A voice for diversityBernard M. Plum is a partner in Proskauer’s Labor &Employment Department and a member of the DiversitySteering Committee. He has served on the firm’s ExecutiveCommittee and as co-Chair of the Labor & EmploymentDepartment. During Bernie’s more than three decades atthe firm, he has been concerned about diversity, and hasmore recently played a prominent role in its evolution froman idea to a core value. He is one of the firm’s most activesupporters of diversity.

Mosaic spoke with Bernie about his commitment to diversity,his views on our progress and where we’re headed. Whatfollows is an excerpt from that conversation.

Why does Proskauer have a strong commitment to diversity?

Enhancing the participation and progress in our firm by underrepresented groups embodieseverything we stand for as an institution. Most importantly, it’s just the right thing to do.

For Proskauer partners in particular, it is a feeling reinforced by collective history andexperience. For decades, white-shoe law firms refused to hire Jewish lawyers regardless oftalent or ability, effectively excluding them from the top echelons of the profession. Proskauerwas one of just a few large firms open to Jewish lawyers — it was built by people who hadexperienced discrimination. This gives us a special connection to, and responsibility for, thediversity effort.

But diversity is also a business imperative. New-business presentations used to be madealmost entirely to white males by white males. That world is fast fading from existence:Today, about 30 percent of Fortune 500 companies have general counsels who are femalesand/or minorities,1 and these general counsels expect women and minorities to be amongtheir legal advisors.

Our firm needs to reflect the reality that workforces are increasingly diverse. Our clients want— some demand — outside advisors who are as committed to diversity as they are. More andmore of them treat diversity as a criterion for deciding whether to hire a law firm, and keepclose track of staffing to ensure that women and minorities are assigned to their matters.

Bernie Plum

Mosaic The Proskauer diversity newsletter

Proskauer Rose LLP | Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome | Attorney Advertising

March 2015inside

A voice for diversity........................... 1

Success stories ..................................... 3

Moving on, moving forward andmoving out ................................................. 4• Is there life after Proskauer?..................... 4

• Truly a life of diversity................................. 5

• More out, less in........................................... 5

Through SEO and beyond ............. 6• An SEO summer: learning and enjoying.. 6

• Post-SEO: an extraordinary story continues ....................................................... 7

Diversity Steering Committee ... 8

diversity at

Note: All events describedoccurred in 2014.

1Source: Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s 15th Annual General Counsel Survey (2014).

2 Proskauer Rose LLP

We also support diversity because, as a business, we needto maximize the potential of the very intelligent, highlycompetent people we hire. We owe it to ourselves and toour professionals and staff to provide the best-possiblecareer development opportunities. That, too, is both rightand good for our business.

How did you initially get involved with the firm’sdiversity efforts?

I’ve thought a lot about diversity since my high school days inthe late 1960s; my school was almost 70% minority and theatmosphere and times were highly charged. But in myprofessional life, I did little about it until an unrelated event afew years ago led me to have some very candid conversationswith our diverse lawyers. Their feelings about their careerswere eye opening and it was clear to me that we — and I —needed to do more.

How have things changed?

Change takes time as well as effort. There is much greaterawareness of the need to do more. I think it’s fair to say thatthe importance of promoting diversity has become ingrainedin the fabric of the firm. Much of the credit for that goes toChairman Joe Leccese, who has been absolutely tireless inpromoting that goal, and to Peter Wilson.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Peter’s joining Proskauerto head up our diversity program was a catalytic event. Heshares our view of diversity as a business imperative. He hasthe perspective to know that we have to walk before we canrun, so he’s focused first on the basics; I like to call it “fixingthe plumbing.” Peter communicates and relates to diversity in a way that lawyers and clients, including Proskauer’sdiversity community, understand. It helps that he’s been apracticing lawyer.

None of our progress would’ve been possible withoutsupport from the top. As head of the firm, Joe has beenoutspoken about the importance of diversity and has made ita priority — a cause, really. He gives it a lot of attention notjust internally, but also when he speaks externally. He thinksand talks about Proskauer as a special place for a number ofreasons, one of them being that diversity is a force for goodthat we embrace.

Can you share with us some specifics about ourdiversity initiatives?

We have launched programs based on best practices in thefield. There’s ongoing dialogue among the diversity team, theExecutive Committee, Human Resources and numerouspartners about providing career development opportunitiesfor diverse associates, as well as building and maintaining apipeline of diverse lawyers for the future.

