Edward A. Ryan, executive vice president and general counsel, accepts the Street Law's 2008 Corporate Diversity Pipeline Award on behalf of the law departments of Marriott International and Marriott Vacation Club International. Photo credit: Nell Enriquez

April 1, 2008 | Bethesda, MD

The legal teams at Marriott International, Inc., and its subsidiary, Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI), will be formally recognized this month for their contributions to the community. At its annual awards dinner, Street Law, Inc., will honor both legal teams for their continuing work with the Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program. A joint initiative of ACC and Street Law, the pipeline program partners corporate counsel with high school classes in local communities of color to teach law-related lessons and encourage minority youth to consider pursuing law as a career.

While recognition by the legal community for their contributions is rewarding, Marriott's highest honors come from those its volunteer law department members impact the most—the students and teachers they serve. Patty Cousins, vice president and assistant general counsel at Marriott; and Barney Joseph, vice president and senior counsel at the company, as well as a WMACCA chapter board member, coordinated the program this year.

"It's been tremendously gratifying for us to engage the students by teaching them about the legal profession and substantive areas of civil law," says Cousins. "The positive feedback we get from them encourages us to improve upon the program each year." Last fall, Cousins and Joseph led their team through its third cycle of classroom visits to diverse law classes at three participating high schools in Montgomery County, MD. The classroom instruction culminated in a day-long conference in early January featuring workshops where students were able to showcase what they learned. Jonathan Main, lead teacher for the Human Services Academy at Seneca Val­ley High School, welcomed members of Marriott's law department into his classroom for the third year. Main observed his students as they participated. "It was very exciting to see my students using the knowledge and skills they acquired from the Marriott visits, as well as the knowledge gained from the overall law class," says Main.

In Orlando, FL, Tina McFerren, comprehensive law studies teacher at Oak Ridge High School, invited mem­bers of the legal staff at Marriott Vacation Club Interna­tional back into her classroom for the second time last semester. McFerren appreciates the reinforcement the legal team provides to her teaching of subjects such as torts, consumer law, and deceptive sales practices.

"All most kids hear about is criminal law. They watch television shows like Law and Order and CSI, but they don't know much about civil law," McFerren says.  Volunteers bring much more than their knowledge of substantive law into the classroom. "One of the good things about this program is that the students can re­ally see what these professionals do," she said.

Like Main, McFerren was impressed with how well her students were able to apply what they learned in class to the workshop activities conducted by MVCI at the final conference. Phyllis Hood, vice president and assistant general counsel, chaired the partner­ship between MVCI and Oak Ridge and has enjoyed the volunteering experience. "The program has meant a lot for the entire staff. After the first year, we gained mo­mentum and now we have participation from nearly 20 members of our department, including paralegals and support staff. It feels like we get much more out of the program than what we give," says Hood.

And this year, the giving did not end at the final confer­ence. During the conference, James Hunter, senior vice president and associate general counsel, announced that MVCI would offer paid summer internship opportunities to two of McFerren's comprehensive law studies stu­dents. According to McFerren, who was delighted when she heard Hunter's announcement, many of the students are excited about the opportunity and are eager to apply.

Marriott's participation is a natural extension of the company's commitment to social responsibility. Ed Ryan, executive vice president and general counsel, believes the program is a perfect fit with Marriott's philosophy of community outreach, which includes embracing diversity as one of the signature issues associates are committed to addressing through service. "I'm really proud of how our law department has developed and nurtured our re­lationship with the ACC/Street Law pipeline program. It is a great demonstration of our company's 'Spirit to Serve' philosophy," Ryan says.

According to Main, having the Marriott legal staff vol­unteer in the classroom went beyond the help he received with teaching the substantive lessons. He says his stu­dents enjoyed having the opportunity to ask "all sorts of questions from salaries, different types of law and legal professions, [and] the difference between working in the legal department of a company compared to private prac­tice." Students in McFerren's class were grateful for the experience. Oak Ridge senior Corey Miles commented, "It was wonderful to have such busy professionals take time out of their schedules to work with us and show us the many sides of civil law that are available as careers.”

Source: ACC Docket (Reproduced with permission)

Learn more

Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program

Topic: Diversity