Corporate Counsel Section

Corporate Counsel Section

9th Corporate Counsel Institute- Thursday, October 28 in New York City. Click to learn more!

CORPORATE COUNSEL SECTION

The Corporate Counsel Section of the New York State Bar Association is pleased to welcome Section members and visitors. The Section sponsors CLE, networking and other events and offers LinkedIn and Facebook pages where members can reach out to each other with questions and advice.

Contact the Corporate Counsel Section Liaison

To learn more about this Section, please contact Dana Alamia
[email protected]
(518) 487-5607

Please do not contact the Section liaison with a request for legal advice or an attorney referral. You can instead visit our ‘Public Resources’ or ‘Lawyer Referral Service’ page for this type of request.

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Yamicha Stephenson, Esq.

Greetings to all,

My name is Yamicha Stephenson, and I am honored to be your Chair! Outside of NYSBA, I am a Manager in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Sanctions practice at Deloitte (Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP) and a former Assistant District Attorney.

I have been involved in the Section since 2010 when I was a summer intern at the New York Power Authority through the Section’s Kenneth G. Standard Diversity Internship Program. After completing my internship, I continued to be involved in the Section and served as the Section’s first Diversity Intern Alumnus Member, co-chair of the 2015 Corporate Counsel Institute, Secretary, Treasurer, Alternate Delegate to the House of Delegates, and Chair-Elect. Through these positions and experiences, I have learned so much about the State Bar, our Section and Members.

This year, our goal is to increase our engagement with our Members, host more virtual social events, and provide an overall added benefit to you.

We hope to “see” you at one of our upcoming events, work with you on one of the Section Committees or read your article in our Section publication, Inside, which is free for Section members!

Please view our site for more details about our upcoming events, Committees and how to publish an article in Inside.

Opportunities to Get Involved

Please consider participating in Section Committees and activities.

Our Section has the following Committees:

CLE and Meetings Committee
Diversity Committee
Diversity Internship Committee
Membership Committee
Pro Bono Committee
Publications Committee
Technology and New Media Committee
2021 Corporate Counsel Institute Planning Committee

If you are interested in joining or learning more about a Committee(s), please reach out to me at [email protected].

We are continually preparing the next issue of Inside.

If you have a topic in mind, please contact Elizabeth Shampnoi, Editor of Inside, at [email protected].
We are also seeking law student volunteers to conduct interviews of in-house counsel and to attend and write about Section events.
This is a terrific opportunity for law students to become more active in the Corporate Counsel Section, network and be published.

Please consider becoming a host company for the Kenneth G. Standard Diversity Internship Program, which is the Section’s paid diversity internship program!

If your company is interested in being a host company, please reach out to Tatiana Medina, Chair of the Diversity Internship Committee, at [email protected].
Our past host companies include Ayco, Chubb, Con Edison, Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Salesforce, TakeRoot Justice, Unilever and Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

I look forward to working with you!

Yamicha

Yamicha Stephenson, Esq., Chair

Corporate Counsel Section

Online Community

Access Here

Section Publications

Inside- Vol. 39 No. 2

View Latest Issue

Corporate Counsel Inside Archive

Inside (Corporate Counsel Section Publication) provides updates on Section activities, recent cases, and articles about current issues. Topics of past articles include ethics, privilege, corporate criminal liability and internal investigations. Inside is published by the Corporate Counsel Section and distributed to Section Members free of charge.

Inside is published as a benefit for members of the Corporate Counsel Section and is copyrighted by the New York State Bar Association.

Inside (the Newsletter of the Corporate Counsel Section) encourages article submissions on topics of interest to members of the Section. Writing an article for a NYSBA Section publication is a great way to get your name out in the legal community and advertise your knowledge. Our authors are respected state-wide for their legal expertise in such areas as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, employer’s breach of a computer system, vertical price restraints, and ethical considerations of corporate counsel.

Submit an article for future publication

Author Guidelines

NYSBA has created comprehensive author guidelines, with information regarding our reprint policy, style guidelines, and obtaining MCLE Author Credits.

