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Deborah L. Corpus - Partner at Pearne & Gordon LLP, Co-chair, DEI committee At Pearne, diversity has always been a priority. This is reflected in not only our our support and work with ADAPT and the ADAPT community, but also through our Diversity & Inclusion Committee and our continued work to improve diversity at the firm. We have tracked diversity statistics and our progress across our team for many years. The information we gathered, however, was limited in scope and informal. As a result, we did not know exactly where we stood, and how we could improve. To drive progress, we wanted to capture additional diversity information, but we had many questions and concerns. How can we capture more data? How do we ask? How would people respond? Ultimately, where do we start? Enter Mansfield Rule™ by Diversity Lab, a program that one of our partners heard about, passed it on to another partner on our DEI committee (me) (https://www.diversitylab.com/pilot-projects/mansfield_midsize/). The goal of the Mansfield Rule is to boost and sustain diversity in leadership in law departments and law firms through three main pillars: Shifting cultures and mindsets through data tracking, advancement process transparency, and considering a broad slate of 30-50% underrepresented talent for all leadership roles and the activities that lead to leadership; Sharing knowledge to work together, learn together, and succeed together as a community; and Increasing the marketplace visibility and economic power of underrepresented talent through Mansfield Client Forums, Diverse Partners Directory, and more. As part of the program, Diversity Lab works with participants to measure the outcomes and iterate the requirements to improve diversity over time. To ensure Mansfield’s long-term results, there is an increasingly challenging “Certification Plus” category that evaluates whether firms and legal departments have achieved diversity in leadership, not just considered it. To satisfy the requirements for certification, the Mansfield Rule requires, for example: consider 30% historically underrepresented lawyer candidates for hiring, consider 30% historically underrepresented lawyer candidates for equity partner promotions, consider 30% historically underrepresented lawyer candidates for participation in formal client pitches and client meetings… Participation in the certification process is open to both midsize and larger-sized law firms who share the desire and willingness to improve, learn and share with others about their experiences and processes relating to their firms’ DEI efforts. We joined the March 2022 cohort for midsize firms for the certification period ending July 15, 2023 - along with dozens of other midsize firms (25-150 attorneys) around the country. To drive change, the structure of the program’s certification process includes accountability, through frequent check-ins/audits, data collection, and reporting; the participants’ ongoing collaboration through monthly group knowledge sharing forums; and the transparency of publicly certifying. The certification process has taught us invaluable lessons we can leverage to continue to drive diversity at our firm and beyond. The process and information sharing has taught us effective methods for collecting attorney identification data in a confidential and objective manner, tracking participation for important client meetings, pitches for new or existing clients, and requests for proposals, and ensuring that we are providing all the information, tools, and guidance to attorneys as it relates to compensation and promotions in a transparent manner. One of the most valuable aspects of the process has been the knowledge sharing among other firms who have been certified or who are involved in the process along with us. The conversations are open and honest, and there is a mutual interest for all participating firms to succeed. As mentioned above, certification requires firms to consider at least 30% historically underrepresented individuals for various attorney and non-attorney leadership roles, client-facing activities, promotion, and more. Through the Mansfield Rule certification process, we are improving diversity in our firm’s leadership and attorney teams not just by chance but with intention and accountability. Our involvement with ADAPT is another extension of our DEI commitment and we are proud to work alongside so many others in this growing community. The Mansfield Certification is one of many programs that are highlighted as part of ADAPT’s platform, which provides a database of DEI programs and templates for corporate and law firm teams to jump start their DEI journey. If you are interested in joining, contact ADAPT today!

