Brad Grimes, Esq., Assistant Director for West Virginia University College of Law’s Meredith Center for Career Services and Professional Development, recently had the privilege of attending and speaking at the National Association for Law Placement’s (NALP) 2024 Annual Education Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. That conference is the single largest, most comprehensive, and most well-respected educational program in the legal placement profession, covering all areas of the profession from recruiting and career counseling to professional development, law student PD, diversity management, and more.
The conference, which ran from April 16-19, 2024, was NALP’s largest to date, with over 1,800 attendees from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The educational content offered included much to choose from — over 90 concurrent sessions presented by law school and law firm placement professionals, along with two plenary sessions.
Brad presented one of those concurrent sessions, a well-received program titled LGBTQ+ Safe Zone Training for Legal Professionals. This training instructed participants on contemporary LGBTQ+ core vocabulary, pronouns and appropriate usage, and inclusive language. It also discussed gender diversity as it relates to gender identity and expression and non-binary identities. The session examined some of the obstacles and challenges faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community, historically and presently, along with a discussion of intersectionality and its relationship to the marginalization of sexual and gender minorities. The session’s overall focus was exploring ways that the law placement professionals can work toward becoming better LGBTQ+ allies for their law students and law firm colleagues.
"I am very honored to have had my presentation proposal accepted by NALP, and to be able to represent WVU College of Law’s Career Services and Professional Development office on a national stage," said Grimes.
"The conference provided a great networking opportunity for engagement with peer institutions from all over North America and Canada, and I returned to Morgantown with increased awareness of national legal hiring trends, challenges and strategies, which I am eager to apply in my work with WVU College of Law’s students and alumni."
Brad’s Bio:
Brad Grimes, Esq., is the Assistant Director for West Virginia University’s College of Law, Meredith Center for Career Services and Professional Development. Prior to this role, Brad served as the Program Coordinator for West Virginia University’s LGBTQ+ Center where, in addition to planning and implementing student, faculty and staff programming, he was an active speaker, presenting more than a hundred LGBTQ+ Safe Zone and Transgender Safe Zone Trainings and other presentations on WVU’s campuses and in the broader community. As a native West Virginian, and as a gay attorney living and working in West Virginia, Brad is passionate about his advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to his work for the WVU LGBTQ+ Center, Brad also teaches a course, LGBTQ+ Rights and the Law, for WVU’s Honors College. As more and more states pass anti-LGBTQ legislation, Brad’s work in support of sexual and gender minorities is increasingly relevant and important, and he believes that it is vital for legal professionals to be knowledgeable about LGBTQ+ issues and concerns.
