Duane Morris Partner and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Joseph K. West has been unanimously selected to join the 2024 Tulane Law School Hall of Fame. Nominees are evaluated by a committee based on their distinguished professional achievements and their enduring dedication to the mission and students of Tulane Law School.
West is an experienced trial lawyer, former Associate General Counsel at Walmart Stores Inc. and former CEO of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. In 2019, he was named the inaugural recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Equity and Inclusion by Chambers & Partners. He currently serves as Duane Morris’ Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and leads the firm’s first-of-its-kind Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consulting Practice, which he helped to establish. The group has been cited for its innovative approach to crafting sustainable diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and solutions for domestic and global companies, as well as representing, training and advising on related DEI compliance, risk management and corporate strategy at the board and C-suite levels. He also serves as a member of Duane Morris’ managing Partners Board and co-chairs the firm’s ESG task force.
“On behalf of all of us as Duane Morris, we congratulate Joe on this impressive accolade from the Tulane Law School,” said Matthew A. Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Duane Morris. “It is terrific to have a partner of Joe’s stature and acclaim as both an exemplary trial lawyer and member of firm management, as well as the head of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program.”
An award-winning and nationally recognized authority on DEI, West has lectured and written extensively on DEI issues impacting businesses and the legal profession. He developed a cutting-edge curriculum on corporate DEI for the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School and spent nearly five years focused on DEI at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, where he created programs focused on expanding opportunities for minority lawyers and women.
West is also a partner in the firm’s Trial Practice Group, where he handles complex matters involving class actions, insurance litigation, commercial litigation, zoning and land use, catastrophic injury, products liability, and labor and employment. Additionally, West currently serves as immediate past co-chair on the board of directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and as immediate past chair of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Previously, he served on the ABA Commission on Diversity and Inclusion 360, was a member of the ABA Task Force on the Financing of Legal Education and served on the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. He currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of Xavier University of Louisiana and as a member of the board of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association.
Prior to joining Duane Morris, West served as Associate General Counsel―Head of Global Outside Counsel Management at Walmart Stores Inc., where he was responsible for managing all of the company’s outside counsel relationships globally. He also served as Associate General Counsel―Class Action/Complex Litigation, wherein he helped manage and develop litigation strategies for groundbreaking matters, including the largest class action in U.S. history. He earlier served as Assistant General Counsel in the Litigation Group of Entergy Corporation, an integrated energy Fortune 500 company, and spent over 13 years as a litigator and partner at Louisiana law firms, handling numerous high-stakes matters.
West is a graduate of Tulane Law School, where he formerly served as Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Southern University.
“This is an especially meaningful honor for me. Tulane played such a significant role in my foundation and professional development. No matter where in the world I have traveled, lived or worked, I have always carried it with me. I am humbled yet proud to have been recognized with such an outstanding class of honorees,” said West.
Each year, Tulane Law School Hall of Fame honors the law school’s most notable alumni and trailblazers whose impact on the school and the profession elevated the stature of Tulane Law. Honorees in 2024 also include David Campbell, a lawyer, environmentalist and author; retired Judge John Malcolm Duhé Jr. of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals; Louis Fishman, a corporate lawyer and co-founder of the Tulane Corporate Law Institute; and criminal law professor Catherine Hancock. The event to honor the 2024 Hall of Fame recipients will be on Wednesday, May 8, at 4:00 p.m. at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans.
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