IN THE PROFESSION
Atlanta Bar Association Leadership Academy
E. TYRON BROWN Hawkins Parnell & Young LLP TBrown @ hpylaw. com
O n September 4, 2025, the Inaugural 2025 Atlanta Bar Association Leadership Academy successfully launched. It was the culmination of 11 months of planning and organizing. The purpose of the Leadership Academy is to develop young attorneys’ leadership skills to become more effective leaders in the Bar, at work, and in the community. The Academy offers six CLE training sessions at which legal, corporate and community leaders present and share their skills and knowledge to participants; and participants are provided with community service opportunities, in-house counsel visits, and bar participation opportunities. Atlanta area attorneys who have practiced for less than ten years are eligible.
The September 4, 2025 session featured an outstanding panel of the Honorable Benjamin A. Land, Justice,
Supreme Court of Georgia, Eric Schroeder, Partner at Bryan Cave, Kristina Kopf Thomas, Partner at Eversheds Sutherland, and Kadeisha West, Associate at Troutman Pepper Locke. The panel spoke on the topic " How to Win at Being a Mentee." Taylor Orgeron, Associate at Swift Currie, was the Moderator, and Kevan G. Dorsey, Partner at Swift Currie, hosted the event. The class members received information to hone their skills to become betters mentees in mentor-mentee relationships.
At the second session on September 18, 2025, the class members heard from another great panel with The Honorable Verda Colvin, Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, Bill DuPre, Partner at Miller & Martin, Brian McEvoy, Partner at BakerHostetler, and Amy Rudolph, Partner at Eversheds Sutherland. Uchenna Ekuma- Nkama, Partner at Dentons, was the Moderator. The
16 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2025