Adam Banks

Partner,
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

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Mr. Banks is a partner in Weil’s Appellate Litigation practice group, where he litigates appeals in the state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the New York Court of Ap­peals. In 2018, Mr. Banks was shortlisted for Euromoney’s “Rising Star” award for Appellate Litigation, and he is recognized as a rec­ommended lawyer for Appellate: Court of Appeals by Legal 500.

His recent matters include:

• Securing two significant victories for Morgan Stanley, when the Second Circuit affirmed a complete defense verdict in a rare private insider trading jury trial, and the Appellate Division, New York Supreme Court, affirmed the dismissal of all claims on summary judgment in a related state-court fraud case.
• Obtaining the dismissal, and affirmance on appeal, of all claims brought against Lehman Brothers and several former executives in a complex fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty action in New York state trial and appellate courts stemming from commercial real estate investments made on the eve of the financial crisis.
• Winning a significant victory for Marsh & McLennan before the Second Circuit which affirmed the grant of summary judgment on claims arising from a 2004 New York Attorney General investigation, and provided important guidance to companies regarding their rights to terminate employees who do not cooperate in an internal investigation.
• Successfully representing Lehman Brothers and the Archstone-Smith REIT among 20 other defendants in securing summary judgment on the eve of trial – later affirmed on appeal – on all claims in a $4 billion investor class action arising from one of the largest REIT going-private transactions in history.
• Successfully representing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in litigation involving the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York’s highest court. Also successfully defended the Port Authority in litigation seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages arising from marine terminal leases, including securing victory in the Third Circuit on plaintiff’s novel and complex constitutional claims.
• Securing a victory for Schindler Elevator Corporation in the United States Supreme Court in a case inter­preting the public disclosure bar of the False Claims Act.

Mr. Banks also has an active pro bono practice, including successfully vacating a capital defendant’s death sen­tence after an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and representing another death row inmate in post-conviction appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in certiorari petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court and in the Supreme Court of Florida.

Alvin Benton

Director, Assistant General Counsel,
Capital One

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Alvin F. Benton serves as the Director, Assistant General Counsel supporting Capital One’s Auto Finance, U.S. Card, Retail and Direct Bank and Commercial Bank bankruptcy businesses. Recently, Alvin has been tasked with serving as primary legal support to Capital One Auto Finance business’s Loss Mitigation Operations. Alvin is licensed to practice law in Florida, Texas and New York. In addition to other legal professional experience, Alvin spent roughly eight years as an associate attorney at an AMLaw50 law firm practicing in the areas of bankruptcy litigations and general business litigation. He has represented creditors in a variety of commercial settings, including sophisticated Chapter 11 reorganizations, Chapter 13 cases and Chapter 7 liquidations. In addition, he has represented creditors in receiverships, debt restructurings, complex commercial foreclosures; complex corporate restructurings in Chapter 11 cases and under consensual, out-of-court “workout” agreements. During his time in private practice, Alvin was continuously involved in his firms’ pro bono and diversity and inclusion efforts.

Alvin received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the FAMU College of Law, and was a recipient of the FAMU Quasquicentennial Alumni Award by Florida A&M University, as well as the “Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 Under 40” award by the National Bar Association and IMPACT. Alvin was named as a 2012 and 2013 Rising Star for the Florida SuperLawyers publication, a 2014 Rising Star for the Texas SuperLawyers publication, and is the recipient of the Orange County Bar Association New Attorney Award of Excellence for his pro bono service in the Central Florida area.

Alvin served as an Inaugural Fellow of the Florida Bar Leadership Academy and served as a member of 2015 Leadership Class of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers.

He has served as a panelist during the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges addressing many topics, including trends and issues in bankruptcy law and the importance of diversity in the legal field. Mr. Benton is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Association of Corporate Counsel, and volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County. Alvin serves as the co-chair of the Capital One Plano Office’s Pro Bono Committee and is a member of the Legal Diversity & Inclusion Committee for Capital One. Alvin was recently accepted into Capital One’s Emerging Leader Development Program, a fast-paced, high-impact development program, where Capital One high potential associates will be given the opportunity to enhance and transform their leadership skills.

