PHILADELPHIA, August 8, 2022―Duane Morris Partner and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Joseph K. West was named chair of the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar at the ABA annual meeting in Chicago. The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
Created in 1893, the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the ABA’s first section. Today, the 14,000 section members strive to improve legal education and lawyer licensing by fostering cooperation among legal educators, practitioners and judges through workshops, conferences and publications. The council is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the national accrediting agency for juris doctorate degree programs. The section also studies and makes recommendations for the improvement of the bar admission process, and the section and its governing council operate for accreditation purposes as independent arms of the ABA.
At Duane Morris, West advises domestic and global companies on a wide array of legal issues and also represents, trains and advises numerous associations and companies, including publicly traded companies and their boards and CEOs, on issues related to diversity and inclusion and the compliance, risk management and corporate strategies associated with these issues. He helped establish the first-of-its-kind law firm diversity and inclusion consulting practice at the firm, which has been cited for its innovative approach to crafting sustainable diversity and inclusion programs and solutions for corporate entities. His clients range from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He is also an experienced trial lawyer and has handled hundreds of matters to resolution over an extensive litigation career.
Prior to joining Duane Morris in 2016, West spent almost five years focused on diversity and inclusion within the legal profession as president and CEO of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). Prior to MCCA, West was associate general counsel and head of global outside counsel management at Walmart Stores Inc., where he was responsible for managing the company’s relationships with all of its outside counsel worldwide. He also spent time in Walmart’s class action/complex litigation group, where he helped manage some of the largest class action matters in history.
West was the inaugural recipient of Chambers and Partners’ Lifetime Achievement Award: Diversity & Equality in 2019. Additionally, he is an award-winning, nationally recognized subject matter authority in the field of diversity and inclusion, having worked, lectured and written extensively on diversity and inclusion issues impacting businesses and the legal profession.
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 800 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries. Duane Morris has been recognized by BTI Consulting as both a client service leader and a highly recommended law firm.
