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As lawyers, we pride ourselves on objectivity. We find it hard to accept that our unconscious biases could possibly contribute to our decision-making, let alone the attrition rates of minority and female lawyers in the work place and that bias plays any role in our interactions with diverse attorneys. We are certainly too enlightened for that. But research has shown that everyone has biases; it is just a part of who we are.
The good news is that while our initial hard-wired responses are quick and more likely to be error-prone, research and experience also has shown that we we can activate a secondary, detailed processing system that can help us correct mistakes. We can teach ourselves to recognize our unconscious biases and, in essence, override them.
This course, presented by Alita Wingfield of Morgan Stanley and Debra Rosen and Stella Tsai of Archer & Greiner, PC, will review the latest research and science about implicit bias, the effect of implicit bias in the legal profession and the judiciary, and practical measures for self-assessment and mitigation of implicit bias in the workplace.
Learning Objectives:
I. Understand the scientific foundations for implicit biases
II. Recognize the effect in the work place if those biases remain unchecked
III. Survey the historical impact of implicit bias in judicial decisions
IV. Identify best practices for mitigating bias
V. Incorporate best practices for promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession
Debra concentrates her practice in the area of complex environmental and toxic tort litigation and environmental due diligence and compliance with an emphasis upon the defense of groundwater contamination cases involving claims for both property damage and serious personal injury.
Debra’s work has been in both state and federal courts and she has handled matters in jurisdictions throughout the United States, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Michigan and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Debra also has significant experience in other litigation matters including products liability and chemical workplace exposure cases. She also advises clients on transactions involving purchase and redevelopment of brownfields. Debra also frequently counsels clients on environmental compliance issues with a focus on Underground Storage Tank regulations and Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) requirements and is well-versed in the new Site Remediation Reform Act and the Licensed Site Remediation Professional program. She frequently represents clients in compliance and enforcement matters with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in the Office of Administrative Law.
Debra is admitted to the bar in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the United Sates District Courts, District of New Jersey and Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Debra is a member of the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Camden County Bar Associations and has been named to New Jersey Super Lawyers in Environmental Law. Debra is also active in the New Jersey Society of Women Environmental Professionals. She regularly speaks on both environmental law issues and diversity and inclusion issues facing the legal profession.
Debra has been an attorney with Archer & Greiner since 1986 and she became a shareholder of the firm in 1994. Debra is a member of both Archer & Greiner’s Personnel Committee and the firm’s Diversity Committee. She is also a founding member and Co-Chairperson for the Archer & Greiner Women Lawyer’s Network. She earned her law degree, with honors, from Rutgers School of Law - Camden in 1986 and her Bachelor’s degree, with honors, from Dickinson College in 1983.
Representative Experience
Professional and Community Involvement
Current Board Service
Current Professional Organization Membership
Prior Professional and Community Leadership Positions
Awards and Recognition
Articles and Presentations
Ms. Tsai is a business litigation partner in the Philadelphia office with a practice concentrating in regulatory compliance and ethics. Ms. Tsai represents both individuals and multi-national businesses in transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters, including trial and appellate work. Ms. Tsai re-entered private practice after serving as Chair of Administrative Law at the City of Philadelphia Law Department from 2000-2003 where she managed the attorneys who represent the child welfare and social service agencies. While in private practice, Ms. Tsai has served as national coordinating counsel in products liability litigation, litigated civil RICO and securities fraud matters, prepared decisions and presided over hearings for the City of Philadelphia Civil Service Commission, represented insurance companies in disputes with corporate policyholders over coverage for environmental and bodily injury claims, and counseled business organizations on corporate ethics and governance matters, including financial reporting, cybersecurity, and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption statutes.
Ms. Tsai served an extended term as an inaugural member of the independent City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics, which is charged with enforcing the City’s campaign finance and ethics laws. In October 2008, the Hon. Michael A. Nutter appointed Ms. Tsai to the City’s Zoning Code Commission (“ZCC”) to lend her expertise in rewriting the City’s complex and outdated zoning code and help modernize how the City will manage future development, and facilitate sustainable growth. Shortly after her appointment, Ms. Tsai was named the Chair of Engagement Committee and 2nd Vice-Chair of the ZCC. In December 2011, the ZCC submitted the final draft of the new Zoning Code, which was unanimously passed by City Council and signed by Mayor Nutter. After the ZCC concluded its work, Mayor Nutter appointed Ms. Tsai to the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Philadelphia, the largest public institution of higher education in Philadelphia. She was recently named as Secretary of the Board.
