Nassib Abou-Khalil

Former Chief Legal Officer,
Nokia

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Nassib Abou-Khalil most recently served as Chief Legal Officer at Nokia. He joined Nokia in September 2014 as head of Legal & Compliance for the MEA region, later becoming General Counsel for Customer Operations and Deputy Chief Legal Officer, Business. Following the announcement of the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia, Nassib led the compliance integration planning work, developing and implementing the initial combined company’s compliance program. 

Before joining Nokia, Nassib was Head of Public Policy for EMEA and General Counsel for MEA at Yahoo! He also held roles at GE Oil & Gas, Etisalat and TMF Netherlands. An admitted lawyer at the Ontario Bar and in England, Nassib holds a BA in Political Sciences and Civil Law (LL.L.) and Common Law (LL.B.) and Master of Law (LL.M) degrees from the University of Ottawa, the latter including a year’s study of European law at the Université de Louvain la Neuve in Belgium. 

In addition to his legal work, Nassib is an outspoken advocate for inclusion and diversity, working closely with Nokia’s LGBT+ employee resource group, EQUAL! An out leader himself, he took part in the launch of the OUT Leaders program at Nokia. 

Nassib has lived in Lebanon, Canada, The Netherlands, Qatar and the UAE. In his spare time, he enjoys contemporary art, music including opera, and hiking in the countryside, particularly in the Alps. 

Leslie Overton

Partner and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer,
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP

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Leslie Overton serves as Axinn’s Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer. She recently earned an Executive Certificate in DEI from Georgetown University. Leslie also maintains an active antitrust practice. Having previously served in senior positions at the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Leslie offers her clients a valuable combination of experience and insight. Leslie guides companies through merger reviews, civil non-merger investigations, and criminal investigations involving federal, state, and foreign antitrust authorities. She also customizes antitrust compliance programs to match her clients’ exposure and business realities. While serving as deputy assistant attorney general for civil enforcement during the Obama Administration, Leslie managed over half of the DOJ’s merger challenges in fiscal years 2012–2014. Additionally, she supervised litigation and civil non-merger investigations, as well as several criminal antitrust matters.

Jorja Jackson

Vice President, Legal & Regulatory Affairs,
Workday

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Jorja Jackson is Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs at Workday. She began her legal career as an Employment Lawyer at Littler Mendelson and then moved in-house and supported corporate law departments at ArcSight (acquired by HP), Robert Half International, Inc. and Salesforce where she advised business on matters impacting global employment and improving the success of the company. At Workday, she oversees subject matter experts in litigation, cybersecurity, governance, regulatory and ethics. One area of particular interest and fun is her work on ESG and setting up a framework and governance for this expansive and constantly evolving area of work. She helps the business solve problems to move the business forward. Jorja has also served as faculty in the extension programs for San Francisco State University and UCLA, teaching classes focused on ethics and employment law basics for students interested in HR or business roles.

Samantha Grant

Partner,
Reed Smith LLP

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Samantha is an effective advocate for employers and management in administrative, arbitration, and trial proceedings. She leverages her analytical and strategic skills to deliver superior results in litigation of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, breach of contract, fraud, defamation, trade secret, and unfair competition cases, among others. She advises clients on litigation avoidance strategies and local, state, and federal compliance matters. She also conducts workplace investigations and management and workforce training.

The insight and experience she gained while on a two-year secondment as in-house employment counsel for a Fortune 50 company was invaluable in her becoming a particularly pragmatic outside counsel. She learned the business of her clients and found targeted solutions to legal problems while considering the business objectives and impact.

Leslie Overton

Vice President and Associate General Counsel,
Altria Client Services Inc.

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Kamran Q. Khan is Vice-President and Associate General Counsel with Altria Client Services Inc. Over the last 16 years, Kamran has managed a wide portfolio of litigation, business counseling and regulatory matters supporting Altria’s family of companies. Kamran served as front-line general counsel for Nu Mark -An Altria Innovation Company responsible for developing and marketing non-traditional tobacco products. In this role, Kamran led a team providing legal support for all aspects of the development, marketing, and sale of innovative products. Currently, Kamran leads a team responsible for supporting Government Affairs, Corporate Citizenship, Regulatory Affairs, and Privacy. Kamran is the Chair of the Altria Law Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is involved with various diversity-related efforts on a local and national level.

Prior to joining Altria, Kamran was a Partner in the National Products Liability Division of Shook, Hardy and Bacon (“SHB”). At SHB, Kamran’s practice focused on products-related litigation and regulation. Kamran has been involved in the defense of complex products liability and civil RICO cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Kamran was a longtime member of SHB’s Search Committee (Hiring Committee), as well as a founding member of SHB’s Diversity Committee.

Kamran received his J.D. at Southern Illinois University School of Law and a B.A. in History at the University of Florida. While in law school, Kamran was Case Note and Comment Editor of the Southern Illinois University Law Journal, a member of the Order of the Barristers, and a member of the National Products Liability Moot Court Team.

Kareem Dale

Director & Senior Counsel,
Discover Financial Services

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Kareem Dale is blind and grew up in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising in May 1995. He graduated Cum Laude and received his JD/MBA in May 1999 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He currently serves as Director and Senior Counsel with Discover Financial Services, a leading direct bank and payments services company.

In 2009, he was appointed by President Obama as a Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, the highest ranking position on disability ever to be created by a President. He coordinated disability policy and outreach for all federal agencies, working both in the White House Domestic Policy Council and White House Office of Public Engagement. He also led outreach and engagement to the legal community, including coordinating outreach for the appointment and nomination for two U.S. Supreme Court Justices as well as numerous federal appellate and district court judges. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Dale served as National Disability Director for the Obama for America campaign and held a similar position in the Obama-Biden transition.

Before joining the Obama administration, he was the Managing Partner of The Dale Law Group where his practice focused on commercial litigation, personal injury and real estate. He spent 7 years at Winston & Strawn as a litigation attorney prior to opening his own law firm.

He also has been active in community service. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois. He also is a current member of the Board of Directors for the Chicago Bar Foundation. He is a 2017 Leadership Greater Chicago fellow. He was a member of the Mayor’s Steering Committee in Chicago celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He served on the Board of Directors for Access Living in Chicago for three years. He also served as the past President of the Board of Directors for the Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago, where he led the Theater’s capital campaign prior to stepping down to join the White House. During his legal career, he has dedicated numerous hours to those persons unable to afford legal representation, for which he received the Probono Commitment to Legal Service Award. In recognition of his achievements, Mr. Dale was featured in the 2006 inaugural edition of Who’s Who, Black in Chicago. He also was recognized in the November-December 2001 issue of Ebony magazine as one of the 30 Leaders of the Future under 30.

Jennifer Yokoyama

Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation

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Jen leads the legal strategy and execution for Microsoft’s Cloud + AI and Strategic Missions and Technologies (SMT) engineering teams, overseeing a group that provides legal strategy, support, counseling, and execution across a vast spectrum of legal, compliance, product counseling, and regulatory issues. She directs all parts of the CELA Cloud + AI team (which includes Azure, Cloud Operations and Innovation, Commerce and Ecosystems, Microsoft Industry Clouds, Developer Division, Business Applications, Data Platform, AI Platform, Azure Edge and Platform, Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure, Health and Life Sciences Solutions and Platforms, and GitHub) and the CELA SMT team (including Microsoft’s U.S. Federal business, Azure Space & Mission Engineering, Azure for Operators, and Azure Quantum) – all towards the goal of achieving more in a trusted and responsible way.

Outside of Microsoft, Jen is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and representation of minority points of view throughout the legal and tech industries. One way she acts on this is through the time spent on the Board of ChIPs, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance and connect women in technology, law, and policy. Jen is also a huge fan of great (and sometimes not-so-great) television and movies, reading, sports (particularly football), and all types of food.

Catherine Quinlan

Vice President, AI Ethics,
IBM Corporation

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Catherine M. Quinlan is Vice President, AI Ethics for IBM and manages the work of IBM’s AI Ethics Board, a multi-disciplinary team responsible for the governance and decision-making process for AI ethics policies and practices. Catherine oversees the AI ethics use case review process as well as the development of guidance for compliance to new and changing regulations across the globe. Catherine is Co-Director of the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab, which was established in 2020 as a partnership between the University of Notre Dame and IBM to promote broad-based, far-reaching interdisciplinary research, thought and policy leadership in artificial intelligence and other technology ethics.

During her tenure at IBM, Catherine has served in a variety of positions as an attorney within IBM’s Legal & Regulatory Affairs organization, including positions related to product counseling, open source, employment, and marketing and advertising.

Catherine is a member of the New York State Bar, is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States of America and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

She is President of the Westchester/Southern CT Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Catherine graduated from Lafayette College and New York Law School.

Sabastian Niles

President and Chief Legal Officer,
Salesforce

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Sabastian Niles is President and Chief Legal Officer. In this role, he oversees Salesforce’s global legal and government affairs organizations. He is a member of the executive leadership team reporting to Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff and a strategic advisor to Salesforce and its board of directors.

Prior to joining Salesforce, Sabastian was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he worked with U.S. and international companies navigating corporate transformations, creating value through innovation, and sustaining stakeholder trust. His wide-ranging client work included developing and leading teams advising CEOs, boards of directors, and senior executives on corporate governance, enterprise risk oversight, strategic and financial investments, alliances, mergers and acquisitions. He also worked with teams to advance sustainability priorities, strengthen stakeholder and shareholder relationships, and deepen corporate purpose to create value and fortify culture.

Sabastian is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Business & Society board of advisors, an elected fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel, and a member of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. He is also a director of the nonprofit organization Literacy Partners, which focuses on empowering families, adult learners, caregivers, and children through the power of literacy, education, and language skills.

Sabastian earned a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he co-founded the Harvard Association of Law and Business. He received degrees in finance, economics, and decision and information sciences from the University of Maryland.

Megan Yoshimura

Senior Corporate Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation

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Megan Yoshimura is Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft. Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more (About Microsoft | Mission and Vision | Microsoft). Megan is an employment lawyer and attorney manager responsible for advising sales and engineering clients on all areas of US employment law and compliance. Megan partners closely with Human resources, business clients, and across the legal department. Megan is currently Vice Chair of the Microsoft’s Legal Department D&I Council.

Megan received her law degree from American University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois. She currently serves as Board Secretary of Columbia Legal Services and is the Communications Chair of the Executive Council of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

Megan and her husband, Allan, reside Seattle, Washington with their two sons. Megan stays active coaching her sons’ baseball and cross country teams.

Sabastian Niles

President and Chief Legal Officer,
Salesforce

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Sabastian Niles is President and Chief Legal Officer. In this role, he oversees Salesforce’s global legal and government affairs organizations. He is a member of the executive leadership team reporting to Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff and a strategic advisor to Salesforce and its board of directors.

Prior to joining Salesforce, Sabastian was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he worked with U.S. and international companies navigating corporate transformations, creating value through innovation, and sustaining stakeholder trust. His wide-ranging client work included developing and leading teams advising CEOs, boards of directors, and senior executives on corporate governance, enterprise risk oversight, strategic and financial investments, alliances, mergers and acquisitions. He also worked with teams to advance sustainability priorities, strengthen stakeholder and shareholder relationships, and deepen corporate purpose to create value and fortify culture.

Sabastian is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Business & Society board of advisors, an elected fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel, and a member of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. He is also a director of the nonprofit organization Literacy Partners, which focuses on empowering families, adult learners, caregivers, and children through the power of literacy, education, and language skills.

Sabastian earned a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he co-founded the Harvard Association of Law and Business. He received degrees in finance, economics, and decision and information sciences from the University of Maryland.

Esra Hudson

Partner and Leader of Labor & Employment Practice,
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

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Esra Hudson is the leader of Manatt’s employment and labor practice. Resident in the Los Angeles office, she focuses her practice on all aspects of employment law and related litigation. Esra has particular experience handling Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) representative actions and class action defense. She also represents companies in state and federal courts, defending claims of discrimination, harassment, whistleblowing, wrongful discharge and related tort claims, breach of contract, trade secrets, unfair competition, and all other employment-related matters. Esra has represented employers in proceedings before state and federal agencies, including the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has also successfully defended broad-ranging classification audits by the California Employment Development Department. Esra’s litigation practice also includes extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution, including managing and trying dozens of simultaneous arbitration matters following the enforcement of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. In addition to her litigation practice, Esra is a trusted advisor to her clients on a variety of employment, personnel management and operational issues. She has expertise in crisis management and media relations, including in sensitive matters involving executives and high-profile individuals. Esra also provides a wide array of management training on a variety of employment-related subjects, including sexual harassment and discrimination prevention. She develops employment manuals and policies, as well as executive employment and severance agreements. Esra provides services for companies in a diverse group of industries, including entertainment, financial services, healthcare, transportation, insurance, manufacturing, the service industry and nonprofits.

Tonya Johnson

Assistant General Counsel,
The Home Depot, Inc.

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Tonya Johnson is an Assistant General Counsel of Employment Law in The Home Depot’s Legal Department. Ms. Johnson has been with The Home Depot since 2008 and focuses her practice on pro-active employment law for locations across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prior to joining The Home Depot, Ms. Johnson was an Associate in the Labor and Employment Group at Paul Hastings in Atlanta. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from The Ohio State University and is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School.

Ms. Johnson partners with her internal clients on a wide range of human resources topics, including HR policy development and compliance, accommodations, leave management, conducting workplace investigations, drug/alcohol testing compliance, reductions in force, compliance with local, state and federal wage & hour requirements, development of commission-based incentive programs, I-9 and E-Verify issues, and immigration sponsorship.

Danyale Price

Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer,
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

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Danyale Price is the Chief Inclusion Officer at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Working closely with firm leadership, Danyale is responsible for the global strategy and implementation of Paul, Weiss’s efforts to promote a diverse workforce and sustain an inclusive culture. She is a counselor and advisor to many associates and a DE&I advisor to partners and clients.

With more than 20 years of experience as a DE&I professional, Danyale has been named to Crain’s New York Business’s “Notable Black Leaders” list and Savoy Magazine’s “Most Influential Executives in Diversity & Inclusion” list, which highlights DE&I professionals who have driven positive change within their organizations and the corporate world.

Danyale began her career as a litigator before starting her diversity career at Goldman Sachs. She subsequently served as director of career planning at development at the National Basketball Players Association before joining Paul, Weiss. She received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Spelman College.

Beth Tsai

Director, Trust & Safety Policy,
Google

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Beth Tsai is the Director for Search, Geo and Bard Policy under Google’s Trust & Safety Team. Her team is responsible for keeping Google’s users safe by driving the creation of trustworthy products and supporting Google’s mission to help users access useful, high-quality information.

Beth was part of the original team responsible for building the Google Assistant and Google Lens, and has played a critical role in developing Google’s approach towards offensive, dangerous or sensitive content in LLMs like LaMDA, Bard and Search Generative Experiences. She is currently leading Google’s Trust & Safety policy strategy for Generative AI, focused on enabling safe, responsible and engaging interactions.

Jonathan Torres

Associate General Counsel – AI, Licensing, and Open Source,
Meta

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Jonathan Torres is Associate General Counsel for AI, Licensing, and Open Source at Meta, where he manages foundational AI development, policy, and licensing, including the recently released Llama 2 models, and open source compliance across all of Meta’s offerings. Prior to joining Meta, Jonathan worked for AWS where his practice included product counseling for AI/ML, including AWS Bedrock and Sagemaker, and strategic collaboration partnerships. Outside of work, Jonathan enjoys supporting associations aimed at empowering historically underrepresented students to enter STEM education and careers, including Code2College and FIRST in Texas. He earned his undergraduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and his Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law.