On a general level, we’re regularly monitoring the careerprogress of diverse associates to ensure that they’reengaged in significant matters for significant clients, and thatthey’re experiencing the professional growth expected of all Proskauer lawyers.

More specifically, we’ve initiated our Women’s SponsorshipProgram, which pairs distinguished women lawyers withpartners who serve not just as advisors, but also as careeradvocates. I’m among the partners sponsoring an associate.

We’ve also started the Diverse Lawyer Mentoring CircleProgram, which focuses on developing our most junior-leveldiverse associates, to achieve two key goals. The first is tofacilitate and foster continued partner/associate mentoringrelationships that strengthen the level of engagement fordiverse junior associates. The second is to offer multiple andcontinual resources to enhance their experience at the firmand, in the process, best position them for success.

We also organize retreats for diverse lawyers, and we’releveraging our affinity groups to help recruit and retaindiverse talent.

Looking ahead, do you have any thoughts aboutother steps the firm can take in the future?

I’d like to see the firm have a more constant focus on careerdevelopment for all associates, with enhanced efforts fordiverse associates. We should track our progress to ensurethat we’re generating good results. Many of the things we’vedone should ultimately be employed to get the best from,and give the best to, all of our “human resources.”

More generally, I hope we can get more people — lawyersand non-lawyers, throughout the firm — more engaged in this effort.

Thanks, Bernie

Success stories

Harold Ford, Jr.

Teri McClure

Proskauer’s Black Lawyer Affinity Group marked Black History Month by presenting a discussion on “The Impact of Race on Achieving Career Success” on February 18 in New York.

The event featured Harold Ford, Jr. and Teri McClure, African-Americans of distinguishedprofessional achievement. Ford was a five-term congressman from Tennessee early in hiscareer and has been a managing director and senior client relationship manager atMorgan Stanley since 2011. McClure is Chief Legal, Communications and ComplianceOfficer at UPS, which she joined in 1995 after several years in private practice.

McClure was direct about race’s impact on her own career: It fueled her determinationand desire to succeed. She recounted how she was told when starting law school thatblack students “don’t do well here.” Stung by such scorn, she resolved to tune out thenegativity and, instead, focused on working harder and smarter — an approach thatproved her doubters wrong.

Ford’s thoughts on race and his career were more nuanced. While making clear that racehad presented him with many challenges, he tended to speak about the paths hisprofessional life had taken and the universal lessons he had learned along the way.

Both guests emphasized the importance of having sponsors who saw their potential andadvocated on their behalf. Ford’s biggest sponsors were his father (who he succeeded inCongress) and the politically active lawyer Lanny Davis, for whom he worked at PattonBoggs. McClure noted that while she hadn’t sought out sponsors, her success wouldn’thave been possible without them.

Mosaic—The Proskauer diversity newsletter 3

Moving on, moving forward and moving out

From left to right: Donna Yip, Wendy Wu, Megha Parekh, Karen Mo Is there life after Proskauer?

What’s it like to work somewhere else after working at Proskauer? Four former associatesaddressed this question in New York on June 4 in “Looking Ahead: Life After Proskauer.” Thefirm’s Asian Lawyer Affinity Group hosted the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month paneldiscussion, which drew a diverse crowd of lawyers, staff and alumni.

The panelists were:

• Karen Mo, Corporate Counsel at NBC Universal

• Megha Parekh, Vice President and General Counsel of the Jacksonville Jaguars

• Wendy Wu, Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Cyber & Intellectual Property Crimes Section ofthe U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles

• Donna Yip, Associate General Counsel and Compliance Officer at Oak Hill Advisors

All of the panelists said that their Proskauer experiences prepared them well for their currentpositions. Parekh, for example, worked in the sports practice for Joe Leccese, whoseencouragement to think and train as a generalist helped her to deal with the wide range of legalissues she handles for the Jaguars. Yip cited her long associate hours as great training for thedemands of her in-house position.

Offering advice for lawyers considering careers outside of the partnership track, Mo advocatedidentifying and acquiring the skills most valued for in-house roles. For Parekh, it was the dualimportance of aiming to be a good lawyer and establishing a strong reputation. Wu and Yipemphasized building relationships both by finding a mentor and taking advantage ofopportunities to network within the firm.

4 Proskauer Rose LLP

Mosaic—The Proskauer diversity newsletter 5

Truly a life of diversityRicardo Anzaldua has lived and breathed diversity both personally and professionally. Heshared his experiences with us on September 23 in New York, where the Hispanic/LatinoLawyer Affinity Group presented him as a guest speaker in celebration of National HispanicHeritage Month.

Anzaldua is Executive Vice President & General Counsel of firm client MetLife Inc. A Latinowith deep roots in the borderland area of Mexico and Texas, he spent his early post-collegeyears researching, writing and editing academic studies about Latin American economicdevelopment issues.

But he eventually wanted out of academia, and a chance encounter started him on an entirelydifferent path: law school and 17 years at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where hefocused on advising foreign governments on development and financing matters. He movedin-house to The Hartford financial services company in 2007 and, in 2012, began his currentrole at MetLife.

All along the way, Anzaldua has been a vocal, hands-on advocate for Latinos and people ofcolor more generally. And he appreciates the irony of being a self-described “radical,longhaired rabble-rouser” leading demonstrations at college who “became part of the powerstructure that I had long opposed.”

Anzaldua makes full use of the opportunities that the power structure offers. At MetLife, hehas created and implemented policies that make hiring more inclusive and foster the careerdevelopment of minority employees. And he challenges his outside law firms both to promotetheir own diversity and give minority lawyers meaningful involvement in MetLife matters.

More out, less inThe LGBT Affinity Group marked LGBT Pride Month on June 25 by co-hosting “Out on theField” with the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York (LeGaL). Joe Leccese summed upthe occasion’s subject matter in his opening remarks: “While the sports industry can be resistantto change, when it does see the light, it can be a great incubator.”

Matt Skinner, LeGaL’s Executive Director (and a Proskauer alumnus), introduced the event andnoted that “There has been a revolution this year in crazy, great accomplishments.” He wasreferring in part to the first athletes in major league sports to come out as gay, most notablyRobbie Rogers (pro soccer), Jason Collins (pro basketball) and Michael Sam (a college footballplayer drafted by the National Football League).

The featured guest was Hudson Taylor, the founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally, a not-for-profit organization that promotes inclusiveness in the sports world. Taylor’s activism isespecially noteworthy because he is not only a former college wrestling champion and memberof the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, but also not gay (hence the name Athlete Ally).

Taylor’s comments focused on the need to reach a wider audience. Colleges and high schools,for example, should be encouraged to prioritize creating a safe and inclusive space for theirathletes. “We need to find vocal allies at every level of every sport,” he said.

He also acknowledged the recent gain in awareness of LGBT issues, noting both that athletesand other public figures are increasingly coming out, and that allies of the LGBT community areincreasingly speaking out.

Ricardo Anzaldua

Matt Skinner

Hudson Taylor

6 Proskauer Rose LLP

Through SEO and beyond

An SEO summer: learning and enjoyingProskauer is a partner of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), whose Career Lawprogram places talented students of color in paid internships at law firms before their firstyear of law school. In 2014, we hosted two SEO summer interns in New York for the seventhconsecutive year.

Our 2014 interns were Tashiana Hudson, who graduated from Howard University and is a 1L(first-year law student) at Yale Law School, and Jaymon Ballew, a University of Michigan LawSchool 1L and graduate of Columbia University.

Each developed a strong interest in becoming a lawyer early in life. Tashiana was initiallydriven by the injustice she experienced when her family moved from the Compton area of LosAngeles to Lakewood, California — and hooked when she participated in a mock trial as aneighth-grader. Jaymon had a mentor who lived in his Cincinnati neighborhood and was alawyer. Seeing Jaymon’s ability to analyze and think critically, the mentor encouraged him togo to law school.

Having the interns at Proskauer was a win-win situation for everyone. The firm was able tohelp guide two aspiring lawyers and get an up-close appreciation for what they mightaccomplish here someday.

As for Tashiana and Jaymon, both took full advantage of the many opportunities available tothem. They worked on substantive matters, studied how to conduct legal research, attendedmock trials and picked the brains of partners and associates. They also did plenty of funthings and actively networked.

In short: They learned a lot about lawyers, lawyering and life at a big firm, and enjoyed theirexperiences immensely.

Tashiana Hudson

Jaymon Ballew

Mosaic—The Proskauer diversity newsletter 7

Post-SEO: an extraordinary story continuesYou may remember Leland Shelton as one of our 2013 SEO summer interns highlighted in theprevious issue of Mosaic. As it turns out, he and the firm liked each other so much that he cameback as a summer associate in 2014.

For Leland, a Baltimore native, getting to this point was extraordinary because his early life wasso difficult. He and his five siblings were raised by their grandparents because their parentsbattled substance abuse, and he entered foster care at age 14.

In the face of such long odds, Leland excelled in school and was the first member of his familyto go to college. He graduated in 2013 from Morehouse College with Phi Beta Kappa honorsand received his class’s prestigious “Man of the Year” award.

At Leland’s Morehouse graduation, the guest speaker — who happened to be PresidentObama — singled him out for his achievements. This presidential shout-out “changed his life”by triggering an outpouring of good wishes and positive attention that continues even now.

Leland says that his SEO internship at Proskauer gave him an advantage versus his HarvardLaw School classmates: He entered school already knowing what it was like to work at acorporate law firm.

The internship also impressed upon Leland that the firm is strongly committed to diversity andinclusion. He felt instantly welcomed when a lawyer from our Black Lawyers Affinity Groupvisited him on his first day. More broadly, he felt that people across the firm — staff, associatesand partners — wanted him to do well.

His experience as a summer associate was equally positive. (It didn’t hurt that he’d been herebefore and knew his way around.) He worked, observed and broadened his exposure tolitigation and corporate practice areas.

Leland’s story at Proskauer has at least one more chapter to go: He’ll return as a summerassociate for a couple of weeks this coming August. As he puts it, “I can’t think of a better lawfirm in terms of the people, lawyers, summer program and culture.”

Leland Shelton

www.proskauer.com

24295 - MARCH 2015

Diversity Steering Committee

Alicia J. BattsPartner, Litigation

Steven M. BauerPartner, Litigation

Philippa M. BondPartner, Corporate

Van Ann D. BuiAssociate, Corporate

Kunal DograAssociate, Corporate

Susan D. FriedfelAssociate, Labor & Employment

Evandro C. GiganteSenior Counsel, Labor & Employment

Brian D. HuberAssociate, Tax

Lesli M. HutchinsonRecruiting Manager

Joshua M. KaplanAssociate, Personal Planning

Bali KumarAssociate, Labor & Employment

Vincent LaiAssociate, Litigation

Erica LoombaAssociate, Labor & Employment

Lisa B. MarkofskyAssociate, Litigation

Carlos E. MartinezPartner, Corporate

Caroline K. MenesDirector of Legal Recruiting

Toyya Shannon MeyersHRMS Specialist

Kevin K. NolanAssociate, Corporate

Joanne S. OllmanChief Professional Resources Manager

Jon H. OramPartner, Corporate

Brendan J. O’RourkePartner, Litigation

Bettina B. PlevanPartner, Labor & Employment

Bernard M. PlumPartner, Labor & Employment

Lindsay A. RoshkindAssociate, Personal Planning

Christina M. SauerbornDiversity and Inclusion Coordinator

Gordon R. SchonfeldSenior Writer, Client Development

Stacey S. SchwartzManager of Professional Development

Howard ShapiroPartner, Labor & Employment

Elizabeth SpectorAssociate, Labor & Employment

Alyse F. StachAssociate, Litigation

Praveena N. SwansonAssociate, Labor & Employment

Nigel F. TelmanPartner, Labor & Employment

Ronald A. ValenzuelaAssociate, Litigation

Mindy H. YangAssociate Director of Diversity andInclusion

Jamiel E. PoindexterCommittee ChairPartner, Tax

Peter Wilson, Jr.Diversity and Inclusion Officer

Committee Members

GreenSpacesTM is our firmwide initiative to create a culture of environmental awareness, responsibilityand social consciousness that supports a productive and sustainable workplace.

Proskauer is one of the top 25 firmsranked by the 2015 Vault Guide to the Top100 Law Firms in three diversity-relatedcategories: overall diversity, minorities

and women.

Proskauer has been awarded 2014 GoldStandard Certification by the Women inLaw Empowerment Forum in recognitionof the leadership roles achieved by the

firm’s women equity partners.