Diane was elected to the Board of Governors of the D.C. Bar for the 2024-2027 term after serving on the Board for the 2021-2024 term and serving as its Secretary for the 2020-2021 term.  She has served on the Board’s Executive Committee, Budget Committee, and Compensation Subcommittee. In October 2024, she completed her 12th year of service on the  D.C. Bar’s Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Committee, for which she served as Chair (2023-2024, 2022-2023, 2016-2017), Vice Chair (2015-2016), and Committee member (2012-2015, 2018-2022).

She regularly represents and advises employers and employees in all aspects of employment law and litigation. The scope of her work includes:

• Mediating and litigating EEO discrimination, harassment and retaliation charges
• Conducting internal investigations in the workplace
• Drafting, negotiating and reviewing non-compete, non-solicit, non-raiding, and confidentiality agreements
• Drafting and reviewing employee handbooks and employment policies
• Conducting management training
• Drafting, negotiating and reviewing employment contracts and severance agreements
• Addressing social media usage
• Handling reasonable accommodation issues
• Addressing unpaid wage claims (including bonuses and commissions)
• Litigating wrongful discharge claims
• Handling matters involving misappropriation of corporate data
• Preparing long term disability applications
• Preparing disability retirement applications

Diane personally designed and developed the Human Resources Compliance course for American University Washington College of Law’s online Master of Legal Studies degree program, and she has taught the course numerous times since it launched in Spring 2020.  She was an Adjunct Professor of Law for American University Washington College of Law from 2003-2021 and has taught upper level employment law courses including “Employment Discrimination” and “Employment Law: the Employment Relationship.”

Diane has also designed and taught employment law courses for Quimbee, which is an educational resource for law students and legal professionals.

The CLE Program of the D.C. Bar for which Diane served Chair offered 158 courses in FY 2023-2024 that were taught by 306 faculty.  Over 6,685 lawyers attended these courses, either in person, by webinar, or on demand, and all courses fulfill mandatory/minimum accreditation requirements of the 46 states that have such requirements.  Diane teaches numerous courses each year for the D.C. Bar’s CLE Program.

Diane has served on the D.C. Bar’s 2020-2025 Strategic Planning Committee; the Screening Committee, which makes candidate recommendations to the Board of Governors; the Communities Committee, which oversees the D.C. Bar’s 20 Communities (formerly Sections); and the Nominations Committee, which elects nominees for the D.C. Bar President-elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Board of Governors, and members of the ABA House of Delegates.

She was appointed Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Solo, Small Firm & General Practice Division’s Litigation Committee for its 2021 and 2022 terms and was appointed its Co-Chair for the 2023 term.

From 2004 through 2024, Diane worked with two other attorneys to provide annual employment discrimination law training to all of the federal judicial law clerks in Maryland.  In January 2016, the Judges of the United States District Court of Maryland awarded her their Exceptional Service Award.  The federal Judges thanked her for her ongoing service to the Court by presenting her with this award and by asking her to continue to provide annual employment discrimination law training to their law clerks.

Diane has served on the Steering Committee of the National Capital Region’s 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Hosted by the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department, the Stair Climb is a way to honor and remember the FDNY firefighters who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. Each participant pays tribute to an FDNY firefighter by climbing or walking the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center. The granddaughter of an FDNY Lieutenant, she takes immense pleasure in assisting firefighters, EMTs, and police officers in obtaining, or being reinstated to, positions from which they were unlawfully prohibited from holding due to their disabilities, religious beliefs, gender, prior EEO activity, and other protected characteristics. In July 2010, Diane became certified as a Maryland Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) and served until June 2012 as a volunteer with the Glen Echo Fire Department in Bethesda, Maryland.

In July 2019, Diane accepted the invitation of Free Mom Hugs to serve as its Chapter Leader for the Washington, DC chapter and served in that capacity for 3 years.  Free Mom Hugs is a registered non-profit organization made up of parents and allies of the LGBTQ+ community.  The organization is dedicated to affirming, celebrating, and advocating for equality for the LGBTQ+ community.

From 2004 until 2006, Diane served on the Board of Directors of National Capital Housing Management Corporation, a non-profit organization that provides and promotes affordable fair housing for senior citizens and disabled adults of low to moderate income.