After 13 years of extensive professional development experience with the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Windsor Law's director of career services, Anna Maria DeCia-Gualtieri, has been elected by her peers to lead the 2021-22 NALP conference.
“I’m looking forward to carrying out this role this year and I was pleased to run against some amazing candidates,” says DeCia-Gualtieri. “I consider myself very fortunate to be part of such a dynamic and supportive group of individuals who share NALP’s vision to drive innovation and collaboration in the legal profession through lifelong education and career development.”
DeCia-Gualtieri has held several roles in the national organization over the years. For the past four years, she has been a part of the Canadian On-Campus Interview Schedule Working Group, in which school and employer representatives work as a team to ensure that all vested interests are accounted for from coast to coast. She has held the roles of member, chair, past chair, and now vice-chair with the organization, which has been very active since the start of the pandemic, especially when tasked with re-strategizing the entire summer 2021 recruitment plan. DeCia-Gualtieri was serving her final year when she was asked to remain on the committee as vice-chair with Christopher McKenna, Bennett Jones (Toronto) to navigate the challenging issues still impacting recruitment due to the pandemic.
She also proudly served as the only Canadian member of the NALP “Emerging Employer Engagement” task force under president Mina Jones Jefferson. As a team, their work focused on resource development for law students and recent graduates to introduce opportunities of using law degrees for emerging legal jobs outside of traditional practice. This was a catalyst, in part, to the development of NALP’s Summit on Emerging Careers.
“I have built many relationships and learned so much from attending 10 NALP annual conferences,” DeCia-Gualtieri continues. “Now as the elected conference planning coordinator for the Canadian region, I will proudly serve as a NALP ambassador, liaison, and resource to all members.”