Reed Smith LLP announced today that Pittsburgh-based associate Jason E. Hazlewood has been selected by the firm to join this year’s Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows Program.

Now in its fourth year, the LCLD Fellows Program is an ambitious, highly structured mentoring program established in 2011 and designed to increase diversity at the leadership levels of the nation's law firms and corporate legal departments. The program works by identifying high-potential attorneys from diverse backgrounds and placing them in the path of those who can teach them to lead their organizations. Fellows are selected by their firm’s managing partners or in-house general counsel, all of whom are LCLD Members.

“Reed Smith helped found the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity in 2009 with the shared vision of creating a truly diverse legal profession,” said Reed Smith global managing partner Alexander Y. “Sandy” Thomas. “We’re especially glad to offer our continuing support for this exceptional mentoring and leadership training program.”

Over the course of the year-long LCLD Fellowship, each honoree embarks on an intensive learning program that includes in-person conferences, virtual training on the fine points of legal practice, peer-group projects to foster collaboration and build relationships, and extensive contact with LCLD’s top leadership, along with managing partners and general counsel who volunteer to discuss professional experiences and setbacks at Fellows Program Learning Experiences and Leadership Lunches.

“We are really pleased that Jason has been selected as the 2014 LCLD Fellow,” said Tyree P. Jones, Jr., Financial Industry Group partner and Reed Smith’s Director of Global Diversity & Inclusion. “During this year-long networking and leadership development program, he will meet amazing talent from leading companies and law firms and develop relationships that we hope will be a significant part of his personal and professional network in the future. He also will be joining a program that counts hundreds of high-performing alums in its membership.”

As an associate in the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group, Hazlewood has handled a wide array of matters involving diverse areas of litigation, including securities litigation, health care, class actions, antitrust, landlord/tenant, employment, construction, fair credit reporting, personal injury, negligence, first amendment, and general commercial litigation. Hazlewood also advises corporate directors, foreign issuers and various other corporate entities. He has further experience with matters in federal and state court, as well as various alternative dispute resolution forums, including the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”).

Hazlewood has also achieved distinction for his outstanding pro bono work. In 2011, he accepted an appointment from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to represent a state prison inmate in a civil rights case. The case went to trial before Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan, where Hazlewood presented an excellent case to the court and won a jury verdict. For this exemplary work, The Allegheny County Bar Foundation named Hazlewood a “2011 Pro Bono Achievement Award Winner,” and he was also named a “Pro Bono Award Winner” in 2012 by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Additionally, The Legal Intelligencer named Hazlewood one of its “2013 Diverse Attorneys of the Year.”

“I am deeply honored and grateful to be selected by Reed Smith as its 2014 LCLD Fellow,” said Mr. Hazlewood. “It is very exciting to get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in such a dynamic program.”

Reed Smith’s previous LCLD Fellows are Washington, D.C.- and Pittsburgh-based Financial Industry Group partner Rana J. Wright (2011), Washington, D.C.-based Government Contracts & Grants partner Lorraine Mullings Campos (2012), and San Francisco-based Commercial Litigation partner Tiffany Renee Thomas (2013). Additionally, both Chicago-based Commercial Litigation partner Peter M. Ellis and Houston-based Energy & Natural Resources partner Marlen D. Whitley were LCLD Fellows at their previous firms.

About Reed Smith

Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,800 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, technology and media, shipping, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.

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