Nimesh Patel

Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer,
Akin

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Nimesh Patel is the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer for Akin. In this role he works closely with the firm’s chairperson and Management Committee and is responsible for leading the firm’s global DEI strategy and initiatives. This includes ensuring that the firm’s core values of inclusiveness and diversity are reflected in all efforts related to recruiting, professional development, advancement, and strategic partnerships. Nimesh has more than 20 years of experience advancing DEI issues in both the private sector and the federal government. Prior to joining Akin Gump, he served as the head of diversity and inclusion at another prominent global law firm. During the Obama Administration, Nimesh also served as the first Chief DEI Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with 230,000 employees worldwide. Nimesh’s prior work experience also includes being an associate in the labor and employment practice at two large international law firms, with a specialty in corporate diversity counseling. He started his career as an Honor’s Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, where his experience included serving as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section and as an assistant general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Nimesh’s numerous leadership experiences include currently serving as the President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Law Foundation, as well as former President of NAPABA, former board member of Asian Americans Advancing Justice: AAJC, and former vice chair of the D.C. Commission on Human Rights.

Denise Zamore

Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary,
agilon health

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Denise Zamore currently serves as agilon health Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Denise is a member of agilon’s executive leadership team with responsibility for global legal, compliance, regulatory affairs, corporate governance, enterprise risk, and corporate transactional activities. Trusted advisor to CEO, CFO and Board of Directors, Denise supports all areas of agilon’s diverse business, serving as a business partner for executives, other team members, and partners organization wide.

Denise joined agilon health from Optum where she previously served as Deputy General Counsel leading a team of attorneys and non-attorney professionals providing support to healthcare provider partners and executives on a broad array of areas including critical strategy development, identification and leveraging of high-profile risks and opportunities, regulatory guidance, mergers and acquisitions, state regulation of risk-bearing entities, compliance with corporate practice of medicine, privacy and employment law.

Prior to Optum, Denise led a team of attorneys and non-attorney litigation professionals at UnitedHealthcare in the coordination and management of legal, regulatory and compliance matters related to all lines of health insurance business where she advised insurance business units on issues related to antitrust, bankruptcy, behavioral health, claims reimbursement, contract disputes, employment, ERISA, Medicare, Medicaid, member privacy and provider disputes. She supported provider network and contract negotiation teams and led projects related to interoperability, budget, legal spend and law firm diversity.

Denise is committed to diversity and in 2012 founded the UnitedHealthcare annual diverse 1L summer internship program. She previously served as Chair of UnitedHealth Group’s Diversity & Inclusion Council and was selected by UHG Chief Legal Officer as a 2013 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow and a 2017-18 UHG Emerging Leader. She continues her commitment to diversity at agilonhealth, serving as the Executive Sponsor to the Pride@agilon LGBTQI+ Employee Resource Group, as well as being actively involved in many other diversity activities at the organization related to mentorship, sponsorship, education and recruiting.

Denise is an active member of her community and serves as a mentor to high school and college students. She serves as a board member of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a foundation dedicated to promoting equal access to justice; as a board member of the Hartford Promise Scholars program, a nonprofit organization focused on high school and college success for Hartford public school students, and as a board member of the Connecticut Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. She has received numerous award and distinctions for her commitment to diversity and the practice of law.

Prior to moving in-house, Denise completed a two-year federal clerkship and practiced complex commercial litigation at large multinational law firms. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her B.A. in government from Georgetown University.

She resides in Connecticut with her husband and son.

Cedric Powell

Partner,
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

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Cedric Powell is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

He is a seasoned private equity, M&A attorney with extensive experience in middle market M&A transactions, representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, strategic acquirers, and founders in both buy-side and sell-side transactions. Cedric’s experience spans various industries, including aerospace and defense, manufacturing, food and beverage, national security, government services, retail, technology, chemical distribution, consumer packaged goods, grocery, third-party logistics, and healthcare to name a few. Additionally, Cedric regularly represents clients in various other corporate and transactional matters, including equity financings, strategic investments, joint ventures, and corporate governance.

Cedric co-chairs the DC Office’s Diversity and Inclusion Office Working Group, the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Attorney Network (DIAN) and the firm’s Black Lawyers Network. He also co-chairs the DC Office’s Recruiting Committee.

Honors:

• ”Ones to Watch,” Best Lawyers, 2024
• Recognized Lawyer – M&A/Corporate and Commercial, Legal 500 US, 2023
• Minority Corporate Counsel Association – Pathways Advisory Council, 2023
• Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), Rising Star, 2021
• Washington, D.C. Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2019

Tim Brown

President – Venerable Investment Advisers; Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary,
Venerable

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Timothy Brown is President of Venerable Investment Advisers where he leads the investment adviser business line with overall P&L responsibility. He is also Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Venerable Holdings, Inc., and a member of the company’s Executive Committee. In this role, Mr. Brown leads the Law Department with responsibility for all legal, compliance, regulatory, corporate governance, litigation, corporate secretary, and government affairs matters.

Previously, Mr. Brown was Vice President and Chief Counsel for Voya Financial, Inc., where he advised the executive management team. He led cross-functional teams in the U.S. and Latin America in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance, government relations, insurance regulatory, and securities matters.

Mr. Brown began his legal career as a Corporate and Securities associate with King & Spalding, LLP before moving to Greenberg Traurig, LLP. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Iowa Insurers and the past Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Hands on Atlanta Board of Directors.

Mr. Brown received his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was associate editor for the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee State University.

Diane Brayton

Executive Vice President & General Counsel,
The New York Times Company

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Diane Brayton became executive vice president and general counsel of The New York Times Company in January 2017. In her role, she provides legal counsel to the company’s board of directors and senior management and leads a legal team that advises on, among other areas, media and intellectual property law, corporate governance and securities matters, commercial transactions, employment and labor relations, and litigation management. In addition to her duties as general counsel, Ms. Brayton oversees the company’s information security, corporate security and occupational health and safety functions. Ms. Brayton served as the Times Company’s corporate secretary from 2011 to 2023.

Prior to becoming general counsel, Ms. Brayton held a series of progressively senior roles in the company’s legal department, serving as deputy general counsel (2016), assistant general counsel (2009 to 2016), and senior counsel (2007 to 2009). She joined the Times Company in 2004 as counsel. Prior to working at the Times Company, Ms. Brayton was vice president and counsel in the legal department of Credit Suisse First Boston from 2002 to 2004 and an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York, Moscow and London from 1997 to 2002. From 1996 to 1997, she was a clerk for the Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

In 2019, Ms. Brayton joined the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.

Ms. Brayton received a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Nebraska and a J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law, where she graduated with honors.

Sonya Olds Som, Esq.

Global Managing Partner – Legal, Risk, Compliance & Government Affairs Practice Group,
Diversified Search Group

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Sonya Olds Som, Esq. serves as Global Managing Partner of Diversified Search Group’s Legal, Risk, Compliance and Government Affairs practice.

Combining her extensive executive search experience in the legal industry with a proven track record of understanding the importance of diversity and inclusive leadership. Sonya leads searches and advises clients in recruiting Chief Legal Officers, General Counsels, and other C-Suite and Board members with compliance expertise across industries and locations.

Sonya has built a reputation as a connector of people. She has an unrivaled ability to build strategic partnerships. By cultivating key alliances through a highly consultative approach, Sonya has been able to leverage her deep background in talent acquisition, diversity & inclusion, and labor & employment law to attract top industry talent for organizations globally. Sonya regularly provides thought leadership through industry panels, the media, and social media.

She provides organizations with the ability to strengthen their culture of Diversity & Inclusion by positioning this as an integral component to successfully doing business.

At the core of her role is conducting executive searches across C-Suite roles and industries as well as conducting Diversity & Inclusion consulting for organizations.

Prior to joining Diversified Search Group, Sonya was an Executive Search Partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Chicago office and a member of the firm’s Legal, Risk, Compliance and Government Affairs and Diversity Advisory Services Practices.

Preceding her time with Heidrick & Struggles, Sonya was a Partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa. For nearly a decade, she oversaw various areas of recruiting within the legal field including developing and sourcing candidates, business development and marketing. She was able to leverage a deep professional network throughout the legal industry to place leaders in global legal departments and top law firms.

Laura Maechtlen

Partner; National Chair, Labor & Employment,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

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Laura Maechtlen is the National Chair of the Labor and Employment Department at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Her practice is focused on employment litigation and includes the defense of class, collective and multi-plaintiff actions. Laura also has experience litigating against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) in systemic actions, both at the early charge stage and in large-scale EEOC pattern-and-practice litigation.

Laura is a national leader on issues related to diversity and inclusion in the legal industry, and has held a variety of leadership positions through which she has advocated for systemic improvement in the legal industry in the areas of diversity and inclusion. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the California Minority Counsel Program. She is a previous Latina Commissioner for the Hispanic National Bar Association, President of the National LGBT Bar Association, Chair of the CA Minority Counsel Program, and Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD).

Laura speaks and publishes regularly on a variety of employment law and litigation topics, and issues regarding diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, and has been quoted on those topics by the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Reuters, The Recorder, Vogue, The Daily Journal, the Insurance Journal, CIO.com, Employment Law 360, and others. She has also served as a contributing editor to multiple editions of The Fair Labor Standards Act (ABA) and The Developing Labor Law (BNA).

Bendita Malakia

Director of Diversity & Engagement,
O’Melveny & Myers, LLP

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Bendita Cynthia Malakia is a global justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) executive and talent cultivation expert whose aim is to ensure that individuals that are underrepresented, underserved and underestimated can thrive in the workplace. She currently leads diversity & engagement at the global law firm of O’Melveny & Myers.

Bendita is a catalyst for underrepresented colleagues to be their authentic selves in the workplace and helps organizations structure for their success, including working across difference to create community – by building systems, inspiring investment, and fostering connections. With a people-centric, metrics-driven approach, Bendita also leverages her JEDI, leadership development, and executive coaching capabilities to help clients achieve their DEI ambitions.

Bendita draws on her prior experiences as a chief diversity & inclusion officer, a large law firm lawyer financing projects in emerging markets, in-house counsel at two global financial institutions, and as a diversity consultant for large and mid-size organizations, and a certified professional coach to co-create change individually and institutionally.

Bendita’s thought leadership and advocacy extend to being a prolific writer and speaker on JEDI in the workplace, with specialized capabilities in intersectionality, women of color and LGBTQ+ issues. She is President of the National LGBTQ+ Bar, and contributes to the development of JEDI more broadly through initiatives bringing metrics and accountability globally. Bendita serves as on the advisory board of Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession (IILP) and IILP’s Social Impact Incubator. She also serves as an advisor to a caregiving coaching startup, the Keep Company. Bendita graduated from Harvard Law School, Barnard College and Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

Awards:

• Most Inspirational D&I Leader (nominated by peer JEDI professionals), d&i leaders, 2022
• Wall of Distinction for significant achievements as an alum, Cicero-North Syracuse High School, 2022
• Top Global DEI Professional, National Diversity Institute, 2022
• Commended, for innovative racial justice initiatives, Financial Times, 2020
• Who’s Who in Black Dallas, Who’s Who in Black Dallas Edition, 2016-2017
• Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2015
• Project Finance (Washington, D.C.), Who’s Who Legal, 2015

Carlos Dávila-Caballero

Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer,
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

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Carlos Dávila-Caballero is Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at the law firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, where he oversees DEI strategies and provides leadership and expertise to the Firm’s Executive Committee and relevant committees, administrative departments, lawyers, and staff. He also provides DEI expertise to clients and external stakeholders, as well as support to the firm’s affinity and women’s groups. Prior to his current role, Mr. Dávila-Caballero was the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Cleary Gottlieb, and before that, was Assistant Dean for Diversity Initiatives and Career Development at Tulane University Law School. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Central Florida and his JD from Tulane University Law School. Mr. Dávila-Caballero is a former president of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals (ALFDP) and former Vice President for Finance for NALP. He is also a member of the National LGBT Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association and a national speaker about DEI topics in the legal profession. Mr. Dávila-Caballero is based in New York City and Montréal.

Puamuh Ghogomu

Assistant General Counsel, Labor and Employment,
W.W. Grainger, Inc.

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Puamuh Ghogomu just began working at Grainger as Assistant General Counsel, Labor and Employment Law, where he will be responsible for managing Grainger’s employment law and labor practices. Prior to this, he was Senior Counsel, Employment Law in the Litigation, Compliance & Regulatory Law group at AbbVie. In this role, he was responsible for partnering with Human Resources and company management and leaders to provide legal counsel and advice on a broad range of employment and labor law matters to AbbVie’s research-based pharmaceutical business. He also represented the company in employment matters pending before administrative agencies.

Puamuh has significant experience managing litigation, in the development and implementation of employment policies, leave of absence and accommodation administration and support, as well as diversity and inclusion advice and counsel, and workforce training to managers and HR professionals on a variety of employment law subjects.

Prior to joining AbbVie, Puamuh was Senior Counsel, Employment Law at Walgreens, and prior to that, he was an associate at Littler Mendelson in Chicago. He is licensed to practice in Illinois.

Mr. Ghogomu received his law degree and Master’s Degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

José Ramón González

Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary,
Equitable Holdings, Inc.

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José Ramón González is Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Equitable Holdings, and a member of the company’s Management Committee. In this role, González leads the Law Department with responsibility for all legal, compliance, regulatory and governmental affairs.

Previously, Mr. González was Executive Vice President & General Counsel for CNA Insurance, serving as principal counsel to the Chief Executive Officer, senior management team and board of directors. He led the Law Department and was responsible for legal affairs, compliance, regulatory and government affairs, corporate secretary affairs, securities and litigation.

Prior to joining CNA, Mr. González was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at QBE North America, and Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Torus Insurance. He also held numerous leadership roles over the course of 12 years within the legal function of AIG. During his tenure, he played a leading role in the resolution of numerous significant regulatory matters.

Mr. González began practicing law in 1995 as a corporate associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

With a longstanding commitment to the community, Mr. González has served on a number of not-for-profit boards of directors. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and a member of the boards of Latino Donor Collaborative and the Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. González holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from the Columbia University School of Law.

Grace Speights

Global Leader, Labor and Employment Practice,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

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Grace Speights is a partner at Morgan Lewis, resident in the Firm’s Washington, D.C. Office. Grace serves as the Global Leader of Morgan Lewis’ Labor and Employment Practice. In that role she is responsible for managing more than 300 lawyers across the Firm’s offices and for setting the strategic focus of the Practice Group. Prior to this position, Grace served as the Managing Partner of the Firm’s Washington Office, Chair of the Systemic Employment Litigation Practice Group, a member of the Firm’s Partner Compensation Committee, and Chair of ML Women. Grace currently serves on the Firm’s Advisory Board and co-chairs, with Firm Chair Jami McKeon, the Firm’s Mobilizing for Equality Taskforce.

Grace’s practice focuses on counseling and defending clients in employment discrimination litigation, primarily class action litigation, and counseling clients on corporate diversity best practices. She is often called upon by clients for assistance in crisis management. She also leads a cross-office and cross-disciplinary group of Morgan Lewis lawyers who are advising companies in addressing the myriad issues arising from the #metoo movement and the racial justice movement, including conducting workplace misconduct investigations, conducting workplace cultural assessments, and developing strategies for providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful workplace. Grace’s clientele includes large companies, high profile individuals, and entertainment and sports organizations.

