Press Release

Dykema, a leading national law firm, today announced that Bonnie Mayfield, a Bloomfield Hills-based member in Dykema’s Litigation practice, received multifaceted, formal recognition for her service and dedication to the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC). The IADC’s core purpose is to enhance the development of skills, professionalism, and camaraderie to serve and benefit its members and their clients, as well as the civil justice system, the legal profession, and society in general.

In addition, Mayfield was elected to serve on the IADC Board of Directors, which is leading the organization into its centennial year. She is the first African-American female to become a board member.

A longstanding member of the IADC, Mayfield held several leadership positions with the organization’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Committee, which includes serving as the Committee’s Chair, Vice Chair of Programs and Vice Chair of Initiatives. While simultaneously serving as the Chair of the D&I Committee, Mayfield also served as Chair of the IADC’s Employment Law Committee. She was also previously the Employment Law Committee’s Vice Chair of Webinars.

In formal recognition of her exceptional contribution to the essential work of the association, the IADC presented Mayfield with its Richard L. Neumeier Excellence in Service Award. Honored for her significant and lasting contributions to the organization, Mayfield is only the fourth person to receive the award.

The IADC also separately recognized Mayfield specifically in appreciation of her dedicated service and contributions as its D&I Committee Chair. Mayfield stated, “It is absolutely phenomenal to be a member of an organization whose members, leaders, and staff take palpable actions to ensure diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, stateside and abroad.”

While she has been the architect of and also participated in several IADC CLE programs and initiatives, one of her most recent and notable conceptions was the launch of the IADC Diversity and Inclusion Award, which recognizes an individual, group, organization, company or country that has championed diversity and inclusion within the legal profession. The chosen recipients must have taken successful, purposeful, and tangible actions yielding positive outcomes in helping to achieve diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and/or have significantly advanced understanding of the need for diversity and inclusion in the profession.

Building upon her family’s legacy, another one of Mayfield’s recent conceptions was an IADC book featuring quotes available in the public domain and that help promote thinking and discussion about the benefits of diversity and inclusion. The IADC Diversity And Inclusion Quotes book furthers the larger Quote Initiative Mayfield conceived of several years ago and through which the IADC actively displays different quotes each month on the banner of the organization’s website. As one notable, in-house attorney commented, the book “is positively wonderful and a lovely collection of quotes that exemplify the need for and power of diversity in our world throughout its history.”

Mayfield is a business savvy, first-chair trial and appellate lawyer, who has received client recognition for her trial skills, win-win case resolutions, and for building diverse and inclusive teams. In her practice, she has successfully defended employment discrimination, labor, hybrid §301, retaliation, wage and hour, whistleblower, tort, product liability (automotive, pharmaceutical, medical device, chemical and toxic tort), and commercial matters. She regularly advises and counsels clients on administrative, internal and labor matters and has achieved successful trial results on short notice.

As education is in her blood, Mayfield also has taught trial techniques and strategies to practicing lawyers attending the IADC’s Trial Academy held at Stanford University and which is one of the oldest and most respected programs for developing defense trial advocacy skills, blending faculty instruction and demonstration with individual student participation.

Mayfield received her B.A. from Dillard University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review.