Fast-Tracked Podcast Episode 8: The legal landscape around diversity, equity, and inclusion has shifted significantly in the wake of several significant judicial opinions. While the legal profession has been notoriously slow to make progress in its efforts to nurture more inclusive practice environments, our guests share their unwavering optimism about the advancement of inclusion in the profession. They delve into the data that demonstrate the importance of equity to various stakeholders in the corporate legal services market, and also discuss why mentorship is so essential in driving change from within.
Join guests Shelley Smith of Archer & Greiner, P.C., and Caren Stacy of Diversity Lab as we push past the headlines and explore the roles of creativity, innovation, and relentless advocacy in shaping a more equitable future for law.
Related CLE content: Connect with resources, insights, and people to foster more inclusive workplaces with PLI’s DEI Connect.
PLI’s Fast-Tracked: Emergent Issues in the Legal Profession podcast, brings you conversations with thought leaders, delving into the most dynamic trends shaping the legal world, from AI to DEI – and everything in between. PLI is proud to keep you ever current with timely programs, publications, and podcasts. Visit pli.edu/ftpod for more episodes.
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and host, and not necessarily those of PLI.
Featured In This Episode
Shelley R. Smith
Shelley R. Smith is Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Archer & Greiner, P.C., and a partner in the firm’s Business Litigation and Labor and Employment Groups. She counsels clients in commercial litigation, civil rights, and labor and employment matters. Shelley joined Archer following a distinguished career in public service for the City of Philadelphia, most recently serving eight years as City Solicitor during Michael Nutter’s mayoral tenure. She represented the Mayor, City Council, and all City elected officials, City employees, Agencies, Boards, and Commissions. Shelley is the City of Philadelphia’s longest-serving City Solicitor. During her tenure with the City’s Law Department, she handled nearly every facet of the Law Department’s practice in some capacity, including managing the City’s Labor & Employment Unit. Matters under her supervision involved the defense of labor grievances and employment discrimination cases initiated in state and federal courts and administrative agencies, as well as management of the City’s collective bargaining and labor negotiations. As a trial lawyer, Ms. Smith tried more than 60 federal civil jury trials to verdict, as well as hundreds of other litigation and policy matters. Significant matters included the 39th Police District litigation, NAACP v. City of Philadelphia, and the jury trials of Joseph Frazier v. City of Philadelphia, Estate of Shannon Schieber v. City of Philadelphia, and Robert Mitchell v. Mayor John F. Street. Shelley has a J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, and a B.A. from Temple University.
Featured In This Episode
Caren Ulrich Stacy
Caren is a talent and behavioral science expert with more than 30 years of experience as the head of talent for several of the world’s top law firms, including Weil Gotshal, Cooley, and Arnold & Porter. After co-founding Lawyer Metrics, which pioneered a “Moneyball” data-driven approach to talent recruitment and development, she created Diversity Lab.
Diversity Lab focuses on cultivating inclusivity and diversity in the leadership ranks of law firms, legal departments, and government agencies through the use of data, science, and design thinking. Some of the Lab’s recent projects include the Mansfield Rule, OnRamp Fellowship, Inclusion Blueprint, Move the Needle Fund, and the Diversity Dividends Collective.
Caren is also the Lead Advisor for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, working with senior leaders to shape practices and policies that support and sustain inclusive talent systems at the agency.
In addition to her work with the Lab and USPTO, she currently serves on the Legal Advisory Committee for the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League. Other recent leadership roles included serving on the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Commission on Improving the Legal Profession and as a Judicial Performance Commissioner to evaluate judges. She also previously served as Vice President of Policy in San Francisco and then as President in Silicon Valley for the UN Women Board of Directors. In 2019, she was selected by members of Congress to assist with the Congressional Black Caucus task force on increasing diversity in law and tech.
Caren has received many national honors, including the National Association of Legal Professionals Mark of Distinction, the Corporate Counsel Innovator Award, the American Bar Association Golden Hammer Award, Legal Momentum’s Women of Achievement Award, and the InnovAction Award by the College of Law Practice Management. She was also elected as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and selected out of 500 entrepreneurs as one of the inaugural 10 Tory Burch Foundation Fellows.
