Stephanie Felder has over 15 years of experience in attorney professional development at two AmLaw100 firms. In her current role, she is responsible for creating a comprehensive training and development curriculum for all attorneys at Groom, and developing and overseeing the execution of strategies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Each of these roles is a job in itself, and she integrates them seamlessly.

With respect to professional development, Stephanie’s role is to provide each attorney with the tools they need to build their skills, and grow professionally. This includes both training in substantive legal knowledge, and development of skills such as public speaking, communications, time management and delegation, delivering pitches and so on.

She also works with firm leadership to build effective policies and programs to help create an inclusive workforce and support the overall professional growth of attorneys, including programs to support learning, performance evaluation and improvement, onboarding, and mentoring. She’s the first professional in this role at Groom.

In this capacity, she focuses on removing barriers and systemic bias from the firm. She has over 15 years of professional experience in supporting diversity, and her work includes coaching, strategic planning, and working with attorneys to help them define the role they wish to play at the firm, as well as identifying the resources they need to get there. This includes reviewing, and when appropriate, rebuilding decision-making systems at the firm. She works to connect strategic goals across disparate groups to reach the broad objectives of both the firm and the individuals who comprise it.

These two disciplines – diversity and professional development – intersect at many points, and require close coordination between the two objectives. Diversity and inclusion, for example, is an essential component for recruiting and performance improvement.

They were also pivotal in helping the firm evolve into a hybrid working environment in response to COVID. Stephanie was one of the architects of the firm’s return-to-work policy, as well as working in change management and strategic planning to help a profound change happen quickly. Regardless of physical location, every attorney at the firm, remote or in the office, has the same experience, the same opportunities, and a similar culture. This includes providing management and skills training to ensure that remote employees receive equal airtime, a point often lost in post-COVID workplaces.

Stephanie is a classically trained musician who has played the flute since she was 5. She practices yoga and meditation, and has traveled the world, particularly Italy, where she has family, many American cities, and the Caribbean.


Previous Experience

  • Director of Attorney Training and Development at an AmLaw 100 law firm (2010-2021)
  • Lawyer Development Administrator at an AmLaw 100 law firm (2006-2010)

Professional Affiliations

  • Board Member, Professional Development Consortium (2022-Present)
  • Member, National Association for Legal Professionals (2006 – Present)
  • Member, Society for Human Resource Management (2006 – Present)

Honors & Distinctions

  • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Certification, Cornell University (2023)
  • Mental Health First Aide Certification, National Council for Mental Wellbeing (2022)
  • Professional in Human Resources Certification, Human Resources Certification Institute (2006)
  • Certified Professional in Human Resources, Society for Human Resources Management (2014)