Fox Rothschild LLP issued the following announcement on June 23.
Fox Rothschild LLP congratulates Olufunke O. Leroy, who was named a recipient of the Professional Excellence Diversity Initiative Award by The Legal Intelligencer.
This inaugural award recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to diversity and inclusion efforts in Pennsylvania’s legal community in the past year.
In conjunction with firm leadership and working closely with Fox’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Leroy organized a firmwide response to systemic racial discrimination that launched with an initiative in which Fox attorneys represented, in a pro bono capacity, protesters detained by police as a result of their participation in social justice marches in 2020. The program grew into a national effort that expanded its focus to include pro bono representation related to criminal justice, small business support and housing issues.
In partnership with Kimberly Bullock Gatling, Fox’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Leroy galvanized associates to extend the pro bono initiative nationwide to assist Black-owned small businesses with insurance matters related to damage caused during social unrest. The initiative continued to quickly expand, drawing volunteers throughout the firm’s 27 U.S. offices.
Attorneys in the firm’s New York office held a legal clinic for small businesses; members of the Atlanta office worked on a clinic with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation to assist individuals with pandemic-related housing issues; and in the Minneapolis office, a team of attorneys volunteered with LegalCORPS’ Entrepreneurs of Color program on insurance clinics. The pro bono effort further expanded to representation of inmates in COVID-19 compassionate release matters in cooperation with the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers and with assistance from White Collar Defense Partner Brian Stolarz.
A trailblazer in her own right, Leroy was selected to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s 2021 Diversity Pathfinder Program and was named among the National Black Lawyers 2020 Top 40 Under 40. A member of the Delaware State Bar Association Multicultural Judges and Lawyers Section’s Executive Committee, Leroy also chairs its Haile L. Alford Breakfast Committee, which honors the first African American woman to sit on the Delaware Bench and supports scholarships for diverse students planning to sit for the Delaware Bar.
Leroy earned her J.D., summa cum laude, from Widener University School of Law and B.A. from University of Delaware.
Original source can be found here.