From the LMA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee

As we close out celebrating Women's History Month, we reflect on those who came before us and, in cases like Tara Marshall’s, have inspired us to become who we are today.

Marshall is a marketing manager at H5, a legal technology company that partners with law firms to bring AI-driven solutions to litigation and regulatory challenges. A resident of Montgomery County Maryland, she is also the 2021 director of diversity, advocacy and community engagement on the LMA Mid-Atlantic Regional Governing Board.

Here, Marshall shares a story of how her grandmother’s resilience, hard work and commitment impacted so many lives, including her own. She also reflects on what it means to be a Black woman in 2021 and gives three leadership lessons she’s learned throughout her career.

By Sonali Oberg

In November 2020, the DEI Shared Interest Group’s (SIG’s) book club read Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “Caste: The Origins of our Discontents.” Wilkerson’s book is about how brutal misperceptions about race have disfigured the American society. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author believes racism is an insufficient term for the systemic oppression of Black people in America. Instead, she believes America has a "caste" system. She describes this caste system as an artificial hierarchy that determines standing and respect, and access to resources. "Caste focuses in on the infrastructure of our divisions and the rankings, whereas race is the metric that's used to determine one's place in that," Wilkerson says.

By Rebecca Roman

On the ninth day, Rebecca Roman shares how her firm used social media throughout 2020 as an effective means of reaching target audiences with timely content as the pandemic took hold. She also shares how a creative approach to social media helped successfully take an in-person diversity and inclusion initiative online.