Danielle Ducré Rawls, an associate at Leonard, Street and Deinard, has been selected as a 2012 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), a national organization composed of the legal profession's top managing partners and general counsel seeking to advance diversity in the legal profession.

Rawls joins a class of 134 attorneys from law firms and corporations across the United States selected to serve as Fellows in 2012. Over the course of the year-long fellowship, each attorney will embark on a learning program that includes in-person conferences, virtual training on the fine points of legal practice, peer-group projects to foster collaboration and build relationships, and extensive contact with LCLD's top leadership and affiliated managing partners and general counsel.

The goal of the fellowship program is to provide a diverse generation of up-and-coming attorneys with strong leadership and relationship skills who are committed to fostering diversity within their individual organizations and within the profession as a whole.

"These fellows represent some of the most outstanding talent in the legal profession," said Rick Palmore, LCLD chair and general counsel for General Mills. "They have been selected by the managing partners and general counsel of the law firms and corporate legal departments that they serve, so it is a particular honor."

In 2009, Leonard, Street and Deinard became the first Minnesota firm to join the newly created LCLD.

"Diversity and inclusion have been core values of our firm since its founding in 1922," said Lowell Stortz, president of Leonard, Street and Deinard. "We continue to build on that legacy today, 90 years after our founding. When we recognize and embrace the unique qualities, character and contributions of our colleagues, our clients benefit—and our profession does, too."

For more information on the LCLD, please visit www.lcldnet.org.