Advisory Council

Ida Abbott

Ida Abbott is an expert on legal talent and career development, especially mentoring, advancing women, and her current focus, retirement strategies for lawyers and law firms. Her work on mentoring includes serving as Vice Chair of the National Legal Mentoring Consortium and co‐founding the Professional Development Consortium. She has worked on mentoring projects with firms and organizations across the world, including the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in the Middle East and an NGO/US Embassy collaboration in Croatia. For many years, Ida was a mentor in Law Without Walls, a global law school program that accelerates innovation in legal education and practice. She is the author of many seminal books, including The Lawyer’s Guide to Mentoring, Sponsoring Women: What Men Need to Know, and Lawyers’ Professional Development: The Legal Employer’s Comprehensive Guide. In recognition of her lifetime contributions, Ida was elected a Fellow of both the American Bar Foundation and the College of Law Practice Management.

Nesha R. Christian-Hendrickson

Nesha R. Christian-Hendrickson was born on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. She is barred in both the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Currently, Attorney Christian-Hendrickson serves as Assistant Commissioner/Legal Counsel to the Virgin Islands Department of Labor. Since 2008, Attorney Christian-Hendrickson has volunteered her time in a variety of capacities for the Virgin Islands Bar Association, currently serving as the Treasurer, and is a Past President of the Board of Governors. She is one of the founding members of the Bar Foundation Board of the V.I. Bar Association and is also a member of the American Bar Association, the National Council of Bar Presidents, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Council. Attorney Christian-Hendrickson is a former member of the Board of the Territorial Public Defenders, a Trustee for the Good Hope Country Day School and is also the Women’s Division Chapter Leader for the Virgin Islands Chapter of the Soka Gakkai International-United States which is a worldwide Buddhist organization. Attorney Christian Hendrickson’s vision is to improve the experience of the members of the Bar Association by creating programs that foster greater civility, wellness, and ethics.

Ben Grimes

Ben is the founder of BKG Leadership Coaching, a leadership development practice focused on humanizing the practice of law by offering lawyers and law firms the skills to lead with trust, transparency, empathy, and passion. He is a nationally recognized expert in professional responsibility and has a deep practical background in teaching, training, and mentoring lawyers. Through his coaching practice, Ben consults with law practices of all types and sizes to develop individual and organizational approaches to leadership development in legal organizations.

Fiona Trevelyan Hornblower

Fiona Trevelyan Hornblower is President and CEO of the NALP Foundation, where she guides the Foundation’s research initiatives, publications, and programs on key issues such as the professional development of lawyers, access to and diversity within the legal profession, and the effective management of lawyers. Prior to joining the Foundation, Fiona served as Assistant Dean for Career Development and Public Service at Boston University School of Law, and as the National Director of Legal Recruiting for Bingham McCutchen.

Justice Douglas S. Lang

Justice Lang served as a member of the  Fifth District Court of Appeals of Texas, from 2002 to 2018. He is senior counsel at Thompson Coburn LLP, in Dallas, and Co-Chair, Firm Appellate Practice.  He is a past president of the Dallas Bar Association, where he initiated and administered an effective mentoring program for beginning lawyers that was adopted by the State Bar of Texas.  He is also past president of the National Council of Bar Presidents, has served as an officer and a board member of the American Inns of Court Foundation, and has been involved with local Inns–which are dedicated to mentoring as part of professionalism. Working with ABOTA (American Board of Trial Advocates) he has done extensive work toward training and mentoring new lawyers. Justice Lang is the author of a book that describes how lawyers learn from their peers and seniors about the values of honesty and integrity in the legal profession.

Mark C. Palmer

Mark serves as Chief Counsel of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism where he uses education and outreach to promote professionalism, civility, and integrity in the Illinois legal and judicial systems. Mark has led the Commission’s lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program serving newer Illinois lawyers, and developing and delivering educational programming to lawyers, judges, and law students in all nine Illinois law schools. Mark has served on the Board of Governors for the Illinois State Bar Association and chaired of the Public Interest Law Initiative’s 6th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee for over a decade. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law since 2009.

Len Polsky

Len is the Law Society of Alberta’s Manager of Legal Technology & Mentorship. He established and directs the Mentor Connect and Mentor Express programs and is responsible for developing, implementing and managing the Law Society’s practice technology programs for lawyers in Alberta.

Jayne R. Reardon

Jayne R. Reardon, of Jayne R. Reardon LLC, provides ethics and regulatory advice to lawyers and other legal service providers and serves as a neutral in alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Formerly, she served as Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, a statewide organization devoted to promoting professionalism, diversity and inclusion, and improved effectiveness of the legal system. While at the Commission, one of the signature programs Jayne developed and implemented was a statewide mentoring program with customized curricula geared to newer lawyers, mid-career
lawyers, and under-represented attorneys. Jayne writes and speaks to groups in law schools, firms, bar associations, and corporations on the positive impact of mentoring to the development and professionalism of attorneys.

Roberta Oluwaseun Roberts

Roberta Oluwaseun Roberts, Esq. is an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation – Appellate Section. Roberta is a co-chair of the DOJ Association of Black Attorneys (DOJABA) Attorney Recruitment and Professional Development Committee, where she assists with law student outreach initiatives and professional development programs for DOJABA members. She formerly ran DOJABA’s mentoring program for attorneys in the organization. Roberta is also an adjunct professor at The George Washington University Law School, where she teaches Legal Research and Writing for international LLM students, and serves on the inaugural GW Law Public Interest Advisory Council and its Professional Development Committee. Roberta has experience mentoring law students and entry-level attorneys both formally and informally, and runs an online community of more than 700 Christian women lawyers, Bar exam takers, and law students in the U.S., Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe called Grace for the Grind®.

Jen Trippett

Jen Trippett is the Senior Manager, Professional & Staff Development, at Steptoe & Johnson PLLC. There she oversees the design, implementation, and growth of programming to enhance the knowledge and skills of more than 600 attorneys and staff. Jen taps into her 15+ years of experience in professional development to create learning opportunities that are engaging, innovative, and practical. She currently serves on the Professional Development Advisory Committee of the Association of Legal Administrators and is also a member of the National Association for Law Placement.