Representative Experience
Professional and Community Involvement
Awards and Recognition
Articles and Presentations
Alita T. Wingfield is an Executive Director and Head of Bank Non-Market Risk at Morgan Stanley Bank N.A. In that role, she reports to the Chief Operating Officer and manages the Operational Risk (including Anti-Money Laundering Risk), Compliance Risk and Reputational Risk of the Bank. Prior to her transition from Morgan Stanley to Morgan Stanley Bank, she was the Managing Attorney of the Global Litigation Group and was responsible for writing litigation policies and procedures, providing advice on regulatory reporting, managing and coordinating matter management, internal risk reporting, litigation disclosures, legal reserves, and Sox and internal audit testing.
Alita is the former Chair of the Legal and Compliance Division’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. The Committee is involved in several programs and initiatives, including programs to share best practices with outside counsel law firms, several initiatives focused on women issues, a summer intern program for 1st year law students, Legal Outreach (a college prep and legal education not-for-profit), and the South African Fellows Program. Until January of 2014, she also served as Chair of the LCD Supplier Diversity Initiative, aimed at increasing LCD use of minority- and women-owned law firms. In recognition of her diversity and inclusion efforts, Alita was awarded the 2013 New York City Bar Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award and the 2013 Corporate Counsel Women of Color Individual Star Diversity Award of Excellence.
Alita is on the Board of Directors of Sanctuary for Families - New York’s leading service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and related forms of gender violence.
Alita is also on the Advisory Council of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF), a nonprofit trade association comprised of minority and women-owned law firms.
Alita started her career as a litigation associate at Arnold & Porter in DC. During her career she has worked at large firms (Arnold & Porter and Paul Weiss (NY)), a small firm (Hangley Aronchick, Segal & Pudlin) and in-house (Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley).
Alita graduated from Spelman College, summa cum laude, with a B.A. in Political Science in 1994. She also holds a J.D. from Howard University School of Law, cum laude. She also obtained a LL.M. in Trial Advocacy, cum laude, from Temple University Beasley School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in New York, Maryland, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
Alita truly believes that flexibility, a partner in parenting and excellent child care are the keys to her career success. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, watching movies and spending time with her family. Alita is married to her college sweetheart Eddie, a Morehouse College and Temple Medical School graduate and an Interventional Cardiologist. She has four children, Isaiah (18), Imani (16) and Laila (7) and Anthony (5).
very interesting topic.
Good program
Very Effective and intriguing
Very Informative
I thought that the presenters were very informative and comfortable in conveying the importance of diversity in the workplace.
informative and interesting
Great and interesting program.
Great discussions on implicit bias and hiring practices.
informative
Very interesting approach to learning about the subject. Very enlightening.
Although I was aware of the problem of implicit bias, this program was very informative as to the many ways in which it is manifest.
Outstanding program.
Good job
Great panel
Very good program. Thought provoking. Presenters did an excellent job.
Extremely informative
one of the best CLE courses I've taken
interesting faculty and examples
they did a good job addressing the issue
Every attorney should listen to this tape.
This should be a required course for lawyers.
good chemistry among the moderators
I truly appreciated the well met goal of showing me inherent implicit bias which, as an undercurrent, can inform my interactions when left unchecked.
Great information!
Excellent and necessary presentation.
THanks
Excellent Excellent
Excellent.
great presentation
Very interesting and enlightening
Great information!
Excellent presentation.
Great presentation
Scientific studies helped me understand
Excellent! Best one I've seen so far.
Excellent presentation with great supplemental materials. Very revealing studies discussed as well.
Excellent program! Thank you Lawline for including this topic, "implicit bias" in your library of offerings. The panel provided substantive information, shared relevant comments, and addressed a topic that some would not feel comfortable discussing. Thanks for the "di-biasing" tips and best practices to use moving forward.
