Diversity in Leadership and Hair Relaxer Litigation with Diandra "Fu" Debrosse Zimmermann & LaRuby May

Mass Tort News LegalCast

English - March 14, 2023 10:00 - 51 minutes - 73.7 MB - ★★★★ - 3 ratings
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Previous Episode: The League: Uniting All Women in Legal with Melissa Lamore

Next Episode: Let's Talk Opioids, PFAS, Social Media, & East Palestine Train Crash with Jayne Conroy

Hair relaxer docket leaders Diandra “Fu” Zimmermann and LaRuby May speak with Elisa D’Amico about their leadership roles in the litigation over cancer-causing hair relaxer products marketed to minority women and share some insights about diversity in leadership and in the law.

Dicello Levitt Managing Partner Diandra “Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Mass Tort practice and regularly participates in the firm’s Public Client, Environmental, Personal Injury, Civil Rights, and Trial practice groups. Fu is an outstanding litigator who focuses on mass torts and class actions. She has won hundreds of millions of dollars for her clients, including in products liability and discrimination cases, and sexual assault lawsuits. Recently appointed Co-Lead Counsel of In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3060), Fu is a true trailblazer, having previously been the first black woman to be appointed as Co-Lead Counsel in an MDL for In re: Abbott Laboratories, et al., Preterm Infant Nutrition Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3026).Among her many accolades, The National Law Journal recently recognized her as a Litigation Trailblazer and Lawdragon named her one of the 500 Leading Consumer Lawyers.

LaRuby May is an inspirational lawyer who has been fighting for underserved clients for over 25 years. She is a Founding Partner of May Jung Law, a civil rights and social justice woman of color owned law firm, and currently serves on the Plaintiff’s Executive Committee (PEC) for the hair relaxer litigation (MDL No. 3060), having been appointed to leadership along with Fu and one of the most diverse leadership teams in history, including ten other attorneys of color. LaRuby also serves on the PEC for Paraquat representing clients suffering from Parkinson’s disease. LaRuby has represented clients injured by PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls), and currently represents clients injured by 3M earplugs and other catastrophic injuries. Her focus is on identifying and supporting plaintiffs from a grassroots level, specifically Black and Brown communities that are often disproportionately impacted and excluded from mass tort litigation.

Both Fu and LaRuby are Founding Members of Shades of Mass, a non-profit organization that aims to rectify the inequity in the appointment of attorneys of color to primary leadership roles and the overall diversity missing in mass tort and complex litigation case leadership.

Fu Social Media

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/diandra-fu-debrosse-zimmermann-4bb3956/

Dicello Levitt - https://dicellolevitt.com/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/dicellolevitt/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DiCelloLevitt

Twitter - https://twitter.com/dicellolevitt

LaRuby May Social Media

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laruby-may-349b1232/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/laruby.may

Twitter - https://twitter.com/LaRubyMay

May Jung - https://mayjung.com/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/may-jung/