Mackenzie Schoonmaker and Leigh Barton Selected to Participate in 2023 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Programs
Beveridge & Diamond Principal Mackenzie Schoonmaker (New York) will participate in the 2023 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows Program. The LCLD Fellows Program is an ambitious, highly-structured mentoring program designed to increase diversity at the leadership level of the nation’s top law firms and corporate legal departments. Mackenzie’s practice includes litigation and regulatory matters arising under FIFRA, the Clean Water Act, and related environmental laws. She is one of the founding members of the firm's Women's Initiative, which coordinates efforts to advance and retain women attorneys. She is also a co-chair of B&D's Industrial Hemp & Cannabis industry team.
Associate Leigh Barton (Washington, DC) will participate in LCLD's 2023 Pathfinders Program, founded in 2015 to train diverse, high-potential attorneys at LCLD Member organizations in critical career development strategies, including programming on leadership and network development. Leigh maintains a national practice focused on complex litigation and regulatory matters with an emphasis on solid and hazardous waste issues. She also serves as co-deputy of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and is a member of the firm’s DE&I and Recruiting committees.
“We congratulate Mackenzie and Leigh on their selection to the LCLD Fellows and Pathfinders programs,” said Stacey Halliday, the chair of B&D’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. “We know they, and the legal profession, will benefit greatly through their participation in their respective LCLD programs, and are excited to learn from their experience as we advance DE&I at B&D.”
B&D is a founding member of LCLD, an organization of corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who are personally committed to creating a truly diverse legal profession and has regularly sponsored firm lawyers’ participation in LCLD Fellows and Pathfinders Programs since their inception.
B&D values DE&I and strives to demonstrate leadership in these areas within the legal profession. We are Mansfield 5.0 Plus Certified by the Diversity Lab, having participated in the Mansfield Rule since the Mansfield 2.0 pilot. We are a Firm Affiliate Network member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and regularly support MCCA programs. B&D is the 2022 recipient of MCCA’s George B. Vashon Innovator Award, given to a law firm with fewer than 500 attorneys that “led the way with innovative best practices to assist diverse attorneys.” In 2021 and 2022, LCLD recognized B&D as a Top Performer and a Compass Award winner. Working together with our clients, we develop, maintain, and participate in various diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives involving lawyers and staff firmwide. Learn more about our DE&I efforts and accomplishments.
