PLDIC member firms & organizations: the 2022 Member Survey is live! You can access the survey on our Members Only page. Please collect data as of December 31, 2022 and submit your responses by February 15. Thank you for your participation in this survey - it is essential to understanding the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Pittsburgh legal community!

Allegheny County Bar Association Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Kellie Ware is our newest PLDIC TALI scholarship recipient. Kellie received a $12,000 scholarship to attend The Advanced Leadership Institute (TALI)'s Executive Leadership Academy. The Executive Leadership Academy is designed for Black leaders with at least 10 years of work experience and with demonstrated leadership and a desire to achieve professional excellence. The program begins this month and runs through the end of July. Congratulations, Kellie! 

The PLDIC's 2022 Volunteer of the Year award winner was Devon Ferris, associate at member firm Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C. The award was created to honor a member employee who has gone above and beyond in their volunteer efforts.

The PLDIC is excited to welcome back award-winning speaker, author, and globally D&I recognized expert Ritu Bhasin. In this session, Ritu will delve into how the practice of authenticity and belonging can elevate professionals from equity-seeking communities to live, work, and lead in a more empowered way. Attendees will learn how to identify and interrupt their own internalized bias and self-limiting beliefs and behaviors, embrace and leverage cultural differences to cultivate experiences of belonging, and consistently choose to be more authentic in their interactions. In order to create a safe space for sharing experiences, we request that only individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color attend this webinar. Registrants will also receive a copy of Ritu's book, "The Authenticity Principle." 

Celebrate Mardi Gras with the PLDIC! The Community Building Committee is hosting a trivia night at member firm Eckert Seamans (U.S. Steel Tower, 600 Grant Street, 44th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15219) - come meet up with friends and fellow PLDIC members for a fun, casual evening with food and drink. Register below and please arrive on time so that teams can be formed. Email Community Building Committee Chair Aarthi Murty with any questions.

The PLDIC Recruitment Committee will present “It’s Not Me, It’s You” – a panel presentation on what diverse candidates really think about the Pittsburgh legal market. Participants will hear from the following panel of seasoned recruiters: Aubrey Jones, Max Gelernter, and Neil Subramanya about their experiences working with diverse legal candidates considering opportunities in Pittsburgh. What attracts these candidates to our market? What makes them run away? What can we as a Pittsburgh legal community do better wh)en recruiting diverse talent? Moderated by Recruitment Committee Co-Chair Jessica Gangjee, this panel is your chance to gain valuable insight into the competitive legal hiring market.

The Great Resignation is shaking up the labor market. While millions of workers worldwide quit their jobs, companies struggle to attract, develop and retain diverse talent. VOKLY helps small-to-midsize organizations enable meritocracy using what they call the 'DEI Progression Model.' In this in-person event, Founders Britney Clark and Saren Stiegel show attendees how to use the DEI Progression Model to expand their talent pipeline, redesign performance management, and analyze valued opportunities. The time is now to prepare your business and the people in it to thrive.

Save the date for the PLDIC's Spring Members Meeting on April 19 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Carnegie Museum of Art's Hall of Architecture. More info coming soon. Check the event page for the latest updates.

The PLDIC held our first event of 2023 on January 18. Sixty people attended the highly interactive and thought-provoking session led by DEI expert and professional coach Paula Edgar. During the workshop, Paula facilitated a conversation about feedback challenges and strategies to overcome those barriers to effective and inclusive feedback. The participants worked in small groups to discuss real life scenarios and then, spent the last hour of the workshop in a hackathon! Paula divided the attendees into teams, each with a particular feedback challenge to tackle, and the teams issue-spotted, then problem-solved – ultimately developing innovative solutions to provide effective and inclusive feedback. A big thank you to member organization UPMC for hosting our participants. We are eager to see if these solutions get implemented at our member organizations.

Dolly’s book will give you the psychological tools you will need for the urgent and necessary work of reckoning with our past. It is a revolutionary, evidence-based guide for developing resilience and grit to confront our whitewashed history and build a better future.

As former PLDIC speaker Kenji Yoshino says, “This book is required reading for all patriots who love their country enough to see its wounds – and heal them.”

By the way, Kenji has a new book coming out, too:

A practical, shame-free guide for navigating conversations across our differences at a time of rapid social change.

Member firm Reed Smith held its six annual DEI summit last fall. Check out their Key Takeaways from the summit, below. "In order to create the kind of workplace environment and industry where all of us can succeed, we must all take on the responsibility of driving change and progress."

The Bridge is a monthly e-newsletter from the Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition (PLDIC). Catch up here if you've missed any issues. Know someone who may be interested in receiving this publication and other PLDIC communications?