WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10, 2024―Duane Morris LLP Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Joseph K. West was named the recipient of the National Bar Association’s Cora T. Walker Corporate Partnership Award. West will be honored at the NBA 99th Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, from July 12-19, 2024.
This award is a recognition by the president of the NBA for outstanding contributions to the entire organization. Cora T. Walker was a legal pioneer who was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1947, which was a time when very few women and very few Blacks were practicing attorneys. She also was a former chair of the Commercial Law Section and was one of the NBA members who organized the first Corporate Counsel Conference.
Joseph K. West is an experienced trial lawyer, having tried hundreds of matters to resolution over the course of his career. He is former Associate General Counsel at Walmart Stores Inc. and in 2009 was named the NBA’s Outside Counsel of the Year as a result of his work in Walmart’s Class Action/Complex Litigation Group and as head of the company’s Outside Counsel Management Group. He is former CEO of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. While at MCCA he oversaw the organization’s research portfolio, assisted with the increase in diverse general counsel and launched the first of its kind implicit bias training program. His leadership resulted in a threefold increase in the organization’s membership. West is immediate past chairman of the ABA Council on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the body that oversees law school accreditation and bar admissions nationwide. He also co-chaired the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, serves as a member of the board of trustees of Xavier University of Louisiana and is a member of the board of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association. His heroic efforts to assist dying patients during Hurricane Katrina was recently portrayed onstage in New York by his longtime friend and client Laurence Fishburne in the one-man play “Like They Do In the Movies.”
In 2019, West was named the inaugural recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Equality and Inclusion by Chambers & Partners. He has been named several times to the Savoy Magazine list of Most Influential Lawyers and in 2024 was inducted into the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame. He currently serves as Duane Morris’ Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and leads the firm’s first-of-its-kind Diversity and Inclusion Consulting Practice, which he helped to establish. He also serves as a member of Duane Morris’ managing Partners Board and co-chairs the firm’s ESG task force. A partner in the firm's Trial Practice Group, West practices in the area of complex litigation, handling a variety of matters in areas including class actions, insurance, commercial litigation, zoning and land use, catastrophic injury, products liability, and labor and employment.
About the National Bar Association
The National Bar Association is the nation’s oldest and largest global network of predominantly Black American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 67,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students. The purpose of the NBA is to advance the science of jurisprudence, uphold the honor of the legal profession, promote social intercourse among members of the bar and protect the civil and political rights of all citizens.
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 900 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.
