Crowell & Moring's Astor Heaven Named 2012 LCLD Fellow

Washington, D.C.  – March 30, 2012: Crowell & Moring LLP is proud to announce that attorney Astor Heaven has been selected for the 2012 Fellows Program of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a national organization made up of the legal profession’s top general counsels and managing partners. Heaven joins a class of 134 attorneys from around the country who have been selected as LCLD Fellows for 2012.

The previous year’s class of 118 graduated March 27, 2012. “Both of these classes represent some of the most outstanding talent in the legal profession,” said Rick Palmore, LCLD Chair and General Counsel for General Mills. “They have been selected by the managing partners and general counsel of the law firms and corporate legal departments that they serve, so it is a particular honor.”

Heaven, resident in the firm’s D.C. office and an associate in the firm’s Antitrust and Litigation groups, focuses his practice on all aspects of antitrust law, including transactional matters such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and issues related to compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. He also maintains an active pro bono practice, having successfully represented both domestic violence clients in D.C. Superior court and disability applicants before the Social Security Administration. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1997, and served as a surface warfare officer for almost seven years. He currently serves as a trustee for the Naval Academy Athletic and Scholarship Program. Heaven earned his J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law.

LCLD’s Fellowship program was developed under the leadership of LCLD Talent Development Committee Chair Greg Jordan, Managing Partner of ReedSmith, and Committee Vice Chair Geoff Kelly, former General Counsel for Coca-Cola. “The program continues for these Fellows beyond the first year,” said Jordan. “We are developing a range of alumni activities that will see these Fellows staying active throughout their careers.”

“These talented individuals, already recognized within their own organizations, have spent an unparalleled year of professional development,” said Robert Grey, Executive Director of the LCLD. “The program is unique in the nation, focusing on increasing the success factors for the participants and the roles they play in our member organizations. “In addition, “ said Grey, “the Fellows Program creates valuable peer networking relationships for this select group of lawyers.”

The Fellows Program is one of several initiatives launched by LCLD since the organization’s creation in 2009. LCLD has also developed innovative programs to address “pipeline” issues that face the profession, encouraging minorities and women to enter the law and supplying programs to increase their likelihood of success in law school and beyond. LCLD has introduced “diversity secondments” which allow talented, diverse attorneys in law firms to work in corporate legal environments, broadening both their base of knowledge and their professional relationships.

“The LCLD has an extraordinarily energetic and ambitious board of directors and membership,” said Grey. “These individuals are eager, and frankly, impatient to see real results…real changes…in the makeup of the leadership of the profession.” For more information on the LCLD, please contact joe.slay@slaycommunications.com or visit: www.lcldnet.org.

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with approximately 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Anchorage, London, and Brussels.