PHILADELPHIA — Cozen O’Connor recently announced that Scott W. Reid has been named the chair of the firm’s diversity committee.  Reid succeeds Rafael Perez, who has been named managing partner of the firm’s Newark, N.J., office.

Reid will direct firm initiatives aimed at the retention and recruitment of lawyers with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences as part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to foster diversity.

Reid joined the firm’s Philadelphia office in September 2002 and practices with the general litigation department.  He focuses his practice on product liability and complex tort litigation.  Reid is a member of the American Bar Association, National Bar Association and Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel or Philadelphia Area Defense Counsel.

He currently serves as president of the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, is on the board of advisors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, is on the board of directors of the Committee of Seventy, and is on the board of directors of The Conscious Thoughts Initiative.

Reid is a graduate of West Chester University of Pennsylvania (B.S., 1996) and Widener University School of Law (J.D., 2002), where he served as the president of the Black Law Students Association, was a senior staff member of the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, and received a 2002 Outstanding Student Service Award.

He also served as a judicial extern for Judge Robert C. Wright of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas and as an intern in the Regulatory Affairs Division of the Philadelphia City Solicitor’s Office during law school.  Reid has been inducted into the West Chester University Alumni Legacy of Leadership.

Founded in 1970, Cozen O’Connor is ranked among the 100 largest law firms in the United States, serving business, insurance and private clients.  Cozen O’Connor is a full-service firm with 500 attorneys practicing in 21 domestic offices across the United States and international offices in London and Toronto.