Bethanie Barnes

Associate General Counsel, Employment,
Anthropic

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Bethanie Barnes is Associate General Counsel, Employment at Anthropic, PBC in San Francisco. She has practiced labor and employment law exclusively for over ten years. Prior to Anthropic, Bethanie led the global employment law function at Airtable, and was Employment Senior Counsel at Slack. Bethanie began her practice as an employment defense litigator in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Outside of work, Bethanie enjoys serving on philanthropic boards advancing the interests of women and minority attorneys and fundraising for law student scholarships. She previously served on the boards of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the Black Women Lawyers Association of Northern California, and was an Ambassador for the California Minority Counsel Program. 

Bethanie is an alumna of Howard University and the Emory University School of Law. 

Pia Biswas

Principal Corporate Counsel,
Microsoft

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Pia Biswas has over a decade of legal experience in broad commercial law matters in the technology sector. She is currently Principal Corporate Counsel at Microsoft supporting strategic partnerships and their adoption of generative AI. She was previously Senior Legal Counsel at SAP where she specialized in negotiating complex multimillion dollar enterprise commercial transactions in strategic and regulated industries. She also served as Associate Counsel at Datapipe, Inc., since acquired by Rackspace, in her first in-house role where she was a generalist on various technology related matters. Her legal career began at a law firm where she led commercial and civil litigation matters, as well as commercial transactions.

Iris Chen

Vice President, Deputy General Counsel,
Airbnb, Inc.

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Iris Chen is a Vice President, Deputy General Counsel in the Legal Department at Airbnb, Inc. where she leads a team of 50+ attorneys and legal professionals that support Airbnb’s product, commercial and marketing functions across the company’s Product, Engineering, Marketing, Communications, Creative Production, Supply Growth, Trust & Safety, Community Support and Airbnb.org teams, as well as managing the company’s trademark and copyright matters.  Prior to joining Airbnb, Iris spent over 14 years with Google as a Vice President in the Legal Department where she led a team of 145+ legal team members responsible for supporting global product development and all commercial transactions in North America and EMEA for Google’s advertising, commerce, payments, search, research, health, geo and supporting infrastructure services. Iris is experienced in leading and developing legal teams and advising executives across product, engineering, sales, business development and other functions. Before joining Google, Iris was a corporate associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (2001-2004) and then Ropes & Gray (2004-2006) as an associate in the firm’s investment management practice. Iris is a graduate of Yale College and Columbia Law School.

Outside of work, Iris currently serves on the board of the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose and is a member of Columbia Law School’s Alumni of Color Committee.

Christina Choi

Product Counsel,
Google

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Christina Y. Choi is a Product Counsel at Google, where she advises teams building innovative generative AI products for both consumers and enterprise.  Prior to Google, Christina was a corporate counsel at Amazon, advising teams on the development and launch of Amazon Alexa smart home and communications products.  She started her career as a litigation associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, with a focus on consumer class actions, appellate, and white collar investigations.

Marcus A. Christian

Partner,
Mayer Brown

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Marcus Christian is a co-leader of the Washington DC Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice and co-leader of Global Cyber Incident Response. He is also a member of the Cybersecurity & Data Privacy, White Collar Defense & Compliance, National Security, and Government Contracts practices. Since joining Mayer Brown in 2013, Marcus has represented clients in matters involving data security planning, board governance of cybersecurity, cyber fraud, data breach response, and congressional investigations, among others.

Marcus is a recognized leader in cybersecurity. He has been named to Cybersecurity Docket’s “Incident Response 30,” recognizing 30 of the “best and brightest data breach response lawyers in the business” three times. The publication also noted that those recognized “have established themselves as the ‘first call’ for companies hit with a cyber attack or other data security incident.” Marcus was also named to the Washingtonian’s Top Lawyer list in 2018 and 2019.