In 2018, Grace was recognized by American Lawyer as the Attorney of the Year for being a “change agent” and ally of the #metoo movement and by Employment Law 360 as an MVP for her work in the #metoo space. Grace is currently the chair of the board of trustees of The George Washington University. Grace has served on the university’s board of trustees since 2013, including as secretary and as chair of the committee of governance and nominations. Grace’s preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Michelle Rhee

Deputy General Counsel,
Wells Fargo Bank N.A.

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Michelle Rhee was named deputy general counsel for Wealth & Investment Management (WIM) in 2020. She joined Wells Fargo in 2018 as assistant general counsel for Wells Fargo Asset Management, a WIM business. Her responsibilities have included serving as chief legal officer for Wells Fargo Funds, coordinating counsel for the WIM division, and acting as a key partner for numerous WIM business initiatives.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Michelle was Associate General Counsel at Bank of America Corporation (BAC) from March 2004 until February 2018. At BAC, Michelle headed a legal team supporting the global distribution of securities products to high net worth individuals within the Merrill Lynch, U.S. Trust and Merrill Edge businesses. Michelle’s team of 24 attorneys provided origination, development, and regulatory advice on a variety of securities products including mutual funds, alternative investment funds, derivatives, collective vehicles, 529 plans, separately managed accounts, HSAs, IRAs, and equity and fixed income transactions.

Prior to joining BAC, Michelle was an associate and junior partner at Hale and Dorr from 1997 to 2004 in the firm’s Asset Management practice.

Michelle is a member of the MA bar. She holds a B.A. from Smith College and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Kori Carew

Chief Catalyst Officer and Founder,
Bridge 68 LLC

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Kori S. Carew, Esq. is an attorney, TedX speaker, and community builder who generates awareness and understanding of critical human issues by creating the space and climate for open dialogue that is meaningful, and enables people to expand their perspective and drive positive change. With grace and truth she is a people inclusion strategist, advocate, speaker, coach, writer, status quo disruptor, truthteller, wife, and mother of two curly-haired, wise, energetic, fierce, spitfire daughters. She brings an incisive voice, unapologetic questioning of the status quo, and a lifelong fascination of human potential to empowering women and historically marginalized and excluded people. Her multi-national, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual family background gives her a keen sensitivity to belonging and inclusion across differences. Beyond her work within organizations she actively serves her community as a civic leader.

Kori brings a fierce love of community and belonging that transcends differences to her work, ministry, and life. She loves to sing, cook, entertain, dance in the hallways at work, and read when she is not equipping leaders to be inclusive, interrupt bias and disrupt the status quo, or helping individuals live their best and fiercest lives. At her day job she focuses on developing and implementing strategies for individual career, leadership and organizational diversity and inclusion success, helps organizations build bridges across differences and improve inclusion, coaches, trains on people, leadership, and talent development as well as diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging topics.

Kori is the Chief Catalyst Officer and Founder of the consulting firm Bridge 68 LLC focused on empowering individuals and organizations to be their best through people and leadership development and cultivating belonging, inclusion, diversity and equity. She brings 22 years of experience leading, advocating and counseling in law firms including leading Inclusion and Diversity strategies and programs in AmLaw 100 law firms. Kori was most recently the Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer at an international AmLaw 100 law firm Seyfarth Shaw where she rolled out several talent and inclusion initiatives including The Belonging Project.

Kori is a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, a certified Gallup CliftonStrengths® Coach and an IDI Qualified Administrator. She also is an Enneagram 1 (improver) and Conscious Reformer on the Insight Profiles Discovery wheel (blue). Her top 5 CliftonStrengths® are: connectedness, achiever, leaner, responsibility, and context. Kori took up painting during the pandemic and is energized by helping people live their best lives. When she is not “working” she focuses her voice and talent on issues of gender equity and rights, inclusion, and human and civil rights, serving in her church and community, entertaining in her home, and cherishing her phenomenal community. Kori is a nationally sought-after speaker on topics of diversity, inclusion and belonging, inclusive leadership, talent engagement and development, authenticity and leveraging power. Her TedX, Just belonging: finding the courage to interrupt bias can be found here. https://www.ted.com/talks/kori_carew_just_belonging_finding_the_courage_to_interrupt _bias.

Peter Wilson, Jr.

Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer,
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

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Peter Wilson, Jr. is Cravath’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. He focuses on leading the firm’s core commitment to diversity and inclusion and making it integral to overall business strategy. Working closely with firm leadership, he develops strategies and programs that enhance the recruitment, retention and advancement of professionals from underrepresented groups in the legal profession.

Prior to joining Cravath, Peter led diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at two other large law firms. Before assuming diversity leadership, Peter practiced corporate and public finance law.

As a frequent presenter at major diversity conferences, Peter has delivered key presentations for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Charting Your Own Course (CYOC) and the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals (ALFDP). He also has served on numerous non-profit boards. Currently, Peter is a board member of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance. He has served as the Chair of the Tri-State Diversity Council, Vice President of Outreach for the Connecticut Rivers Council Boy Scouts of America, Vice President of ALFDP and a board member of the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity.

Keri Matthews

Principal, Deputy General Counsel, Head of Enterprise Legal Services,
The Vanguard Group, Inc.

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Keri Matthews heads Vanguard’s Enterprise Legal Services group which is responsible for litigation and regulatory enforcement, employment law, privacy, technology, and intellectual property, and marketing and communications law for Vanguard globally.

Keri joined Vanguard from Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati where she served as Head of Employment Law. Prior to joining Fifth Third, she was with Deutsche Bank in New York and held roles in both Legal (Managing Director and Employment Counsel) and HR (Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion). She began her legal career at O’Melveny & Myers in New York.

She is a graduate of NYU School of Law and the University of Western Ontario.

Dawn Rosemond

Firm Diversity Partner,
Barnes & Thornburg LLP

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Dawn Rosemond serves as Barnes & Thornburg’s full-time Firm Diversity Partner. In this role, Dawn is charged with activating the firm’s longstanding commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity. Through the creation and implementation of deliberate programming and strategic initiatives, Dawn leads the charge for cultivating and maintaining an environment that boldly promotes the training, sponsorship, empowerment and promotion of all firm talent, regardless of background.

Always positive, boundlessly energetic and refreshingly authentic, Dawn’s people skills and innate personal drive to develop the strengths of everyone around her are bolstered by her tireless energy and work ethic. In her role as firm diversity partner, Dawn spearheads the firm’s efforts to make bold, lasting change in an industry needing redirection.

Dawn is the first African-American female to make equity partner at Barnes & Thornburg and reportedly in the state of Indiana. She has been with the firm her entire legal career, representing business clients in virtually all stages of litigation, including pre-litigation counseling, ADR, trials and appeals. Dawn adds value most of all by endeavoring at every turn to provide her clients with an unmatched level of care for their business needs and objectives.

Dawn began her career with a focus on federal and state employment litigation. Today, she focuses on representing, counseling and protecting clients that range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies in business and commercial litigation.

Dawn has more than 25 years of experience providing advice and zealous advocacy for her clients on a range of issues, from compliance, restrictive covenant enforcement, trade secret protection and management, intellectual property protection and policing, and vendor and contractual disputes.

Dawn serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, alongside the Firm Managing Partner, and oversees the firm’s Racial Justice Committees. A published author of the Amazon best-selling business short, Boss Presence, Dawn is a national speaker on leadership and personal development and a deliberate mentor. At her core, Dawn is moved by pointing people to their greatness and believes that doing so is the best way to elevate individual and collective consciousness and ultimately change a culture.

Professional and Community Involvement:

• Owner, NPB Group LLC (dba REIGN™)
• Member, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
• Volunteer, Fort Wayne Girls Rock and Ladies With Purpose

Honors:

• Recipient, Indiana Torchbearer Award
• INK Magazine, named one of the most influential African-Americans in Northeast Indiana, 2009
• Recipient, Niemann Citation for Excellence and Professionalism, Allen County Bar Association, 2015-2016
• Indiana Super Lawyers, 2009; Corporate Counsel Edition of Super Lawyers
• “Indiana Super Achiever,” MyLifeIndiana®, 2019
• One of the “Nation’s Best,” Lawyers of Color®, 2019-2020
• “My Life Indiana: Super Achievers,” 2021

Joseph Centeno

Shareholder, Labor & Employment Co-Chair,
Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, PC

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Joe Centeno’s practice includes collective and class action litigation, including Fair Credit Reporting Act, employment litigation, high stakes #MeToo matters, restrictive covenants, labor relations, policies, leave, termination of employment, joint employment, diversity and inclusion strategy and planning, Title IX investigation and compliance, and C-suite executive employment agreements. Joe counsels employers on virtually all employment and labor-related laws and regulations. He has extensive jury trial experience and has been lead trial counsel in numerous high-profile trials and arbitrations. He also has broad experience in defending claims before state and federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, many state and city Human and Relations and Civil Rights Commissions and agencies, and the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, where he served as a Commissioner by mayoral appointment.

Joe has been nationally recognized by Best Lawyers in America, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Philadelphia Business Journal, Minority Corporate Counsel Association and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. He co-chairs Buchanan’s Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration section, which is recognized as a national Tier 1 practice by U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” In 2021 and 2022, Joe was honored as a leader in the field of Labor & Employment Law in Pennsylvania by Chambers USA. During the research process, one of Joe’s references remarked, “Joseph is a consummate partner in the truest sense – he thinks big picture, and understands what we are looking for in an attorney-client relationship.” In 2022, Joe was named a ‘Best Law Firm Mentor’ by The Legal Intelligencer as part of the publication’s Professional Excellence Awards. Additionally, Joe was recognized as a ‘Best Mentor: Law Firm’ finalist by The American Lawyer in 2022.

Yasser Madriz

Trial Partner,
McGuireWoods LLP

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Yasser is the managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Houston office. A trial lawyer with extensive experience handling complex, high-stakes litigation in federal and state court, he plays key roles in various multibillion-dollar cases filed throughout the United States. He represents plaintiffs and defendants across industries in business, commercial and energy litigation matters.

Over the past several years, Yasser has focused his practice on cases involving technology and intellectual property disputes, trade secret theft and unfair competition claims, but he has substantial experience handling other litigation matters. As a former transactional attorney, for instance, Yasser frequently leverages his transactional background to help clients solve complex transaction-based disputes, business organization controversies and derivative actions. He is able to dissect complex corporate disputes from the perspective of a litigator and a transactional attorney — an asset from which many of his clients have benefited.

Yasser collaborates with his clients to plan and develop strategies to protect their businesses. Yasser uses his negotiation prowess to obtain favorable results for clients in settlement proceedings and mediations. Yasser also understands that litigation sometimes cannot be avoided and stands ready to fight for his clients and advance their positions in jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations.

As a native Nicaraguan, Yasser’s Latin American roots and fluency in Spanish have enabled him to develop experience representing Latin American clients in international and cross-border disputes.

Eugene Clark-Herrera

Partner,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

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Eugene Clark-Herrera, a partner in Orrick’s San Francisco office, focuses his practice on financing for school and college facilities, as well as city and county facilities and infrastructure. His practice includes serving as bond and disclosure counsel on revenue and tax-supported bond financing involving counties, cities, school and college districts, charter schools, airports, and student and multi-family housing projects.

Eugene has experience with a variety of financing structures and characteristics, including pension obligation bonds, synthetic fixed rate bonds, and various reinvestment vehicles. In addition, he has pioneered capital markets access for California public charter schools and advised governmental issuers, foundations, advocacy groups and policy makers in the development and expansion of public charter school access to tax-advantaged financing.

His insights helped inform and establish the Equitable Facilities Fund, a nonprofit social impact fund that empowers high-performing public charter schools with equitable access to low-cost, long-term financing by innovatively combining mission-related investments and capital markets. He also helped structure the largest charter school facilities financing in California, $93 million for construction and improvement of seven school campuses.

Eugene also co-founded and serves on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit Mural Music & Arts Project, an arts-based youth development organization he founded in East Palo Alto, California, to educate, inspire and empower teens through the arts.

He has served for 10 years on the board of the California Lawyers for the Arts and on the board of the Flywheel Fund, a nonprofit that seeks to protect students pursuing low income public interest or other jobs from the financial hardship associated with any tuition repayment. Eugene also has served as treasurer and board member for the Charles Houston Bar Association, an affiliate of the National Bar Association representing the interests of African American lawyers, judges and law students throughout Northern California.

Prior to law school, Eugene was a public school teacher and science curriculum developer in the South Bronx and Washington Heights neighborhoods of New York City for six years, including two years with Teach for America.

Since joining Orrick, Eugene has championed efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. He led a DEI group in our San Francisco office for 15 years and has led the Black Lawyers of Orrick affinity group. In 2022, he became one of three DEI leaders firmwide, with a focus on DEI and talent.

He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Richard Hung

Global Co-Chair, Litigation,
Morrison Foerster LLP

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Rich is the global co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Litigation Department. He previously co-led the firm’s IP Litigation Group and the cross-disciplinary Intellectual Property Group for over a decade. He brings his knowledge as a registered patent lawyer and a Federal Circuit clerk to lead complex technology matters for clients in state and federal trial and appellate courts. He has represented plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes patent litigation, competitor on-competitor cases, non-practicing entity assertions, and trade secret misappropriation disputes, obtaining consent judgments in multiple cases. Rich also represents clients in adversarial proceedings before the U.S. PTO and counsels clients on strategic offensive and defensive patent licensing and acquisition issues.

His matters have spanned a broad range of technologies, including:

• Internet search
• Cryptography
• Programmable logic devices
• Graphical user interfaces
• Smartphones
• Water filtration consumer appliances

Rich earned dual bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and economics from Stanford University and his law degree from Columbia Law School. In law school, he externed for the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, then with the Southern District of New York. He was also a James Kent Scholar, a moot court editor and judge, and a recipient of the Carroll G. Harper Prize for excellence in intellectual property. After law school, Rich clerked for the Honorable Paul Michel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

In 2014, Rich was appointed by then San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee to serve as a neutral commissioner on the San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board. He currently serves as the president of the Asian Law Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides pro bono legal assistance to the Asian/Pacific Islander community in the Silicon Valley. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Rich previously tried multiple criminal cases—all to favorable verdicts—with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Dolly Mirchandani

Partner,
White & Case LLP

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Dolly’s practice focuses on the infrastructure and energy sector, including public private partnerships, reflecting 26 years of experience working on some of the most significant deals in the sector. She has an extensive client base and represents sponsors, infrastructure funds, commercial banks, institutional lenders, contractors, secondary market investors and governments in the tender, development, acquisition and financing of greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects. Dolly has advised across multiple infrastructure asset classes including surface transportation (airports, ports, roads, parking, bridges, transit and rail), water and wastewater, waste management, district energy, digital and social infrastructure. Her breadth of practice and decades of experience allows her to anticipate concerns, propose solutions and promote agreement. She has played a leading role in the introduction of private investment and finance in the infrastructure sector in North America, having advised on multiple, award-winning transactions, including ones that were first-of-their-kind. Dolly has also authored the World Bank’s contract guidance on PPP projects which provides a market tested reference point for governments all over the world who are contemplating this methodology for delivering their infrastructure projects.

Dolly is, without a doubt, one of the most widely respected and successful practitioners in her field. She is one of IFLR1000’s 2022 Market Leaders for US Project Finance and Project Development. Dolly is ranked Band 1: PPP Projects by both Chambers USA and Chambers Global and was recently placed on the Roll Call of Elite for Project Finance in Euromoney’s Best of the Best USA Expert Guide 2021. She has also been named among IFLR1000’s 2021 & 2022 Women Leaders for Project Finance and Project Development in the United States and awarded Global Leader status for both Project Finance and Government Contracts in Who’s Who Legal 2021.

