Polsinelli has elevated two of its shareholders into diversity leadership roles. Both attorneys will continue working as shareholders of the firm in addition to their new diversity roles. The appointments come on the heels of Polsinelli having a new shareholder class of 50% women attorneys this year.
Shanti Mulpuru Katona, the vice-chair of the firm’s Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practice, has been appointed to serve as Polsinelli’s Chair of Attorney Diversity, working closely with Chief DEI Officer Philip G. Hampton II to lead the structures and initiatives the Diversity Committee and Women Empowerment Committee (WEC) are implementing to ensure that Polsinelli continues to be a place where all can thrive and feel supported. She has been serving on the firm’s Diversity Committee and is co-chair of Polsinelli’s Asian American Pacific Islander Resource Group. Outside of Polsinelli, she serves as the co-chair of the Diversity Working Group of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she has been a member of the board of directors since 2021.
“I am excited to step into this newly created role. I have spent my entire legal career at Polsinelli and think this is a wonderful opportunity to further enhance the firm’s existing DEI framework,” said Katona. “I want to develop structures that deepen our ability to recruit and retain diverse attorneys, provide them with a sense of belonging to better navigate challenges or barriers in their careers. I am looking forward to working with our different practice groups and the Women’s Empowerment Committee to identify these opportunities and get started.”
Shareholder Alexis L. Angell, who serves as chair of the American Health Law Association’s Medical Staff Credentialing Peer Review Practice Group, has been appointed chair of Polsinelli’s Women Empowerment Committee. She succeeds Jane E. Arnold, who served as chair of the committee since 2015 and is now focusing on her role as co-chair for the firm’s Business Department. Angell is an active leader in many diversity-focused organizations. She serves as a mentor in and co-city lead for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) and is an active member of the Dallas Bar Association’s Women Empowered to Lead Program.
“Jane has been a world-class mentor and tremendous leader over the past eight years, and I am excited and honored to step into this role and work closely with our DEI team,” said Angell. “I am proud to serve as a voice for the women of Polsinelli to senior leadership and am looking forward to creating and continuing initiatives across the firm to further promote our professional development, advancement and well-being, especially as our new shareholder class is 50% women.”
Polsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with more than 1,000 attorneys in 22 offices nationwide.
