March 31, 2021 @ 1:00pm – 2:30pm Eastern
Elimination of Bias/Diversity and Inclusion: Women in Law: Where Equality and Equity Exist in Local Government
90 minutes
As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, "Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception." This three-women-panel of local government attorneys will discuss the transformation of what women in the male-dominated legal field looked like in the past to what women in the field look like now on a structural and policy level. The presentation will discuss the shift from issues related to equality for all women to what equitable actions local governments are currently doing to prioritize and value Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women seeking employment. The presentation will also discuss the structure of a woman-majority litigation office in local government and an example of COVID-19 provisional language that create a disproportionate effect on women over men. Additional topics may be included.
Speakers: Deanna Shahnami; Patricia Miller; Deanne Durfee and Josette Flores
Deanna Shahnami is IMLA’s Associate Counsel, where she oversees the firm’s distance learning programming as well as participating in IMLA’s amicus activities and contributing legal analyses to Municipal Lawyer and eNews. Prior to joining IMLA, Ms. Shahnami worked in the office of counsel for a telecommunications consulting firm. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and earned her Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law. Ms. Shahnami is admitted to practice in Florida and Illinois.
Patricia Miller is the Chief of the Special Federal Litigation Division of the New York City Law Department. Special Fed is responsible for the defense of NYC law enforcement personnel in Federal Civil Rights actions in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. Prior to her appointment as Chief, Ms. Miller served as the Deputy Chief of Trials for the Special Fed Division. Ms. Miller was also a trial supervisor and senior trial attorney for the Labor and Employment Division of the Law Department. She has tried to verdict more than 60 cases in federal court and has supervised dozens more. Ms. Miller was named Top Women in Law 2016 by the New York Law Journal and is a 2017 recipient of the New York State Bar Association Shira Scheindlin Award for Excellence in the Courtroom. Before joining the Law Department, Ms. Miller clerked for William M. Acker, former U.S. District Judge for Northern District of Alabama, and was an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. She is also an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law and has served on the faculty of Cardozo Law School's Intensive Trial Advocacy Program and the Law Department's NITA program. Ms. Miller completed her undergraduate work at Fordham University and obtained her law degree from William and Mary in Virginia where she was a member of the Law Review Executive Staff. She has served as chair of the Law Department's Committee on Diversity Recruitment and Retention, the first member of the LGBT Community to hold that position, and is the 2013 recipient of the Jane M Bolin Diversity in Leadership Award. Ms. Miller is also the co-Chair of the Federal Bar Council Diversity Committee; a member of the Federal Bar Council Second Circuit Committee; and a member of the FBC Board of Trustees. Ms. Miller has spoken many times on the topic of Federal Civil Rights trials involving police actions. Recent lectures and presentations include: Multiple presentations at the International Municipal Lawyers’ Association annual seminar in Washington, DC and in Canada; the keynote speaker for the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel Annual Meeting; and workshops on Federal Trial Practice with the Honolulu Corporation Counsel.
Deanne Durfee is the Director of Municipal Operations in the Denver City Attorney’s Office. Ms. Durfee has been practicing law for over 30 years, most of which has been in the area of municipal law. While she has worked for different municipalities in the Denver metropolitan area, Ms. Durfee has been with the Denver City Attorney’s office for the last 13 years. Ms. Durfee’s practice at Denver began handling construction and design contracts for the City and providing legal services to the City’s minority and women business enterprise program. Currently Ms. Durfee is the Director of the Municipal Operations Section of the Denver City Attorney’s Office, which provides in-house counsel services to Denver agencies and elected officials on general advice, contracts, finance, land use, real property, tax, eminent domain, and commercial litigation. Ms. Durfee graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1987.
Josette Flores is a Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of El Paso, Texas. She has worked for the City of El Paso for nearly 15 years, and has been assigned to various departments over the years, most recently the El Paso International Airport, Utilities and International Bridges. She has coordinated much of the City's Legal Department COVID-19 response and worked closely with another attorney and the Office of Emergency Management in the City's response to the August 3, 2019 mass shooting event. Prior to the latter event, Ms. Flores sought the collaboration of local utility companies to set up a mass shelter in response to the migrant crisis experienced in her community on the US-Mexico border.