Created in October last year, ABPI’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee celebrates its first year with actions on several fronts in the fight for the cause. Under the leadership of the coordinators — lawyers Joana de Mattos Siqueira, Isabella Cardozo, Pedro Vilhena, and Monique Bastos — the committee has been delivering its message about diversity, which includes respect for the environment, people, and their differences. These topics have already been addressed in webinars, courses, podcasts, and posts on social networks and were present in the last two editions of the International Congress on Intellectual Property.
In November and December of this year, on emblematic dates for the diversity cause, the Committee will be posting messages focused on the racial issue, violence against women, and Pink October on social networks. The Committee is also working to present an action plan for the new ABPI board that will take over in 2022. “ABPI’s engagement in the cause of diversity is reverberating in the legal environment”, says coordinator Joana de Mattos Siqueira. “Many law firms that had not yet joined the cause are already internally implementing their diversity committees.”
In October 2020, during ABPI’s 40th Congress, the participants of the networking session “Diversity and Inclusion in Intellectual Property” debated the importance of this topic in companies. The session was attended by Fernanda Beser, Intellectual Property Counsel at Netflix, Maria Goldberg from YDUQS, and Simone Bittencourt, from Philip Morris Brasil.
At the event in celebration of International Women’s Day, in March this year, held jointly by ABPI, ABAPI (Brazilian Association of Industrial Property Agents), ASIPI (Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property), and ASPI (São Paulo Association of Intellectual Property), the theme dealt with violence against women and brought together Andréa Possinhas, from ABAPI; Neide Bueno, from ASPI; Erika Diniz, from ABPI, Elisabeth Siemsen do Amaral, from ASIPI; and Kone Cesário, from the National Law School (FND) of UFRJ – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The course “Racial Diversity Management and the New Corporate Responsibility” was held during May and June, coordinated by Renato Ferreira, a lawyer, professor, and expert in Racial Relations, Human Rights, and Diversity Management. In June, the webinar “LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in the legal market” was also held, bringing together the lawyer Luanda Pires and Felipe Britto, from Philip Morris International. At the meeting, the participants concluded that prejudice against gays, lesbians, transgender people, and the like is ingrained in society and will only be overcome with everyone’s efforts.
In August, at ABPI’s 41st Congress, the Interactive Networking session brought the theme “Diversity and Inclusion: learning and sharing successful experiences” to the debate, with the participation of Barbara Rosenberg, from BMA Advogados; Laura Davis Mattar, from Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr and Quiroga Advogados; Marcia Cicarelli Barbosa de Oliveira, from Demarest Advogados; and Monique Bastos, from Veirano Advogados, moderated by lawyer Renata Shaw.