Before entering private practice, he was the executive assistant United States attorney at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the third-highest ranking position in one of America’s largest and busiest offices of federal prosecutors. In this role, Marcus worked on the senior management team with responsibility for the Criminal, Civil, Appellate, Asset Forfeiture and Administrative Divisions. Among other things, he oversaw a number of identity theft task forces, maintained critical incident response readiness, and supervised investigations and prosecutions of crimes related to data breaches. Marcus developed strong working relationships with members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and other agencies that investigate computer and data crimes.  During his time as a federal prosecutor, Marcus earned a reputation as an excellent trial lawyer.

Prior to joining the US Attorney’s Office, Marcus was the chief of staff for US Representative Peter Deutsch of Florida’s 20th Congressional District. He joined the congressman after working for TSIC, Inc., a statewide nonprofit organization that provides full-tuition, four-year college scholarships to thousands of Florida’s low-income students. At TSIC, Marcus served as chief operating officer and legal counsel and later as president.

Earlier in his career, Marcus was selected by the Attorney General’s Honors Program to work as an attorney in Appellate Section of the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington DC. He also clerked for Judge H. Robert Mayer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC.

Neysa Fligor

Division Counsel,
HP Inc.

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Neysa Fligor has an extensive and unique background as an attorney and policymaker.  She graduated from Georgetown Law in 2000 and has worked as an attorney in the tech, public and private sectors handling litigation and transactional matters.  Neysa joined the HP Inc. Legal Department in 2015 and is currently the Division Counsel for the Commercial Products and Services Business.  In that role, Neysa provides advice related to regulatory compliance, new product development and product launches.  She views her role as a trusted partner and strategic advisor to her clients.  Neysa has also worked to advance DEI during her time at HP, including serving on the Executive Board for the Bay Area Black Employee Resource Group (ERG) and representing HP at the 2018 Diversity in Law Hackathon.  Prior to HP, Neysa worked for the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office representing the Office of the Assessor and the Health and Hospital Systems Department, among others.  Neysa is also an elected official.  She was the first black Los Altos Councilmember and Mayor.

Bobby Ghajar

Partner,
Cooley LLP

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Bobby is an intellectual property trial attorney with a practice across the US. Although he represents companies across a wide range of complex commercial litigation issues, his practice is primarily focused on advising companies in trademark, trade dress, copyright, right of publicity and false advertising litigation. He has handled dozens of high‐stakes litigation and appellate matters for global brands, celebrities, and unicorn companies. Many of his cases have helped to shape and create legal precedent.

Year after year, the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 recognizes Bobby as one of the top trademark lawyers in California for both his trademark litigation and trademark counseling experience, and he is one of few attorneys ranked nationally in the Gold Tier for trademark litigation. WTR praises Bobby for being an “excellent, results driven tactician,” noting that “those who have come up against him instantly gain respect for him.” He is also hailed for his “superb courtroom performances and a string of recent trial successes” with the publication recognizing that “he is a trial lawyer you turn to when you can’t afford to lose.” The Daily Journal has annually recognized him as one of the top IP litigators in California for his copyright and trademark litigation. Among other accolades, he is ranked by Legal 500 as a leading trademark litigator, noted for being a “very strong advocate with great business acumen.”

Bobby is a member of the International Trademark Association and has served on several of its subcommittees. He speaks and writes extensively on intellectual property and internet issues, street art, fair use, AI, and other cutting-edge IP concerns. He has co‐written treatises on right of publicity and trademark law, and he has been quoted as an expert in numerous entertainment and legal publications in the US and Canada.

Ernest Hammond III

Associate General Counsel, AI Product
Meta

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Ernest Hammond III is Associate General Counsel, AI Product at Meta where he provides legal guidance and support for the development and launch of AI products, features, and tools to Meta’s AI research teams and other stakeholders. With a focus on technology and privacy law, Ernest advises internal teams on a wide range of legal issues, including product development, data privacy and security, intellectual property, and regulatory compliance.

Prior to joining Meta, Ernest worked as product counsel at Twilio and Uber partnering with global product, engineering, compliance, and other teams to guide development of products and services to meet strategic objectives while ensuring compliance with rapidly evolving laws and regulations.

