Since 2009, Laurie Robinson Haden has been the senior vice-president and assistant general counsel of CBS Corporation; and the award-winning lawyer takes great pride in her role at one of the biggest media companies in the world. Her role positions her in a uniquely influential seat within the company, and CBS values her years of experience in law and business.
“I report directly to the chief legal officer,” explains Robinson Haden. “And I work in the areas of employment, immigration and litigation. I execute special projects for senior managers within the company.”
Robinson Haden has been honored several times by The Network Journal, the National Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Division, and she received the very first M. Ashley Dickerson Award—given by the National Association of Women Lawyers. She is also a recipient of the New York City Bar Association Diversity Champion Award.
But her greatest joy comes from her ability to be an agent of change. And the organization that Robinson Haden heads is reflective of her commitment to change.
“I’m the CEO of Corporate Counsel Women of Color, which I founded ten years ago in the kitchen of my Harlem apartment with only ten individuals meeting for dinner,” shares Robinson Haden. “In over ten years we’ve grown to over 3,000 in-house women of color who work for Fortune 1000 and Forbes 2000 companies in the U.S. and abroad.”
It is through her work with other ambitious young women that Laurie Robinson Haden finds her greatest satisfaction and sense of purpose. Her hope is that she can inspire the next generation of achievers.
“What I enjoy the most is being able to help people,” says Robinson Haden. “Being able to take complex problems and bring about solutions [to] those problems, advocate for change, help the pipeline, [and] to bring young people up [who could] be lawyers, as well—that’s what I’m proud of.”
