Always positive, boundlessly energetic and refreshingly authentic, Dawn’s people skills and innate personal drive to develop the strengths of everyone around her are bolstered by her tireless energy and work ethic. In her role as director of diversity, Dawn spearheads the firm’s efforts to make bold, lasting change in an industry needing redirection.

Dawn is the first African-American female to make equity partner at Barnes & Thornburg and reportedly in the state of Indiana. She has been with the firm her entire legal career, representing business clients in virtually all stages of litigation, including pre-litigation counseling, ADR, trials and appeals. Dawn adds value most of all by endeavoring at every turn to provide her clients with an unmatched level of care for their business needs and objectives.

She litigates before various federal and state courts and administrative agencies. Initially, Dawn began her career with a focus on federal and state employment litigation. Today, she focuses on representing, counseling and protecting clients that range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies in business and commercial litigation.

Dawn advises on compliance issues, restrictive covenant enforcement, trade secret protection and management, intellectual property protection and policing, and vendor and contractual disputes. Moreover, Dawn is skilled in workouts for banking institutions and special servicers, and works with clients to safeguard their brands and intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade dress. Dawn also manages a deep portfolio of worker's compensation defense litigation throughout Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

Notably, Dawn chairs the firm’s African-American Partners affinity group and the Black Female Lawyer Resource Group. She also serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is a member of the Pro Bono Committee. The published author of Boss Presence, Dawn is a national speaker on leadership and personal development and a deliberate mentor. At her core, Dawn is moved by building people up in order to realize their infinite potential, and believes that doing so is the best way to elevate individual and collective consciousness and ultimately change a culture. She strives never to forget that with great influence and power comes great responsibility.