2019 DEI in Utah Law:
- Elizabeth Kronk Warner became the first female and first Native American Dean of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney Law School.
- BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School welcomed its first Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Barbara Melendez.
- Dorsey & Whitney increased its paid parental leave to 15 weeks (with additional time permitted for lawyers who give birth).
- Utah’s Federal Court welcomed new Magistrate Judge Cecilia Romero, formerly a partner at Holland & Hart.
- This fall, UCLI’s Executive Director provided training on D&I issues to the Utah State Court judges, the Utah Attorney General’s Office, and a department within Salt Lake County.
- Eli McCann became the first open LGBTQIA+ shareholder at Kirton McConkie.
- Tiffany Shimada, an IP lawyer, became the first African-American female income partner in a national or international firm in Utah.
- Dorsey & Whitney’s new Diversity Hours Policy allows 50 hours annually of diversity-related work, activities, and training to count toward billable hours requirements.
- This fall, Stoel Rives, one of the 5 national investors in the Move The Needle (MTN) Fund, kicked off the MTN “On Track” program to promote more diverse attorneys into the equity partnership tier.
- Diverse captains of the UCLI-supported state championship West High Mock Trial Team, Tejitha Agarwal and Gideon Gomm, were admitted to Yale University & the Parsons School of Design, respectively.
- Parr Brown and the Utah Attorney General’s Office became the first firm & organization, respectively, to become UCLI Certified.
- This summer, UCLI hired its first permanent Executive Director, Aida Neimarlija, Esq., an Assistant Director, Ling Ritter, and four interns, Jon Olsen, Joseph Rivera, Liliane Kwizera, & Paola Robles.
