Diversity: Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC

Our Commitment

Activities

Our diversity efforts date back over 30 years. Butler Snow was one of the first law firms in our area to recruit, hire, and retain women as partners. We were also one of the first to recruit African-Americans and other minorities.

Hiring and Recruiting

• We interview at Howard University Law School, and we recruit at several other law schools that have a significant percentage of minority students.
• We participate in the Clerkship Interaction Program of the Young Lawyers Division of the Mississippi Bar.
• We have sponsored and mentored one of the Fredrick Douglas Appellate Moot Court teams at Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson for the past two years.

Professional Women and Minorities

• Christy Jones, who was one of our first female associates, is a nationally renowned trial lawyer, and Chair of our Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Industry Group. The 2007 Guide to the World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers named Jones one of the Top 10 product liability lawyers in the world. The Mississippi Women Lawyers Association also honored Jones with its 2008 Outstanding Mississippi Women Lawyer award.
• Julie Ellis serves on the Board of the Memphis Regional Chamber. She has moderated the Environmental Panel for the American Bar Association (ABA) Air and Space Forum and will moderate the Environmental Panel at the International Aviation Women’s Association Annual Conference in October.  
• Karen Livingston-Wilson was selected as one of Mississippi's 50 Leading Business Women by the Mississippi Business Journal in 2007. She also serves as president of the Mississippi Chapter of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters, an International Insurance Professional Organization.
• In 2007, Ann Bowden-Hollis was appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court to a three-year term on the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions. She was also elected president of the Harrison County Bar Association for 2008.
• Melody McAnally was awarded the Mississippi Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award at the July 2008 Annual Bar Convention.
• Melissa Baltz is the co-chair of the Women in the Profession Committee for the Hinds County Bar Association. The committee gave presentations to college students at four area colleges as well as the committee co-sponsored a seminar with the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association on Getting and Keeping Clients for women attorneys.
• In 2007, Grace Tate was named in the Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40.
• Cara Baer and Hemant Gupta were elected to the board of the Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association (TIPLA) in 2007.
• Effie Bean Cozart serves as the Assistant Diversity Director for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division for the 2007-2008 bar year and is Chair of the Diversity Committee of the Young Lawyers Division of the Tennessee Bar Association for the 2008-09 bar year.
• Camille Evans and Rod Richmond were recently inducted as Fellows of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. One of the many missions of the Foundation is to improve the administration of justice through the support of organizations which provide legal services to the poor and needy.

Sponsorships/Professional Activities

• We annually sponsor numerous diversity-related events and take part in numerous diversity organizations in the communities where we practice. In 2007, these included Hinds County Bar Association Women In the Profession Committee; Facing History & Ourselves Dinner held in Memphis; Hinds County Bar Association Diversity Roundtable Conference; Community Foundation of Greater Jackson Women's Fund; Central Mississippi Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women; Howard University's Public Interest Law Society Event; American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" Luncheon; Black Law Students Association of the University of Mississippi Law Center; the William Winter Institute For Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi, and many others.
• Butler Snow annually hosts Women in Government Day. The event is spearheaded by four women in our Public Law Group. Each year, more than two hundred female elected officials in across Mississippi are invited for a day of both networking and professional and personal development. Among the highlights of this event is the keynote speech given by a female leaders of the community.
• We received the Hinds County Bar Association's Law Firm Diversity Leadership Award for our support of that bar's Diversity Roundtable Conference, which had speakers and panelists from 15 Fortune 500 companies with over 300 business leaders, state officials, and attorneys from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas in attendance.
• In 2007, over 40 of our lawyers attended national, state, or local diversity-related events sponsored by bars, professional organizations, companies, and educational institutions, including events sponsored by the ABA, Baxter International Inc., BellSouth Corporation, Defense Research Institute, Federal Bar Association, Hinds County Bar Association, Magnolia Bar Association, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Women in Law, Mississippi Bar Association, National Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Tougaloo College and University of Mississippi.
• Several attorneys are active members of diversity-related committees of the Mississippi Bar Association, Hinds County Bar Association, and the Jackson Young Lawyers Association, including one serving as the Chair of the Diversity Committee of the Jackson Young Lawyers Association.

Primary Contacts

John C. Henegan

Diversity Committee

All office locations of the firm are represented on the Diversity Committee. Members are listed below:

John C. Henegan, Chair
Cara R. Baer
Ann Bowden-Hollis
Michael D. Caples
Christopher W. Espy
Charles F. Morrow
Todd P. Photopolous
Orlando R. Richmond, Sr.
Jason G. Yarbro
Nina Fitch, Recruiting Manager
Lance Bonner, Ex-Officio
Don B. Cannada, Ex-Officio
Donald Clark, Jr., Ex-Officio
Christy D. Jones, Ex-Officio
Randall D. Noel, Ex-Officio