View the author guidelines

Bylaws

Right to Practice Reform: Registered In-House Counsel and Pro Bono Services

Corporate Counsel Section Committee

KENNETH G. STANDARD DIVERSITY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Overview of the Diversity Internship Committee

Responsible for administering and managing all aspects of the Section’s Diversity Internship Program, named in honor of former NYSBA President Kenneth G. Standard and his commitment to initiatives aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

Overview of the Diversity Internship Program

Since its inception in 2006, more than 100 interns have participated in the Program. The students complete a 10-week internship with an assigned host company and are paid a minimum of $7,000. Host companies have included, among many others in the private and public sectors, Ayco, Con Edison, Pepsi Co., Salesforce, TakeRoot Justice, Unilever, and Urban Justice and Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

The Program’s Goal

To provide students from a diverse range of backgrounds with the experience of in-house legal practice, and to increase such student representation in future corporate legal departments. We offer mentorship, educational and career training to enhance the skills needed in the workplaces of tomorrow. To promote and advance the full and equal participation of attorneys from an under-represented community and to promote knowledge of and respect for the profession in communities that historically have not participated to the fullest extent in the practice of law.

Beneﬁts of Workplace Diversity

Diverse employees can bring together different skill sets, talents, and experiences.

Embracing diversity and inclusion is an important step in the workplace. Through increased diversity, employers can more effectively address societal and member needs with the varied perspectives, experiences, knowledge, information and understanding inherent in a diverse relationship.

Eligibility & Deadlines

Law students who self-identify as under-represented candidates, and who attend an accredited law school in New York State. The program has demanding selection criteria, including minimum GPA requirements and a series of interview rounds, each set by the host company. Students must submit a legal writing sample and a letter of interest. The letter of interest must describe their personal commitment to diversity and inclusion in the legal field, and/or explain how being from an under-represented group has impacted them.

The application deadline, interviews, offer, and program start date vary per each host company. Generally, student application deadlines are due between December and January.

Beneﬁts of Applying to a Summer Position Through the Program

The benefits include (i) exploring different career paths; (ii) developing a network within the corporate environment and among fellow program participants; (iii) receiving cutting-edge, real world experience solving and supporting day-to-day corporate matters; and (iv) gaining a rare and valuable opportunity to jump start their careers in the law by spending their summer in a corporate legal department/non-for-profit agency.

We invite anyone who is interested in learning more about the program to contact the Committee at: [email protected]

Download 2021 Event Brochure (PDF)

Photos of the July 17, 2019 Reception

Photos of the August 16, 2017 Reception

Photos of the August 16, 2016 Reception

Photos of the August 5, 2015 Reception

Photos of the July 23, 2014 Reception

2014 Kenneth G. Standard Internship Program

2013 Kenneth G. Standard Internship Program

ADDITIONAL INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE

SalesForce

Application Due: February 15, 2021

View Application

Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Applications Due: February 19, 2021

View Application

Unilever

Applications Due: February 15, 2021

View Application

TakeRoot Justice

Applications Due: December 15, 2021

View Application

Start Small Think Big

Applications Due: February 12, 2021

View Application

Disability Rights of New York

Applications Due: February 15, 2021

View Application

PepsiCo

Applications Due: March 15, 2021

View Application

Member Perspectives on the Corporate Counsel Section

View Past Chair Natalie Sulimani’s perspective here
View Yamicha Stephenson’s perspective here
View Member Barbara Levi’s perspective here

Video Archives

A Message from Mitchell Borger
A Message from Sarah Feingold
A Message from 2014 Past Chair Thomas Reed

Legal Links and Resources

Commercial Division Reports

An Efficient and Cost-Effective Forum for the Resolution of Business Disputes

Pro Bono Services

Press release with links regarding NYS rule to allow registered corporation counsel to provide pro bono services.

Corporate Law and the S.E.C.

Entertainment Law and the Arts

Public Utilities

Health, Drugs and Food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Telecommunications, Media and Advertising

Pro Bono Information

The Corporate Counsel section has a model program for corporations, information on opportunities for pro bono work, and a report adopted by the NYSBA House of Delegates

NYSBA supports the authorization of in-house counsel who are registered in New York State to provide pro bono assistance in New York as long as they are admitted in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.

In June 2012, the NYSBA Corporate Counsel Section issued a report recommending amendments to state court rules that would allow in-house counsel, registered in New York, who are admitted elsewhere in the U.S. to perform pro bono services in New York. Specifically, the report urges amendments to New York’s Rules of the Court of Appeals for the Admission of Attorneys and Counselors at Law, 22 NYCRR Part 522.

The NYSBA Executive Committee and NYSBA House of Delegates approved the Section’s report.