The Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia (WBA), in conjunction with the Women's Bar Association Foundation (WBAF), will honor Sherri Blount, partner, Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery, and Debra Lee, chairman and chief executive officer, BET Networks, as the WBA Women Lawyers of the Year at the organizations' Annual Dinner on May 26, 2011 from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m., at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street in Washington, DC.
The theme for the 2011 Women Lawyers of the Year is "Women Helping Women," with a focus on women in-house and outside counsel pairs who have created and maintained close professional relationships and demonstrated that networking and rainmaking can work well among women, and who have personally taken a leadership role in the advancement of women.
This year's honorees exemplify "women helping women." Ms. Blount and Ms. Lee, who met in elementary school, have been longtime friends and business associates. Under Ms. Lee's leadership BET, now a division of Viacom Inc., has become the leading provider of media and entertainment for African Americans and consumers of Black culture globally. In her various capacities with the company, including general counsel and later on the business side as COO and now CEO, Ms. Lee has championed diversity and inclusion and has personally mentored and sponsored numerous women and persons of color.
Ms. Blount was named Top Intellectual Property Lawyer in Washington, DC, by the Washington Business Journal in 2007. She routinely handles advertising, entertainment and media matters including television and radio production deals, program acquisitions, rights clearances, syndication, FCC content review, and other entertainment and media issues. In this capacity she has served as trusted outside counsel and advisor to BET and Ms. Lee for over 13 years. Ms. Blount began her legal career as an associate at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where she was the first African-American woman to work at the firm.
For information, visit CLE Events on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel website at www.metrocorpcounsel.com.
To register, visit www.wbadc.org.