Ladder Down Cleveland for Women Lawyers is part of the FDCC Ladder Down program created in 2012 by Arizona lawyers Beth Fitch and Alison Christian. Beth and Alison realized that they needed to do something in order to see more women in law firm leadership positions. As Beth wrote in a 2012 article "Women Leaders in the Law: An Intergenerational Perspective on Long-Term Legal Careers and the Importance of Mentoring": "[w]e need to ensure that those after us have the tools they need to thrive. 'Ladder Down!' is our challenge to partners and leaders everywhere." And with that, Ladder Down was born in Phoenix, to give women the tools to rise and hold the "ladder down" for other women to follow and climb. Beth and Alison later partnered with the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC) and LD launched in other cities. Kelley Barnett launched LD CLE in January 2019. LD CLE is run by a group of LD CLE grads. Beth and coaches Lynn Moran and Marianne Trost provide nearly 20 hours of coaching in the critical areas of leadership, business development and mentoring. In addition, female law firm partners, in-house counsel, judges and other female leaders engage with the class through a series of panel discussions and other events. The program also includes periodic accountability sessions, where the coaches work with class members in focused, small groups to help them create and execute their leadership and business development plans. And if that’s not enough, women who are accepted into the program also become part of a local network of amazing women! The program runs from January through November. The application process for the next program year opens in October. Class size is limited to 24 participants. Financial aid is available. If you're a female lawyer in Northeast Ohio, regardless of how little or long you've practiced and whether you are a solo, work at a firm, or focus on plaintiff, defense, litigation, or transactional work, you're eligible to apply.