Dolly received her LLM from Harvard Law School and her BA Jurisprudence from New College, Oxford.

Naveen Modi

Global Co-Chair of Intellectual Property & Partner,
Paul Hastings LLP

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Naveen Modi is the Global Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property group at Paul Hastings, overseeing the firm’s Global Intellectual Property group consisting of more than 100 attorneys.

Mr. Modi’s practice covers all aspects of high stakes IP-related legal work, including litigation before federal district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and federal appeals courts; post-grant proceedings, interferences and derivation proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); arbitrations; and due diligence and client counseling. He has led “bet-the-company cases” involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyright issues. He has represented both companies accused of infringement and those whose IP has been infringed in a wide range of technical areas, including electronics, software, business methods, medical devices, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.

Mr. Modi has lectured nationally and internationally on IP law, including in Africa, India, Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. He helped develop and has been teaching a course on Federal Circuit Practice at the George Mason University School of Law for over a decade. He clerked for the Honorable Alvin Anthony Schall at U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Modi graduated from George Mason University School of Law, magna cum laude, and also holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from George Mason University, with high distinction.

Mr. Modi has been widely recognized over the years for his significant and deep experience in IP law. IAM Patent 1000 has recognized Mr. Modi as “a top strategist, extremely articulate presenter and all-round thought leader.” It has noted that “[h]e’s just incredibly high quality – a hard worker with a wonderful temperament’” and that “[p]eople think the world of the ‘calm and collected’ Modi, ‘an incredibly thoughtful guy who presents great strategic options tailored to the business goals of his clients.’” Chambers USA has ranked him in Band 1, noting that “[h]e is very strategic and does an excellent job of mapping out a strategy that fully integrates substantive arguments with procedural nuances,” that “[h]e explains complex issues very well, and is very responsive to questions and requests,” and that “[h]e is an amazing litigator who presents very well.”

Mr. Modi has been especially recognized for his appellate experience. He has led over 100 appeals at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and has been involved in all aspects of the appellate process, including briefing and oral argument. Law360 recognized him as an Intellectual Property MVP in 2019 for racking up nine wins at the Federal Circuit, having successfully represented clients such as Google and Samsung. The Legal 500 also has recognized Mr. Modi as a “key lawyer” for appeals.

In addition, Mr. Modi is one of the foremost experts in challenging and defending patents before the United States Patent and Trademark Office under the America Invents Act, including its PTAB. He has been involved in well over 800 post-grant proceedings, including inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), covered business method (CBM) review, and ex parte and inter partes reexamination proceedings. He has been nationally recognized for his expertise in post-grant proceedings, including for having been involved in more PTAB proceedings than any other practitioner in the United States:

• Chambers USA recognized Mr. Modi as an expert in this area, noting that he “earns effusive praise from clients, who describe him as ‘a brilliant litigator.’ One source reports: ‘Naveen understands all of the rules and subtleties of IPR proceedings better than anyone I’ve ever worked with.’”
• Managing Intellectual Property recognized Mr. Modi as Outstanding IP Litigator of the Year for PTAB. It also named him as an IP Star, noting that he “has developed a significant reputation for his post-grant proceeding practice” and that “[a] top competitor said: ‘Naveen is probably the country’s leader in patent trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He is simply the most brilliant attorney I’ve worked with.’” One peer added he “would trust him with the crown jewels.”
• The Legal 500 noted that Mr. Modi is “by far the country’s leading expert on post-grant proceedings. Naveen’s even temperament is only exceeded by his thoughtful strategies and encyclopedic knowledge of practice before the PTAB.”
• Law360 recognized Mr. Modi as a “Legal Lion” and “IP MVP” for his work defending Acorda in the highly publicized IPRs filed by a hedge fund run by Kyle Bass. Financial Times has also “highly commended” his work in connection with these IPRs. Mr. Modi was also recognized as a “Legal Lion” for his work for Boehringer Ingelheim on IPRs where, as Law 360 noted, the PTAB “invalidated ‘a key patent’ for AbbVie Inc.’s top selling drug . . . Humira.” In addition, Mr. Modi was recognized by Law360 as a “Legal Lion” for his work for Google.
• LMG Life Sciences recognized Mr. Modi as an IP Star in addition to being awarded the Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year at the LMG Life Sciences Awards.
• IAM Patent 1000 has named him as one of only six “highly recommended” individuals for post-grant proceedings. It has noted that “Modi is one of, if not the most prolific PTAB attorney in the country and knows just about all there is to know about challenging and defending patents under the AIA.”

RECOGNITIONS

• Lawdragon, 500 Leading Litigators in America (2022)
• Ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA
• The Legal 500’s Leading Lawyer for Intellectual Property – Patents: Litigation
• The Legal 500’s Dispute Resolution – Appellate: Courts of Appeals
• The Legal 500’s Intellectual Property – Patents: Litigation (International Trade Commission)
• LMG Life Sciences Awards, Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year
• LMG Life Sciences, IP Star
• Managing Intellectual Property, Outstanding IP Litigator of the Year – PTAB
• Managing Intellectual Property, IP Star
• Law360, IP MVP
• Law360, Legal Lion
• IAM Global Leaders
• IAM Patent 1000, Leading Patent Practitioner
• Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business
• Washington D.C. Super Lawyer

EDUCATION

• George Mason University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2001
• George Mason University, B.S., Electrical Engineering, with high distinction, 1998

Yvette Ostolaza

Chair, Management Committee,
Sidley Austin LLP

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YVETTE OSTOLAZA is Sidley’s Management Committee Chair and an Executive Committee Member. Yvette is one of the world’s foremost business litigators, delivering winning results for clients at each stage of complex multijurisdictional commercial disputes and corporate investigations. Her litigation work and ability to solve her clients’ most difficult litigation problems have garnered her numerous accolades and recognitions, including Band 1 Chambers USA “Litigation: General Commercial” recognition and Benchmark Litigation “National Commercial Litigation Star.”

Yvette is admitted in New York and Texas and litigates trial and appellate matters in U.S. state and federal courts on behalf of global clients. She has significant experience in MDL, crisis management, activist defense, bankruptcy, arbitration, and securities litigation cases. She coordinates and tries proceedings in a variety of arbitration venues, serves on the Roster of Neutral Arbitrators for the AAA for commercial litigation matters, and sits on the CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals as an arbitrator for the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution. She served as the vice chair, Ethics and Investigations Subcommittee of the ABA Corporate Governance Committee.

Yvette is highly experienced in providing on-point guidance to boards and senior-level executives during periods of corporate turbulence. Chambers Crisis & Risk Management recognized Yvette as a leader of the firm’s Band 1 Nationwide USA Crisis Management practice and as one of a very small number of notable practitioners nationwide in the area of crisis management. She routinely leads complex internal investigations on behalf of companies, board committees and individual directors, and she defends companies/directors in shareholder and securities class actions. Yvette currently serves on the board of directors of Lionsgate and has served on several nonprofit boards, as well as the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas.

Yvette’s practice range, experience, and results have earned her extensive recognition. Most recently, she was honored by the Hispanic National Bar Association with the Mari Carmen Aponte Award. Yvette is only the second recipient of this award, which recognizes a “Latina lawyer who is the first to break a glass ceiling.” The Hispanic National Bar Foundation also recently honored Yvette with the 2022 “Firm Leadership Award.” This annual award recognized her for her “outstanding achievement and her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.” Yvette was named as one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” in the United States by Benchmark Litigation since 2012. In 2021, Chambers USA ranked her Band 1 in Litigation, with one client describing her as “a tremendous asset to have on your side and a natural leader who has the ability to manage all the moving parts of a team.” From 2009–2020, Yvette was annually among the highest ranked lawyers in General Commercial Litigation by Chambers USA. For example, in 2020 the journal noted that clients call her “a force of nature” with “every arrow in her quiver that you would want,” who “doesn’t look for the usual cookie-cutter, classic legal responses,” who has particular “expertise in whistleblower and investigation matters,” and is “so dynamic, her command of a room and her ability to get what she needs for a client is unmatched.” In 2019, an enthusiastic client told Chambers USA: “She could seriously convince you that the sky is purple; she’s that good an advocate.”

Yvette has also been recognized by multiple national and regional publications. Recently, Latino Corporate Directors Association recognized Yvette as a “Most influential Latina 2021.” In 2021, The American Lawyer recognized Yvette as a “South Trailblazer” and BTI Consulting recognized her as a Client Service All-Star based on feedback from top legal in-house counsel. Yvette was selected as one of D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas” 2016–2022 in the Business/Commercial Litigation category, 2018 in the Security Litigation/Enforcement category; she was featured on DCEO’s “Dallas 500” list from 2015–2022. She was named to the 2020 and 2021 “Texas Trailblazers” list by Texas Lawyer, as well as the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Yvette received the 2015 Texas Lawyer “Lifetime Achievement Award” and the “Thought Leadership” award from Corporate Counsel and Inside Counsel’s 2019 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards. In 2013, she was named a “Rainmaker” by Diversity and The Bar magazine and honored in 2012 as one of the 20 “Most Powerful and Influential Women” in Texas by the Texas Diversity Council. Yvette has been recognized as one of “America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators”; she was listed in the inaugural Benchmark Labor & Employment guide in 2018 and was named a “National Practice Area Star” and a “Litigation Star” in both Commercial and Labor and Employment in Benchmark Litigation (2021–2023). She has also been selected as one of 20 “Women of Excellence” honored nationwide by Hispanic Business magazine. Yvette has been selected to appear in Latino Leaders Magazine as a “Top Latino Lawyer” (2018–2022) and is listed as one of the Most Powerful Latinas in Law.

Yvette’s significant experience managing multijurisdictional disputes — including class actions, business tort, securities/shareholder, consumer fraud, financial services, constitutional, contract, employment, fiduciary duty, advertising/sweepstakes, insurance, fraud, good faith and accounting malpractice litigation, arbitrations, simulations, and mediations — leads her to the top. Other aspects of her practice include counseling clients on reducing risks from consumer and advertising-related claims and representing clients in negotiations with state agencies on such claims, as well as advising private equity firms on litigation risks facing their portfolio companies. She is involved in the coordination and argument of appeals in courts across the United States, which includes the U.S. Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals, the Texas Supreme Court, and the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas.

Her clients include significant companies in the aviation, retail, hospitality, financial/insurance, energy, and manufacturing industries. These include Aspen Insurance, Arca Continental, MGM Resorts, Celanese, Deutsche Bank, Chuck E. Cheese Entertainment, Tuesday Morning Corporation, EnLink Midstream, Neiman Marcus, SM Energy, Sally Beauty, HMS Holdings, Michaels, Best Buy, Forterra, SAExploration, JPMorgan, McAfee, Inc., Darling Ingredients, Vistra Energy, Hunt Oil, Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Flexi-Van, Kiromic, and Forescout Technologies.

Yvette is often called on to represent these clients in their most important litigation matters. She is highly experienced in all aspects of litigation and trial work and often leads teams of lawyers handling large-scale and high-profile litigation.

Chong Park

Partner, Litigation & Enforcement Practice Group,
Ropes & Gray

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Chong is a seasoned trial lawyer with over 25 years experience serving as lead counsel in complex litigation and government investigations for companies and individuals. His practice focuses on antitrust, consumer protection, and complex/commercial litigation. He also actively participates in the data, privacy & cybersecurity group. Chong is a co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee and is a member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.

Based in Ropes & Gray’s Washington, D.C. and San Francisco offices, Chong is renowned for his experience as a litigator, having served five years as a senior trial attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, and previously as a Deputy City Attorney on the labor and employment and trial teams for the City and County of San Francisco.

Chong has first-chaired bench and jury trials in federal and state courts and has substantial experience in class action litigation and government enforcement actions. His practice focuses on high-stakes matters, representation in government regulatory proceedings and investigations, alternative dispute resolution, administrative litigation, and counseling. In proceedings initiated by government agencies, Chong has significant experience representing clients before the FTC, DOJ and the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition. He also has represented clients in proceedings initiated by various State Attorneys General.

Chong has represented companies in government investigations and as both plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation. His clients come from diverse business sectors including technology, health care, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, financial services, food and beverage, and oil and gas.

Chong also maintains an active pro bono docket. He has had substantial experience in handling criminal matters and appeals, immigration and asylum cases, disability and civil rights matters, and he was lead counsel for the American Bar Association and individual plaintiffs in the successful lawsuit challenging the Department of Education’s handling of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (“PSLF”). Chong also led a team that, in 2019, secured freedom for John Huffington, who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 32 years in prison (10 on death row).

Chong is a triathlete, has a black belt in tae kwon do, and has competed on the local, state, and national levels in both disciplines.

Kevin Prussia

Partner,
WilmerHale

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Kevin Prussia is a partner in the firm’s Litigation/Controversy Department, a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation and Trial Practice Groups, and a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Mr. Prussia is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer, with significant experience representing leading life sciences and technology companies in major disputes involving intellectual property and other commercial matters. Mr. Prussia has experience across every aspect of trial and appellate practice, including bench and jury federal trials, International Trade Commission investigations, Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, and appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He is a true “stand-up” litigator who has handled challenging witness examinations and oral arguments for clients in high stakes litigations. He has successfully tried cases to verdict and has counseled numerous clients through complicated settlement discussions.

More than a litigator, Mr. Prussia’s practice also encompasses strategic advice and opinion work. He counsels clients regarding FDA issues, patent-portfolio evaluations, and licensing strategies.

Outside of the courtroom, Mr. Prussia is a prominent member of the community. He has served on the Board of Directors for the ACLU of Massachusetts for ten years and currently serves as Chair of the Foundation. Mr. Prussia was previously President of the Board from 2015-2019. In addition, Mr. Prussia serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as the Dean’s Advisory Council of the College of Arts and Science at NYU. Mr. Prussia is also a part-time faculty member at Boston University School of Law, where he teaches Patent Trial Advocacy.

Mr. Prussia has a deep civil rights pro bono practice. He currently represents a class of individuals in a high profile immigration case against the Department of Homeland Security. He is also a monitor for one of the country’s oldest consent decrees governing the hiring practices of entry-level police and firefighters in communities across Massachusetts.

Byron Taylor

Partner and Co-Leader of Environmental Practice,
Sidley Austin LLP

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BYRON TAYLOR is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and co-leader of Sidley’s Environmental practice group. His practice includes civil litigation, crisis response, compliance counseling, internal investigations, regulatory advocacy, and environmental aspects of transactions.

Byron assists clients and advises boards in high-stakes matters following major environmental incidents, including matters that involve both environmental regulatory issues and related tort claims. He also frequently provides key strategic advice on regulatory and permit matters and defends clients against alleged violations of a variety of federal and state environmental laws. Over the past several years, Byron has become well known for his work on complex Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act matters.

Byron was named the Litigation — Environmental law “Lawyer of the Year” in Chicago in the Best Lawyers’ 2013 edition. He also has been recognized as a leader in Chambers USA 2013–2022 in Environment: Litigation, which noted he “feels like a steady hand for clients in difficult negotiations.” Byron was named by Crain’s Chicago Business to its 2019 list of “Notable Minorities in Accounting, Consulting & Law” and its 2022 list of “Notable Black Leaders & Executives.”

Within the firm, Byron is a co-chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and serves on the Lawyer Training and Professional Development Committee and the Counsel Committee.