Very well done.
Great Panel!
Liked the Clinton-Kimmel clip illustrating manspaling
Good program.
great discussion -- it left me thinking about so much more than the "traditional" biases often discussed. thanks for introducing me to the implicit association test. fascinating!
Great course on a very important topic. This should be mandatory viewing for everyone.
Definitely worth viewing. Shocked at the memo study. Wow.
Very, very good. Ms. Wingfield's comments were incredibly insightful and useful.
Thought this was an important and engaging topic.
Interesting, engaging, and fun to watch
Entertaining at times. Some useful pointers were made, but on the whole there was little useful legal content.
Excellent information that applys beyond the office! I really enjoy the panel presentations!
Great real world examples of implicit bias.
Informative!
Interesting research. Everyone should take this course.
The course was easy to understand and basic, but also thought provoking.
Good program with good lessons about guarding against those biases we are often unaware of.
The presentation was sufficient, and the participants appeared knowledgible in their respective roles.
Great Speaker .. Good Presentation !
enjoyable format and presenters
Thank you, great program.
Excellent interplay among faculty. I now strongly believe in the notion of "implicit bias" and the need for diversity inclusion.
Excellent
I'd like to congratulate this panel for being diverse, inclusive, and interesting.
Best stmt - get out of your comfort zone
Great content and great presenters. I particularly liked that the presenters talked about their own experiences including sharing knowledge of their own implicit biases.
Excellent presentation
Good Program
one of the more interesting and engaging classes i've taken recently.
The best program this cycle.
Being a minority woman, this course was especially applicable to me and the challenges that I face. I am glad I watched it.
This was an interesting course that made you think.
Loved the Hillary video
Liked that this was a candid but constructive conversation between intelligent professional women who were willing to reflect on the more subtle ways bias arises, which is exactly what's needed to begin productive problem solving.
Excellent program - one of the best I've seen on Elimination of Bias. Panel format kept things lively and allowed for different perspectives on the issues.
interesting
I really loved this program!
Good subject. I learned a lot.
Informative
This was a great course. I think all judges and lawyers should take this course.
I liked the part about bias over school pedigree.
Absolutely awesome. Every attorney/employer needs to watch this! Awesome job ladies!
Very informative and interesting!
Another course that met my need.
Great program.
Great topic (implicit bias instead of bias in general) and more interesting than most courses on this subject.
Terrific panel, thank you
Engaging speakers, strong content.
Great panel and discussion
Really interesting!
great presentation and topic worthy of coverage
Engaging discussion and insights. Thank you.
Excellent presentation!
Good use of Kimmel
Fabulous program! I highly recommend for anyone who works anywhere, but especially for people in the legal field where it is all too easy to avoid even thinking about diversity and inclusion.
I thought this was not only an excellent course, but completely fascinating. Would love to see/hear more on this topic.
great - made me more aware of the possibilities of unknown biases.
We cannot be reminded often enough to look inside our own thought processes for implicit bias It is human, and we all do it. Awareness is so important, and this panel did a great job!
Excellent faculty panel! Candid and engaging discussion of implicit/unconscious bias -- a topic relevant to all. Understanding our biases, whether preferential or unfavorable, better equips us to reflect on how unintentional factors may impact our decisions in the workplace and elsewhere.
good
Interesting & well done.
Very important topic handled with sensitivity and optimism.
Convincing content, swell presented. Far better than most Lawlines!
This was a great CLE. Thank you.
This is THE best CLE I have taken. It should be mandatory for all attorneys. Outstanding!
This is a very thought provoking course.
Very funny clip from Kimmel Show on the phenomenon of "man speak"
Solid, entertaining and relevant discussion, interesting throughout.
Very good.
Very good program. Strong panel--good exchanges among panelists. Thought-provoking...
So interesting.
fantastic and eye-opening
An important topic that was well presented.
Very interesting viewpoints.
Outstanding.
Interesting and entertaining. The best ethics course on bias.
Hillary Clinton on late night was great addition
Excellent program. Very important subject. Ideas that were brought out were very illuminating.
Both the content and presenters were super excellent. I would like more courses with these presenters.
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