What are some of your proudest recent achievements? I serve as Global Co-Chair of Skadden’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee (DEI) with my colleagues Stephen Robinson and Brian Breheny, and I’m most proud of the firm’s DEI efforts over the last year. Skadden has always had a strong culture that supports lawyers from all backgrounds but George Floyd’s killing and the protests that followed provided a new sense of purpose and inspired us to do even more. Since the summer, we’ve meet weekly or biweekly with the leaders of Skadden’s DEI teams in our offices around the globe to discuss issues, advance our support of the professional development and growth of our underrepresented minority attorneys and professional staff, and educate our colleagues on issues of race and social justice. Under the guidance of our amazing leader, Melique Jones, we are sponsoring thought-provoking discussions with DEI leaders beyond Skadden that help us both to celebrate our firm’s incredible diversity and to raise our professionals’ awareness of the challenges and inequities faced by some of our colleagues. Our ability to share these important exchanges across offices and in real time through remote technology has provided a new sense of our truly being “one firm,” a “silver lining” if one could be found in this very challenging time resulting from COVID-19.

Name a lawyer or mentor whose leadership inspired you. My former colleague and amazing friend, Stu Finkelstein, who passed away tragically a few years ago. Stu was the leader of our tax department in New York, but he was so much more. He was incredibly kind and inclusive to everyone in the firm, whether you were a partner or a member of the cafeteria staff. He was a gifted attorney and a zealous advocate for his clients, both those that paid and those from Legal Aid’s Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, where he spearheaded our department’s pro bono efforts. Stu’s kindness and generosity didn’t stop at Skadden—it was incredible how many family members, friends, colleagues and clients spoke at his memorial service about how Stu had touched their lives. His memory inspires me to try to do more each and every day.