Recent Experience

• Representing a medical device sterilization company in regulatory litigation, permitting matters, and new rule development relating to ethylene oxide air emissions at multiple facilities across the country;
• Defending a manufacturer in a joint federal and state enforcement action concerning claims of NPDES permit violations and a related fish kill at a facility in the Midwest;
• Representing an oil pipeline company in enforcement litigation following a release of crude oil;
• Assisting a petroleum refining company in obtaining the air emission construction permit for a major expansion and negotiating an innovative agreement with an environmental citizen’s group concerning the project;
• Defending a petroleum refining company against claims of excess flaring and an upset event that included a release affecting a nearby neighborhood;
• Successfully negotiated a federal and state settlement agreement covering air emissions from a coke oven battery;
• Defending a manufacturing company in a RCRA 3008(h) correction action matter concerning a currently operating facility;
• Defended a Midwestern electric utility company in a Clean Air Act New Source Review enforcement matter that ultimately was dismissed by the federal court;
• Defended an electric generating station against an interstate claim that emissions from the plant violated the law in the neighboring state; and
• On a pro bono basis, advised the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee regarding environmental matters.

Wanji Walcott (Honorary Chair)

Former Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel,
Discover Financial Services

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Wanji Walcott is Former Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at Discover Financial Services, and a member of the company’s Executive Committee. She is a high-impact global financial services executive with a proven track record of building and leading diverse teams and fostering a culture of collaboration as a trusted advisor. Ms. Walcott was responsible for Discover’s Legal Organization, Government Relations, the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance Program and the Patent & Innovation Program.

With a passion for helping others, Ms. Walcott is committed to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) and serves as executive sponsor of HOLA, Discover’s Latinx Employee Resource Group. She leads the company’s DE&I Task Force and is an active participant in the Legal Organization’s pro bono program, which provides free, high-quality legal services to those in need.

Prior to joining Discover in 2019, Ms. Walcott was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at PayPal Holdings, Inc., where she provided counsel to senior management and the board of directors, was accountable for all areas of the global legal department and provided legal support to corporate affiliates, including a bank. She has also held senior positions at American Express, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, DSET Corporation and Lockheed Martin.

Ms. Walcott serves on the Board of Directors of Foresight II (NASDAQ: FACQU) and has served on a number of non-profit boards, including her current role as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Frederick Gunn School and the Chair of the Board of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, the Chicago Club, the Chicago Network and the Economic Club of Chicago. During the past year, Ms. Walcott has received the following awards and recognition: Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers (2022); Diversity Woman Magazine’s Elite 100 (2022); Pro Bono Institute’s Laurie D. Zelon Pro Bono Award (2021) and Crain’s Notable General Counsels recognition (2021).

Graham Allan

Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel – Strategic Programs & Legal Operations,
Cisco Systems

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Graham Allan is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at Cisco Systems – Strategic Programs & Legal Operations. Graham is responsible for the strategy and execution of Cisco Legal’s Early in Career, Law Firm Engagement and Management, Pro Bono and Learning & Development Programs and the Department’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives. The Legal Department’s Operations team also reports into Graham, including the teams responsible for Legal’s platforms, tools and applications, data analytics, e-discovery and forensics, knowledge and content management and training infrastructure.

During his twenty plus years at Cisco, Graham has led different teams in the Legal Department, including leading the European legal team, heading (twice) the global team supporting sales, marketing, Cisco financing function and channels; managing the legal team supporting engineering globally and running the legal group supporting Cisco’s Service Provider and IoT businesses (support for both the engineering and sales teams). He has also led the Legal team supporting Cisco’s acquisitions, divestitures, and investments and was Chief of Staff for both Cisco’s current and previous Chief Legal Officers.

Graham joined Cisco in 1999, in London, from law firm Baker & McKenzie. Graham worked for Baker & McKenzie from 1989-99, in their London and San Francisco/Palo Alto offices. During his time at Baker & McKenzie, Graham was a member of the intellectual property and information technology group and handled both litigation and commercial transactions. He was made a partner in 1998.

Graham has a law degree from the University of Manchester, UK, studied at the College of Law in Chester, UK and has a Diploma in IP Law from the University of Bristol.

Graham is on the Management Board for the Cisco Heritage Center and has served on the Board of the American Liver Foundation. After twenty years in the Bay Area in California, Graham and family moved to Portland Oregon in April 2022.

Diana Arredondo

Senior Corporate Counsel,
Amazon.com, Inc.

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Diana is an attorney with over seventeen years of experience in Intellectual Property, Domain Names, Digital Media, Privacy and Data Protection, licensed to practice in Mexico and the United States. Diana is a Senior Corporate Counsel at Amazon, where she leads the Digital Device and Advertising Trademark Team, and is responsible for developing and implementing global IP strategies. Diana also serves on Amazon’s Legal Diversity Leadership Team and leads multiple DEI initiatives, including the Day 1 Legal Academy program for law students of diverse backgrounds. Prior to joining Amazon, Diana was a Senior Counsel at Grupo Televisa, where she led the International IP Division.

Les Boswell

Counsel,
State Farm

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Les Boswell is member of the State Counsel team for State Farm, currently responsible for government and regulatory affairs in New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. He assumed the role of State Counsel in October 2018. He joined State Farm in 2013 as Counsel to the Investment Department, focusing on real estate finance, state and federal compliance issues, and other financial transactions involving State Farm and its affiliates. During his time with State Farm, Les has been extremely involved the Law Department’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, including serving in multiple leadership roles within the Diversity & Inclusion committee.

Prior to joining State Farm, Les practiced at Moore & Van Allen and Kirk Palmer & Thigpen in Charlotte, North Carolina where he focused on real estate, real estate finance and various corporate matters. He also worked in-house with Electrolux North America where he handled an array of commercial matters.

Les received his undergraduate and law degrees from The College of William & Mary in Virginia.

Les and his wife, Jennie, have three daughters, ages 10, 8, and 6.

Michael Brown

Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary,
The New York Times Company

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Michael Brown serves as Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of The New York Times Company. In addition to his role as Corporate Secretary, Mike leads The Times’s corporate and securities practice. He oversees its core responsibilities of securities law compliance, corporate governance, executive compensation and transactional matters. Mike has also played a significant role in developing the company’s ESG strategic iniatives.

Prior to his role at The Times, he was Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Cipher Mining, an emerging technology company specializing in bitcoin. Before that, he was Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Clearway Energy, Inc., one of the largest renewable energy owners in the United States. In both roles, he led governance- and board-related activities, coordinated SEC reporting and advised on significant financial transactions. He also played a key role in the development of ESG and DEI strategic initiatives. Mike was a finalist for “Governance Professional of the Year” at the 2020 Corporate Governance Awards hosted by Corporate Secretary magazine.

Mike began his in-house career at NRG Energy, Inc., serving as Senior Counsel, Securities and Finance, and he also worked at the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Mike serves on the board of directors of Clean Air Council, an environmental nonprofit located in Philadelphia, PA. He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his law degree from Boston College Law School.

Carmen Chan

Corporate Counsel,
Liberty Mutual Insurance

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Carmen Chan is an innovative, inquisitive, and introspective attorney for Liberty Mutual Insurance where she practices M&A, venture and governance as a Corporate Counsel. Carmen’s work is highly visible and complex; and she is able to deliver thoughtful and precise advice under the pressure of a transactional practice. Carmen is also Co-Chair of Liberty Mutual Pro Bono Committee, where she manages a program with 15+ pro bono partnerships and opportunities. Promotes pro bono participation by identifying and developing meaningful opportunities and relationships with civil legal aid and service organizations.

Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, Carmen was a Corporate Associate in Morgal Lewis’ Boston Office where she specialized in corporate law and investment transactions. Carmen is a Graduate of Boston College and received her JD from Northeastern University School of Law. She was an intern for the Hon. Marianne B. Bowler in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Julius Chen

Partner,
Akin

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A first-generation Asian American, Julius Chen attended Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in U.S. history. His senior thesis—The Government on Wheels: Fixity, Mobility, and Centrality in Early American Capital Cities—won the Prize in American History.

Mr. Chen was then selected as a California Senate Fellow. Beyond studying pressing policy issues through a graduate-level program sponsored by the Center for California Studies, Mr. Chen staffed education and tax matters for Sen. George C. Runner.

Mr. Chen received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. At the end of his first year, he was awarded the Charles Bathgate Beck Prize (for the best first-year examination in real property) and was named to the Columbia Law Review. Thereafter, Mr. Chen was elected editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review and graduated with honors as a James Kent Scholar (the law school’s highest academic recognition).

Mr. Chen’s legal writing also garnered broad recognition. His exploration of the potential impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s then-recent decision in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), on pleading standards in state courts was published in the Columbia Law Review and received LexisNexis’s James William Moore Federal Practice Award for outstanding scholarship in federal civil practice and procedure. In addition, Mr. Chen’s nuanced examination of Asian Americans and “percentage plan” college admission programs was published in the Asian Pacific American Law Journal and won the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund’s Robert T. Matsui Writing Competition.

Mr. Chen began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge T.S. Ellis III on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He then served as a law clerk to Judge Judith W. Rogers on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Over the past decade in private practice, and as described in more detail above, Mr. Chen has built an impressive record as an appellate advocate. He has presented Within Akin Gump, Mr. Chen received the Stark Ritchie Pro Bono Counsel Award, which recognizes unyielding commitment to providing free legal services to those in the community who need it most and can afford it least. Mr. Chen has also been named a rising star or otherwise recognized by several publications, including the National Law Journal, Bloomberg Law, Washington Business Journal, Euromoney’s Expert Guide and The Legal 500 United States. And just this year, the Washington Business Journal honored Mr. Chen as a Diversity in Business Leader.

Jacqueline Chung

Partner,
White & Case LLP

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Jacqueline Chung is a partner in the Commercial Litigation group. She has extensive experience litigating business disputes that involve complex cross-border issues. She helps foreign clients navigate state and federal court litigation in the United States. She regularly represents and advises clients dealing with conflicting demands from US and foreign courts and regulators. Her clients span a number of industries, including the financial services, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and food and beverages sectors. She has significant experience litigating judgment enforcement actions, commercial fraud claims, fraudulent conveyance claims, contract disputes, and actions alleging violations of state and federal consumer protection statutes and false claims acts. She has extensive trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts.

Jacqueline has an active pro bono practice that is focused on litigating on behalf of wrongfully convicted individuals. Recent matters include the successful representation at trial of a wrongfully convicted individual in a federal court action to obtain compensation for 27 years of wrongful imprisonment arising from a 1986 murder conviction, and the successful representation of an individual appealing a wrongful conviction for robbery in the first degree, which resulted in a reversal of the verdict and a dismissal of the indictment.

Jacqueline is an active member of the Firm’s Global Asian Affinity Network and served as co-chair from 2016 to 2022.

Jacqueline received her JD from William & Mary Law School and her BA from Yale University.

Jomaire Crawford

Litigation Partner,
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

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Jomaire Crawford is a partner in the New York office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where she practices complex litigation in state and federal court. Recognized as a “Rising Star” by New York Law Journal for her plaintiff and defense side practice, Jomaire handles a range of high-stakes civil, criminal, and regulatory matters for individuals, non-profits, and corporate clients. Her recent matters include securities and privacy class actions, shareholder derivative suits, contract disputes, and cross-border investigations.

Over the years, Jomaire’s clients have ranged from individuals and non-profits, to public companies, institutional investors, higher-education institutions, and real estate investment trusts. Jomaire has experience in all phases of litigation from pre-complaint investigation to dispositive motion practice, summary judgment, and trial – and has successfully resolved numerous disputes without resort to litigation.

Jomaire’s contributions to the legal profession are not limited to her billable matters. She maintains a robust pro bono practice and has donated her time to community service projects and pro bono cases every year of her legal career. She has partnered with legal service providers like the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), and served as court-appointed counsel through programs facilitated by the Federal Bar Council and the Southern District of New York’s Office of Pro Se Litigation.

For her work inside and outside of the courtroom, Jomaire has earned numerous awards and recognitions, including from The New York Law Journal, the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), and the American Bar Association Business Law Section. Jomaire was also named to the Power 100 List of Influential Black Attorneys and the Lawyers of Color “Hot List” in 2022, and will receive the Professional Achievement award from the Association of Black Women Attorneys (ABWA) at this year’s Ruth Whitehead Whaley Luncheon. For a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief that Jomaire co-authored with leading appellate advocate and Quinn Emanuel name partner Kathleen Sullivan in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, No. 19-123 (argued Nov. 4, 2020), Quinn Emanuel also received the “Pro Bono Champion” award by the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.

Jomaire earned her law degree from Yale and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English and double minors in Philosophy of Law, and Rhetoric and Public Address.

Melissa Crespo

Partner,
Morrison Foerster

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Melissa Crespo helps clients navigate a wide range of challenging privacy compliance and data security matters with a focus on the health information and the health care sector. She regularly helps clients develop and implement privacy compliance programs and advises companies on managing risk in connection with cutting-edge technologies and data initiatives.

Melissa has particular experience in advising clients on compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other laws governing the collection and use of medical and health information.

Melissa regularly counsels clients responding to data breaches and security incidents. She has successfully defended clients in numerous regulatory inquiries regarding data security practices, including investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, state attorneys general, and foreign regulators following data security incidents.

Melissa also advises multinational companies on the privacy and data security aspects of their M&A transactions and has experience drafting and negotiating tailored privacy and data security contract provisions.

In 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, The Legal 500 US recognized Melissa as a “Rising Star” in the area of cyber law, data privacy, and data protection. She was also named a “Rising Star” for Privacy & Data Protection in the IFLR Americas Awards 2021 and named “One to Watch” for Healthcare Law by Best Lawyers Americas 2023. In 2016, she was shortlisted for the “Future Leader – Gender Diversity” award at the inaugural Chambers USA Diversity Awards. Melissa was a 2015 recipient of the Burton Award for Legal Achievement, which honors excellence in legal writing.

Melissa earned her J.D., cum laude, from Howard University School of Law.

Diana Dessources

Legal Director, Assistant General Counsel,
Workday, Inc.

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Diana Dessources is an Assistant General Counsel at Workday, Inc., a cloud-based enterprise software provider specializing in finance, HR, and planning applications. Diana supports go-to-market commercial transactions, drafting and negotiating contracts with major multi-national companies. Diana concentrates on complex negotiations protecting Workday’s exposure to liability and overall business interests. Diana also supports and counsels sales on strategic initiatives, contributing to Workday’s continued growth. Diana’s clients have recognized her as an Extended Team MVP. Diana also leads the departments pro bono and recruiting/retention initiatives and is very active with Workday’s DE&I initiatives. Diana also works at Cornell as a Course Facilitator with their online certificate program. Additionally, Diana is active with several community and legal organizations, including serving as a high-school mentor for over ten years with the Legal Outreach educational program.

Immediately prior to joining Workday, Diana served as Associate Counsel with the Technology and Information Security Group at JP Morgan Chase. Diana has also worked as an Adjunct Professor of Business Law.

Diana received her B.A. from St. John’s University and her J.D. from Touro Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, receiving many awards and honors, including serving as the Research Editor of the International Law Review.

Rodney Dillard II

Associate Complex Torts Litigation Attorney,
Baker Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

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Rodney Dillard II is an associate in Baker Donelson’s Birmingham office and concentrates his practice in high exposure commercial and business litigation, complex transportation, construction, insurance defense and complex tort litigation. Mr. Dillard represents regional and national clients across a variety of industries in all Alabama and Georgia state and federal courts.

Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Mr. Dillard worked as in-house counsel for a large national insurance company, representing the company and its insureds in a variety of disputes including first- and third-party litigation and subrogation matters and providing opinions on coverage issues. Further, Mr. Dillard recovered thousands of dollars for the company by filing and trying numerous subrogation claims on its behalf. He has obtained several defense verdicts throughout his practice in the areas of complex tort defense and construction litigation.

