Krystal Studavent Ramsey

Krystal serves as Blank Rome's director of diversity and inclusion. In this role, she manages the diversity and inclusion function firm wide and takes an integrated and metrics-driven approach to developing, implementing, and leading Blank Rome’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) strategy. She works collaboratively with firm leaders and other key stakeholders to increase diversity; foster inclusivity; drive cultural growth; and establish fair and equitable workplace processes and policies. She serves as a strategic adviser and coach, internally and externally (with clients and organizations), and advocates for underrepresented groups at Blank Rome and throughout the legal industry.

Krystal works closely with the firm’s Human Resources and Legal Talent teams to enhance hiring, retention, and advancement efforts, and to develop Blank Rome’s 1,000+ workforce, spread across 14 offices. She serves on Blank Rome’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, working closely with the Diversity and Inclusion Co-Chairs, and as a member of Blank Rome’s Firm Strategic Planning Committee.

Leveraging her extensive knowledge of the legal industry and unique work experience at the intersection of law and business, as a former practicing corporate attorney and general counsel, DEI strategist, business development leader, coach, and consultant, Krystal has successfully transformed, enhanced, and grown business for various organizations by introducing creative business solutions to address corporate pain points. Prior to joining Blank Rome, Krystal served as a senior legal consultant at Axiom, the world’s largest and leading contingent legal talent company with 2,000+ lawyers and 17 offices across three continents, where she advised general counsel across the country on workforce transformation, talent management and placement, cost containment, and diversity and inclusion. Krystal co-founded and co-chaired Axiom’s Black affinity group, Blaxiom, leading the charge as the first affinity group in Axiom’s history to develop a strategic roadmap and work closely with the executive leadership team on its implementation. She also served as the director of strategy and operations for the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (“DAPP”), a national nonprofit committed to the development and placement of first-year, women-of-color law students, helping the organization to expand nationally and launch new programs. Before Axiom and DAPP, Krystal served as the chair of DEI and a regional director of business development at Bliss Lawyers, a majority woman-owned, NewLaw staffing company that was acquired by Axiom in February 2020, where she oversaw Southwest regional operations and focused on diversity and inclusion strategic partnerships, programming, and business initiatives.

Prior to joining Bliss Lawyers, Krystal was a business development manager and diversity and inclusion business liaison at Norton Rose Fulbright, an Am Law 100 law firm and the third largest law firm in the world with more than 3,200 lawyers in 52 offices worldwide. In that role, she provided strategic guidance and business development support to firm leadership and attorneys throughout the United States as well as internationally in Canada, London, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, France, Australia, South Africa, The Netherlands, and Caracas. She also worked closely with the U.S. diversity and inclusion co-chairs, the U.S. Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and the U.S. director of diversity and inclusion on diversity and inclusion initiatives and programming.

Krystal previously served as general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs for Music World Entertainment, the record label home to Beyoncé and artists from BET’s Sunday Best (a reality television music singing competition series), where she served on the executive leadership team. Krystal managed a diverse and cross-functional team, oversaw revenue generating projects, and served as lead on significant transactions, including licensing, publishing, endorsement, joint venture, streaming, and marketing deals. She also developed and managed the company's business strategy, with a focus on restructuring and reorganization, business development, talent development and management, strategic partnerships, market development, innovation, and diversity and inclusion. While with Music World, she managed a rotational diversity internship program for law students and business students of color.

Earlier in her career, Krystal was a corporate attorney for a boutique law firm in Houston, Texas, and was the event and partnership manager at Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization focused on changing the face of leadership in the private and social sectors by providing high-achieving, historically underrepresented high school students with a winning professional playbook, one-on-one coaching, and door-opening relationships that accelerate their career paths from graduating college to earning advanced degrees and senior leadership positions.

Krystal has been a contributor to ACC Docket, an award-winning legal publication for in-house counsel, covering modernization and transformation of the legal industry, and is a recurring speaker for the National Bar Association – Women Lawyer’s Division, with topics including personal branding, workforce transformation, women empowerment, and career advancement. In March 2019, she launched a personal branding and leadership initiative for Black women attorneys at the National Bar Association’s Mid-Year Conference. Through this initiative, she has coached women in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, North Carolina, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C., on strategies to develop and expand their personal brand. She has also coached women attorneys in the Black General Counsel Network and Women’s General Counsel Network.

Krystal earned a B.S. in Social Justice, with a minor in English, from Texas Southern University, and her J.D. from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, one of the most diverse law schools in the country. She received her diversity and inclusion certification from Cornell University. In December 2021, Krystal completed the Wharton Aresty Institute of Executive Education’s Leading Organizational Change Executive Education Program, led by world-renowned experts at the forefront of major organizational change for decades.