The Leadership Forum Delivers What it Promises
| Jurisdiction | Alabama,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 75 No. 4 Pg. 0254 |
| Pages | 0254 |
| Publication year | 2014 |
The Leadership Forum is celebrating its tenth year! In May, ASB President Anthony Joseph presented certificates and gifts to the 25 graduates of Class 10. The guest speaker at the graduation dinner was J. Michael Allen, managing director of Beacon Global Strategies LLC in Washington, D.C. Serving in the White House in various national security roles, and recently as the majority staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Allen, a 2001 cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and a Mobile native, challenged the graduates to expand their perspectives in an increasingly global business and legal environment.
Class 10 statistics show the average age was 34 (oldest 39, youngest 31); 62 percent male and 38 percent female; 11.5 percent black and 88.5 percent white; and from 11 different cities and 12 different counties with 42 percent being from Birmingham, and 58 percent from the rest of the state. Three broad practice areas included private practice (72 percent), government/agency (19 percent) and corporate (19 percent). Seventeen percent of Class 10 previously applied for admission. Total composition of the forum always equals or exceeds the diversity statistics of the bar as a whole. In the past 10 years, the forum has received 671 applications, accepted 296 attorneys and graduated 287 attorneys. Approximately 44 percent of those who apply have been chosen.
In awarding the Leadership Forum the 2013 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award, the nation's highest award for professionalism programs, the American Bar Association commended the forum for its innovative, thoughtful and exceptional content, for its powerful and positive impact on emerging leaders and for the extraordinary example it has established that others might emulate. The program delivers what it promises: an opportunity to cultivate leadership skills moving from theory to practice, participation in self-discovery, forcing participants to be contemplative and learn from the inside out, professionalism is caught rather than taught and an opportunity to debate and discuss issues concerning their practice and the profession.
In response to demand for skills on "how to lead," the core curriculum was changed. The legal profession has been slow to teach leadership...
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