Three Jones Day lawyers selected for Leadership Council on Legal Diversity programs
Three Jones Day lawyers have been selected for two different Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) programs. Jennifer (Jenny) Plagman, a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice in the Chicago Office, was selected as an LCLD Fellow. Selected as 2025 LCLD Pathfinders are April M. Johnson, an associate in the Cleveland Office, and Alexander (Alex) Murphy, an associate in the Atlanta Office—both are in the Business & Tort Litigation Practice. These national LCLD programs offer participants opportunities for mentoring and leadership training.
Ms. Plagman is a trial lawyer who represents and advises employers on a broad range of labor and employment matters. Her practice focuses on individual and complex disputes arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. She has experience with high-stakes internal employment investigations as well as counseling clients on human resources matters, including compensation practices, worker classification, state law compliance, employment agreements, and workplace sensitivity. She is co-chair of Jones Day's Black Lawyers Affinity Group.
Ms. Johnson's practice include both traditional commercial litigation and investigations. She represents clients in investigations by the United States Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission and represents corporate clients in complex litigation involving consumer protection, torts, and breach of contract claims. Additionally, she has defended claims in putative class action lawsuits, handling various aspects of pretrial procedures related to case assessment, initial fact development and investigation, research of novel and complex legal issues, dispositive motion practice, settlement negotiations, and discovery. In addition, she has experience defending claims brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), litigating these cases through pretrial pleadings and motions, overseeing litigation strategy, and negotiating settlement agreements. Her pro bono matters include work on the Firm's Constitutional Policing and Civil Justice Reform Initiative, representing immigration asylum clients, and as a member of the Cleveland Office's Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement Committee and the Norman S. Minor Bar Association.
Mr. Murphy is a trial lawyer whose practice focuses on product liability, mass tort, and commercial litigation. He has experience in more than one dozen jury trials in high-risk cases tried to verdict throughout the country, including as part of numerous trial teams that have secured complete defense verdicts. As part of Mr. Murphy's trial work, he has been involved in Jones Day's nationwide defense of smoking and health lawsuits brought against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. His pro bono work includes representing clients through Jones Day's Border Project and the Georgia Justice Project, a nonprofit focused on restorative justice and record restriction. He is a member of Jones Day's Hispanic Lawyers Affinity Group and the Atlanta Office's Diversity, Inclusion, & Advancement Committee.
The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity is an organization of more than four hundred corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who have pledged themselves to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession.