Sidely, Austin, Brown & Wood, an International Law Firm with over 1500 attorneys, wins the 2005 Catalyst Award
Kathleen Roach is a partner in the Firm's Chicago office, with an active trial and complex commercial litigation practice. Kathy chairs Sidley's Committee on the Retention and Promotion of Women, and also serves on the Firm's recruiting and pro bono committees. In recognition of its initiative to retain and promote women lawyers, Sidley has been honored with the 2005 Catalyst Award, given annually by Catalyst, the leading research and advisory organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and business. In our exclusive Landed.fm interview, Kathy provides a compelling business case for the firm's ongoing commitment to diversity, part of a sustained effort to create an inclusive environment that recruits, develops, advances, and retains women. (continued)
Note: The following information was obtained from Sidley Austin Brown & Wood's Web site, and Catalyst press releases. Please see the Resource links at the end of the page for more information.
Biography: Kathy Roach
...is a partner in the Chicago office with an active trial and complex commercial litigation practice, with emphasis on securities fraud, business torts, trade secret and contract litigation. In the last few years, she has tried five cases lasting one week or more. She acted as first-chair at trial with respect to each of these five cases, including a securities fraud case tried to jury verdict in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin; an arbitration successfully defending a $20 million restitution claim in a contract dispute; a public contracts dispute resulting in a federal court injunction against the performance of a $50 million construction contract; an NASD arbitration arising out of the departure of six brokers from a brokerage firm; and a bench trial defeating a breach of shareholder loyalty and unjust enrichment claim and winning a breach of contract counterclaim. In July 2002, she was named by The National Law Journal as one of the top "40 Under 40" litigators in the United States.
Ms. Roach chairs the Firm's Committee on the Retention and Promotion of Women, and also serves on the Firm's recruiting and pro bono committees. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. She is also a past President of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, and in that capacity helped form the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening. She also served for over a decade as an officer and/or board member of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago. In 2002, she was given the Equal Justice Award by the Legal Assistance Foundation for her pro bono work on behalf of LAF and two of its employees in the landmark employment testing litigation.
Ms. Roach was appointed in 1996 by then-Chief Judge Marvin Aspen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to an advisory panel of lawyers considering the retention of U.S. Magistrate Judges Edward Bobrick and Ronald Guzman, and was appointed in 2003 by current Chief Judge Charles Kocoras to an advisory panel of lawyers considering the retention of U.S. Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow. She currently serves at the request of Chief Judge Kocoras on a panel considering the appointment of two new U.S. Magistrate Judges to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She was also appointed in 1996 by then-Chief Judge Donald O'Connell of the Circuit Court of Cook County to a panel of lawyers advising the court regarding electronic dissemination of court records.
Ms. Roach is also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and in 1999-2000 was a Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago.
About Sidley Austin Brown & Wood
In May 2001, the law firms of Sidley & Austin and Brown & Wood merged to become Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, a significant legal power in the international arena. The combination of these two legal authorities creates a new kind of law firm. The two firms meld a 235-year combined legacy of service and legal innovation. The merger creates a firm of more than 1550 attorneys and combines the highly-rated and inventive capital markets practice of Brown & Wood with Sidley & Austin's full array of corporate, banking, regulatory, intellectual property and litigation capabilities.
Supported by a strong commitment from senior leadership, "Strategies for Success" was designed to bring diverse talent into the firm and promote women to partnership and positions of authority. Through innovative programs and policies - including a formal accountability mechanism in which Sidley partners are required to annually account for their personal efforts to improve the diversity of the firm - Sidley has increased its women lawyers promoted to partnership to 43 percent in 2004, up from 22 percent in 2002. In 2004, almost 18 percent of the total partnership was comprised of women, and one-third of the firm’s women partners currently hold positions as firm-wide or office committee chairs or co-chairs.
About the Catalyst Award
Since 1987, Catalyst has annually honored outstanding initiatives and efforts of companies and firms that result in women’s career development and advancement. Catalyst accepts applications from private and public companies and professional services firms. Each initiative is evaluated against the following criteria: measurable results, business rationale, senior-level leadership, accountability, communication of initiative, ability to replicate and sustain the initiative, and originality. Initiatives need not focus exclusively on women, but results must demonstrate that the initiative supports women’s advancement, including that of women of color. For more information about Catalyst and the Catalyst Award application process, please visit www.catalystwomen.org.
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