Sheryl Axelrod, the President of TLAA, founded TLAA’s Diversity Committee and its Diversity Leadership Award. The Diversity Leadership Committee developed criteria for the award, which it is hoped will be presented on an annual basis, each time to an exemplary Temple Law graduate who has made a significant contribution to diversity in the profession. The first award recipient was Charisse Lillie.
Charissse triumphed over racial and gender barriers to achieve preeminence in the legal profession. Comcast Corporation, the company on which she serves as Vice President, Community Investment, is forging a path toward greater diversity and inclusion in the profession along with her. Ms. Lillie’s company, along with 21 other major organizations, agreed to collectively pledge to spend $138 million in 2012 working with women and minority-owned law firms. In short, TLAA honored a renowned attorney committed to enhancing diversity and incluision in the legal profession, working for a company that is putting its money behind such enhancement efforts.