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 firm diversity partner, 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.

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 has more than 25 years of experience providing advice and zealous advocacy for her clients on a range of issues, from compliance, restrictive covenant enforcement, trade secret protection and management, intellectual property protection and policing, and vendor and contractual disputes.

Dawn serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, alongside the Firm Managing Partner, and oversees the firm's Racial Justice Committees. A published author of the Amazon best-selling business short, Boss Presence, Dawn is a national speaker on leadership and personal development and a deliberate mentor. At her core, Dawn is moved by pointing people to their greatness and believes that doing so is the best way to elevate individual and collective consciousness and ultimately change a culture.