Angela Gomes

Partner,
Sullivan & Worcester LLP

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Angela Gomes is a Partner in the Boston office of Sullivan & Worcester LLP. Angela focuses on a broad range of corporate and securities matters, including securities law compliance, disclosure and periodic reporting, and corporate governance matters. She also focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance, in addition to handling general corporate matters. Ms. Gomes also advises a number of nonprofit organizations on general corporate law matters, as well as state and federal tax-exempt status. Ms. Gomes joined Sullivan from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of a number of non-profit and legal organizations. Ms. Gomes is a Boston native and a graduate of Boston University School of Law.

Susan Gutierrez

Partner,
Proskauer Rose LLP

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Susan L. Gutierrez is a litigation partner specializing in high-stakes trials and complex disputes across industries. With a focus on litigating and shaping trial strategy for pharmaceutical and consumer product actions, Susan has significant trial, motion, and oral argument experience in high-profile matters in state and federal courts.

Susan has served as litigator and advisor for many Fortune 500 companies, including in media, technology, pharmaceutical, music and entertainment, and sports industries. She is an asset on bet-the-company matters, and has served as trial counsel on numerous highly-publicized trials, including for Johnson & Johnson, Creative Artists Agency and the National Basketball Association.

Susan has also represented world renowned recording artists, celebrities, and corporate executives individually in significant commercial and personal matters, ranging from prosecuting and defending copyright infringement claims, to advising on management and personal service contracts, and litigating privacy, publicity and computer fraud claims.

Yodi Hailemariam

Senior Associate,
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

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Yodi S. Hailemariam, CIPP-US, is a senior associate in Drinker Biddle’s Information Privacy, Security, and Governance group. A frequent author, speaker and panelist on “all things data,” Yodi advises multinational clients on U.S. and global data privacy, security and regulatory compliance; information governance and records management policies and programs; and electronic discovery in complex civil litigations, white-collar defense, and corporate investigations. Yodi also advises the Firm and its clients on the development and implementation of analytics models that enable insight, data storytelling, and economic value generation. She is experienced in leveraging artificial intelligence and data analytics to achieve better, more efficient, and more cost-effective results.

Yodi has extensive experience counseling multinational companies on cross-border data issues, particularly with respect to Asia and the European Union. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., Yodi worked at one of the “Big Four” Japanese law firms in Tokyo, Japan. She also previously took an active role in developing the first digital evidence analysis platform in China to be operated and staffed by PRC-licensed lawyers and helped to design PRC-specific procedures for the strategic use and handling of sensitive digital information in civil litigation, anti-corruption investigations, and routine compliance audits in China.

Yodi is also an active member of Drinker Biddle’s Diversity Committee. She spearheads the D.C. office’s annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit and co-leads the D.C. office’s 1L Diverse Summer Intern program.

Yodi earned her JD from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, where she served as the president of the Black Law Students Association. She earned her BA degree, with honors, from Southern Methodist University.

Yodi speaks Amharic and Japanese.

Allen Jun

Vice President & Senior Counsel,
Marriott International, Inc.

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Allen Jun currently serves as a Vice President and Senior Counsel with Marriott International, Inc. and is based at Marriott’s headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. Since joining Marriott in 2014, Allen has worked on a variety of matters including negotiating management and franchise agreements for Marriott’s hotels in the US and Canada, supporting the integration of Marriott’s acquisitions of Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Delta Hotels & Resorts, advising Marriott’s global sales organization with sales arrangements for global corporate accounts and solving everyday issues impacting Marriott’s US and Canadian hotel owners, franchisees and guests. Prior to joining Marriott, Allen was a Senior Associate at WilmerHale in Washington DC and an Associate at Ropes & Gray in Boston, where his practice focused on capital markets transactions, securities law compliance and mergers and acquisitions. Allen previously served on the Boards of Directors of the Asian-Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington DC Area and the Asian-American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts. Allen earned his J.D. and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sebastian Kurian