Prior to practicing law, Mr. Dillard worked for several years in the field of grants and contract administration for the City of Birmingham and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While working for the City’s finance department as a grant administrator, Mr. Dillard collaborated with the Grants Management Division of the Mayor’s Office on grant policies for municipal employees, monitored the City’s state and federal grants to ensure compliance and provided grant management training. While at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he negotiated and redlined state and federal contracts and agreements between the University and federal government, other academic institutions, and health institutions.

EDUCATION

• Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, J.D., 2012
• Alabama A&M University, B.A., 2009

ADMISSIONS PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND ACTIVITES

• Alabama, 2012
• Georgia, 2019
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama

Sebastian Fain

Partner,
Freshfields

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Sebastian L. Fain is a partner at Freshfields in New York focusing on M&A, activism defense and corporate governance. His experience is centered on domestic and cross-border M&A, including public company mergers and de-SPAC transactions, private equity acquisitions, joint ventures, complex business carve-outs and divestitures, hostile takeovers and defense, carve-out IPOs, spin-offs and split-offs. In addition, Sebastian extensively counsels management and boards of directors on governance, activism and disclosure matters.

Sebastian is recognized among leading corporate/M&A lawyers, winning both The American Lawyer’s “Dealmaker of the Year” and Bloomberg Law’s “40 Under 40” in 2021, being named among Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Dealmakers” in 2021 and 2022, and ranking among Legal 500’s “Next Generation Partners” for 2022.

Sebastian received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his A.B. in Biology from Harvard University.

Roger Gousse

Assistant General Counsel, Global Real Estate,
Nike, Inc.

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As an Assistant General Counsel at NIKE, Roger focuses his support on NIKE’s retail portfolio by negotiating high-profile retail leases and providing strategic legal support on retail store operations, real estate and store construction. Roger also provides legal guidance on innovative sports and recreation construction projects tied to major brand events and local communities. He is a member of NIKE’s Black Employee Network, as wells as the Latino & Friends Network, and co-leads recruiting and planning for the CAO Legal Internship summer program.

Roger earned his B.A. from Cornell University and completed his JD & MBA at Loyola University of Chicago. Prior to joining NIKE, Roger served as counsel for Simon Property Group where he provided legal support related to SIMON’s suite of sport and footwear mall tenants in North America. Outside of work Roger enjoys hiking, dancing, running, and live music.

Stephanie Green

Associate General Counsel,
USAA

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Stephanie Green is Associate General Counsel on the Corporate Regulatory Counsel team at USAA, a membership-based association offering financial products and services to present and former military personnel, their families, and other eligible membership categories.

In her role at USAA, Stephanie advises business partners across the organization on risk and compliance matters relating to the Federal Reserve’s regulation of USAA as an Insurance Savings and Loan Holding Company. Areas of support include compliance risk management, assessment and monitoring, and confidential supervisory information.

Stephanie is deeply engaged with initiatives seeking to further diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal profession, in particular, in USAA’s Chief Legal Office (“CLO”). She co-leads the Intern Coordinator team and has driven the adoption of practices to enhance DEI efforts in recruiting, attracting, and retaining diverse talent within CLO. Additionally, as a member of CLO’s DEI team, she works to support initiatives increasing USAA’s engagement with LGBTQIA+ legal professionals and inclusive measures within the department.

Prior to joining USAA, Stephanie held a number of roles in the legal department at Discover Financial Services, including Bank Regulatory and BSA/AML counsel and as a member of the Government Relations team. She earned her JD cum laude from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and clerked in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Hon. Procter Hug, Jr. She has a B.A. in Elementary Education from Arizona State University.

Outside of the office, Stephanie is actively engaged in her community as a member of the D.C. area Rainbow Families organization. She volunteers with Howard County Public Schools and with Howard County Recreation and Parks, as well as with local rescue organization Last Chance Animal Rescue.

In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys spending time with her wife, two daughters, and four rescue dogs, especially attending concerts, hiking, playing tabletop games, or watching or playing soccer.

Ernest Hammond III

Associate General Counsel, Product Legal,
Meta

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Ernest Hammond III is Associate General Counsel, Product at Meta where he provides legal guidance and support for the development and launch of new products and features to Meta’s Central Social Impact 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, 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) as well as an Ambassador for the California Minority Counsel Program. He previously served in a variety of other leadership positions including 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 is recognized for his leadership in DEI, having been named the recipient of the 2022 Barristers Diversity Award from The Bar Association of San Francisco and the 2022 Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award. He is also an active advocate for access to justice in his community, serving 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.

TaCara Harris

Partner,
King & Spalding

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TaCara Harris is a Partner in the Atlanta office of King & Spalding and a member of the firm’s Trial and Global Disputes practice area. She is an experienced litigator and budding first-chair trial lawyer who represents the world’s most sophisticated pharmaceutical and medical device companies—including Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim, Coloplast, Pfizer, and Eisai—in nationwide product liability litigation. TaCara handles all aspects of large-scale, high-stakes mass tort litigation across the country in state court consolidated proceedings and in multidistrict litigation from early case assessment, through discovery, and on to summary judgment, trial, settlement, and appeal. Through early case assessment and meticulous preparation, TaCara develops case strategy tailored to the litigation while prioritizing and aligning clients’ business needs and goals; understanding and helping to develop the company story through witnesses and documents; and building the scientific case through a review of the record evidence and preparation of world-class experts. Having actively participated on successful teams in eight multi-week, high-stakes product liability jury trials, TaCara handles each matter with a view toward trial, considering how to communicate effectively to a jury a host of complex scientific, technical, and regulatory issues.

Prior to joining King & Spalding, TaCara graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. She then earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School with honors in 2013, where she was the recipient of multiple prestigious scholarships. While attending law school, TaCara served as a law clerk at the Office of the General Counsel of Vanderbilt University and as a summer associate at Maynard Cooper & Gale, LLP, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, and Baker Donelson. Upon graduation from law school, she worked as a general litigation associate for Baker Donelson in Nashville, Tennessee.

Since joining the Trial and Global Disputes practice at King & Spalding, TaCara has emerged as a zealous advocate and young leader in the life sciences space and served as National Coordinating Counsel in hundreds of product liability cases. For example, she was an integral part of the team serving as national coordinating and trial counsel for GlaxoSmithKline in litigation alleging in utero injuries caused by the prescription antidepressant Paxil, which culminated in favorable resolution of all plaintiffs’ cases.
Likewise, for an international medical device company, TaCara recently led a cross-office team of 16 associates and partners and 4 paralegals in preparing for trial—developing the case theory; leading client and team meetings; managing a trial budget; and overseeing all critical pre-trial and trial tasks. Following a two-week trial, a federal jury awarded the plaintiff only $500,000 in compensatory damages and no punitive damages—a fraction of the $2.5 million plaintiff’s counsel had requested.
Just recently, TaCara was asked to help lead a large, multi-office team defending TikTok in a newly formed MDL in Northern District of California and in state courts across the country. These high-profile lawsuits involving underaged users of the content-sharing platform and claims of “social media addiction” implicate cutting-edge issues of Internet law, as well as novel theories of product liability.

At a young age, TaCara has emerged as a thought leader in her field. Even during the pandemic, she creatively developed best practices for maximizing effectiveness in remote depositions and hearings and tracked the pandemic’s impact on jury composition and attitudes. Leveraging this research, she and three colleagues presented to clients on best strategies for “Litigating in a Pandemic.” Because of her expertise and commitment to excellence in the profession, this year, she was appointed as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Vanderbilt Law School.

In addition to her litigation practice, TaCara has leveraged her skillset to help lead significant investigations. For example, in October 2022, the U.S. Soccer Federation retained former deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to conduct an investigation into allegations of abuse in women’s professional soccer. TaCara led one of three primary workstreams for an all-female team; developed findings and recommendations for corrective action; and drafted a significant portion of a 172-page public investigative report. Released October 3, 2022, it has garnered substantial media coverage, nearly 300,000 downloads, and praise for its breadth, boldness, and impact. In fact, U.S. Soccer recently announced that it intends to implement all of the report’s recommendations to ensure soccer players across the county have a safe place to learn, compete, and grow.

On top of these efforts, TaCara co-leads the firm’s Women’s Health Initiative—a business development effort intended to help K&S become the leading firm representing companies whose products target or disproportionately impact women. In her role, TaCara has created a multi-disciplinary working group that follows trends in women’s health and educates clients about the firm’s capabilities in this space. She regularly speaks and publishes thought leadership pieces noting the increased focus on women’s health in the government, marketplace, and media, and recently helped land an engagement with a newly formed global women’s health company.

As a result of TaCara’s outstanding legal talent, leadership abilities, and standing in the profession, she has already made herself integral to the most significant clients and laid the foundation for amassing a robust book of business. For example, while still an associate and after a competitive nationwide vetting process, TaCara was selected by Pfizer for its Raising the Bar Initiative as preferred counsel, an exclusive group of only 10 lawyers, including seven partners and one counsel. The program is designed to increase the participation of minority attorneys in Pfizer matters. TaCara has also been recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star and as a member of the “Top 40 Under 40” class by National Black Lawyers.
From these experiences and many others, TaCara has honed her talents as a litigator with robust trial experience, early-career business development victories, strong interpersonal skills, and a proven track record as an enthusiastic, visible leader in her firm and in the profession. These qualities and accomplishments, along with her charismatic personality, positioned TaCara to be promoted to partner after only eight years of practice.

Morgan Hollins

Partner,
White & Case LLP

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Morgan is a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group in the White & Case Houston office. Her practice consists of a wide range of both domestic and international corporate and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, MLP dropdowns, joint ventures and company formations. She also advises clients on corporate governance matters and deal structures relating to acquisitions, divestitures and exit strategies. Morgan has experience representing both public and private companies, as well as conflicts committees, in a variety of industries, including oil and gas and other natural resources, solar energy, entertainment and financial services.

Morgan was named to The Deal’s “Top Rising Stars” for Mergers & Acquisitions in 2021. She is listed as a “Rising Star” for Mergers & Acquisitions in the United States by Euromoney (2020).

Morgan received a B.S. in Economics, cum laude, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and she completed her J.D. at Harvard Law School in 2008.

Marshall Jackson, Jr.

Partner,
McDermott Will & Emery LLP

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Marshall E. Jackson, Jr. focuses his practice on transactional and regulatory counseling for clients in the healthcare industry, as well as advises clients on the legal, regulatory and compliance aspects of digital health.

Marshall provides counseling and advice to hospitals and health systems, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, post/sub-acute providers, physician practices, and other public and private healthcare companies in a variety of complex transactions and health regulatory compliance matters. Marshall assists clients in all aspects of healthcare transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic affiliations. Marshall focuses his regulatory practice on advising clients with respect to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse compliance, reimbursement issues, behavioral and mental health regulatory compliance, licensure, and operational matters.

Additionally, Marshall advises healthcare providers, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and technology companies involved in “digital health” – the intersection of health software applications, analytical tools, medical technology and electronic data assets enabled by the Internet and mobile devices –on a variety of legal, regulatory and compliance matters with a particular focus on digital health topics, including telehealth, telemedicine, mobile health and consumer wellness. Such engagements include assisting clients in developing and implementing telehealth programs by advising on issues related to professional licensure, scope of practice, informed consent, prescribing and reimbursement.

Marshall has been recognized by The National Law Journal, The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America, American Health Lawyers Association, and The National Black Lawyers. Prior to joining McDermott, he was an associate in the healthcare and life sciences practice group of a national law firm.

Marshall earned his law degree with a health law concentration and, while in law school, served as senior articles editor of the Journal of Healthcare Law and Policy and as captain of the National Trial Team.

Karen Jordan

St. Louis Managing Partner,
Dentons US LLP

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Karen Jordan is the office managing partner of Dentons’ St. Louis office and a member of Dentons’ Corporate practice. She concentrates on advising corporate clients in a wide range of corporate, public finance, corporate finance, real estate and securities transactions.

In her public finance practice, Karen has represented underwriters, borrowers, issuers and political subdivisions in transactions totaling in excess of US$5 billion. She focuses on all aspects of project financing for commercial facilities; real estate developments; health care facilities; senior living and retirement facilities; airports; utilities; manufacturing facilities; sports facilities; governmental, community and cultural facilities; and facilities for colleges, universities and other educational institutions, including public, private and “virtual” schools.

Karen has also represented a number of corporate clients in all aspects of their business, including mergers and acquisitions, financing and investment transactions, as well as general corporate matters. She has extensive experience in corporate procurement (including a secondment at a Fortune 500 company), providing procurement advice in the context of high-value transactions.

Karen has represented issuers in both private and public offerings, including initial public offerings and equity and debt offerings of existing public companies. She also represents a number of nonprofit corporations on structure, governance and compliance issues.

Karen has been a featured speaker on the corporate law, municipal finance and the use of public incentives to finance private development, including speaking engagements for the Women’s Business Development Center, the National Association of Bond Lawyers, Commercial Real Estate Women and the Jeffrey E. Smith Institute of Real Estate.

Karen serves on the boards of directors for the St. Louis Arc, the St. Louis County Library Foundation, the YWCA of Metro St. Louis and the Greater St. Louis Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and she is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and The Links, Incorporated.

