The National Law Journal recently launched a profile series of plaintiffs’ bar leaders. On September 6, DiCello Levitt Co-Founding Partner, Adam Levitt, was featured. Adam discussed diversity, authenticity, and various successes and challenges facing the plaintiffs’ bar during his interview with reporter Christine Schiffner.
During the Q&A session, Adam was asked questions about his own legal experience, his priorities as a firm leader, diversity and inclusion goals, and the advice he has for young lawyers.
Advice and Training Young Lawyers
In discussing his goals for the trial bar’s next generation and what young lawyers should be thinking about to gain new experiences, Adam remarked, “Our goal is hands-on training of young lawyers because we believe that the trial bar’s next generation and future leaders are going to come from our firm. It is a learned skill and that’s something we take seriously and always focus on.”
On His Own Career and Diversity and Inclusion
Adam described the StarLink corn case as pivotal to his career. The matter was one of the first big crop contamination cases, where he represented all of the corn farmers in the United States. Together with the economic expert, Adam developed the damages model that has been used in every single one of those cases since then, combining his knowledge and expertise in the securities markets and the agricultural industry.
With respect to the firm, Adam has been working to try to place diverse people in positions of leadership that reflect the same diversity talent pool across the United States. In addition to the appointments of Amy Keller as the youngest woman to ever be appointed co-lead counsel in an MDL in the Equifax matter and Diandra “Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann as the first Black woman named co-lead counsel in a mass tort MDL, the firm’s newest office in Washington, D.C., may be the only plaintiffs side office that is comprised of primarily Black women. “Creating a diversity of thoughts and perspectives [is vital to the firm’s future.]”
On a personal note, Adam described how he manages work-life balance through music and literature, including emailing his 12-year-old son a “song of the day” every day. States Adam, “If I’m in a trial, I’ve been sending him a song every day and I made it clear to him that they are not necessarily songs that I like but that I think you should hear and understand as he firms [up] his own musical taste. Being able to work with him and helping him create his own intellectual path has been really gratifying.”
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