Three Haynes and Boone, LLP lawyers have been selected to participate in the 2021 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows and Pathfinders Programs. Partner Jason Lao has been named a Fellow, and Associates Serge Agbre and Maria Hopper will participate in the Pathfinder Program.
Founded in 2009, LCLD is a growing organization of more than 350 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who are personally committed to creating a more diverse and inclusive legal profession. LCLD programs are designed to prepare diverse young lawyers for leadership roles in the profession.
“Jason, Serge and Maria are future leaders in the firm and the legal industry, and we look forward to seeing how they benefit from their participation in the LCLD programs,” said Haynes and Boone Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Jennifer Reddien.
As an LCLD Fellow, Lao will participate in a yearlong, in-depth program devoted to relationship-building, in-person training, peer-group projects, and other activities to develop legal and leadership skills.
Based in Orange County, Lao is an intellectual property (IP) lawyer with substantial experience handling disputes related to patents, trade secrets, copyrights, and complex technology issues. He has represented clients across various industries and technologies, including biotech, semiconductor, wireless communications, smart meters, standards patents, trusted computing, digital rights management, satellite technology, virtual machines, and cybersecurity.
Agbre and Hopper are in the 2021 class of the LCLD Pathfinder Program, which is designed for high-potential, early-career attorneys. The program provides tools for developing and leveraging internal professional networks, foundational leadership skills, and an understanding of career development strategies applicable to both in-house and law firm practice.
Based in Washington, D.C., Agbre is an energy lawyer focusing on commodities trading, transactions, and regulation primarily in the power and renewables and oil and natural gas sectors, advising electric, natural gas, metals, other commercial end-users, hedge providers, introducing brokers, commodity trading advisors, other commodity derivative contract intermediaries and related market participants in a variety of enforcement, M&A, project financing, and regulatory matters involving CFTC and FERC regulation. His practice includes negotiating, reviewing, and drafting contracts for energy transactions involving standardized master agreements and customized bilateral agreements.
Based in Dallas, Hopper focuses on mergers, acquisitions, venture capital/private equity investments, and corporate compliance and governance. Specifically, she has experience representing corporate strategic, private equity and venture capital clients in structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, as well as equity and debt minority investments. A graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, Hopper is also an Adjunct Professor at the law school for the 2020-2021 academic year.