Melvin White Nominated to Run for D.C. Bar President-Elect
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 17, 2006) — Melvin White, a trial partner at McDermott Will & Emery, has been nominated to run for president-elect of The District of Columbia Bar (D.C. Bar). Mr. White has an extensive history of voluntary service to D.C. Bar, the community and the legal profession. He is a two-term member of the D.C. Bar's Board of Governors and he serves on the Executive Committee with prior service on the Budget and Finance Committees.
"As president, I will focus on continuing to strengthen the Bar's 'community of service,' through facilitating more partnerships between D.C. Bar members and local pro bono service providers," commented Mr. White. "My priorities would be supporting the courts and instilling in our members the delivery of the highest quality legal services in the D.C. courts."
Mr. White's agenda as president also includes fostering greater diversity in the D.C. Bar by addressing diversity issues at Bar-sponsored programs, through open dialogue on diversity with senior level members of the Bar and through initiatives focusing on the mentoring and retention of junior attorneys.
A graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Virginia School of Law, Mr. White was a law clerk for the Honorable G. Thomas Eisele, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Mr. White focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution. He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and he has been active on the ABA's Commission on Minorities in the Legal Profession. He is a member of the Fellows of the ABA, the National Bar Association, the Washington Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia, GAYLAW and the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court.
After joining McDermott in 1991, Mr. White helped spearhead the Firm's emergence as one of Washington D.C.'s important providers of pro bono services, culminating in McDermott being named 2005 Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year by the D.C. Bar and by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (Lawyers' Committee). Melvin has been a director of the Lawyers' Committee since 1991 and was recently elected co-chair.
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,000 lawyers, the Firm has 14 offices worldwide. Mr. White will be carrying on the Firm's tradition of leadership in the legal industry, specifically in Bar Associations. Currently, Ned Leibensberger is serving as president of the Boston Bar Association, and Chuck Work is a former president of the D.C. Bar Association.
