Miles & Stockbridge is pleased to announce that three lawyers are stepping into leadership roles with two affinity groups at the law firm. Tyler Duckett-Oliver has joined Holly Drumheller Butler in leading the firm’s Women’s Network and Bill Riggins and Lauren Fleming will lead the firm’s LGBTQIA+ Alliance moving forward.

Duckett-Oliver is an associate in the firm’s Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration practice in Baltimore. As co-leader of the Women’s Network, she will help promote leadership development, mentoring among the firm’s women lawyers and networking with other professional women. The Women’s Network offers regular programing for women lawyers and other leaders in the firm and an annual symposium for lawyers and clients. She joins Drumheller Butler, co-leader of the firm’s White Collar, Fraud & Government Investigations practice, who has led the Women’s Network for the last five years. Duckett-Oliver also follows in the footsteps of two trailblazers in her practice—employment lawyers Kathie Pontone and Suzzanne Decker—who founded The Women’s Network more than 20 years ago and, more recently, Stephanie Baron, who also has led the group.

Riggins is a principal in the Real Estate & Transactional Finance Practice in Washington, D.C. and Fleming is an associate in the Government Contracts practice in Baltimore. Together, they will lead the LGBTQIA+ Alliance, which was created to strengthen the firm’s inclusive culture with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity. All are welcome to join, regardless of how they identify. The group has been led by Tom Petty, a principal in the firm’s Real Estate & Transactional Finance Practice Group and Meg Manchester, a principal in the firm’s Corporate, Securities & Tax Practice Group since its founding in 2019. Under Meg and Tom’s leadership, the Alliance has promoted leadership development and mentoring, trained lawyers across the firm to help members of the LGBTQIA+ community affirm their identity, planned educational programs and communications aimed at bringing attention to issues facing the LGBTQIA+ community, and celebrated Pride Month in various ways across the firm and in the community.

“The affinity groups at Miles & Stockbridge are key sources of support for members, as well as important drivers of programing, training and celebrations to further build inclusivity across our firm and in our communities,” said Jernee Bramble, director of diversity, equity, inclusion and professional development. “We are so grateful for Meg Manchester and Tom Petty and all they have done to support our LGBTQIA+ community over the last five years. To have Tyler, Bill and Lauren raise their hands to join others in promoting DEI inside and outside the firm is a fantastic step toward progress.”

In addition to The Women’s Network and The LGBTQIA+ Alliance, Miles & Stockbridge also supports The Tribe @ Miles for our Jewish colleagues, led by Baron, Michele Cohen and Brian Moffet, and the Miles Minority Network led by Veronica Jackson. Like the other affinity groups, both were founded by lawyers in the firm to provide a social and professional network, as well as community outreach opportunities for their members and our firm in general.  

About Miles & Stockbridge

Miles & Stockbridge is an Am Law 200 law firm with approximately 200 lawyers and eight offices across Maryland and in Virginia, Washington, D.C. and New York. The firm’s lawyers help global, national, local and emerging business clients preserve and create value by helping them solve their most challenging problems. For more information, please visit our website and follow Miles & Stockbridge on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.