LAW WEEK COLORADO

DENVER – Two Qwest attorneys were accepted into the first Latina Executive Leadership Program, a joint initiative from the Hispanic National Bar Association and Association of Corporate Counsel designed to address challenges unique to Latina lawyers.

Gina Casias and Meshach Rhoades will be part of an estimated 50 Latina HNBA members from the private sector and several chief legal officers collaborating on financial and case management education while benefitting from networking opportunities. Also in the program is Faegre & Benson Partner Regina Rodriguez, reported in Law Week Online on Aug. 30.

Casias is corporate counsel at Qwest and has practice labor and employment law there for almost ten years and is actively involved in Denver youth nonprofit La Raza Youth as a mentor. Rhoades, a senior attorney, practices telecommunications litigation. She is immediate past president of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association and a current regional president of the HNBA.

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Longtime Association of Corporate Counsel president Frederick Krebs will step down next year, the Washington Business Journal reports.

A call to Krebs was not immediately returned, as the ACC office in Washington, D.C., was away for the day on a staff retreat. Krebs joined the D.C.-based organization in 1991 as its executive director. His term will end June 2011. The organization will conduct a search for a successor next year.

In 1975, Krebs joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as its assistant general counsel, and later was manager of the labor and human resources policy department. He’s also an accomplished photographer.

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According to a recently released survey, corporate law departments will hire more for 2010.

The Association of Corporate Counsel‘s 2009 Chief Legal Officer Survey Results found that more CLOs are planning to hire than last year. Most plan to hire those who can perform a combination of commoditized work and specialists for more complex work. The survey results also reported the increase of use of paralegals, contract lawyers and administrative staff.

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Above the Law reports that law firms can now see the Association of Corporate Counsel Value Index, which was created to help develop a better relationship between in-house counsel and their outside lawyers.
Law firms will be able to see their own reviews for a limited time.

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Apparently corporate counsels have better things to do than ranking the quality of legal services they receive. Most firms — including some of the bigger names like Cravath and Sullivan & Cromwell — have three or fewer responses, the legal blog Above The Law reports.

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