Michelle Jacobs Selected for Dallas Bar's WE LEAD Program
March, 2018 - Dallas, Texas
Haynes and Boone, LLP Associate Michelle Jacobs was selected for the first class of young lawyers in the Dallas Bar Association�s new leadership development program WE LEAD: Women Empowered to Lead in the Legal Profession.
The DBA created WE LEAD with the Dallas Women's Foundation and the Dallas Women Lawyers Association to help identify and train the next generation of women leaders in law.
The program enrolled 24 women lawyers - practitioners at firms and in-house counsel - from among more than 80 applicants. Sessions across the year will cover leadership skills-building, business development tactics and networking. Speakers and mentors also will help participants with advice on topics including building relationships, presenting to decision makers and engaging in effective personal marketing.
"The program is designed to help women lawyers at crucial points in their careers to be able to take the next step," Jacobs said.
She said she is "hoping to take business development to the next level" and become a leader in the firm, aspirations for which she has received support from other Haynes and Boone lawyers, including women partners who encouraged her to apply for WE LEAD.
"It means a lot to be at a firm with so many mentors who are invested in my career and who encourage me to pursue programs like WE LEAD," she said.
Partner Anne Johnson said: "Michelle is an outstanding young lawyer who has a bright future ahead of her. We want her to have every opportunity to develop her leadership skills and are so grateful for programs like WE LEAD."
Jacobs is an experienced trial lawyer who focuses on commercial and intellectual property litigation in state and federal courts. She has handled disputes involving copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, contracts, fraud, business disparagement, products liability and a variety of other causes of action. She has represented clients in an array of industries, including software, manufacturing, telecommunications, energy, entertainment and beauty.
Her community work includes serving on the board of Genesis Young Leaders, an auxiliary of Genesis Women's Shelter, and leading Haynes and Boone�s initiative to provide pro bono services to the shelter�s clients. The Human Rights Initiative of North Texas' Asylum Program recognized Jacobs with its 2015 Outstanding Associate Award for helping a Sudanese woman and her four children to secure asylum in the United States when they faced physical harm and persecution if returned to their home country.
