(CHICAGO) Katten announced today that the firm is commemorating Pride Month with a virtual event featuring Professor Alexander Chen, founding director of the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic at Harvard Law School, who will discuss the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and upcoming court cases that could impact the LGBTQ+ community.
"In the shadow of legislative actions across the country aimed at diminishing the rights of LGBTQ+ persons, this month marks a time for acknowledging the hard work that must continue to support the LGBTQ+ community and protect individual rights," said Brandon D. Hadley, co-chair of Katten's LGBTQ+ Coalition. "Through education and allyship at Katten, we strive to appreciate our differences and foster an inclusive and respectful environment for everyone."
Katten's Pride Month culminates with this week's event moderated by Financial Markets and Funds partner Richard Marshall and featuring Chen, as part of Katten's Perspectives Speaker Series. Chen's work has focused on expanding the rights of LGBTQ+ people through impact litigation and policy advocacy. He also teaches courses at Harvard Law on Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, and the Law. Previously, Chen worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, co-drafted a bill that made California the first state to mandate access to gender-affirming care for trans foster youth, and co-founded the National Trans Bar Association.
Each week during Pride Month, Katten's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team has highlighted a different topic illuminating past and present challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community, including information regarding the origins of Pride Month, terminology commonly used in the LGBTQ+ community and best practices for sharing pronouns.
Throughout the year, Katten supports the LGBTQ+ community in a number of ways, such as through the pro bono work of attorneys representing LGBTQ+ individuals as well as charitable contributions to the National LGBTQ+ Bar Foundation and LeGaL Foundation, which provides legal services to the LGBTQ+ community. The firm also sponsors the annual Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair, the largest LGBTQ+ legal conference in the country, and hosts a biennial LGBTQ+ retreat for its attorneys participating at the conference.
Katten was named one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality when the firm received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2022 Corporate Equality Index, the nation's foremost benchmarking survey and annual report measuring corporate policies and practices addressing LGBTQ+ workplace equality.
Washington, DC
