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PDC Webinar: Litigation Competencies and Benchmarks

June 5, 2018

In response to some recent member posts to the PDC ListServe regarding litigation competencies and benchmarks, we are excited to announce an upcoming member-sharing webinar where PDC members will discuss various approaches and lessons learned related to developing and implementing litigation competencies.

We’re excited to have the following PDC members participating on this upcoming program:

  • Jennifer Bluestein, Director of Global Professional Development and Training at Greenberg Traurig, LLP
  • Kathleen Dunn is the Director of Attorney Development at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.
  • Valerie L. Fitch is the Senior Director of Talent Development at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

This webinar is free and open only to PDC members. There is no fee, but registration is required. Click here to register for the program.

If you have any questions about registering for this webinar, contact Becca Sechrist, the Coordinator of Association Services, at bsechrist@pdclegal.org or call the PDC office at 703-506-3260.

About the Presenters

Valerie Fitch

Valerie Fitch is Pillsbury’s Senior Director of Talent Development.  Prior to her involvement in attorney professional development, she was a practicing litigator at the firm.  She has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School for over 25 years, teaching Fundamentals of Legal Drafting. Ms. Fitch received her A.B from Smith College, and her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

In her current role, Ms. Fitch is responsible for the development and execution of strategies for attracting, retaining, training, motivating and advancing Pillsbury attorneys.  She has spoken widely through the years on a variety of professional development topics, including written and oral communication skills, business development planning to fit your personality, change management, forging successful professional relationships, and more. Ms. Fitch serves on the following Pillsbury committees: On-Campus Recruiting, Attorney Development, Pro Bono, Diversity, and the Board’s Task Force on the Retention of Women Attorneys.  

Jennifer Bluestein

Jennifer Bluestein is an alumna of Northwestern University School of Law and has been certified as a Senior Professional Human Resource (SPHR) professional. Jennifer turned her experiences as a corporate trainer and employment lawyer into a new career in 1999. Previously a Director of Professional Development at Baker & McKenzie, Jennifer is currently in charge of all training and professional development for Greenberg Traurig (GT). At GT, Jennifer oversees a program for 2000 lawyers in nearly 40 offices around the world. She is also responsible for all learning, performance management and professional development for all firm employees as well as overseeing management and technology training programs. In her role, she has developed and given client development training, introduced alternative attorney tracks, implemented a resident attorney program and created firm wide core competencies that are specific to each practice group. Jennifer has also been certified for nearly nine years in the Strengths Deployment Inventory that forms the basis of one of her NALP sessions.


Jennifer is active in the Chicago Bar Association, for which she co-chaired the Alliance for Women. As a former Chair of the Professional Development Consortium (the PDC), Jennifer led development of the PDC’s strategic plan with a talented team of board members. She currently serves as a liaison to the ABA Commission on Women and is on the board of Connections for Abused Women and Their Children (www.cawc.org). In her free time, she is a strategic partner with the Lyric Opera and assists them in HR and development issues. She has also contributed articles to various legal periodicals, including The National Law Journal. Currently, Jennifer is editing a book to be published to PLI in Fall 2018.

Kathleen Dunn

Kathleen Dunn is the Director of Attorney Development at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in Washington, DC where she directs strategic activities for talent management, attorney professional development, succession planning, and performance management.  Ms. Dunn is also on the faculty (adjunct) of The Catholic University of America in Washington where she teaches Organizational Development and Change at CUA’s Busch School of Business and Economics. She is also on the faculty of the U.S. Department of Commerce Institute of Organization Management where she teaches a number of courses including, “Hiring, Firing, and Everything in Between,” and “Dealing with Difficult People.”  Prior to joining Katten, Kathleen Dunn was Director of Learning and Development at Patton Boggs (now Squire Patton Boggs) in Washington, DC. 
 
Ms. Dunn is a leader in legal professional development and talent management with specific expertise in industrial psychology and behavioral science.  She has served on the Board of Directors for the Professional Development Consortium (PDC), an international organization of legal professional development practitioners in law firms, law schools, government agencies and corporations and regularly presents at PDC, NALP, and Association for Talent Development (ATD) conferences.  Ms. Dunn has authored numerous articles and blogs, and is a contributing author to the 2016 DEVELOPING TALENT, A Practical Guide (NALP).
 
Kathleen Dunn holds an MBA in Economics from Trinity University and an MS Organizational Development from CUA. She has earned the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance® credential (CPLP®) from ATD CI (the Association for Talent Development Certification Institute), which identifies her  as a top performer in Learning and Development, is a certified MBTI® Master Practitioner, an EQ-i 2.0® practitioner and a certified executive coach.