Wade Yamazaki - Supervising Principal Counsel at Cruise, ADAPT Co-Founder As an attorney at Cruise, one of the most significant benefits of co-founding ADAPT has been the opportunity to work with a diverse group of individuals who are passionate about DEI. Through ADAPT’s platform, we have been able to learn from each other, share best practices, and develop new strategies for creating a more inclusive profession. As part of building the platform, I got the chance to use it as well. Using the programs and templates provided, I searched for a small-team friendly program I could contribute to, and I quickly learned about the Legal Education Access Pipeline (LEAP) program. I jumped at the opportunity to mentor an undergraduate student preparing to apply to law school. LEAP is an impressive program designed to give students from underrepresented communities comprehensive law school admissions assistance through a nine-month fellowship. They even train the mentors (e.g. me) on how to best work with the students to set them up for success. Working with my mentee through the LEAP program has been an incredibly rewarding experience. Throughout the process, I have been impressed by her intellectual curiosity, passion for social justice, and commitment to using her legal education to make a positive impact in the world. Despite facing many challenges throughout her life, she has shown a tremendous amount of resilience, perseverance, and dedication in her pursuits, her work with LEAP being no exception. The fact I can be even a small stepping stone supporting her along her journey, either through discussions of law school resumes, personal and diversity statements, letters of recommendation, or simply sharing my own journey from the law school application process to being a licensed attorney, is both humbling and inspiring. For my mentee, LEAP is an enabling opportunity: “I believe that LEAP will be the guide that I need to achieve my goals. While I have the passion, motivation, and determination to reach the places I want to go, I lack the connections and knowledge necessary to make it to law school. Like many, neither I nor my family possess the funds to even make it one year through law school. Having access to information on how to get scholarships, financial assistance, or even the best loans to take out can be extremely impactful on my journey in applying to and ultimately attending law school. I believe that LEAP will also benefit me as I prepare for the LSAT and my personal statement in giving me the tools I need to succeed and access my full potential while also learning how to showcase that potential to law schools.” - Amanda Pepe The impact of the LEAP program and ADAPT’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession cannot be overstated. For me personally, being a member of ADAPT and a mentor in LEAP has allowed me to start contributing back to the profession in ways I look forward to expanding on in the future.

Invented in 1829, braille is a system of raised dots representing letters that are read by touch. It can enable people with blindness to independently identify objects and spaces in their workplaces, homes and schools. Braille labels on objects can lead to an increase in daily efficiency for the more than 43 million people with blindness and 295 million more with moderate to severe visual impairment. For children, braille labels on their toys and objects in the home and at school could catalyze learning by helping them to associate written words with physical objects. For an adult, identifying objects such as file folders, boxes, and medications is a functional skill essential in the workplace. Yet, despite many benefits of braille labels, label makers available on the market are costly to manufacture, rely on proprietary tape, or are difficult to use. The Braille-It team, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology including Hilary Johnson, Vadim Kuklov, and Professor Alex Slocum, sought to enable people with blindness to live more independently. They worked to develop a label maker that would allow people to affordably and easily make their own braille labels within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities. "We designed an affordable, precise, multi-lingual, personal braille label maker as a tool for people with blindness,” Johnson explained. “Our work at MIT was inspired by work on braille labelers at a workshop in India run by a man with blindness named Govindraj. He emphasized to me that there are sighted labels everywhere, but not braille labels. We wanted to design a tool to empower people with blindness to make their own labels. The answer they came up with is Braille-It: an affordable, personal, braille label maker that allows users to quickly label items with braille. Braille-It uses flexural linkages and elastically averaged connections to enable users to press on keys that emboss braille characters onto Scotch Magic™ tape labels that can be applied to objects, walls and other surfaces. By providing a simple and convenient way to write braille on tape, this device can help people label their surroundings and access information more easily, thereby providing the people with blindness and visual impairment with opportunities and independence in their day-to-day lives. A team of MIT undergraduate students in MIT 2.75 Medical Device Design class, Sophia DiSabato, Christina Patterson, and Cindy Jie, are currently working to implement the design with the hopes of getting the devices in the hands of users worldwide. It is a unique solution that addresses an important need worldwide. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office agrees, granting the team two patents protecting the device, U.S. Patent Nos. 11,373,549 and 11,580,880. The patents were granted with the help of Microsoft’s Make What’s Next Program, which aims to simplify the patent process and provide support and mentorship to women who are working on technology advances that are making real differences in the world. The team hopes that Braille-It will improve the lives of millions of braille users around the world by giving them more autonomy and access to information. On World IP Day, ADAPT (Advancing Diversity Across Patent Teams) celebrates the hard work of inventors like Hilary, Vadim and Alex and the MIT team, who are shaping the world through their imagination, ingenuity and hard work. The invention is a key example of how innovation and technology can improve the lives of people who rely on braille for literacy and communication. They hope that their story will inspire other young innovators and entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and use their creativity and ingenuity to solve real-world problems. Make What’s Next is one of many programs that are available as part ADAPT’s platform, which provides a database of DEI programs and templates for corporate and law firm teams to jump start their DEI journey. If you are interested in joining, contact us today!

