Three Baker Donelson attorneys have been selected to participate in the 2023 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) programs. Duane L. Pinnock has been selected to the Fellows Program, and Jerrick D. Murrell and Jonathan Stuart have been selected to the Pathfinders Program.
Mr. Pinnock is one of 452 Fellows named to the 2023 class of Fellows. This landmark intensive year-long professional development program connects high-potential attorneys with leading general counsel, managing partners, and their peers. Mr. Murrell and Mr. Stuart are among 462 attorneys selected to the 2023 Pathfinders Program, which is designed to train high-performing attorneys who are early in their careers on foundational leadership and relationship-building skills.
A shareholder in Baker Donelson's Fort Lauderdale office, Mr. Pinnock advises clients on complex estate and tax planning and administration, as well as related litigation and tax controversy matters. He handles fiduciary and probate litigation and represents beneficiaries, trustees, personal representatives, and heirs. Mr. Pinnock is the only African American attorney in the state of Florida who is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts, and Estates, which is the Florida Bar's highest level of recognition of the competency and experience of attorneys practicing in these areas. From 2016 to 2017, he was appointed to serve as chair of the Florida Bar's Wills, Trusts & Estates Board Certification Committee. Mr. Pinnock is the former chair of the Palm Beach County Bar Association Estate and Probate Committee, as well as the former co-chair of the Estate and Probate section of the Bench Bar Committee.
Mr. Murrell, an associate in the Firm's Memphis office and a member of the Health Care Litigation Group, assists clients in a variety of litigation matters including commercial litigation, employment law, health care, insurance defense, personal injury, products liability, and torts. He has extensive experience representing hospitals, health care facilities, and physicians in health care liability actions, as well as national insurance carriers in bad faith denial disputes. Mr. Murrell is a member of Baker Donelson's Diversity Committee, and he is a contributor to the Firm's Diversity Ever After podcast, where he speaks on topics relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the practice of law and the workplace.
A former Big Four business consultant, Mr. Stuart is an associate in Baker Donelson's Atlanta office, where he focuses his law practice on how the law can help his clients achieve their business goals. He listens to, advises, and advocates for his clients – plaintiffs and defendants – as they navigate complex business/contractual, construction, or labor and employment disputes that are in, or could lead to, litigation. Mr. Stuart is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia Terry School of Business.
LCLD is an organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners – the leadership of the profession – who have pledged themselves, through LCLD's Leaders at the Front initiative and other means, to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession. LCLD action programs are designed to attract, inspire, and nurture the talent in society and within organizations, thereby helping a new and more diverse generation of attorneys ascend to positions of leadership. By producing tangible results in institutions, LCLD works to promote inclusiveness in organizations, circles of influence, and society, with the ultimate goal of building a more equitable and diverse legal profession.