Mia Lorick

Partner,
Locke Lord LLP

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Mia Lorick is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in civil appellate law ‎and concentrates her practice on commercial litigation, real estate litigation, energy litigation ‎and civil appeals. She handles jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations as well as appellate ‎briefing and oral argument, and she has argued before the Texas Supreme Court.‎

In addition to her practice, Mia has been an advocate for a more equitable legal profession, ‎having founded and directed her former firm’s diversity and inclusion initiative. She regularly ‎speaks on diversity and inclusion panels, most recently for the American Bar Association. Mia ‎is also the founder of the Suited for Success Scholarship, which awards law students with a ‎business suit for interviewing.‎

Mia’s representative experience includes:‎

• Tried a jury trial and obtained a unanimous jury verdict on a commercial real estate ‎dispute.‎
• Received result in favor of a land owner in a bench trial on a real estate transactions ‎dispute.‎
• Tried a jury trial and obtained a unanimous jury verdict on a breach of contract dispute.‎
• Briefed and argued appeal in favor of client to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals on the ‎lack of derivative standing for nonprofit corporations under the Texas Business and ‎Organizations Code.‎
• Briefed and argued appeal in favor of client to the First Court of Appeals in a legal ‎malpractice case.‎
• Briefed and argued appeal in favor of client to the Fifth Court of Appeals on a motion to ‎show authority.‎
• Handled appeal in favor of client to the First Court of Appeals on a breach of contract ‎and declaratory judgment dispute.‎
• Briefed and argued appeal in favor of client to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals on a ‎motion for sanctions under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Chapter 10.‎
• Handled mandamus in favor of client to the First Court of Appeals on the expungement ‎of a Lis Pendens.‎
• Briefed and argued appeal to the Seventh Court of Appeals on a fraud and tortious ‎interference dispute.‎
• Handled interlocutory appeal in favor of client to the Ninth Court of Appeals on an ‎Anti-SLAPP Motion to Dismiss.‎
• Briefed interlocutory appeal to Eleventh Court of Appeals on temporary injunction.‎
• Briefed and argued appeal to the Texas Supreme Court on interpretations of the Texas ‎Property Code.‎

Mia’s Awards Include:‎

• Recipient, Steven C. Haley Best Speaker Award, Texas State Bar’s ‎Advanced Real ‎Estate Law Course (2018)‎
• Named. Rising Star, Houston Association of Women Attorneys ‎Foundation
• Named, Woman to Watch, Houston Business Journal
• Named, Rising Star, University of Houston Law Center
• Named, Top Lawyer, Houstonia Magazine
• Named, Super Lawyers® Texas Rising Star, Appellate (2019-2022)‎
• Named, Top 50 Women Lawyers, National Diversity Council (2019)‎
• Named, Top 100, National Black Lawyers (2019)‎
• Named, Top Women Lawyers, Texas Diversity Council (2021)‎
• Recognized, Best Legal Article, Houston Bar Foundation (2021)‎
• Recognized, Best News Article, State Bar of Texas (2021-2022)‎

Mia’s Professional Affiliations Include:‎

• Treasurer, Houston Bar Association Litigation Section
• Council Member, State Bar of Texas Appellate Section
• Member of the Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists
• Member of the CLE committee for the State Bar of Texas

Jon Mehta

Legal Director, Litigation & Investigations,
Johnson & Johnson

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Jonathan Mehta is the Legal Director, Litigation & Investigations – Asia Pacific at Johnson & Johnson. In his capacity, Mr. Mehta has led the cross-functional APAC Investigations Team, where he developed an innovative approach to manage internal investigations including: 1) partnering with several law firms to develop a set of best practices related to investigations; 2) creating an internal cloud database and dashboards to track key data points; and 3) developing consistent standards and fee structures with both panel law firms and eDiscovery providers to ensure Johnson & Johnson was receiving the highest value and efficiency given the volume of investigations that his team was handling.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Mehta was a New York-trained Senior Associate at Alston & Bird where he gained extensive experience conducting large-scale cross-border investigations. He spent three years as a secondee at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, where he worked on APAC and MENA litigation and investigations. Experience during his secondment includes:

Investigations:

• Obtained favorable resolutions with the US SEC and US DOJ in parallel multi-year FCPA investigations of hiring practices in the Asia-Pacific region. Primary responsibilities included overseeing regulatory submissions, preparing witnesses for testimony, providing regional regulators and management updates on the investigation and managing document review teams in Hong Kong, India and the US.
• Managed internal investigations relating to activity identified by Compliance and whistleblower letters relating to (1) potential FCPA violations in the PRC and India; (2) insider trading in Hong Kong and Australia; and (3) research report front-running in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand.
• Managed global cross-border investigations relating to potential breaches of regulations on research report disclosures and foreign financial service provider licensing conditions.
• Managed criminal investigation by the Indonesian Police relating to transactions associated with a hedge fund that was under investigation for allegedly facilitating a Ponzi scheme valued at US$1 billion.

Litigation:

• Managed affirmative disputes and directly negotiated favorable settlements, exceeding US$40 million, with a Hong Kong-listed counter-party in relation to defaulted convertible bonds, and a Taiwan-listed counterparty in relation to a defaulted total-return-swap.
• Negotiated a favorable settlement on a multi-year US$500 million negligence action in Hong Kong relating to CS’s role as a financial advisor to a US-listed company that allegedly defrauded investors.
• Managed dispute to ensure that a US$50 million subscription in a US IPO was settled following attempts by a Hong Kong-based client to refuse an allocation post-closing of the IPO.
• Acted as APAC lead on several US class action lawsuits relating to CS’s role as underwriter in the capital-raising activities of US-listed companies that are based in the PRC.

Operations:

• Developed a regional matter-management dashboard used to generate management reports tracking matters, trends, recoveries and legal spend.
• Developed an e-Discovery playbook to standardize the electronic discovery review process.

Mr. Mehta also served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis in the U.S. District Court for the E.D.N.Y.

Mr. Mehta earned his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2012, where he was the general editor of Journal of Law and Public Policy and was involved in the Latin American Law Students Association. He earned his B.A. from North Carolina State University in 2009.

Nicholas Meza

Partner,
Quarles & Brady LLP

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Nick Meza advises healthcare businesses, including retail, independent, mail-order and specialty pharmacies, pharmacy benefits managers (PBM), pharmacy hubs, wholesale drug distributors, and drug and device manufacturers. Nick’s clients also include hospitals, physician/oncology groups and integrated behavioral health practices. With a master’s degree in public health, policy and administration and prior clinical work experience, Nick brings broad knowledge of the healthcare industry to the legal advice he provides. He focuses on:

• Healthcare regulatory compliance
• Healthcare transactions
• Representing licensed professionals and entities before administrative boards

Clients rely on the responsiveness and collegiality that Nick and his team bring to the legal solutions they develop. Nick is known for providing practical legal and business solutions for healthcare clients. He is effective at building meaningful relationships with business partners and regulators to arrive at creative and compliant business solutions.

In addition, Nick focuses on:

• Advising pharmacy clients on practice of pharmacy compliance, automated dispensing systems, supply chain, controlled substance (both DEA and state controlled-substance acts) and business licensing, including change of ownership (CHOW), change of location (CHOL) and change of officer (CHOO) requirements.
• Providing strategic advice and contractual support to pharmacy clients seeking to enter into complex shared services arrangements, including central fill, prescription order processing and remote pharmacy models.
• Advising behavioral health entities on regulatory compliance and transaction matters.
• Counseling wholesale drug distributors, drug and device manufacturers, and repackagers on regulatory compliance, including assisting drug wholesalers with the development of federal and state-controlled substance monitoring and suspicious order reporting programs.
• Providing state regulatory and licensure advice for entities engaged in the dispensing and distribution of investigational drug products.
• Advising software and technology companies both currently operating in and entering the health space on scope of practice compliance and related operational business needs.
• Assisting national oncology and specialty physician practices with the development of specialty drug programs and in-office dispensing (IOD) operations.
• Defending health care facilities and licensed health care professionals against regulatory and licensing board investigations and complaints.

He was named one of Az Big Media’s “Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona” in 2023, has been named to Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch” (Health Care Law) each year since 2021 and Southwest Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” (Healthcare) each year since 2018.

Prior to joining Quarles, Nick served as a judicial extern for the Honorable David K. Duncan in the United States District Court, District of Arizona. He also was a legal intern at PetSmart Inc. and the Arizona State University Office of General Counsel.

Nick earned a B.S. in health sciences and master of public health, policy and administration from the University of Arizona and a J.D. from the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Nick was a recipient of MCCA’s Lloyd M. Johnson Jr. Scholarship.

Natasha Newberry

Director & Senior Corporate Counsel,
LexisNexis

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Natasha Newberry is Director & Senior Corporate Counsel for LexisNexis, a division of RELX, Inc. She is an accomplished and results-driven attorney passionate about contributing to the success of minority women within the legal profession. Natasha earned her Juris Doctor from Northern Kentucky University-Chase College of Law.

Natasha began her career as associate corporate counsel for a small business where she was able to assist with guiding minority business owners through the legal challenges of owning their first franchise. She then became an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney with the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office thereafter being promoted to the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Center where she prosecuted cases on behalf of child victims of sexual and physical abuse.

In 2018, Natasha started her career at LexisNexis. In her current role, Natasha negotiates complex vendor and customer contracts and provides business centric advice to various market segments, including corporate, intellectual property, print and editorial operations, large law firm, and government markets. She collaborates and partners with the business to address current legal needs and mitigate potential legal issues.

Natasha is an active member of various professional organizations including the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, the International Bar Association, and the Dayton Bar Association. Natasha is committed to the underrepresented members of the community and has served on the Board of Trustees for Legal Aid of Western Ohio & Advocates for Basic Legal Equality since 2013.

Ephraim Pierre

Partner, Labor and Employment,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

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Ephraim partners with employers to manage the risk and cost of complex employment litigation in an ever-changing legal environment. Ephraim’s experience in representing employers in a variety of industries across the nation provides him with unique and practical insights into the challenges that employers face in complex employment litigation. He has extensive experience with single-plaintiff and class action employment litigation in state and federal courts and administrative agencies. Additionally, Ephraim has significant first-chair trial and arbitration experience, including arbitration proceedings before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority representing broker-dealers.

Ephraim also regularly provides clients with practical advice on workplace issues, including hiring practices, adverse actions, internal complaints and investigations, workplace training, employment agreements, and background screening.

Ephraim is chair of Seyfarth’s A+ affinity group for the firm’s Black attorneys and allies. Ephraim is an Advisory Board Member for Legal Outreach, Inc. In 2017, he was awarded Seyfarth’s “Inspirational Leadership Award” in recognition of his commitment to Legal Outreach, Inc., and for inspiring others to make a difference in the community. Ephraim is also co-chair of the National Employment Law Council’s strategic committee on programing and professional development.

Ephraim has been recognized as a “Ones to Watch” lawyer by Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White Inc.) for Labor and Employment Law – Management (2021-2023) and Litigation – Labor and Employment (2021-2023) and as a New York Metro Area Super Lawyers Rising Star for Employment & Labor (Thomson Reuters) (2019-2022). In 2017, Ephraim was selected as a Pathfinder for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

Ephraim earned his B.A. from Fordham University and his J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Karl Riley

Partner,
Cozen O’Connor

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Karl is an experienced commercial litigator and the Las Vegas Office Managing Partner (OMP) of Cozen O’Connor, a 775-lawyer law firm. Karl joined Cozen O’Connor in September 2020, becoming one of the first African-American OMPs of an Am Law 100 firm in Nevada.

Karl focuses his practice high-stakes commercial disputes, employment litigation, and consumer class actions, and is now leading efforts to build a sophisticated regional appellate practice. He represents Fortune 50 financial institutions, hotels, casinos, real estate owners and developers, insurance companies, and multi-billion dollar investment and timeshare companies. As a commercial litigator, he defends client in disputes regarding breach of contract claims, judgment recoveries, insurance coverage, commercial leases, land sales, receiverships, deficiencies, and frequently obtains injunctive, declaratory, and extraordinary relief. In the employment context, Karl defends employers in discrimination, wrongful termination, and wage-and-hour suits.

Immediately prior to joining Cozen O’Connor as partner, Karl completed a two-year clerkship for the Honorable Johnnie B. Rawlinson for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit). He conducted crucial legal research and analysis and assisted in formulating decisions. Having already practiced law for nearly eight years before doing the clerkship, Karl brought an unusual degree of legal experience to his appellate work.

Karl practiced as an associate in the Litigation Department of the Las Vegas office of Snell & Wilmer. One of his most formative experiences from those early years was second-chairing a federal cross-border breach of contract case with then-partner Aaron Ford, now Nevada’s Attorney General. Karl combed through thousands of pages of documents, depositions, and filings to draft motions and prepare for trial, ultimately helping secure a bench trial verdict of in his client’s favor.

He also served as litigation and appellate counsel in Pac. W. Bank v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., 383 P.3d 252 (Nev. 2016), a case that changed Nevada’s legal landscape by allowing judgment creditors to execute against out-of-state accounts maintained by a Nevada garnishee. He also successfully defended an airline from a hostile takeover/receivership bid by one of the airline’s investors and a board of directors from a breach of fiduciary duty claim based on the sale of their company. The bulk of his work focused on defending Fortune 30 banks in hundreds of cases involving wrongful foreclosure and various consumer fraud claims, protecting the banks’ interest in significant real estate assets. Further, Karl defended these same banks and a television production company in employment discrimination claims.

With an exceptional litigation track record and the Ninth Circuit clerkship, Karl arrived at Cozen O’Connor well positioned to build a regional appellate practice in the Las Vegas legal market, with its still-nascent state court of appeals system and comparatively small Am Law 100-level appellate bar.

Karl has handled several major appeals since joining the firm. He successfully led oral arguments before the California Court of Appeals and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on procedural questions stemming from an asbestos exposure litigation. He won both appeals, which affirmed the lower court’s summary judgment determination in his client’s favor. Karl also led briefing in a matter before the Washington State Court of Appeals concerning the proper venue for litigation with co-defendants in two different states.

Karl has had more than 20 federal and state decisions published in online databases and has had articles posted through the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation Employment and Labor Relations.

Heidi Ruckriegle

Counsel, Compliance, Employment & Litigation,
Gates Corporation

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As Compliance, Employment & Litigation Counsel Heidi provides legal oversight and support to Gates’ businesses and employees worldwide. She is responsible for the design, administration, implementation, and evolution of Gates’ business integrity program. She partners with every aspect of the business to manage a cross-functional, enterprise-wide business integrity program that takes a practical approach to managing risk. Heidi serves a critical role leading internal investigations into potential, legal, regulatory, or policy violations. In addition, she develops productive working relationships with all levels of management and delivers global compliance and integrity education programs for employees.

Heidi is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado Law School where she teaches “The Evolution of the Whistleblower” as part of the Masters of Studies in Law Ethics and Compliance Program.

Before Gates, Heidi managed the Business Integrity Office at a Fortune 500 company.

Prior to moving in-house, Heidi’s practice focused on regulatory matters, government and internal investigations, and crisis management at WilmerHale. Her global practice included representation of high-profile companies in connection with inquiries conducted by Congress, the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, UK Serious Fraud Office, and other U.S. and international agencies.

Throughout her legal career Heidi has dedicated significant hours to helping those in need as pro bono counsel including women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, asylum, and bond and bail reform matters. Heidi received her JD and LLM from the University of Denver. Prior to law school, she worked as an instructor for Costa Rica Outward Bound where she led cross-country treks, raft trips, and surf camps. She is fluent in Spanish.

Heidi is passionate about the outdoors—her favorite activities include backcountry skiing, rafting, and mountain biking. She also serves on the Law School Yes We Can and Colorado Fourteeners Initiative boards.

Pritesh Shah

Partner,
Davis Polk & Wardwell

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IP and Tech Transactions partner Pri Shah joined Davis Polk in 2008 and was elevated to partner after only seven years, making partner at the age of 31. Pri currently serves as the firm’s Corporate Hiring Partner, one of the youngest in recent history, and co-head of the Recruiting Committee. Pri has advised on some of the firm’s most important and high-profile transactions over the last decade, including for clients such as Comcast/NBCUniversal, IHS Markit, PwC, Freeport, Reliance, Tencent, Brookfield and TPG.

Pri structures, negotiates and advises on complex IP and tech-focused M&A transactions, carve-outs, spin-offs and joint ventures, including a broad spectrum of standalone and bespoke commercial agreements. Pri also negotiates and advises on IP and tech-focused PE investments, financing, capital markets transactions and restructurings. His clients span industries, including telecommunications, media and technology, consumer product and fashion, fintech, cleantech, sports and PE and other investors, including SPACs.

Pri gives back to his community as a member of the firm’s Asian/South Asian/Middle Eastern affinity group and serves on the Board of Directors of iCivics and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. He serves as Davis Polk’s Corporate Hiring Partner, where he helps shape and drive the firm’s recruiting strategy and summer program and evaluates the success of our hiring process.

A sought-after thought leader, Pri is invited to speak at industry events, including TechGC’s 2022 “Blockchain & Web3 Virtual Forum,” and has authored articles in Lexology Getting the Deal Through: Private M&A 2023 and Practical Law on data privacy and cybersecurity as well as articles addressing unique issues arising from Generative AI and the metaverse/NFTs in M&A transactions.

Pri graduated from Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and the Managing Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts. He graduated from New York University magna cum laude and previously interned at MLB, McGraw-Hill, ABC and MTV Networks.

He was named a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal in 2019, a “Next Generation Partner” in Technology Transactions by Legal 500 U.S. and is ranked by Chambers USA for Technology, NY.