It started with a small idea among friends, grew to be a mission to make DEI programs more accessible and scalable, and now has become a fast-growing collective effort involving more than 30 organizations. Listen to the latest episode of the Inclusion Evolution podcast, where Judy Yee, Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft and ADAPT co-founder, and Elaine Spector, Partner at Harrity & Harrity, recount their DEI journey, how ADAPT came to be, and why they are driven to change the industry. Link to Spotify Link to Apple Podcasts

To celebrate Black History Month, we are highlighting the black-owned law firms that participated in Harrity & Harrity’s 2022 Minority Firm Incubator 2.0 program! Meet Arlene Neal, Founder & Managing Attorney at Neal Blibo, a black-owned, woman-owned law firm. When asked about being a black-owned, woman-owned law firm, Arlene said, “I see a lot of black-owned firms and I see a lot of women-owned firms, but I don’t see a lot of the combination- black and woman-owned. And I’m thinking to myself, “Well, I gotta be proud!” Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? My name is Arlene Neal. I'm the founder and managing attorney at Neal Blibo. I started Neal Blibo in 2010, so I've had it running for about 15 years. Overall, I've been practicing since 1998. I started at a small practice, and then I went to a larger law firm. So my experience is in small, large, and now entrepreneurial practice. What obstacles have you faced while getting into law, or starting your own firm, due to your race or background? I remember when I first started, I was very conscious of my accent because I did not grow up in the US. So, I was very conscious of how I sounded. And maybe that's why I went into patent prosecution- because I didn't have to speak to people. And I remember one of my first mentors- I thought, we had a really great relationship when he was mentoring me. And then I got another position, and I told him that I was leaving the state and I was moving to the DC area. So, I told the new firm that they could call him. And [one day], I didn't realize that he was talking to them, but just as he was talking to them, I was walking into his office and he made the comment, "You know she's difficult to understand, right?" And that really shocked me because I didn't expect that he would go there. But I think that made me even more conscious of the way I sounded, particularly in a professional setting. That was just something that I was concerned with when entering law. And like I said, I think it had an impact on my practice, because it made me go more towards the prosecution side. Maybe I wouldn't have been for litigation, but I think subconsciously, that had something to do with it. Do you feel like being a woman brought on any obstacles that maybe you weren't expecting? I feel like I see enough women in the profession and enough women doing well that I really never felt like being a woman was an obstacle. Actually, sometimes I think it's a plus! I got my first major client from a woman in IP connection at AIPLA. So I don't necessarily see it as something that I have to overcome. I know that the profession is primarily white male, but I think there's sufficient numbers as far as woman that can help each other out if we choose to. What piece of advice would you give to others who want to follow this type of career path? From the time I started working as an attorney, my spirit was always really entrepreneurial. So, even though I was in big law, a part of me always wanted to be on my own- to have autonomy and to make decisions for myself in the practice that I wanted to have. And I have not regretted starting my own firm. I actually love it. During the tough times, when I've considered what my next steps should be, I would never get to a place of saying, "I'm gonna go back into a law firm." No. I will never stop trying to make the law firm that I wanted to make. So if that's something that somebody coming up wants to do, I'd say definitely go for it. Make sure to get training, whether it's from a small firm or a large firm. And once you feel like you have to training and you can do the work, you have to understand all the different aspects of business. Understand that sometimes you will have to do secretary work, so you will need to know how to do everything. I think it's like any small business, right? Small business owners have to wear many hats. And sometimes you can hand the hats over, but sometimes you have to put them on and do the work yourself. But that's the fun of it. That's the thing that makes it great. So I would definitely encourage anybody who wants to do this to do it. People are doing it and it's rewarding. You can make a good living and be happy. And the world is changing- now, you can have a firm that is completely remote, which wasn't the case when I started. You can make your own rules and if being in charge of your destiny is something that you want to do, I would definitely consider doing it. What aspect of being a black-owned, women-owned law firm are you most proud of? I see a lot of black-owned firms and I see a lot of women-owned firms, but I don't see a lot of the combination. And as I was thinking of this, I thought, "Well, I've got to be proud of that!" I've done this for almost 15 years. I've served clients- from multinational companies to small companies. My clients love me, and you know what? That's something that I should say more. I'm a black woman. I'm out here running my own firm and it's great! ABOUT MFI 2.0: The Minority Firm Incubator 2.0 Program is Harrity’s 42-week program that provides the training and tools needed to propel female and minority-owned patent law firms, existing or yet to be launched, to the next level of success. The program includes free training & strategy classes, concluding with a pitch session with a panel of in-house IP attorneys. The MFI 2.0 is an integral part of Harrity’s ongoing diversity initiative to recruit, retain, and advance attorneys who will contribute to the diversity of the patent field. When speaking on this program, Arlene says, “As a Managing Attorney, I am always seeking out the best practices in running my firm. The MFI program exposed me to new processes for managing my firm and also helped me to refine current processes.” In November 2022, 7 minority-owned law firms graduated from the first iteration of this program after intensive law firm operations trainings from Harrity partners and pitches to a panel of in-house attorneys. You can learn more and apply to the 2024 program here.