Gray Area Thinking ^TM

This program is presented by the ALA Silicon Valley Chapter, 
with MCLE sponsorship by the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s Diversity Committee

MCLE Elimination of Bias Credit Provided
We encourage you to invite the attorneys in your firm!  

All humans habitually categorize and group others who are “different” from “us,” which often leads to black and white thinking, as in “good” versus “bad” or “native” versus “immigrant” and a host of other isolating labels.

In this seminar, Ellie Krug offers a toolset—Gray Area Thinking™—for interacting with diverse humans in a mindful and compassionate way.

Attendees will appreciate and value how it’s necessary to consciously work to “Think Gray!”™

Gray Area Thinking™ is a simple three-part toolset for interacting with diverse humans:

1. awareness of another human’s vulnerability or suffering;
2. risk-taking to alleviate or lessen that vulnerability or suffering; and
3. compassion and kindness for both self and others. 

Most diversity and inclusion presentations address unconscious bias by educating audience members about neurobiology and the human tendency to deny being biased. However, attendees often are not provided with actual tools they can use in their day-to-day interactions. By employing memorable training strategies, Ellie Krug provides an easily understood toolset that can be put into practice by audience members as soon as they walk out of the room, and remembered for a long time thereafter.

RSVP: Please use the REGISTER link below, no later than October 16

If questions or to cancel a reservation, contact [email protected] to avoid being charged.

Cost (includes lunch):  *Bring your check made payable to ALA Silicon Valley Chapter or pay by credit card here

Speaker:  Ellen (Ellie) Krug – Writer, Lawyer, Human

Ellie Krug holds degrees from Coe College and Boston College Law School, practiced law in Massachusetts and Iowa, and founded a law firm specializing in trial work.

Her accomplishments include:

• She has more than 100 trials to her credit
• After transitioning from male to female in 2009, Ellie became the first Iowa attorney, and one of the few nationally, to try jury cases in separate genders
• She is the author of Getting to Ellen: A Memoir about Love, Honesty and Gender Change (2013), which enjoys a 5-star rating on Amazon Books
• In 2013 Ellie’s Lavender Magazine column, Skirting the Issues, won a Gold Award for Excellence from the Minnesota Magazine Publishers Association
• Ellie splits her time between diversity training/consulting and serving as the Executive Director of Call for Justice, LLC; in 2015 her nonprofit won an American Bar Association award for helping low-income persons access the justice system
• In 2016 The Advocate Magazine named Ellie to its list of “25 Legal Advocates Fighting for Trans Rights”
• A frequent media commentator, Ellie has appeared on Minnesota Public Radio, Iowa Public Radio, Huffington Post (podcast), and other radio and television outlets
• Ellie often speaks on diversity/inclusion and motivational topics, and assists businesses with employee on-the-job gender transitions -- her clients include Fortune 100 companies, cities, universities, law schools and nonprofits

Sponsored by:  

This program is made possible by the financial contributions of these law firm underwriters. Thank you for your support!

We always appreciate the generous support of our chapter sponsors. Thank you!

Be sure to meet all of our distinguished Chapter Business Partners -- building a positive business relationship and understanding their services is advantageous when you need a product or service at a moment's notice. Business partners are an important resource for legal management professionals to perform their jobs, plan for the future, and build their knowledge about changes and trends in products and services for the success of their firms.