The Lawyer's Edge

Kimya Johnson is the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer and Principal of the Corporate Diversity Counseling Practice Group at Jackson Lewis. With nearly 1,000 lawyers across 63 offices, Jackson Lewis is one of the largest national law firms specializing in the practice of labor and employment law. 

As the firm’s Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Kimya leads DEI efforts in alignment with the firm’s strategi...

James (Jim) Persing is a former practicing lawyer who has been coaching professionals for more than 20 years. He supports clients through a collaborative process of designing, effectuating, and sustaining change.

Jim married his law experience with his passion for coaching clients in a variety of professions to help others envision, achieve, and maintain success. Much of his work focuses on helping early and mid-career professional...

Stefanie Marrone is the Fractional Marketing Director of Social Media and Marketing and Business Development Strategist at The Social Media Butterfly. In these roles, she helps law firms, individual lawyers, accounting and recruiting firms, and other business professionals build their brands and generate revenue.       

As an outsourced Chief Marketing Officer and Social Media Consultant, Stefanie helps small and mid-sized law firm...

Constance Beverley is the CEO of the Share Winter Foundation, a grantmaking organization working to improve the lives, health, and fitness of youth through winter sports. Share Winter Foundation is also working to create a more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming winter sports community. 

Before joining the Share Winter Foundation, Constance was an attorney on Wall Street, representing large financial firms for more than six years. S...

Robert Ingalls is a recovering attorney, speaker, and the Founder and Chief Podcast Strategist at LawPods. LawPods helps busy attorneys create world-class podcast content that boosts SEO, builds relationships, and drives revenue. They’ve worked with premier law firms including McGuireWoods, Blank Rome, and the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt. 

Before founding LawPods, Robert battled anxiety from the pressure, long hours, and constant...

Niki Schaefer is the Vice President and General Counsel at ReliabilityFirst, a company that ensures the Mid-Atlantic electric grid is reliable and secure.

Niki spent the first half of her career as a Commercial Litigator at Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff, a large law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. She spent the second half of her career in a variety of in-house roles, initially on ReliabilityFirst’s legal team. She proceeded to...

Chris DeSantis is a speaker, author, and consultant specializing in workplace interventions. With nearly 30 years of experience as an independent organizational behavior consultant, Chris is a trusted partner to some of the world’s largest companies in the professional services, tech, and pharmaceutical industries. When working with clients, his goals are to dig deeper, treat the root causes, and offer user-friendly solutions align...

Brandie Knox is the Principal and Creative Director of Knox Design Strategy, a branding and design studio based in New York City. Today, Knox Design Strategy works with more than 30 law firm clients, creating designs that meet the firm’s goals. According to Brandie, a pretty design that doesn’t help clients compete is futile. Great design is useful, effective, strategic, and technology-driven. 

Brandie earned her MFA from East Caro...

Robyn Addis is the COO and Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Legal Internet Solutions Inc. (LISI). In this role, she oversees the systems and processes of the agency and provides strategic leadership and guidance to the marketing and business development teams, as well as outsourced legal marketing services clients. Additionally, Robyn guides the development and execution of multiple high-performing marketing chan...

Lauren Lynch is the first-ever Chief Culture Officer at Mandelbaum Barrett, where she focuses on improving employee engagement and establishing a positive culture for employee morale. She’s a force for cultural change and is passionate about internal communications and the employee experience.  

To help improve the culture at Mandelbaum Barrett, Lauren has launched virtual and in-person events, wellness initiatives, birthday celebr...

Amy Goldsmith is Partner at Tarter Krinsky & Drogin and Chair of their Privacy and Cybersecurity Group. In these roles, Amy guides clients through the legal aspects of building recognizable brands, developing desirable products and services, and devising strategic IP plans to mitigate risk. 

Amy has served as the Vice President of the New York Women’s Bar Association and currently co-manages its continuing legal education progr...

Yen Chu is the Chief Legal Officer of Equinox, an integrated fitness, wellness, and hospitality company. In this role, Yen oversees legal, ESG, government affairs, and community relations. She has led Equinox’s growth with the launches of new ventures and businesses, including the first Equinox Hotels, and is the Executive Sponsor for its Equality + Belonging Leadership Council. 

Yen is a graduate of Columbia Law School and a m...

Diana Manning is the Managing Principal of Bressler, Amery & Ross, a full-service law firm with more than 150 attorneys across multiple states. She is also Co-chair of Bressler’s Business and Commercial Litigation practice group and spearheads the firm’s Appellate practice team. As a law firm leader, Diana strives to involve her team in decisions, work through surprising challenges, and transform the conversation around what le...

Michelle Banks is a Senior Advisor at BarkerGilmore, a company leading the way in legal and compliance optimization. At BarkerGilmore, Michelle specializes in executive leadership coaching for women general counsel. 

Active in many nonprofits, Michelle is a member of the Board of Directors at DirectWomen and chairs Ms. JD’s annual LaddHer Up retreat. She is also the Co-founder and Co-chair of UCLA Women LEAD, a network of more than...

Janet Falk is a writer, speaker, and consultant with over 30 years of experience in public relations and marketing communications. Through her company, Falk Communications and Research, she helps attorneys, executives, and firms stand out in the market.

Janet leads workshops and advises on media relations, websites, LinkedIn profiles, articles, nonlegal industry trade publications, and client newsletters, among other areas. She has...

Honorable M. Margaret McKeown is a Judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before being appointed to the court in 1998, she was in private practice for over two decades in Seattle and Washington, DC. 

Hon. McKeown is recognized for her work on judicial ethics, gender issues, and international rule of law. She is a member of various committees, has lectured throughout the world, and has participated in num...

Stephanie Scharf is the Founding Partner of Scharf Banks Marmor LLC, a nationally prominent women-owned law firm that represents corporate clients across a range of litigation and corporate matters. Stephanie is also a Founding Principal of The Red Bee Group, a consulting firm that helps businesses, organizations, and law firms achieve their growth goals. 

Stephanie was the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Wome...

Jemi Lucey is a Partner in the Litigation and Employment Law Departments at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP and is Co-chair of their higher education practice group. She represents private companies, public entities, and institutions of higher learning in federal and state civil litigation matters across various practice areas. 

Jemi is an American Bar Foundation Fellow. She was also recognized by the Commerce & Industry...

Linda Perez Clark is the Managing Partner of Kean Miller and the Program Director for Kean Miller Connection, an annual law school preparatory program for traditionally underrepresented individuals in law school and law practice.

Linda has more than 20 years of experience representing clients in a wide variety of transactional matters, including engineering, procurement, construction-related contracts, asset and stock acquisitions,...