The 2024 PLLIP Diversity Summit, A New DEI?: Roadblocks and Pipelines, will be presented virtually on Friday, March 1, 2024.
Keynote
Angela Winfield
Founder, Blind Faith Enterprises LLC
Angela Winfield is Vice President and chief diversity officer for the Law School Admission Council. In this role, she provides leadership, vision, energy, and a unified philosophy to LSAC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on behalf of member law schools and the students who seek a career in law. Prior to her current position, Winfield was associate vice president for inclusion and workforce diversity at Cornell University, where she led the university’s affirmative action and federal contractor compliance programs, managed the university’s five identity/affinity-based colleague network groups, provided training opportunities for the 7,000+ member staff, oversaw religious accommodations, and served on the university’s ADA coordinator team. Winfield was a commercial litigator with Barclay Damon, LLP where she was voted a SuperLawyers Rising Star. Winfield is a certified leadership coach and motivational speaker and has presented to companies including 3M, Société Générale, and LexisNexis. She also is a member of the Practising Law Institute’s advisory committee on diversity, serves on the board of trustees for Cayuga Community College, and sits on the board of directors for The Rev Theatre Company, Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation, and Success Beyond Sight. Winfield earned her JD from Cornell Law School and is admitted to the New York bar. She earned her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University.
SCOTUS: The Threat to Affirmative Action and its effect on DEI Programs (Panel)
Max Gaston
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Notre Dame Law School.
Max Gaston leads the development and implementation of strategic initiatives at the Law School that champion a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment, including proactive initiatives to support belonging, and the Law School’s mission of educating a different kind of lawyer.
Gaston received a master’s of science in social and cultural psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London, England, in 2018, a Juris Doctor from Notre Dame Law School in 2013, and a bachelor of arts degree in international studies and philosophy from Iona College in New York in 2010. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and Florida.
Gaston serves as a legal advisor and member of the board of trustees for Karuna USA, a human rights charity operating in South Asia and the United States.
Gaston hosts Notre Dame Law School’s DEI Podcast with Max Gaston, where he explores how human behavior, identity, and difference impact our unique experiences in law, culture, society, and business.
Jessica Ring
Jessica Ring is an associate in Troutman Pepper LLP’s Business Litigation practice. She brings experience working on a variety of matters. Jessica has drafted clemency petitions for formerly and currently incarcerated clients with the Center on Wrongful Convictions Bluhm Legal Clinic through her work as a clinical student, which afforded her the opportunity to advocate for her clients.
She has also worked with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as a legal intern and later as an extern. Through these roles, Jessica conducted essential research into federal employment law statutes and case law. She was involved in mediations and depositions as well as drafted memoranda and interrogatories. She assisted with litigations at its many phases, and all the while fought for her clients’ successes.
Roza Patterson
Roza Patterson is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of California, Davis School of Law and a Deputy Attorney General at the California Department of Justice. Previously, Patterson served as an attorney at the international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe where she practiced employment law and litigated a number of pro bono cases.
In 2021, Patterson was one of five attorneys to be selected for Orrick’s inaugural Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Fellowship. As a Racial Justice fellow, Patterson spent a year working at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, the largest provider of free legal services in Santa Clara County.
Patterson received her B.A. degrees summa cum laude in Communications, Political Science, and Human Rights from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX; her Masters of Science degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science; and her J.D. from the University of California, Davis (King Hall).
Michael Benitez, Ph.D.
Michael Benitez, Ph.D. is a nationally acclaimed educator in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education, often called upon by universities, community organizations, and corporations for his deep knowledge and practice of innovate DEI based strategies and approaches to address some of higher education’s most pressing DEI issues and challenges.
Dr. Benitez has worked at Penn State University, Dickinson College, Lafayette College, Grinnell College, and the University of Puget Sound. He completed both his B.S. and M.Ed. at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and his Ph.D. at Iowa State University.
Dr. Benitez joined MSU Denver in 2019 as Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, where he also serves as an Associate Professor of Multicultural Education the School of Education. Dr. Benitez also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE), is highly engaged with the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), and serves as a subject matter expert for Colorado Inclusive Economy (CIE).
Building Diversity Pipelines (panel)
Shafeeqa Giarratani, Moderator
Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins
Shafeeqa Giarratani is a shareholder in the firm’s Austin office and a member of the firm’s governing Board of Directors. Shafeeqa is a strong advocate for her clients. She represents employers in federal and state court and before administrative agencies and regulatory agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
Shafeeqa has been recognized both locally and nationally as a skilled advocate. Shafeeqa was named by Law360 as a 2016 Rising Star, one of only seven employment lawyers in the country to receive such a distinction. Shafeeqa has also been named repeatedly as a Super Lawyer–Texas Rising Star and was featured in Bloomberg BNA for her commitment to her clients.
Shafeeqa co-founded Ogletree’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practice group and assists clients in climate investigations, statistical analysis surrounding diversity metrics and creating and executing strategic diversity plans. Shafeeqa is skilled at providing training on a variety of diversity, equity and inclusion topics.
Daisy De Anda
Daisy De Anda is a dedicated Legal Research Specialist at Sheppard Mullin with close to two decades of industry experience. With an eye for reliable and actionable information, Daisy takes pride in assisting attorneys from around the world in a wide range of legal and industry fields. She has served in various roles within the Southern California Associations of Law Libraries, most notably as the past Executive Board Secretary and Chair for the Public Relations Committee. Currently, she continues to serve as a proud member of the Community Youth Internship Experience Committee.
Specializing in legal research assistance, project management and development of training programs aimed at promoting best practices with tools and resources within her organization, Daisy skillfully leverages her expertise to guarantee the success of her firm’s clientele, both domestically and internationally.
Sarah Ryan
Sarah E. Ryan is an Associate Professor of Information Science and Director of the Law Librarianship Program at the University of North Texas. Prior to joining UNT, Sarah clerked for the Hon. Victor A. Bolden of the District of Connecticut and served as a staff attorney for the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center (CVLC). Before that, she was Head of Empirical Legal Research Services for the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School. Sarah obtained her J.D. from Quinnipiac Law School, her Ph.D. and M.A. from Ohio University, her M.L.S. from Texas Woman’s University, and her B.A. from Capital University. Sarah is an active scholar publishing in the areas of legal research instruction, access to justice, federal criminal law reform, and diversity in higher education.
Rasha Gerges Shields
Rasha Gerges Shields, a partner at Jones Day, is a former federal prosecutor with more than 20 years of first-chair trial and appellate experience. She is a respected leader in the legal profession, a trusted advisor to companies and organizations, and a champion of diversity and racial justice. She is actively involved in the community. In 2023, she was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to serve on the Board of Police Commissioners, and by the California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero to serve as a member of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal Bias Prevention Committee. She is involved in several diversity pipeline programs and, in 2018, Rasha was the sole recipient of California Minority Counsel Program’s Law Firm Diversity Leader award.
PLLIP Diversity Summit 