Robins Kaplan LLP Principal Melissa D’Alelio Selected to Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellows Program

Minneapolis, MN – March 28, 2016 – Robins Kaplan LLP^® is proud to announce that Melissa D’Alelio has been named to the 2016 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) fellows program, which identifies, trains, and advances the next generation of leaders in the legal industry. She is the sixth Robins Kaplan attorney to participate in the fellows program since its inception in 2011.

The goal of the LCLD fellows program is to produce a generation of attorneys with strong leadership and relationship skills who are committed to fostering diversity within their organizations and the legal profession. The year-long program identifies high-potential attorneys from diverse backgrounds and sets them on a path to leadership within their industry.

"Melissa is a model participant for the LCLD fellows program," noted Kellie Lerner, partner and co-chair of Robins Kaplan’s Diversity Committee. "We support her commitment to enhancing diversity within the legal industry, and are thrilled to see her join this select group of experienced and dedicated leaders."

Based in the firm’s Boston office, Melissa is a principal in Robins Kaplan’s Insurance practice. She counsels clients in cases involving a wide variety of insurance issues, including commercial property and liability policies, and represents them in litigation and trial. She is currently vice chair of the ABA Property Insurance Law Committee. In the past five years, Melissa has dedicated more than 700 hours to pro bono work, the vast majority of which were devoted to securing asylum for a young, unaccompanied minor who fled abuse and child abandonment in Guatemala.

The LCLD fellows program offers participants like Melissa "an extraordinarily rich year of relationship-building, in-person training, peer-group projects, and extensive contact with LCLD’s top leadership," according to LCLD President Robert J. Grey, Jr.

Founded in 2009, LCLD is a growing organization of more than 240 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who are personally committed to creating a truly diverse legal profession. The LCLD Fellows program, which has trained more than 800 mid-career attorneys since 2011, is one of LCLD’s most important initiatives. For more information, visit www.lcldnet.org.