Crowell & Moring is proud to announce that Sadina Montani has been nominated by the D.C. Bar Committee on Nominations to become president-elect of the D.C. Bar for the 2024-2025 term.
“All of us at Crowell are extremely proud of this recognition of Sadina’s long and deep record of leadership and service in the Washington, D.C. bar,” said Philip T. Inglima, chair of Crowell & Moring. “The latest expression of trust from the D.C. Bar Committee on Nominations advances the opportunity for Sadina to follow in a long tradition of D.C. Bar leadership by Crowell partners. We know she would be a brilliant president of the D.C. Bar.”
If elected, Montani, a partner in Crowell’s Labor & Employment Group, vows to engage members across practices, industries, and experience levels to address the ways the global pandemic has affected the practice of law.
Montani has held numerous voluntary leadership positions with bar organizations, legal services providers and community nonprofits. She was president of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia (WBA) for the 2020-21 bar year, during which she focused on allyship and the association’s advocacy in support of its membership and those interests central to the association’s mission.
As the WBA’s immediate past president, Montani served as chair of the association’s Advocacy Committee. In that role, she led the association’s work on an amicus brief submitted before the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in collaboration with the National Association of Women Lawyers and Women Lawyers on Guard. The brief was supported by approximately 30 additional organizations.
Montani has been active in the D.C. Bar for more than a decade. She was part of the first cohort of the D.C. Bar’s John Payton Leadership Academy in 2013. She has chaired the Nominations Committee and served on the Leadership Development and Screening Committees.
“I am honored to be nominated for D.C. Bar president-elect. If elected, I would work hard to make a positive impact on our legal community by focusing on the many significant ways that the legal industry and the practice of law have been impacted by the global pandemic,” Montani said. “I am eager to leverage my leadership and practice experiences, and relationships within our legal community, to open and encourage a robust dialogue about how we can preserve the best of the pre-pandemic, apprentice-style legal training while recognizing the fundamental shifts that the pandemic created, including because of hybrid and remote work.”
Montani also serves as pro bono counsel for a number of nonprofit organizations that focus on education, the environment, and social services. In 2019, she was awarded the “Tom Nees Award for Exceptional Service” by Community of Hope – a nonprofit organization pursuing a mission to aid low-income families experiencing homelessness and struggling with health care needs – in recognition of her long-standing, deeply impactful service to the women, men, and children who turn to Community of Hope for help.
In addition, Montani is an experienced nonprofit board member and currently serves as a board member, governance committee chair, and chief governance officer of Ayuda, a non-profit providing legal, social, and language services to help low-income immigrants in the D.C. community. She recently stepped down from board service for the Greater D.C. Diaper Bank, for which she served beginning in 2017 as a board member, governance committee chair, and board chair.
At Crowell, Montani serves as co-chair of Crowell’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, as a member of Crowell’s Technology Innovation Committee, and on the Steering Committee of Crowell’s Labor & Employment Group. Her practice focuses on advising all types of employers on complex compliance issues. She conducts and guides clients through internal investigations and has led investigations into—and helped clients manage—sensitive and high-level reports of sexual harassment. Montani represents employers in state and federal courts and before various administrative agencies, defending claims of race, sex, disability, and age discrimination.
Montani is one of two candidates nominated to appear on the ballot for president-elect. If elected, Montani would serve as D.C. Bar president-elect for one year before becoming president, and then serve a third year as immediate past president. Voting will be open from April 29 to June 4, 2024.
Created in 1972, the D.C. Bar is the largest unified bar in the United States, providing the oversight structure needed to maintain the profession’s ethical standards and Rules of Professional Conduct. It has 100,000 members in all 50 states and more than 80 countries.
About Crowell & Moring LLP
Crowell & Moring is an international law firm with operations in the United States, Europe, MENA, and Asia. Drawing on significant government, business, industry, and legal experience, the firm helps clients capitalize on opportunities and provides creative solutions to complex litigation and arbitration, regulatory and policy, and corporate and transactional issues. The firm is consistently recognized for its commitment to pro bono service, as well as its programs and initiatives to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
