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McAndrews, Held & Malloy Attorney Featured At Diversity Forum Spotlighting Senior Women Lawyers
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Chicago, IL -- McAndrews, Held & Malloy shareholder and board member Sharon A. Hwang was a featured panelist at a recent diversity forum highlighting the career paths of six senior-level female Chicago attorneys. The panel discussion, “Women Partners and Women in Senior Corporate Management,” was presented by The Diversity Scholarship Foundation, The John Marshall Law School, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area (AABA).
Hwang and the other featured attorneys discussed how they obtained their senior level positions and how they overcame gender-oriented obstacles. They also shared their keys to success and advice for other women seeking to excel in their careers.
“The event provided a great opportunity to share our diverse experiences and talk about the importance of fostering greater diversity at our workplaces and in the legal profession overall,” Hwang said. “It was an open and honest discussion that hopefully will inspire other women to pursue their own unique pathways to leadership roles.”
Hwang spearheaded the launch of McAndrews’ Diversity in Patent Law Fellowship. She also is a founding member of the firm’s diversity committee and serves on the recruiting committee. In addition, she previously headed up the firm’s marketing committee for six years.
Hwang practices intellectual property law with particular emphasis on patent litigation and intellectual property counseling. She has played major roles in multi-million-dollar patent litigation cases and has extensive experience in federal trial and appellate courts on matters involving patent, trademark, unfair competition and antitrust claims.
Hwang also is president of the AABA, which is one of the largest Asian American bar associations in the nation. In addition, she is a member of the board of directors of The Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms, where she chairs the public relations committee. The Coalition provides a forum for representatives of member-firms’ women’s initiatives to collaborate with each other on enhancing the recruitment, retention and promotion of women lawyers, and on supporting the building, implementation and continued relevancy of women’s initiatives in law firms.
In 2009, Hwang was featured in Chicago Lawyer magazine as among the next generation of diversity leaders in the Chicago legal community. In 2007, she was named one of the “Best Lawyers Under 40” in the United States by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
Hwang is a board member of the Chicago Legal Clinic, which provides community-based quality legal services to the underserved and disadvantaged in the Chicago area. She also is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing justice through rigorous research on the law, legal processes and the law’s impact on society. Hwang is a past board member of the Organization of Chinese Americans Greater Chicago Chapter.
About McAndrews, Held & Malloy
Founded in 1988, McAndrews, Held & Malloy is one of the nation’s preeminent legal resources on intellectual property, antitrust and technology matters, serving institutions ranging from major multinationals and start-ups to world-class colleges and universities. The firm’s technically trained attorneys have built an unparalleled record of litigation successes in jury trials, bench trials and ADR proceedings. In addition, McAndrews offers its clients services in the following areas: patent and trademark procurement and portfolio management, patent interferences, trademark oppositions and cancellations, international practice, intellectual property/technology opinions and investigations, due diligence and M&A support, technology licensing and joint ventures, and technology transfers and donations. Additional information can be found at www.mcandrews-ip.com.
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