Corporate Counsel,
Google LLC

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Sebastian Kurian is a Corporate Counsel at Google focusing primarily on energy infrastructure and supply transactions, including maintaining Google’s 100% renewable energy goal and pursuing its ambitious, new initiative to power its data centers on a 24/7 basis with carbon-free energy.  At Google, Sebastian has closed renewable energy deals across four continents. Prior to joining Google in 2018, Sebastian was a Corporate Counsel at Amazon where he was the lead global utilities lawyer for Amazon Web Services and the former Assistant General Counsel of Clark Construction.  Sebastian began his legal career as a commercial real estate associate at Miles & Stockbridge. A native of Baltimore, Sebastian received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania with honors and his JD from the University of Maryland with honors.

Sebastian was a recipient of the Miles & Stockbridge Pro-Bono Advocate Award and his pro bono work with Wayfind’s Microenterprise Legal Clinic has been featured in Corporate Counsel magazine. His diversity efforts include assisting with the Legal Summer Institute – Google’s summer internship program for underrepresented law school students, and serving as a mentor for Google’s Sage Guru Program – a career development coaching program targeted to junior minority Googlers.

Sebastian is a regular speaker on energy and law topics.  He was a panelist at the 2018 Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Conference and the 2019 Baker McKenzie/Bloomberg New Energy Finance Global Renewable Energy Conference. He has also been a guest lecturer at Berkeley Law School’s Renewable Energy Law and Policy course.

Michele Lee

Director & Associate General Counsel, Head of Global Litigation, Regulatory & Competition,
Twitter, Inc.

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Michele C. Lee is a seasoned legal advisor with a track record of leading teams to efficiently resolve high profile domestic and global legal disputes. As Associate General Counsel responsible for Litigation, Competition, and Regulatory matters at Twitter, Ms. Lee routinely handles high stakes global disputes involving speech rights and intermediary liability. Prior to joining Twitter, Ms. Lee advised senior executives at Visa about laws and regulations relating to payment networks, and managed various cases, including the company’s patent litigation docket, as well as a class action dispute including a class of all merchants in the United States. Before working at private sector companies, Ms. Lee was a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice where she prosecuted cases of civil fraud committed against the government. At the start of her career, Ms. Lee was an antitrust associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, and at White & Case. She graduated from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2005 and received her undergraduate degree in political science and public relations from Syracuse University in 2002. In her free time, she is a fundraiser and volunteer for Raphael House, a San Francisco shelter for homeless families, and can be found witnessing the indescribable adorableness and chaos of her three kids who are ages three and under.

Jamila Mensah

Partner,
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP

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Jamila is a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Houston office. Her practice covers all areas of employment law, including extensive experience in discrimination, retaliation and wage and hour issues. In particular, Jamila litigates on behalf of her clients in federal and state court and before administrative bodies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Jamila also counsels and trains employers on a wide range of employment issues, including hiring, termination, wage and hour compliance, disability accommodation, employment discrimination, and drafting of employee handbooks and personnel policies. Additionally, Jamila conducts internal investigations for clients on sensitive employment-related issues. Jamila is a native of Houston, Texas where she lives with her husband and two daughters. She graduated from Rice University in 2000 before attending the University of Texas School of Law, where she graduated with honors in 2006.

Ashley Page

Senior Vice President, General Counsel,
Learfield IMG College

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Ashley Page is Senior Vice President and General Counsel, for Learfield IMG College. She currently oversees all legal activity for the Revenue Solutions division, which includes CLC, Paciolan, ANC, Mogo, and SME. In this role, Ashley oversees a team focused on legal activity ranging from business agreements, IP portfolio management, risk management and compliance to brand enforcement and corporate responsibility and labor code issues for the licensing business.

Before assuming her current role, Ashley served as SVP and Associate General Counsel for IMG College, managing legal affairs for the multimedia rights and licensing divisions.

Prior to joining IMG College in April 2016, Ashley was the lead commercial attorney for Google’s shopping products and services, including Google Express, Google Product Listing Ads, and Google Trusted Stores. Before becoming a corporate attorney, Ashley practiced in the Intellectual Property Transactions Group at Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta and the Intellectual Property and Corporate Practice Groups at Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington DC.

