Monica Parham serves as Crowell & Moring LLP’s Diversity Counsel, with full-time responsibility for coordinating the Firm’s implementation of its diversity initiative. She works closely with the Firm’s Diversity Council, and Recruiting and Lawyer Development Committees, to address and enhance the Firm’s recruitment, retention and promotion of attorneys from groups traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession. She also facilitates communications regarding client expectations, and assists in coordinating client development efforts, focusing on diversity.

Until January 2007, Monica was a full-time litigator in the Firm’s International Governmental Litigation and Arbitration group. She has litigated in numerous venues across the country, including federal and state courts, trial and appellate courts, and in arbitration proceedings. Monica has extensive experience in various substantive areas of the law, including products liability, commercial contracts, False Claims Act / qui tam, telecommunications, and insurance coverage. Through her representations, Monica has gained significant experience in the area of E-discovery, including implementation of "best practices" in document retention, discovery and production. In the international context, Monica has represented victims of terrorism in pursuing claims under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. She has also represented a major products company in transnational litigation involving consumer products.

Monica received her law degree in 1993 from the Yale Law School, where she was Finals Chair of the Yale Moot Court Board and senior editor of the Yale Law and Policy Review. She is a 1990 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead Scholar and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Monica joined the firm in 1994, following a judicial clerkship with the Honorable T.S. Ellis, III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She has served on a number of firm committees, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Crowell & Moring Foundation. She is also an active participant in the firm’s pro bono program, frequently serving as Guardian Ad Litem in disputed child custody matters. For her firm activities, Monica received a firm Pro Bono award in 2001, and Crowell & Moring Firm Citizenship awards in 2005 and 2006.

Monica is a member of the Bars of North Carolina and the District of Columbia, as well as various federal district and appellate courts. She is also a member of the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia, where she serves as Co-Chair of the WBA's Litigation Forum, and a member of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals, Inc.

Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A., 1990 - Morehead Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa
Yale Law School, J.D., 1993

Publications
"Stewardship for the Sick: Preserving Assets For Asbestos Victims Through Inactive Docket Programs," 33 Tex. Tech. L. Rev. 1, [selected by the Texas Tech Law Review's Board of Editors as the Outstanding Lead Article of the Year for 2001] (2001). Co-Authors: Monica G. Parham and Marks Behrens (Shook, Hardy & Bacon).

"Fostering Mutual Respect and Cooperation Between State Courts and State Legislatures: A Sound Alternative to a Tort Tug of War," 103 West Virginia L. Rev.1 (Fall 2000). Co-Authors: Monica G. Parham, Victor E. Schwartz and Mark A. Behrens (Shook, Hardy and Bacon).

Speeches & Presentations
"Overcoming Obstacles and Inviting Change: Strategies for Successfully Advancing and Retaining Success," presented by The New Girls’ Network (May 2006). Panelist and Speaker: Monica G. Parham.

"Successful Use of Temporary Attorneys," Presented by the Litigation Forum of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia (March 2006). Panelist and Speaker: Monica G. Parham.