Albert S. Dandridge, III Named Chief Diversity Officer

November 14, 2011 – Philadelphia, PA: Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP is pleased to announce that Albert S. Dandridge, III has been named Chief Diversity Officer for the Firm. He will take on this role in addition to continuing to serve as chair of the Firm’s Diversity Committee.

Mr. Dandridge has a long history of championing diversity and inclusion in the profession. He is a member of the executive committee, serves on the board of directors, and is the Treasurer and Secretary for the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, Inc. (PDLG), an organization committed to increasing the number of attorneys from diverse backgrounds working at law firms and in corporate law departments in the Greater Philadelphia region. He was recently honored by PDLG for his service and dedication to the organization. He was also a member of the National Advisory Board for the National Symposium on Diversity in the Legal Profession, a day-long conference held on November 8, 2011 and sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association that featured keynote remarks by Robert J. Grey, Jr., Executive Director of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and a past President of the American Bar Association. Mr. Dandridge has been a long time member of The Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, Inc., and in 2010 served as co-chair for the organization’s Dr. Martin Luther King Annual Memorial Breakfast.

In addition to working to increase diversity within the profession, Mr. Dandridge has long been an advocate for inclusion and civil rights as well. He is an active member of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Civil Gideon Task Force, which has sought to develop an effective system of “Civil Gideon” in Philadelphia and has worked to put concrete and practical proposals into practice that would advance the implementation of a civil right to counsel in adversarial civil proceedings where basic human needs are at stake. He is also a former member of the board of Community Legal Services, Inc., which has helped low-income Philadelphia residents obtain equal access to justice by providing them with advice and representation in civil legal matters for more than 40 years.

Schnader’s commitment to diversity extends back to 1935 when William A. Schnader and Bernard G. Segal, two attorneys from religiously diverse backgrounds, did something unprecedented within the Philadelphia legal community at that time by founding a firm based on diversity and tolerance. The principles that the Firm was founded upon more than seventy five years ago remain central to the Firm’s mission and Schnader supports the development of a diverse workforce through the activities of the Firm’s Diversity Committee, which seeks to educate the Firm about diversity issues and suggests policies and procedures to promote diversity, the activities of the Women’s Initiative, and through firm wide outreach and events designed to increase the number of diverse attorneys at the Firm. Schnader was a founding member of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, and has supported the recruitment and development of women and minority attorneys through a variety of programs including the Western Pennsylvania Diversity Initiative, the Philadelphia Area Diversity Job Fair, and several programs sponsored by the Allegheny County Bar Association, including the Diversity Collaborative Committee, the Minority Summer Internship, and the Summer Law Clerkship Diversity Initiative. The Firm supports the development of women and minority attorneys through mentoring and training, and encourages our diverse attorneys to attend conferences and participate in organizations and associations that promote and discuss diversity within the profession. Through these efforts and others, the Firm seeks to create a workplace in which people of diverse backgrounds can grow and thrive professionally, as this makes the Firm more dynamic and allows us to better serve the needs of our clients in a diverse marketplace.

Mr. Dandridge is chair of the Firm’s Securities practice group and is resident in the Firm’s Philadelphia office. His practice primarily involves municipal and corporate finance matters. He regularly counsels major public companies, broker-dealers and investment advisors on their securities reporting and financing requirements. Mr. Dandridge has also lectured frequently on securities topics. Before joining Schnader, Mr. Dandridge worked in Washington, D.C. at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an Associate Director of Small Business and International Corporate Finance in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. In addition, he served as Special Counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance. He is a former member of the Board of Governors for the NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange and a former member of the Board of Governors for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

Mr. Dandridge is a member of the American Law Institute, has been regularly listed in The Best Lawyers in America for corporate law (2007 – 2012) and recognized as a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” for securities and venture finance law (2004-2007), and is rated AV® Preeminentâ„¢ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®. In addition to the role he has played with regard to diversity in the profession, Mr. Dandridge has been active within the profession in other ways as well. He has served in a variety of positions with the Philadelphia Bar Association, and is a former member of the organization’s Board of Governors and a former chair of the Business Law Section. He also served as co-chair of the 2008 Bench-Bar Conference Committee. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Legal Intelligencer and the past chair of the Hearing Committee for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Dandridge is an adjunct professor of International Securities Transactions at Boston University School of Law’s Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law Studies, and was awarded the 2011 John Stephen Baerst Award for Excellence in Teaching by the school. He is a former member of the board of directors for the Temple Law Alumni Association.

Mr. Dandridge, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a Vietnam combat veteran and was awarded a Bronze Star with Combat “V” for Valor, a Purple Heart and numerous other awards and citations in recognition of his service to our country. He now serves as a member of the board of directors for the USO of Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey and is a former member of the Advisory Board to the Agent Orange Litigation Settlement.

ABOUT SCHNADER HARRISON SEGAL & LEWIS LLP
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP is a law firm of 200 attorneys with offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, California, Washington, DC, New Jersey and Delaware. Schnader serves local, national and international clients ranging from large corporations to start-ups and entrepreneurs to individual clients in more than 40 areas of the law. In addition to the firm’s traditional strengths in complex litigation, commercial transactions, wealth management, and family law, the firm has significant experience and depth in intellectual property, international commerce and labor and employment laws, financial services, construction law, real estate development, corporate governance, appellate services, technology-based companies, media and communications, environmental, energy, nonprofit, government relations and regulatory affairs, aviation issues, business reorganization, and securities and shareholder litigation. For more information visit www.Schnader.com or contact Caroline Brobeil Nassan, Public Relations Manager for the firm.

###