Foley Mansfield Lawyers Whitney Seltzer, Jessica Espinoza, and Laila Rahimi-Keshari Selected for 2024 LCLD Class

Foley Mansfield is delighted to announce our 2024 participants in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s (LCLD) professional development program. Partner Whitney Seltzer has been selected as the firm’s 2024 LCLD Fellow and Associates Jessica Espinoza and Laila Rahimi-Keshari were chosen as our 2024 LCLD Pathfinders.

Whitney Seltzer, an experienced defense litigator in the firm’s New York office, will participate in the LCLD Fellows program. The program offers high-potential, mid-career attorneys with professional and personal development opportunities as well as leadership training, relationship-building resources and access to other LCLD Members, including managing partners and general counsel, for mentoring and guidance.

Whitney’s practice is focused on complex product liability, toxic tort, wrongful death, and personal injury litigation in state and federal court. Well-versed in high stakes, sophisticated litigation, she represents prominent national and international corporations in a range of industries, including premises owners, contractors, and manufacturers and distributors of consumer and intermediary goods and equipment in the industrial, chemical, automotive, and construction markets. Whitney is featured annually in “Best Lawyers Ones to Watch” and “New York Super Lawyers – Rising Stars” since 2021 and 2018, respectively.

Jessica Espinoza of Chicago and Laila Rahimi-Keshari of Walnut Creek will participate in the seven-month Pathfinder program, which provides participants with the opportunity to learn from top leaders in the legal profession as well as career development experts. The program is designed to connect and train high-potential, early-career attorneys from diverse backgrounds with foundational leadership skills and relationship-building resources.

Jessica Espinoza guides her clients through the complex matters which arise in the course of business, particularly those involving general liability issues including premises liability, motor vehicle liability, condominium liability, and construction defect cases. She has represented clients of all sizes, including individuals, insurance companies, and local and regional businesses in a variety of fields. Laila Rahimi-Keshari handles complex matters in a variety of areas including insurance defense, toxic/mass tort, premises liability, catastrophic personal injury, and products liability for her clients. She handles all aspects of pre-litigation and litigation, including strategy development, pre-suit investigation and resolution, written discovery, fact and expert depositions, motion practice, arbitration, mediation, and trial.

LCLD, a fast-growing national organization dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusivity in the legal profession, is made up of more than 400 General Counsels of Fortune 500 corporations and the Managing Partners of the nation’s leading law firms. The Pathfinder and Fellow programs provide leadership training to high-performing individuals looking for external career development, with the ultimate goal of bringing greater diversity and inclusivity to the leadership of tomorrow. Both Fellows and Pathfinders are selected by the leaders at LCLD Member corporations and law firms.