Ernest is actively engaged in efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal community including as a Board Director for BALIF (the nation’s oldest and largest association of LGBTQI attorneys) and the Justice and Diversity Center of The Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF). He previously served in a variety of other leadership positions including as an Ambassador for the California Minority Counsel Program, Co-Chair At Large for the Minority Bar Coalition of the SF Bay Area, Barristers Club Diversity Director for the Bar Association of San Francisco, and Men of Color Project Member for the American Bar Association. Ernest has received multiple awards for his exceptional leadership in DEI and the legal profession, including Modern Counsel’s 35 Under 35 2024, the 2023 Rising Star Award from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, the 2022 Barristers Diversity Award from BASF, and the 2022 Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award. Besides his work in DEI, Ernest is an active advocate for access to justice and serves on the boards of the Child Care Law Center and UnCommon Law.

Ernest earned his B.S. from the University of Florida, his M.B.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Maha Jafarey

Principal Corporate Counsel,
Microsoft

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Maha Jafarey is Principal Corporate Counsel in the Experiences and Devices legal support team at Microsoft. In her role, she helps Microsoft 365 engineering teams navigate complex legal issues, including privacy, data protection, and intellectual property. Maha’s clients are at the forefront of innovation, creating cutting-edge enterprise solutions. Before joining Microsoft, Maha worked as a transactional attorney at Apex Law Group, PLLC, representing technology companies in various matters. Maha is passionate about giving back to her community and has dedicated over a decade to volunteering with local nonprofit organizations. Maha also takes pride in mentoring aspiring law students from BIPOC backgrounds, helping them navigate the legal world.

Brandon Johnson

Partner, Technology & Regulatory Practice,
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

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Brandon H. Johnson serves as a trusted advisor to startups, midsize enterprises, and Fortune 500 companies seeking to develop and distribute innovative technology products and solutions. Brandon has broad experience leading high-value technology transactions and navigating complex regulatory landscapes in a number of industries, with a focus on cloud communications, Internet of Things (IoT), and emerging technologies. Having been embedded for many years within several clients, Brandon approaches problems with a practical, customer-centric lens and is adept at collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive high-priority business objectives.

Brandon is a zealous advocate at the negotiation table, with a long track record of success. He has structured hundreds of commercial agreements for voice-over IP (VoIP) and messaging services, unified communication tools, cloud services, connected devices, and immersive platforms (AR/VR/MR/XR), among other technologies.

On the regulatory front, Brandon advises clients on communications requirements impacting digital products and services and has represented clients in rulemaking and enforcement proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and other federal agencies. In addition, Brandon is a leading expert in the field of digital accessibility, with significant experience counseling companies on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), the European Accessibility Act (EAA), and other global accessibility laws, regulations, and standards. Brandon also advises on emerging regulatory issues, including those relevant to autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and 5G.

Brandon maintains an active pro bono practice, with an emphasis on equal access and representation in the technology, media, and telecommunications industries; disability education; and immigration.

Bradley Justus

Partner,
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP

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Bradley Justus guides clients through some of the most high-profile and complex antitrust litigations and deal reviews of today. His practice spans the full range of antitrust work, covering high-stakes litigation, mergers, and government investigations. Bradley is trusted to help lead the defense of companies such as Google and Tyson Foods in some of today’s most prominent and closely watched matters, including the defense of Google in the sprawling ad technology litigations brought by the Department of Justice, many state attorneys general, and various private plaintiffs in federal courts in Virginia, New York, and Texas. He also maintains a full docket of transactional and counseling antitrust work, obtaining clearance of a key merger for Tyson, providing advice to a cutting-edge AI start-up, Kontango, and being a go-to advisor for major companies like Kenvue. He was one of the key leaders responsible for obtaining clearance for Dow Chemical’s merger with DuPont, one of the largest and most complex merger reviews ever, requiring approval in more than 20 jurisdictions.

Wendy Kearns

Partner-In-Charge, Seattle, Technology Practice,
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

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Wendy Kearns began work in the technology industry in Silicon Valley as a software developer, software product manager, and a business development manager, and proceeded directly to law school without a college degree. She focuses on technology transactions and helps clients structure and negotiate complex agreements in a variety of technologies including cloud, internet of things, artificial intelligence, technology, media, advertising, video games, data licensing, and other software and hardware related technology fields. Based on her experience in business development, Wendy counsels companies on how to get transactions completed efficiently and effectively to grow and maintain their businesses. Outside of deal work, Wendy helps companies launch new products and features by analyzing legal issues in product development and commercialization. She helps regulated industries bridge knowledge and operational gaps when one party is regulated and the other is not.

