena Chojar
Greenberg Traurig
Natasha Dandekar
CHUBB
Devan Deck
GlaxoSmithKline
Jonathan Dodo
Lincoln Financial Group
Jaden Fields
Cohen Seglias
Taylor Hinds
FMC
Alexandria Hudak
Independence Blue Cross
Olivia Hunt
Montogmery McCracken
Shadwal Jha
FMC
Luke Kim
Spark Theraputics
Benjamin Levy
State Farm
Steven Liang
IKEA
Giavanna Litz
Temple University Health System
Danies Maldonado
Obermayer Rebmann
Alexis McDonough
Dilworth Paxson
Luis Moreno
Jackson Lewis
Mrrik Noubarentz
Morgan Lewis
Nadiyah Owens
Dechert
Selin Ozoglu
Vanguard
India Patel
Archer
Tithi Patel
Buchanan Ingersoll
Juliet Patterson
Flaster Greenberg
Isabel Pentland
Ballard Spahr
Melissa Poblete
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Juliana Poroye
Stevens & Lee
Rhea Prabhu
Hangley Aronchick
Codi Royall
DLA Piper
David Sillhart
ARAMARK
Brandon Smith
Faaegre Drinker
Max Sun
Troutman Pepper
Roslyn Thelliyankal
Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Olivia Thompson
Schnader Harrison
Lilian Umetiti
Vanguard
Mehreen Usman
Obermayer Rebmann
Rita Venant
White and Williams
Lydia Wuorinen
Duane Morris
Constance Xu
Blank Rome
Millisa Yensel
Cozen O'Connor
Carmen Zheng
COMCAST
PDLG Programs & Events
The Fellows Program is PDLG’s flagship program and has been in existence since 2003. It was modeled after a program of the Bar of the City of New York but differed in certain ways to be responsive to the requirements of PDLG members. The committee worked with the career services deans at the area law schools to gain support for the new Fellows Program and to persuade them to work with PDLG on identifying candidates.
Since then, the Fellows Program has provided diverse students completing their first year of law school with the opportunity to be considered for summer law jobs with PDLG members. This program is open to diverse law students – those who have overcome significant and uncommon obstacles in the pursuit of a legal career, come from a disadvantaged background or come from a background or are part of a group that is underrepresented in the Philadelphia legal community. After going through a rigorous application and interview process, twelve students worked as summer associates/clerks at twelve PDLG employers that first year. In 2018, the Fellows Program included 46 law students who were hired by 35 participating Philadelphia law firms and in-house legal departments. In total, since its inception, the PDLG Fellows Program has placed over 480 students as summer associates/clerks with Philadelphia law firms and in-house legal departments.
The first group of law students who participated in the Fellows Program attended the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, Temple, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, Widener, Howard, and Penn State Dickinson law schools. Drexel University was added after its establishment in 2006. The Fellows Program was subsequently expanded to law students with significant connections to the Philadelphia area even if they attended law school elsewhere. To date, students have participated from a number of other law schools including – Harvard, Duke, Washington University of St. Louis, Virginia, Washington & Lee, Pittsburgh, American, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Columbia, Charleston, Northwestern, USC, Harvard, Emory, Cincinnati, Michigan, NYU, Cornell, Georgetown and George Washington.
During the Fellows Program, in addition to their jobs as summer associate or law clerks, the students participate in various training seminars and workshops. Other diverse students working in the Philadelphia area through other programs, such as the Judicial Intern Opportunity Program of the American Bar Association and the Montgomery County Bar Association’s first-year law student summer program, are invited to participate in PDLG’s activities.
Many of the Fellows Program students have been hired as second-year summer associates by PDLG member organizations and many Fellows Program alumni have been offered jobs with PDLG members after graduation from law school. Some have gone on to work at government or public interest organizations. Several have gone on to law firm partnerships, the most recent with a PDLG member firm.
The PDLG and Fellows Program alumni understand that the Program is not just a vehicle for finding summer employment, but is also an opportunity to join and help build the Philadelphia legal community. There is a vibrant network of PDLG alumni who give back to the organization and to those coming after them – as advisors, mentors and speakers at PDLG seminars and programs.
Recognizing that many students starting law school have not had significant exposure to family members or friends who are lawyers or in law school, PDLG developed a Boot Camp for students about to enter law school.
PDLG has begun a series of programs for new associates designed to up start the careers of diverse new associates at PDLG member law firms. One year the seminar focused on what an associate has to do – and not do – to excel in his or her associate class. The next seminar focused on defining, developing and demonstrating skills, styles and abilities that go beyond those common to new associates.
In 2014, PDLG began what is planned to be on-going series of programs for diverse senior associates and junior partners. The program included an invitation only lunch at which senior in-house lawyers and law firm rainmakers spoke about how to give a successful pitch. The attendees were then invited to create firm teams and develop and present a business pitch to a PDLG member law department. Members of the law department to whom the pitch was directed then gave feedback and advice to the pitch team.
Since 2007, PDLG has published a monthly column, “Insight on Diversity” in the Philadelphia legal newspaper, The Legal Intelligencer. Columns are written by lawyers at PDLG member organizations, including Board representatives, diversity professionals and PDLG Fellows Program alumni. and cover a broad range of topics and perspectives. In recent years the columns have dealt with stereotypes, unconscious bias, culture competence, the importance of diversity initiatives, overcoming obstacles to diversity, and moving diversity and inclusion beyond hiring, among other topics.
In November 2021, PDLG inaugurated its newest program, the PDLG Advocate/Protégé Program. The purpose of the program is to help mid-level diverse associates create and navigate a path to law firm partnership working in connection with an advocate in their firm. Following completion of the Program, Protégés should have clearer insight on the path to partnership, an advocate to help guide them along the way, and valuable business development/relationship skills that will strengthen and lengthen their careers at their firms.
For more information, please contact Sohana Sethi, Vice President, PDLG.
OUR MEMBERS
CONTACT US
Membership and General Information
Maria Lewis, Esq., Co-President
Jerome Maddox, Esq., Co-President