DEI is Not Dead (Oct. 22, 2024)
Includes a Live Web Event on 10/22/2024 at 3:00 PM (EDT)
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- Non-member - $80
- Member - Free!
- *Further discounts may apply once you log in.
In the lead-up to and certainly since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard/UNC, employer DEI programs continue to face legal and public relations challenges. Organizations are suing, employees are suing, shareholders are suing, but employers continue to push their DEI measures forward. In this practical session, we will cover employer initiatives and risk mitigation strategies associated with everything from aspirational goals and the importance of data analytics, to diverse slate programs, to employee resource groups to internship programs. How are they being challenged, by whom, and what to do about it.
Generously Sponsored by Jackson Lewis PC
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Naima Garvin
Managing Director, Legal
Carlyle
Naima Garvin is currently a Managing Director on the Legal team at Carlyle, specializing in internal employment law. She joined the alternative asset management firm in February 2019. Prior to this, Naima was Employment Counsel at the IBM Corporation, where she also focused on internal employment issues across the globe. Her legal career began as a law firm Associate, practicing general commercial litigation at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and then at BakerHostetler, where she was a key contributor on the Madoff cases.Naima earned her J.D. from NYU Law School and her B.A. from Yale University. She is a proud alumna of Prep for Prep, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and was recognized as a 2017 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow.
Samia Kirmani
Principal
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Samia M. Kirmani is a principal in the Boston, Massachusetts, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She serves on the firm’s Board of Directors, is a co-leader of both the Workplace Training and the Corporate Diversity Counseling practice groups, and is a co-leader of Jackson Lewis’ Women’s Interest Network (WIN) resource group. Samia’s practice is an effective combination of skill and advocacy in employment counseling, investigations, training, and DEI policy development and programming, as she partners with employers to build and maintain inclusive and sustainable workplaces for all.
Samia advises employers in a range of industries, including biotechnology, life sciences, retail, manufacturing, and hospitality, on navigating myriad complex employment laws, including multi-state compliance, internal complaints, and employment actions. As co-leader of the Corporate Diversity practice group and a member of the firm’s SCOTUS Affirmative Action Decision Taskforce, Samia provides on-going legal support and counsel and partners with clients around the country to advise on and develop diversity, equity and inclusion strategies. Samia has a diversity and inclusion certificate from Cornell University and conducts customized diversity, inclusion, and bias workplace education sessions.
Samia’s passion for educating employers and their employees has resulted in the creation and presentation of hundreds of hours of interactive and engaging training programs for boards, executive leadership teams, managers, employees, individuals, in-house counsel, and human resource professionals. Her experience in training runs the full gamut of workplace topics from discrimination and harassment prevention and conducting workplace investigations to all forms of diversity, equity and inclusion issues including unconscious bias, micro-aggressions, creating inclusive cultures and behaviors, employee engagement and developing, leveraging and implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives. She approaches her work as a partnership with leadership and is cognizant of the importance of engaging all stakeholders in the benefits of training and education. She trains in-person and virtually and effectively combines legal acumen, passion, and humor to deliver her programs.
As a member of the firm’s Corporate Governance and Internal Investigations practice group, Samia conducts and advises clients with respect to investigations, including those involving leadership, boards, managers, employees, and third parties. Samia also leads the firm’s internal resource on drafting and implementing national arbitration agreements.
Samia is a frequent speaker, commentator, and author for various audiences and publications on workplace law topics, such as harassment, investigations, diversity, equity, and inclusion, discrimination, pay equity, arbitration agreements and class action waivers, and related matters.
Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Samia served as in-house counsel at a technology company, focusing on employment and dispute management. Before that, she practiced employment law and litigation at a general practice firm and served as a law clerk to the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
While attending law school, she was a solicitations editor for the Boston College International and Comparative Law Review.
