Congratulations to Reginald W. Jackson, a partner at Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease in Columbus, OH on becoming president of The American Bankruptcy Institute.

Congratulations to Zhu Lee on becoming a partner at Foley & Lardner.

Congratulations to John Chun, partner with the Summit Law Group in Seattle and James F. Williams, partner in the Seattle office of Perkins Coie on being named two of the Top 100 Washington Super Lawyers 2007.

Darryl Tom’s firm, Burris Wright Slaughter & Tom LLC has merged with Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLC. Darryl will be in the firm’s Chicago office.

Congratulations to Adrienne Nelson on becoming a Multnomah County (Oregon) Circuit Judge. In ascending to the bench in Oregon, Judge Nelson is the only African American judge in that state’s court system.

Jean Marie R. Pechette has joined the Chicago office of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP as Special Counsel in the Information Technology, Outsourcing and Intellectual Property Groups.

Congratulations to Victor P. Henderson on becoming the 131st President of the Chicago Bar Association. With his installation, Victor becomes the third African American to lead the Chicago Bar.

Theodore T. Chung has joined the Chicago office of Perkins Coie as a partner. Ted was formerly the first assistant corporation counsel to the City of Chicago’s Law Department.

Adrienne Banks Pitts has joined Sidley Austin’s Chicago office as a litigation partner.

Mirut P. Dalal is one of six attorneys elevated to the Board of Directors of McAndrews Held & Malloy in Chicago.

Wayne Tang has joined the Chicago office of Nixon Peabody as Counsel.

Federal Judge Robert M. Takasugi of the Central District of California was awarded the UCLA Alumni Association’s 2007 Public Service Award. The award recognized his over thirty-year commitment and service to the courts. At the time of his appointment by President Gerald R. Ford in 1976, Judge Takasugi was the first Japanese American appointed to the federal bench.

Paula T. Edgar of New York, NY, was named Executive Director of Practicing Attorneys for Law Students (PALS(r)), a non-profit organization that provides mentoring as well as career and skills development resources to minority law students and beginning lawyers.

Former Commission Liaison Carol Ross-Burnett has been named the first Manager of Diversity & Inclusion at the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, where she will manage and develop internal and external diversity initiatives firm-wide. Most recently, Carol was principal in her own diversity consulting firm and, prior to that, served as Assistant Dean for Career Services and Multicultural Affairs at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Carol served on the Commission under the leadership of Robert Grey and Judge Bernice Donald and was a founding co-editor of the Goal IX Newsletter. Contact her at cross-burnett@sheppardmullin.com.

Have some good, bad, happy or sad news you’d like to share with minority lawyers and others interested in diversity issues? E-mail any announcements or other news (personal or professional) to the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession at knappd@staff.abanet.org – of course, the Commission reserves the right to edit or refuse publication of any submission.