Joel Stern—an incredible father, husband, grandfather, mentor, and friend—was a towering figure in the legal community, a fierce champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession. To know Joel was to love Joel, as so many of the incalculable number of people who came to know him over the years understand deeply. He dedicated much of his professional career, spending years involved in our organization, including his time on the Advisory Council, before his seven years as our CEO. He was an enormous part of building NAMWOLF into the world-class organization it is today.
Long before calls for diversity, equity, and inclusion were at the forefront of the professional conversation, Joel took NAMWOLF’s mission seriously. He said of his early days getting involved with NAMWOLF, “Back in the early 2000s, there were calls to action to the legal community to do more with respect to diversity and inclusion, and many of us in-house counsel jumped on that, but the problem with most ‘calls to action’—and the problem continues today—is diversity and inclusion has historically been waves in the legal profession. You see ebbs and flows, you see lots of passion and talking about it, and some actions. And then, when other priorities impact companies, the impetus to focus on diversity loses its priority.” Joel worked tirelessly to make sure the passion for diversity never wavered.
Joel first became involved with NAMWOLF in the early 2000s while working as deputy general counsel at Accenture. He worked to get other in-house counsel at Accenture and other companies to understand and buy into NAMWOLF’s vision. “When you use minorities and women both at our law firms and at Big Law, you’re not sacrificing quality,” Joel said. “In many ways you’re increasing quality. In addition, you’re also helping our profession become more diverse, which is a critical objective.”
From 2014 to 2021, Joel was the guiding force for NAMWOLF’s growth into the gold-standard diversity organization in the legal profession. That’s because, in addition to all his other tremendous assets, he was a deep believer in NAMWOLF’s program of championing minority and women owned law firms. That dedication lives on in the form of the Joel Stern Pipeline Scholarship, started in 2017 and named after him in 2021. In addition to the financial support, Joel showed his passion for nurturing the next generation of attorneys by personally offering his time to speak with the recipients of the scholarship every year.
In addition to his family and NAMWOLF, Joel leaves another incredible legacy: After his tenure as CEO ended, he showed tremendous courage in his battle with cancer. By sharing his experiences over the past five years with honesty and generosity, he put a human face on the millions of people living with a cancer diagnosis, and the people who love them. His willingness to share his vulnerability, to openly discuss his fear and pain as well as his joy and gratitude, was a genuine inspiration. He also embraced a new community among his fellow fighters, showing the same dedication and nurturing to them as he did during his legal career. Through all of this, Joel worked to raise money and awareness for cancer research. To anyone who knew Joel, none of this was surprising.
Joel’s loss leaves a big hole in our lives and in the legal world. But as we’re heartbroken to have lost our friend, our hearts are full and grateful for having known him.