MARIAN COVER DOCKERY is the Managing Member of Marian Dockery & Associates LLC in Washington, D.C..  Her areas of expertise are labor and employment discrimination and wage and hour claims. Marian has practiced for more than 40 years.  As part of her practice, she also served as the executive director of the State Bar of Georgia Diversity Program, Atlanta (GDP) for 14 years (2003-2017) where she designed in concert with a Steering Committee of attorneys, CLE programs, business development symposiums and the Annual High School Pipeline Program which she created during her tenure. Additionally, Marian is a ranked arbitrator for FINRA.
 
Prior to her current position, Marian practiced as a senior attorney for the Office for Civil Rights, Department of Education and was an adjunct professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall School of Law. Marian has held several positions including trial attorney at the EEOC; in-house counsel at FEDEX Corporation in Memphis, Tennessee, where she was the first woman and first minority in the Legal Department; and corporate EEO/ AA manager at BP Oil, where she was the first African-American woman to serve in an executive management position.

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Marian’s professional and civic activities include: member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the Gate City Bar, and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA).  Marian also has served on the Board of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC); Pace Academy Board of Trustees, the Shepherd Foundation Board, the Theatrical Outfit Board of Directors, the Cleveland Urban League Board and the Memphis Gallery Art Board of Directors.  Marian founded the Leadership Institute for Women of Color Attorneys, Inc. (LIWOCA) and served as its president for a decade (2006-2016). Currently, she is the CEO of LIWOCA. 

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Marian speaks frequently on the topic of diversity and has presented as a panelist at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) conference (2012); the ABA Mid-Year Meeting (2011); the ABA Southern Regional Hearings for the ABA Presidential Summit, the National Bar Association (2007), the State Bar Diversity Program’s annual events and LIWOCA’s annual conferences. Marian has also presented as a discussion leader at Emory Law School, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University; Spelman College and presented before members of the Vanderbilt Alumnae Association. '

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Marian’s publications include serving as a contributor to the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession’s publication, The Road to Independence. She has written numerous articles on the topic of diversity for the Georgia Bar Journal including “No Time for Diversity Fatigue,” “Fueling the Pipeline,” “Diversity Program’s Business Development Symposium,” and the GDP’s quarterly newsletters in the Fulton County Daily Report.

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Marian received her B.A. in Political Science and History from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law where she was an Earl Warren Fellow, a member of the Moot Court Board and Honor Council and named Outstanding Oralist, Appellate Argument I. Her awards and honors include, the State Bar of Georgia 2018 Randolph Thrower Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2014 State Bar of Georgia’s “Commitment to Equality Award” and the 2011 Gate City Bar Association President’s Award for Excellence.  Under her leadership, LIWOCA received the 2008 GABWA Zenith Award for Community Service.

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Marian has two adult children, Stephanie of New York, NY and Todd of Seattle, WA.