Wendy is a frequent speaker at legal technology industry events.

Toyja E. Kelley

Partner,
Locke Lord LLP

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Toyja Kelley represents large public and medium-sized businesses in complex commercial disputes. He concentrates his practice in general commercial litigation, construction litigation, professional and product liability, business torts and insurance coverage, regularly appearing before state and federal courts in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

In addition to his trial experience, Toyja has long served as outside general counsel to a Maryland-based construction company and outside general litigation counsel to a special event photo booth manufacturer.

Toyja is an active member of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and is the Immediate Past President of the nearly 22,000-member international organization. In 2020, he became the inaugural President of DRI’s National Center for Law and Public Policy, a research and advocacy organization dedicated to influencing public policy. He is also a Past President of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Defense Counsel and serves as an adjunct professor of law in its litigation and conflict resolution skills program at Washington and Lee University.

Steadfast in his commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal industry, Toyja is on the Executive Board of the National Black Lawyers Association and the Board of National Alliance on Mental Illness Metropolitan Baltimore. He has been active with Just The Beginning Foundation (JTBF), having served as a past member of the JTBF Conference Executive Planning Committee on behalf of the State of Maryland. He is also Co-Chair of the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Jeremy Merkelson

Partner, Employment Practice,
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

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Jeremy Ben Merkelson is a full-service employment lawyer who serves clients across a wide range of industries. He brings substantial first-chair trial experience to the firm’s East Coast employment and labor team.

Jeremy provides regular advice and counsel to businesses of all sizes on managing workplace-related concerns, developing top-tier personnel policies, minimizing employment-related risks, and avoiding costly litigation. He also provides counsel to deal teams, advising on employment aspects of complex, cross-border M&A transactions.

A seasoned litigator, Jeremy has broad experience representing clients in state and federal courts, including in the nation’s capital, as well as in administrative proceedings and arbitrations throughout the United States. Jeremy has advised on impactful and complex employment litigation in closely watched sectors such as financial services, technology, and healthcare. His first-chair trial experience includes defending employers in nationwide wage-and-hour class and collective actions, restrictive covenant/employee mobility and trade secrets disputes, and whistleblower retaliation and discrimination cases.

After serving in a leadership and legal advisory role at the Association of American Law Schools, a nonprofit comprising more than 170 U.S. law schools, Jeremy used his experience to build a subspecialty practice advising nonprofits and trade associations in the D.C. area, including serving as pro bono counsel to the Federation of American Scientists.

Super Lawyers named Jeremy to its list of “Rising Stars” for Labor & Employment in Washington, D.C., in 2021 and 2022. He is a prolific public speaker on state and federal employment law updates and matters related to running a successful workplace, addressing a wide range of subjects from conducting internal investigations and auditing HR operations to independent contractor misclassification and the #MeToo movement.

Lauren Moore

Partner,
WilmerHale

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Drawing on her prior experience in government service, Lauren Moore advises clients on public policy issues, government enforcement, congressional investigations, and civil rights matters.  Lauren represents clients in a variety of industries, including prominent foundations and nonprofits, financial institutions, information technology and consulting companies, and accounting firms.

Lauren rejoined WilmerHale after serving in the Office of the White House Counsel under President Biden.  In that role, she advised on civil rights policy and worked with officials at the Department of Justice and agency general counsels on policy and litigation matters related to the administration’s equity agenda. Before that, Lauren served as general counsel to then-Senator Kamala D. Harris on the US Senate Judiciary Committee, where she provided strategic counsel on high-profile judicial and executive nominations, civil rights policy, and oversight hearings involving the Department of Justice.

Lauren was recognized as a 2024 Rising Star by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and has previously been recognized by Bloomberg Law, the National Law Journal, and Diversity Journal.  She currently serves on the Leadership Advisory Council of the National Women’s Law Center. She is also a member of the Hiring Committee and Diversity Committee of the firm’s Washington DC office.

