[ad_1]
New York Legal Week, a conference organized by ALM that attracts about 6,000 legal industry attendees, has been criticized for its coverage of sexual harassment during the event from January 29 to February 1.
After the meeting, Deeanna Fleener, vice president of solutions management at Deloitte, documented the anonymous accusations on LinkedIn, where they were picked up by Above the Law, ABA Journal and Legal IT Insider, among others.
“Out of a group of 29 women, 20 had personal experiences with inappropriate behavior in meetings. This is unacceptable and we must do better,” Fleener wrote in the post, which she also shared provided some details about the charges, but no details about where or when the incident occurred.
The organizer issued a statement condemning the reported sexual harassment incident:
“ALM has been made aware of reports of a high level of misconduct, including harassment and assault, occurring at unaffiliated venues in New York City during the week of the Legal Week event. We would like to start by strongly condemning all such behavior and reiterate our firm position that there is zero scope for any such behavior under any circumstances.
While these actions did not occur on site at Legal Week or at any conference-sponsored event, ALM is proud of the community connections it has made and is committed to working with other key stakeholders to prevent harassment of any industry member. Our standing event policy states that ALM is committed to providing a respectful meeting experience for everyone and will not tolerate harassment of any kind.
We will continue to work internally and with external stakeholders in the community to determine how we can best bring meaningful, positive change to the legal community and address larger issues in the profession. “
Unfortunately, harassment accusations surrounding Legal Week events are not uncommon. In a 2018 MeetingsNet survey, 56% of female meeting directors said they had experienced sexual harassment in a professional setting, and 29% said the professional setting was a meeting.
In the following MeetingsNet article, experts offer strategies for communicating and enforcing meeting codes of conduct.It is crucial that the code provides clear guidance What attendees should do if they feel they are being harassed, which may mean providing a phone number where the victim can call or send a text message. In addition, all activities should have clear procedures for staff to follow if an allegation is received.
3 Essential Elements of a Meeting Code of Conduct
Sexual Harassment Management Strategies
16 Strategies to Stop Sexual Harassment in Meetings
[ad_2]
Source link