Carlton Fields Attorneys Named to Leadership Council on Legal Diversity 2022 Fellows and Pathfinders Programs
Carlton Fields is pleased to announce that two attorneys were named to the 2022 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows and Pathfinders programs. Miami attorney Vanessa Singh Johannes was selected as a Fellow and Tampa attorney Luigi Orengo, Jr. was named a Pathfinder. The LCLD is a premier national organization that provides professional and personal development opportunities for high potential, diverse attorneys through its Fellows and Pathfinder programs.
Both programs expose participants to opportunities to network with peers and learn from esteemed program alumni and top leaders in the legal profession. “It’s a program that can truly enhance one’s career,” said Robert J. Grey Jr., LCLD President.
Carlton Fields has been a member of LCLD since 2009, when the organization was founded. Carlton Fields President and CEO Gary L. Sasso has served on the board of directors and co-chaired the Fellows Program. The firm’s past Fellows include Fentrice D. Driskell, Kristin A. Gore, M. Derek Harris, Jin Liu, Robert R. Simpson, and Alana Zorrilla-Gaston. Past Pathfinders include Dana Chaaban, Daniel G. Enriquez, and Brian C. Porter.
Johannes serves as chair of Carlton Fields’ Minority Business Resource Group. She is an experienced trial attorney whose practice focuses on complex criminal and civil matters representing clients in a variety of white collar matters involving fraud, antitrust, and environmental issues. For a decade, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, trying dozens of federal jury trials and handling appellate matters before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Born in Guyana, and raised in South Miami, Johannes is devoted to giving back to her community. She has volunteered as a writing coach for the Posse Foundation, which provides minority high school students with college scholarships and training in writing and leadership skills. She is also involved in the Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association and the Caribbean Bar Association. Johannes earned her J.D. from Duke University School of Law and her B.A, summa cum laude, from the University of Florida.
Orengo, Jr. is a litigator focused on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters involving issues such as fraudulent transfers and defenses, asset sales, contract assumption and rejection, substantive consolidation, and fiduciary duties. He is passionate about social justice matters and has worked with several justice-centered organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Howard University School of Law, and his B.A. from the University of South Florida.
About the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity: The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) is an organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners—the leadership of the profession—who have pledged themselves, through the Leaders at the Front initiative and other means, to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession. The organization’s action programs are designed to attract, inspire, and nurture the talent in society and within organizations, thereby helping a new and more diverse generation of attorneys ascend to positions of leadership. By producing tangible results in institutions, they work to promote inclusiveness in our organizations, our circles of influence, and our society, with the ultimate goal of building a more equitable and diverse legal profession.
