Education
Power, Politics, and Perspective Speaker Series
This fall, we presented a special series on “Power, Politics, and Perspective” as part of our Diversity + Inclusion Spectrum Speaker program. This series featured three thought leaders who spoke about how identity shapes our politics, how political power does and does not reflect our diversity, and how their personal identities have impacted their perspectives. The featured speakers were:
- Mark Hanis, a social entrepreneur, research fellow with Stanford University’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice, and co-founder of Inclusive America, a nonprofit working to increase diversity in government;
- W. Kamau Bell, a stand-up comedian and host of CNN’s United Shades of America, where he visits communities across America to better understand what shapes culture and identity and how each impact perspective; and
- Ana Navarro, Republican strategist and a political analyst for CNN and CNN en Español, and frequent contributor to ABC’s The View.
Diversity in Practice Podcast Series
MoFo’s D+I Group is proud to announce the launch of our new “Diversity in Practice” podcast series. Episodes in this bi-monthly series, will spotlight our diverse talent at various levels, highlight diversity + inclusion best practices, and engage D+I experts in dialogue about their practice areas and how those practices have been integrated into MoFo’s D+I programming and initiatives.
Listen to the Diversity in Practice Podcast Series.
Learned together how to be an effective ally through our Allyship is Action campaign with MoFo attorneys and staff on the power of allyship
The Allyship is Action campaign is the first in a series of educational social media campaigns related to D+I. Allyship is Action showcases a diverse variety of our attorneys’ and staff members’ voices and viewpoints promoting the concept of allyship and helping both ourselves and others understand how to be a more effective ally to marginalized and underrepresented communities. As a firm, Morrison & Foerster stands against racial injustice. In the spirit of our shared commitment to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion, we developed this playlist to highlight the viewpoints of our attorneys and staff on this topic.
Watch the Responding to Racial Injustice Playlist.
Talking to Your Kids About Race: Webinar Series and Diversity in Practice Podcast
In the wake of the George Floyd killing and in support of our commitment to raising awareness as well as encouraging active allyship, our Diversity Strategy and Women’s Strategy Committees co-sponsored a series of webinars in August led by Denica Gordon-Mendel, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and co-founder of Raising Compassionate Leaders. The sessions were organized by age group and provided a developmental framework to help teach parents the best techniques to address the issues of race, racisim, and racial injustice in an age appropriate way that children can understand. Following the webinar series, MoFo’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion Natalie Kernisant and Women’s Initiatives Director Janet Stone Herman hosted an extended conversation with the co-founders of Raising Compassionate Leaders on Diversity in Practice, MoFo’s newly launched Diversity + Inclusion podcast series.
Professor Rick Banks Webinar to Educate our Asia Offices
Our Asia offices hosted a special program featuring speaker Rick Banks, a Stanford Law School Professor and Co-Founder and Director of Stanford’s new Center for Racial Justice. Mr. Banks helped shed light on Black American history and racism in the United States. The session aimed to educate members of our international offices on how the Black Lives Matter movement can be understood in the context of the Black experience in America.
D+I Spectrum Speaker Series: Professor Cornell William Brooks
On Wednesday, August 5, 2020, Harvard Kennedy School professor and former president of the NAACP Cornell William Brooks paid a virtual visit to MoFo to speak about recent incidents involving police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, and how the protests of today differ from those of the past. MoFo partner Josh Hill moderated the discussion, which touched upon the protests and police response following the Ahmaud Arbery case and the killing of George Floyd, in addition to the more broad subjects of systemic racism and the civil rights movement.