Employment Connection is celebrating Women’s History Month this March by honoring local leaders in the St. Louis region. Today we recognize Allison Price, Conflicts & Ethics Counsel at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
As Conflicts & Ethics Counsel at St. Louis’ largest global law firm, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, Allison counsels over 1400 firm attorneys and staff on ethics issues and conflicts of interest. Allison manages the U.S. side of the BCLP’s business acceptance department which is responsible for assessing conflicts of interest, client due diligence, and other risk factors associated with new business and lateral hires in BCLP’s nineteen U.S. offices. She leads a team of fifteen lawyers and non-lawyers who analyze about 100 new matters a day in a high-pressure environment. Additionally, Allison assists BCLP’s General Counsel and firm attorneys with assessing an array of other complex ethics issues that arise in the practice of law, including the avoidance of legal malpractice and adhering to best practices in the profession.
In 2018, Allison played an integral part in the firm’s combination with London-based law firm, Berwin Leighton Paisner, which was the only transatlantic law firm merger that was led by two women chairs of the firms. Allison reports directly to BCLP’s General Counsel, a woman who made history by being the firm’s first Conflicts Counsel. Allison works directly with the business acceptance team in London which handles new business in BCLP’s offices in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
BCLP made the recent decision to cease operating their Moscow office in response to Russia’s ongoing actions in Ukraine. BCLP has a strong pro bono initiative including most recently assisting the Midwest Innocence Project with the release of Kevin Strickland, who had been serving 43 years in a Missouri prison for a triple homicide that he did not commit. Allison also assists with BCLP’s voting rights and LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts.