Women in Business Law Initiative

ILE launched the Women in Business Law Initiative in September 2019. WIBLI aims to promote the development and advancement of women in business law. Its membership consists of a growing network including current University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School students, Law School alumni, and other female professionals. WIBLI members can network on the community platform established in the summer of 2020. Together with ILE, WIBLI hosted three programs this academic year.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Lunch and Conversation With the PLWA The Co-Directors of the ILE, Professors Jill Fisch, Elizabeth Pollman, and Lisa Fairfax, invited the Penn Law Women’s Association for a lunch to learn about ILE and its Women in Business Law Initiative, to meet the Co-Directors, and to talk about business law at Penn Law and thereafter. About 100 students attended.

APRIL 11, 2022

Career Arcs of Leaders in Business Law Moderated by Professor Jill Fisch, this program presented the insights of five highly accomplished women who have taken their legal training into diverse areas of law and business. They shared their observations about reliance on networks of friends and colleagues, openness to new professional opportunities, addressing unnecessary internal skepticism about one’s abilities, willingness to consult with both peers and superiors about professional and quality of life issues, and the importance of care and joy in one’s work.

moderator

Jill E. Fisch, Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

panelists

Hon. Cheryl Ann Krause, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Jami Wintz McKeon, Chair, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP Anne Robinson, Managing Director, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary,

Vanguard Kristine Wellman, Vice President, Strategic Planning, The Chemours Company Jennifer Zachary, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate

Secretary, Merck & Co., Inc.

APRIL 26, 2022

Women and M&A Professor Afra Afsharipour presented findings from her article, Women and M&A, forthcoming in the UC Irvine Law Review. The article examines the lead actors in M&A, reveals that women’s leadership opportunities as lead legal advisors continue to be vastly unequal, documents the lack of transparency on leadership data for other players in M&A, and identifies measures for increasing accountability and determining the solutions that may work to reduce such disparities. The research presentation was followed by a panel discussion regarding the research findings, barriers and potential pathways to reducing gender disparities in M&A, and effective ways to assess and benchmark advancement.

moderator

Elizabeth Pollman, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

paper presenter

Afra Afsharipour, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of

Law, UC Davis School of Law

panelists

Rachael Coffey, Kirkland & Ellis LLP Jennifer Muller, Managing Director, Houlihan Lokey Faiza Saeed, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP Elina Tetelbaum, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

1 Jill Fisch, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Hon. Cheryl Krause, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Jami Wintz McKeon, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP; Anne Robinson, Vanguard; Kristine Wellman, The Chemours Company; Jennifer Zachary, Merck, Inc. 2 Afra Afsharipour, UC Davis School of Law; Rachael Coffey, Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Jennifer Muller, Houlihan Lokey; Faiza Saeed, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP; Elizabeth Pollman, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

ASSOCIATE FACULTY