The recent appointment of 12 attorneys of color to MDL No. 3060, also known as the hair-relaxer multi-district litigation, was a milestone, as the court established not only Black and Brown plaintiffs-side leadership, but also a leadership development committee.

“Those lawyers appointed to leadership have the skill, the experience, of course, some more than others,” DiCello Levitt’s Diandra “Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann told NLJ. She is the managing partner of the firm’s Birmingham office and is one of the attorneys appointed to leadership roles in this MDL. “There’s no tokenism involved,” she pointed out, adding that “we proposed and are working on a leadership development committee,” to help lawyers with less experience in large-scale litigation to play a meaningful and active role.