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Adams and Reese Diversity Committee Chair and Partner Clarence Wilbon is featured in the Memphis Business Journal’s “Diversity in Business – Expand” special section. The publication interviewed 10 business leaders and organizations that are working within the Memphis area towards a more inclusive business community.
In 2023, the MBJ launched “Expand: Diversity in Business” awards, celebrating organizations, initiatives, and individuals who have shown exceptional commitment to promoting practices that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and in business leadership. An MBJ editorial panel selected the honorees from a pool of nominations submitted by the public.
Wilbon leads the Diversity Committee of the AmLaw 200, NLJ 500, and Law360 Top 400 firm that has more than 320 attorneys and advisors across 20 offices and 10 states. Wilbon is also the former Chair of the Adams and Reese Executive Committee, and a longtime litigator and financial services and products liability attorney with close to 25 years in practice.
Throughout his tenure as Diversity Committee Chair, Wilbon has led the charge for the firm to achieve Mansfield Rule certification,. He has worked with fellow committee members and firm management to implement mentorship programs such as Adams and Reese’s ARROW (Advancement, Recruitment, and Retention of Women), AdvanceLaw Diversity Mentorship, and DAAP (Diverse Attorney Advancement and Promotion). He has installed programs that support students to consider law careers, such as the National Association for Law Placement/Street Law Legal Diversity Pipeline, ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship, and Memphis Bar Association Summer Law Internship.
These programs have placed Adams and Reese at the forefront of achieving actionable diversity and inclusion goals and recognized by national publications. Adams and Reese is an ALM/Law.com Diversity Initiative honoree; Outstanding Diversity Champion by the Houston Business Journal; and a recipient of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association Approved SILVER Seal. In 2024, Wilbon was named among Savoy Magazine’s “Most Influential Lawyers,” recognizing the top attorneys from leading national law firms and corporate counsel from Fortune 1000 companies.
Wilbon ranks among “Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America”, the nation’s most elite courtroom litigators. A Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, Wilbon is a member of LCA Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute. He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, Defense Research Institute, Trial Attorneys of America, and The Leo Bearman, Sr. American Inn of Court.