Lauren earned her JD from Harvard Law School, and her BA from the University of Southern California.

Justine Phillips

Partner,
Baker McKenzie LLP

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Justine focuses her practice on both proactive and reactive cybersecurity and data privacy services, representing clients in matters related to information governance, diligence in acquisitions and investments, incident preparedness and response, the California Consumer Privacy Act, privacy litigation, and cyber litigation.

She provides actionable and practical guidance to help businesses manage data, technology, cyber threats, privacy, security and digital assets. As businesses navigate complex and far-reaching laws and regulations, Justine proactively creates compliance programs customized to client needs and budgets, including data mapping, vendor management, privacy and security by design, cyber risk management and mitigation, eWorkforce policies, data retention and destruction policies and implementation, consumer request workflows, cyber-awareness policies and trainings, and CCPA/CPRA readiness audits. She also provides reactive cyber services, including incident response, crisis management, privileged forensic investigations into business email compromises, data breaches and ransomware attacks, compliance with notice obligations to individuals and regulators, regulatory inquiries and investigations, and cyber litigation.

Antonio J. Reynolds

Partner,
Wiley Rein LLP

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Antonio represents financial services companies and other major corporations, as well as their officers and directors, in a variety of civil and criminal enforcement matters before federal and state agencies. He has advised clients in matters involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, and state attorneys general.

In addition, he has represented clients in responding to investigations and other inquiries by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the United States Attorneys’ Offices (USAO), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and matters before investigative arms of intergovernmental organizations, including the World Bank Group’s Integrity Vice Presidency and the Asian Development Bank’s Office of Anticorruption and Integrity. He also has handled complex civil litigation in federal district court and in federal courts of appeals.

Mr. Reynolds has been recognized by Legal 500 as a leading lawyer in Cyber Law (Data Protection and Privacy).

Carla Rydholm

Head of Product,
Lex Machina

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Carla leads Lex Machina’s efforts to bring legal analytics to new areas of the law. She works with an integrated team of legal experts, product managers, and engineers in the creation of legal technology that supports data-empowered lawyering.

Carla previously practiced public interest law with non-profit advocacy organizations and worked on academic policy projects involving the intersection of law and science. She earned a J.D. from Duke University, where she co-founded the Duke Journal for Law & Social Change. She also earned a Ph.D. from Duke in genetics and a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia.

Joe Santiesteban

Partner, Cybersecurity,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

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Joe Santiesteban is a trusted cybersecurity lawyer and strategic advisor, who regularly steers clients through data breaches as a partner in crisis management.

He brings significant experience advising companies – from one of the largest telecommunications providers to leading entertainment companies to startups on the cutting-edge of AI and more – on the full cycle of an incident. Joe also advises clients regarding regulatory investigations, class actions, and contract disputes that frequently flow from privacy and cybersecurity incidents.

His goal is to help clients respond quickly and with integrity to protect their brand, build trust and mitigate legal risk. Joe is highly adept at directing incident investigations, analyzing potential claims and defenses, examining potential notification obligations and advising on communications strategies that build trust and engagement.

Joe is committed to using these experiences to find creative and engaging strategies to help companies proactively prepare for an incident and mitigate cybersecurity legal risk. This includes helping to build and improve incident response programs through incident response plans, simulated incidents, threat workshops, and training. It also includes assisting clients with practically evaluating the legal risk of security decisions in a variety of transactions and across the product lifecycle.

He also provides strategic advice to cybersecurity companies, including those looking to push technological and defense boundaries in cyber defense, incident response, and threat intelligence. This includes helping companies maximize their security offerings by navigating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), and the Federal Wiretap Act, as well as state law analogs.

Joe serves on Orrick’s Pro Bono Committee. A leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives, Joe is the co-head of the Latinx affinity group at Orrick and served as a fellow for the Leadership Counsel on Legal Diversity. He is also a member of the Washington Latino Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association.

