In early 2015, Walmart, DuPont, General Mills, and Verizon announced the launch of the Engage Excellence program, an inclusion program for ethnically diverse and openly LGBT attorneys. The program is designed to create opportunities for diverse attorneys by putting them in leadership roles on significant cases. Finnegan’s Mareesa A. Frederick was selected for the program and reflected on her participation one year into the program.
Frederick said, "A year into this program, it is clear that there is still a need to be intentional about providing diverse attorneys with access to the same opportunities as their counterparts. Engage Excellence responds directly and innovatively to this need. Personally, Engage Excellence translated into an immeasurable opportunity to serve as Walmart’s lead counsel in a significant and high-profile trademark case, served as an avenue to establish a relationship with a company that both believes in and understands the importance of diversity, and provided other diverse attorneys at my firm with opportunities to grow professionally."
