Three Philadelphia attorneys were among the honorees included on the National LGBT Bar Association’s Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 list, released last week.
The award is presented to those lawyers who have “distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBT equality.” The winners will be recognized during next month’s Lavender Law Conference in Washington, D.C.
“Every individual recognized has made unique contributions to the fight for equality,” said LGBT Bar Association executive director D’Arcy Kemnitz.
Lee Carpenter Temple University, assistant professor
Carpenter, 39, earned her law degree from Temple in 2000 and is now in her fifth year teaching fulltime at her alma mater.
Prior to launching her teaching career, the New Jersey native served as the staff attorney and later legal director for Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, the predecessor to Equality Pennsylvania.
She interned for the agency during law school, which encouraged her to switch her legal focus to civil rights.
“I was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper in college and I originally thought I wanted to do First Amendment, freedom-of-the-press issues. But I became more interested in LGBT rights in law school and, after my internship, I became hooked and decided that’s what I wanted to do,” she said.
Carpenter’s courses include legal research and writing, an introduction to public-interest law and topics relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and the law.
Many of the students in her LGBT-focused classes are allies, she said.
“That’s very important because LGBT people desperately need allies in the straight community and access to lawyers who understand our issues from a legal perspective and also who have the cultural competency to represent them in a way that affords them the dignity they deserve,” she said.
Carpenter, a member of the board of directors and legal advisory board at Mazzoni Center, said that while she enjoys both the classroom and the courtroom, her current career track allows her more opportunities for legal exploration of issues that could impact the LGBT community.
“When you’re in practice as a public-interest lawyer, you see a lot of systemic problems but you don’t have time to talk about them in any depth because you’re so focused on meeting the needs of your clients,” she said. “Right now, I’m working on an article about LGBT rights and it’s a lot of work, but it’s a great opportunity to sit down and really think about these issues. It’s a rare privilege.”
Carpenter, whose partner, Tiffany Palmer, was named on the top-40 list last year, said she’s honored to join the ranks of her fellow honorees.
“Many of the people who won with me are people I know and deeply respect. It means a lot to be included with them and it’s just really nice to be recognized for the things I’ve done to try to make a difference for our community.”
Dee Spagnuolo Ballard Spahr, partner
Spagnuolo is a former Peace Corps volunteer who spent two years working in the Dominican Republic and, closer to home, counseled at-risk urban youth — positions that motivated her to pursue a career in law.
“I saw a law degree as a good platform and tool for continuing service in some capacity,” she said. “So now I’m able to work on behalf of both for-profit companies and also pro-bono clients, so it’s a nice balance.”
The 38-year-old New Hampshire native earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003.
She is a partner in Ballard’s Litigation Department and a member of the White Collar/Investigations Group. She has handled civil and criminal cases regarding the state and federal False Claims Acts, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise compliance and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
She is currently heading a group of Ballard attorneys who are working in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Bar Association to create a report on the legal disparities LGBT Pennsylvanians face — in such areas as property rights, Family and Medical Leave Act coverage and insurance benefits. Spagnuolo has also testified before the state legislature in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Spagnuolo is a member of the firm’s Diversity Council and its Hiring Committee, which she has represented a number of times at the Lavender Law Conference’s career fair.
She said the LGBT Bar Association award is a boon both for her and her employer.
“When I look at the other recipients, I think it’s quite an honor to be counted among them,” she said. “It also says a lot about Ballard, that it’s a place that is supportive and welcoming of LGBT attorneys and staff. They’ve provided me with opportunities to pursue service in the pro-bono area, and they participate every year in the Lavender Law Conference and provide financial support for it. So it’s really meaningful to me that I can be a part of a law firm that supports these causes.”
Christopher Stearns Aramark, assistant general counsel
A Philadelphia native, Stearns is a 2005 graduate of University of Pennsylvania Law School.
He worked as an associate at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP for four years before joining Aramark in 2009.
Stearns began with the food-services corporation in its higher-education branch but, this past spring, was promoted to work on its K-12 line of business.
“I advise the leadership on a host of contract matters, employment matters, food-safety issues, really any legal or contractual matter that presents itself,” he said.
His interest in the legal field was sparked during his first debate class as a high-school freshman.
“I’ve always been interested in advocacy and I think that drew me to law,” he said. “It afforded me the opportunity to take the facts from one side or the other and to advocate for an outcome.”
That advocacy has extended to the LGBT community.
Stearns, 33, was active in Penn’s LGBT Center, has volunteered for Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club, sang with the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus and served on the diversity committee while at Morgan Lewis.
Since joining Aramark, he has been committed to developing its support system for LGBT employees — including the pending affinity group for LGBT staffers.
“Aramark has a strong commitment to diversity but there weren’t many resources available to LGBT employees, so I’ve been working with the chief diversity officer and with global HR to develop some of these resources,” he said. “We now have a 90-percent rating on the [Human Rights Campaign] Corporate Equality Index, and we have great LGBT-friendly policies and benefits. But one thing we didn’t have was an affinity group, unlike most of our competitors and our clients, so that’s something I really wanted to work on.”
Stearns joined with a few other employees to create a business model and got approval from the company to officially launch the group, Aramark’s first affinity group, within the next year.
He said he’s eager to connect with his fellow awardees next month and to garner their input for the success of the new group.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to receive this award and to be among the high quality and caliber of the other winners. We have in common a strong commitment to the LGBT community and to our own professional development,” he said. “It’ll be very exciting for me to have a chance to meet with them, share experiences and get some great ideas and contacts for Aramark’s own LGBT employee resource group.”