Joy Sherrod

Director of Discovery, Associate General Counsel,
Intel Corporation

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Joy Sherrod is Associate General Counsel and Director of Discovery for the Intel Litigation Group at Intel Corporation.  In this role, Joy leads multiple cross-functional teams to manage all phases of discovery in multiple patent and commercial litigations, evaluate, deploy and update numerous eDiscovery tools across the organization, mitigate information security risks associated with discovery, and develop practices and protocols to improve and optimize legal compliance. Joy also leads the team that responds to all government and third-party requests directed to Intel.  Over her 13 years with Intel, Joy has held positions in litigation, privacy legal and sales and marketing legal. 

Prior to joining Intel, Joy was a litigation associate with Bingham McCutchen where she counseled clients on antitrust, white-collar defense and IP protection.  Joy earned her J.D. from Northwestern University and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.  Joy is an active member of the California Bar.

Joy was recently named an AI Visionary by global legal technology company, Relativity. Relativity’s annual list of AI Visionaries recognizes and celebrates the luminaries who are blazing the trail for AI adoption in the legal space and pushing the envelope in areas where the approach to technology adoption has traditionally been more conservative. Joy is a member of the Intel Black Leadership Council and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  She is a passionate supporter of voting rights efforts, having volunteered with Election Protection since the 2008 election.  Born in Kenya, but raised in the Bay Area, Joy still calls Oakland home along with her son (11), husband, mother and 2 dogs.

Reeya Thakrar

Associate,
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

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Reeya Thakrar counsels clients on technology transactions and intellectual property matters.

Reeya has experience drafting and reviewing agreements related to information technology, software licenses, SaaS/cloud services, outsourcing, joint development ventures, consulting, system integration and terms of use for websites and mobile apps. She also performs intellectual property and information technology due diligence for M&A transactions and advises clients on patent law and intellectual property strategy. Reeya has experience identifying privacy and security risks to clients in connection with such transactions and counseling clients to mitigate the related legal risks.

Reeya is also counseling clients on their use of artificial intelligence, including vendor and customer contract provisions, regulatory compliance, governance and risk management policies. She has been recognized by Chambers USA as an “Associate to Watch” in the Technology and Outsourcing division from 2022-2024.

Reeya’s litigation experience includes successfully representing a software company in a breach of contract action, as well as defending a global electronics company and a commercial and home appliance company in complex patent infringement suits in the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware, respectively. She has been involved in many aspects of litigation, including drafting pleadings, responding to written discovery, working with technical experts and witnesses and drafting post-trial motions.

Before attending law school, Reeya worked as a technology strategy consultant with a multinational information technology corporation for over three years, primarily assisting utilities in the electric industry. She was a summer associate at the firm before joining Faegre Drinker full-time.

Geoffrey Young

Partner, 
Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP

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Clients across sectors including life sciences, financial services, aviation, media/entertainment, and many others rely on Geoffrey Young’s strategic counseling and robust advocacy to resolve their most complex commercial disputes.

Geoff is a seasoned attorney with a winning record of litigating disputes of all kinds, including those related to pharmaceutical drugs and clinical trials, consumer class actions, financing agreements, media broadcasting services, technology services, and biometric-related regulations. He also has extensive experience prosecuting and defending intellectual property disputes, including copyright and trademark infringement. His matters span industries including aviation, biotech, financial services and investment, mass media, oil and gas, public relations and communications, and transportation. High-net-worth individuals and public figures, including some in the entertainment industry, also rely on him to resolve disputes inside and outside the courtroom.

With experience counseling clients and managing disputes through pre-litigation and all phases of the litigation process, Geoff understands how to effectively steer cases through the full range of court procedures and systems, across multiple jurisdictions, including New York state and federal courts. He has initiated and defended numerous actions seeking various forms of emergency relief. He has also handled domestic and international arbitrations subject to varying rules, including those of JAMS, the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Geoff embodies RSHC’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the firm. Throughout his career, he has served in several DEI leadership positions, including a role in which he guided a firm’s strategy for recruiting diverse attorneys at all levels. Geoff has also demonstrated a strong dedication to pro bono service and devoted considerable time to various matters, including capital punishment cases.