Benesch’s B-Sharp Honored with Benchmark Award

Benesch’s B-Sharp, a networking and professional development group for women in-house counsel, is honored to receive The Benchmark Award from the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law.

The award recognizes a corporate legal department or law firm that demonstrates passion and commitment to leading the advancement of women’s issues. The honored organization must demonstrate its unique approach to increasing gender diversity in the legal profession and efforts to inspire and educate the members of its firm to understand the importance and value of gender parity in the legal profession.

B-Sharp was founded last year by partners Margo Wolf O’Donnell, co-chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, and Tara Kamradt, partner in the firm’s Health Care & Life Sciences Group. O’Donnell and Kamradt saw the need for additional professional development opportunities for women in-house counsel. The group is now led by all eight of the women partners in Benesch’s Chicago office.

With seven events in the last 18 months, an active LinkedIn group, a 1,000+-person membership list, and plans to innovate with additional service offerings, B-Sharp is growing exponentially and helping to fill a gap in the industry for women in-house counsel.

“B-Sharp is an excellent series of opportunities to network, strategize, and problem solve with peers without having to plus/minus the feedback for bias or gender exclusive perspective. It’s a much needed development space and we are all better for its existence,” said Wendy Webb Williams, B-Sharp Member and Chief Legal Officer at Sara Lee Frozen Bakery.

The group’s latest event, Management Skills for Women Attorneys, held in partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel Chicago, attracted over 100 attorneys to the Woman’s Athletic Club in Chicago. The attendees heard from a panel of top women general counsel and Benesch moderators O’Donnell and Kamradt.

“We are extremely proud of the B-Sharp group and what these women have accomplished in a short amount of time. Benesch is a firm that believes that when we provide the means for diverse groups to improve upon their skills, we work to better the practice of law as a whole,” said Gregg Eisenberg, Benesch’s Managing Partner and Executive Committee Member.

The Benchmark Award will be presented to Benesch’s B-Sharp on October 15 at the Coalition’s Annual Leadership Forum in Chicago.