Ashley currently serves on the board of directors of the South Fulton Tennis Center and Sisters Code, a non-profit organization established to help bridge the technology gender gap by providing women with the tools they need to successfully prepare women for new careers in the field of technology and provide corporations with a greater pipeline of diverse talent to address the gender equity balance within their organizations. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History, summa cum laude, from Spelman College in 2001 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2004.

Dameon Rivers

Partner,
Ballard Spahr LLP

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Dameon M. Rivers’ national real estate finance practice concentrates on the representation of commercial banks, community development financial institution (CDFIs), and other mortgage banking institutions in connection with construction and permanent loan transactions. His team routinely represents clients in affordable housing, senior housing, charter school finance, and revolving credit facilities.

Dameon is best known for his work on both balance-sheet and agency loan executions for projects benefited by 4% or 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). His experience includes the representation of both construction and permanent lenders on taxable and tax-exempt loan structures. He assists his clients in navigating the legal issues that are routinely encountered on LIHTC transactions, including subordinate debt and intercreditor agreements, ground leases, tax exemptions/abatements, tri-party agreements, regulatory agreements, and navigating HUD’s regulatory framework.

Dameon routinely represents CDFIs in connection with construction and permanent loans extended to the operators of charter school facilities across the country.

Another substantial portion of Dameon’s practice is devoted to the representation of lenders in connection with bridge, revolving, and permanent financing for senior housing projects. Dameon is well versed in the licensing and compliance issues that are unique to senior housing and is able to provide practical solutions to issues that arise in connection with licensing deficiencies, change of ownership procedures, and Medicaid provider agreements. Dameon and his team concentrate on the closing, negotiation, and review of due diligence for large, multi-state mortgage pool transactions.

Shayon Smith

Assistant General Counsel – Global Litigation,
The Hershey Company

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Shayon T. Smith is head of global litigation at The Hershey Company, where she is responsible for managing Hershey’s global litigation portfolio and claims including intellectual property, class action and employment litigation and commercial disputes. She is also responsible for providing commercial legal support to the Hershey’s Chocolate World retail business.

Shayon joined Hershey in 2015 from the Baltimore office of Goodell DeVries where she was a Partner. Her practice focused on the representation of pharmaceutical and medical device companies facing products liability litigation in both state and federal jurisdictions. Prior to that, she served as in-house counsel with Steelcase Inc., managing disputes, claims and litigation matters both domestically and abroad. At Steelcase, Shayon led the minority law student summer intern program. Shayon began her legal career as an associate at Goodell DeVries.

Shayon received her undergraduate degree from Notre Dame of Maryland University (f/k/a College of Notre Dame of Maryland) and her law degree from the University of Maryland, where she was an Associate Editor for The Business Lawyer.

Shayon is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. where she is currently the Second Vice President and Membership Chairman in her chapter. In her spare time, Shayon enjoys spending time with family and volunteering with local community partners in East Baltimore, Maryland.

Sheea Sybblis

Senior Counsel,
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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Ms. Sybblis is currently Senior Counsel at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“BI”) and was previously in-house counsel at Bristol Myers Squibb.  She served as the lead legal support for various functions and advised on issues including price transparency, Market Access and FDA regulation for both multinational companies.  At BI, her responsibilities include being lead legal support to therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Immunoscience, and Diabetes, as well as health economic outcomes research.  Prior to going in-house, Ms. Sybblis was an associate at two large law firms, and a federal law clerk to the Honorable Judge Wigenton, in the District of New Jersey.

An active member of her legal community, Ms. Sybblis is part of the In-House Planning Committee for the American Health Lawyers Association and for the National Association of Women Lawyers; Co-Director of Diversity for the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association; and a former President of the Association of Black Women Attorneys.  She has published multiple articles and taught as a visiting lecturer and adjunct professor of business and law at universities and law schools.

Ms. Sybblis graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry from the Honors College at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, then obtained her M.B.A from Baruch College.  She obtained her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, was symposium editor of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media, and Entertainment Journal, and recognized for writing achievements.  Prior to beginning her legal career, Ms. Sybblis was an analyst at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.