Representative matters include:

Tech, Media & Telecom

• TPG on its acquisitions of Forcepoint G2CI and Thomson Reuters’ Elite business
• Taboola and Yahoo 30-year commercial agreement
• Facebook investment in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms unit
• Google investment in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms unit
• Industrial Media acquisition by Sony Pictures Television
• Emerson acquisition of Aspen Technology in $11B transaction
• Qualcomm and SSW Partners $4.5B acquisition of Veoneer

Consumer Products & Retail

• Victoria’s Secret spin-off and separation from Bath and Body Works
• Ferrero $2.8B acquisition of Nestlé’s U.S. confectionary business
• Spectrum Brands’ $4.3B sale of its Hardware & Home Improvement segment
• Heineken’s strategic partnership with China Resources to join forces in China

Fintech

• IHS Markit’s $44B merger with S&P Global and joint venture with CME Group
• cxLoyalty Group Holdings’ sale of Global Loyalty to JPMorgan Chase
• MoneyLion’s $2.4B combination with Fusion Acquisition and acquisition of Even Financial
• PwC’s sale of Global Mobility Tax and Immigration Services to CD&R

Industrials

• Freeport on a number of technology development, licensing and joint venture arrangements
• Technip Energies spinoff from TechnipFMC
• FirstGroup’s $4.6B sale of First Student and First Transit to EQT
• General Electric’s $11.1B merger of GE Transportation and Wabtec

Sainabou Sonko

Senior Counsel,
Tyson Foods, Inc.

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Sainabou Sonko is a seasoned attorney with extensive experience in high-stakes litigation, including federal class actions and multi-district litigation matters. She currently serves as Senior Counsel in the Commercial Litigation group at Tyson Foods, Inc. In this role, she manages a wide range of global litigation matters, including false labeling class actions, consumer fraud and contract disputes. Prior to Tyson, Sainabou had considerable private practice experience representing multinational corporations and was recognized by the Best Lawyers in America® as a 2021 “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” for her work in commercial litigation, medical malpractice (defense) and products liability litigation (defense).

Sainabou is currently the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Arkansas Access of Justice Foundation and previously served on the Board of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arkansas. She also served as Chair of Tyson’s Global Governance and Corporate Affairs’ inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and remains an active member of the Council.

Sainabou has post-graduate judicial clerkship experience and previously served as an adjunct professor of Business Law. She is a graduate of Rutgers School of Law-Newark, where she served as a Legal Research & Writing Teaching Associate and was the Managing Notes & Comments Editor for the Rutgers Race and the Law Review Journal.

Juliette Stancil

Assistant General Counsel, Data Privacy,
Intuit

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Juliette currently serves as Assistant General Counsel, Privacy at Intuit, where she supports the organization’s mission to Power Prosperity Around the World by providing pragmatic and tailored guidance on navigating the complex and ever changing data protection legal and regulatory landscape in the United States and abroad. Juliette primarily focuses on supporting Intuit’s largest business unit by revenue, the Consumer Group, which comprises its industry-leading TurboTax product as well as supporting global teams on marketing and advertising privacy.

In addition to her in-depth engagement with the business teams she enables, Juliette is active in Intuit’s goals of creating a Stronger Together culture through its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These DEI initiatives focus on providing an environment for the top, diverse talent to do the best work of their lives at Intuit. In this capacity, Juliette has served as co-chair of its African Ancestry employee resource group, and actively supports the legal department’s DEI efforts as a member of its summer intern program serving in the past as a manager, mentor and buddy to 1L law students who choose to spend their summers learning the ins-and-outs of corporate legal teams at Intuit. Juliette has been an active driver DEI priorities aimed at creating an environment for the identification, support and development of ready now leaders within the department.

Prior to joining Intuit, Juliette spent the majority of her career in healthcare, serving as privacy and compliance officer and counsel for a variety of healthcare organization. She was most recently Corporate Counsel at iRhythm Technologies, Inc., a rapidly growing healthcare technology company that manufacturers remote cardiac monitoring devices and provides related healthcare services. At iRhythm, Juliette was responsible for building and managing the organization’s global data privacy, ethics and compliance program through a period of rapid global growth and international expansion.

Outside of her engagement at work, Juliette has served as board member for various community organizations aimed at providing resources to the disadvantaged and underserved, including community health provider PCC Wellness, and youth services non-profit Alternatives Inc, both based in Chicago. Specific to her desire to support the diversity of the legal profession, Juliette serves on the privacy group for Black Girls in Cybersecurity, a nonprofit organization focused on helping women of color transition into entry level roles in cybersecurity, privacy and STEM careers. She has also served on the planning committee for state diversity bar associations, supporting efforts to create communities and safe spaces for diverse legal professionals.

A native of North Carolina, Juliette received her bachelors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, W.H. Bowen School of Law, and a master of law (LL.M) in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Juliette holds certifications in healthcare privacy compliance, healthcare compliance, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

Ruth Tisdale

Senior Counsel,
Walmart Inc.

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Ruth L. Tisdale is a senior counsel for Walmart Health and Wellness Division. Ruth, a proud graduate of the Wake Forest Law School, began her legal career in the State of New York in 2014, as an Assistant District Attorney in the District Attorney’s Office in the Bronx. In 2016, she transitioned into private practice where she represented physicians, hospitals, clinics, and other health-related entities in major litigation and transactional matters. in 2021, she accepted a new position as an Assistant Corporate Counsel with the Christiana Care Health System, the largest hospital system in Delaware, where she was primarily responsible for handling polices, contracts and other legal matters. In addition to meeting the challenges of her current position, Ruth is a candidate for a Master’s Degree in Public Health (MPH) at Harvard University.

Demetrius Warrick

Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates

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Demetrius Warrick is a corporate attorney focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, securities and general corporate law. Mr. Warrick regularly advises public and private clients in a variety of corporate matters, including strategic acquisitions, divestitures, auctions, strategic investments, reorganizations, financial advisor engagements and joint ventures. He also has represented many companies with respect to shareholder activism, takeover preparedness, unsolicited proposals, contested proxy solicitations and other contests for corporate control. In addition, he has advised clients in designing and implementing shareholder rights plans and other corporate protective measures.

Examples of Mr. Warrick’s experience include representation of:

• NextGen Acquisition Corp. in connection with its business combination transaction with Xos Inc.
• Dentsply Sirona in connection with various matters, including its acquisitions of Byte and Propel Orthodontics
• CoreLogic Inc. in connection with its activist defense and proxy contest against Senator Investment Group and Cannae
• Mars, Incorporated in connection with various matters, including its acquisition of one of the largest privately owned chains of freestanding veterinary hospitals in the U.S.
• Hg in connection with various matters, including its acquisition of Litera Microsystems and its investment, alongside TA Associates, in Insight Software
• ECI Software Solutions, Inc. in connection with its acquisition of Shoptech Industrial Software Corp.
• Intel Corporation in connection with its joint venture with TPG Capital, L.P. to form an independent cybersecurity company called McAfee
• Social Finance in connection with various matters, including its acquisition of a U.S. technology company
• Navient Corporation in its proxy fight and settlement with Canyon Capital Advisors
• Pier 1 Imports, Inc. in connection with various matters, including its adoption of a shareholder rights plan and activism defense in response to activist shareholder Alden Global Capital LLC
• PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab in connection with its participation in an investor consortium for purposes of acquiring InterPark, the largest owner-operated parking infrastructure in the U.S.
• The Howard Gilman Foundation in connection with its sale of the operations of the Gilman Companies to West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.
• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in connection with its successful proxy contest against dissident ILJIN SNT
• Lumber Liquidators in connection with various matters, including its response to a threatened unsolicited proposal from a dissident and its response to a threatened proxy contest by dissident shareholders
• Fox Sports Network in connection with various matters, including several joint venture agreements with Major League Baseball, and its acquisition of a U.S. sports technology platform
• Harland Clarke Holding Corp. in connection with various matters, including in connection with its sale of Faneuil, Inc. to ALJ Regional Holding
• Dean Foods Company in connection with its sale of its Morningstar Foods division to Saputo Inc.
• Thomas Properties Group Inc. in connection with its stock-for-stock merger with Parkway Properties Inc.

Mr. Warrick has been a member of Skadden’s Black and African American Affinity Network since joining the firm in 2011 and served as a member of the Steering Committee from 2015-18.

David Williams

Partner,
Faegre Drinker

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David Williams represents and counsels clients in the investment management industry, with particular focus on counseling investment advisers on registered investment company fund formation, regulatory requirements and corporate governance. He also counsels institutional investors on fund due diligence and investment management agreement negotiations. David’s practice also involves advising global fund managers on environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact funds, and their unique investment and governance considerations. In addition, David counsels investment advisers on the design and launch of closed-end interval and tender offer funds that enhance distribution channels for advisers.

Registered Investment Companies

Mutual Funds
David counsels registered investment companies, their boards and registered investment advisers on SEC registration, operations and regulatory obligations. David advises multi-series and multi-class mutual funds and their boards, including money market funds, exchange-traded funds and multi-manager funds.

Closed-End Funds
David has significant experience advising clients on the registration process for, and ongoing regulatory obligations of, continuously offered closed-end funds, including interval funds and tender offer funds.

Environmental and Socially Responsible Funds
David has recognized experience in the formation of socially responsible, ESG and impact funds, and in advising fund managers and sponsors regarding their unique considerations. He advises global money managers on funds, concentrating on investments in socially responsible entities, renewable energy companies and sustainable companies.

Sheila Willis

Partner,
Fisher Phillips, LLP

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Sheila Willis is committed to finding practical, real world solutions to her clients’ employment law needs. She represents companies—large and small—as they navigate employment issues related to hiring, discipline, investigations, employment discrimination, unemployment, and other related issues. Sheila provides guidance to higher education institutions on Title IX Compliance and investigations. She has extensive experience providing compliance advice to federal contractors on affirmative action and OFCCP regulations and audits. Sheila also has extensive experience working on collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and class actions under wage and hour state laws. Sheila also provides training for supervisors and managers on harassment, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) compliance, the Family Medical Leave Act, diversity and inclusion, and many other areas.

Sheila is involved in various professional and community activities. She is a past president of both the South Carolina Women Lawyers’ Association (SCWLA) and the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers (SCYLD) Division. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Columbia – Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the board of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations. Sheila is active in the Richland County Bar, American Bar Association, and is a member of the Junior League of Columbia.

Prior to attending law school, Sheila was a member of store leadership for a Fortune 500 retail company, providing employee supervision and managing a variety of employee issues related to wage and hour, workers’ compensation, discrimination issues, performance management, and other personnel issues.

Sheila is a 2019 recipient of the Silver Compleat lawyer Award from the University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association. This award recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to the legal profession and who exemplify the highest standard of professional competence, ethics, and integrity.

She has also been named to the Columbia Regional Business Report’s list of 2018 Women of Influence, Columbia Business Monthly’s 2018 Best and Brightest 35 and Under, Columbia Business Monthly’s Legal Elite of the Midlands in 2017 and the American Bar Association’s On the Rise – Top 40 under 40 in 2018. She is also a 2018 South Carolina Super Lawyers – Rising Star and a 2019 recipient of the Leadership in the Law award. She was awarded the Johnathon Jasper Wright Award by The Honorable Matthew J. Perry Chapter of the Black Law Students Association at the University of South Carolina School of Law, is a three-time recipient of the President’s Award a and a four-time recipient of the Start of the Quarter award from the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers’ Division.

Elizabeth “Liz” Davis

Partner, Co-Chair Financial Services Practice Group,
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

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Liz Davis is the Co-Chair of the Financial Services practice group at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Liz advises and defends domestic and foreign companies and individuals in civil and criminal investigations, examinations, and litigation before the CFTC, DOJ, SEC, NFA, and exchanges, and also handles corporate internal investigations. Liz previously was a Chief Trial Attorney at the CFTC, where she led regulatory enforcement matters encompassing issues ranging from manipulation, virtual currencies, compliance, and trade practice issues. Liz was also a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and litigated numerous civil tax controversy matters in federal district and bankruptcy courts. She received her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Deneen Donnley

Senior Vice President & General Counsel,
Consolidated Edison of New York, Inc.

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Deneen Donnley is senior vice president and general counsel of Consolidated Edison, Inc., the energy company serving the 10 million people of New York City, Westchester, Orange and Rockland counties.

Ms. Donnley previously served as chief legal officer, general counsel, and corporate secretary to USAA. She also previously served as the general counsel for USAA Bank.

Before joining USAA, Ms. Donnley worked as the senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at ING DIRECT. Prior to joining ING DIRECT, she served as an attorney for Pepper Hamilton LLP and a staff attorney with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Ms. Donnley serves on the Boards of Directors of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Girls Inc. of New York City, and Fordham Law Alumni Association. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, Athena Alliance, and the Direct Women Board Institute.

A Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania graduate with a Bachelor of Science in economics, Ms. Donnley also received her Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law in New York.

Mark Grider

Partner and Chair of the Crisis Management Litigation and Government Response Group,
Brown Rudnick LLP

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Background

Mark Grider is an executive leader and former Deputy Associate Attorney General with over 20 years of risk management and regulatory experience in Washington, D.C. Mark is currently a Senior Partner and Chair of the Crisis Management Litigation and Government Response Group at Brown Rudnick LLP.

Executive Leadership, Board Governance & ESG Expertise

Mark brings visionary leadership, business acumen, and an extensive regulatory background to company executives and their boards. Mark also provides deep corporate governance experience; Mark educates and advises executives and their board of directors on increasingly important environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) matters. Mark understands the magnitude of shareholder engagement and supports boards in their implementation of improved ESG practices to enhance long-term asset value. Mark has also worked closely with executives on matters related to shareholder activism.

Regulatory Leadership

As a former Deputy Compliance Officer for a Fortune 500 company, Mark has proven success with corporate compliance teambuilding and navigating regulatory hurdles; in his former role, Mark created and led multiple regulatory groups to identify and address potential risks to the company and was key in the enhancement of a compliance database. While Mark’s career has strong roots in regulatory compliance, he also understands business and stays current on the newest issues facing companies today. Mark recently obtained a Leading with Finance Certification from Harvard Business School.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Mark is a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and knows the steps boards must take to achieve their DEI targets to promote sustainability and deliver long-term value in this changing economy and business landscape. Mark is a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and serves on the MCCA G-TEC Advisory Council for Technology where he addresses diversity and equity in the tech industry.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Mark has worked on major cyber and privacy issues both in the federal government and for private companies and has a real understanding of the technology, cybersecurity and privacy issues facing companies today. Mark is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and is receiving his certificate in information privacy to better assist companies with the increasing risks surrounding companies and privacy.

Career Experience

Mark most recently served as a Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department, where his portfolio included criminal matters relating to the Antitrust Division, Civil Division, the Consumer Protection Branch, Environment and Natural Resources Division and the Tax Division. Mark is a subject matter expert on the False Claims Act, healthcare fraud, the opioid crisis, and competition and consumer harm in the online marketplace. Mark liaised on policy initiatives relating to elder fraud and financial exploitation, criminal antitrust procurement collusion and COVID-19 pandemic issues. Between early 2019 and September 2020, Mark assisted on congressional oversight and investigations and coordinated responses to related litigation, FOIA requests, COVID-19 pandemic response matters, and Inspector General investigations.

Prior to this role, Mark served as Senior Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel, advising White House Counsel and senior administration officials on broad oversight and regulatory matters involving the White House, Health and Human Services, and federal agencies, contributing special expertise on health care regulatory and litigation matters and science and technology oversight and policy issues.

After his tenure as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, Mark moved to the DOJ’s Office of the Deputy Attorney General, where he served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and advised on operational and policy issues involving computer crime, intellectual property, health care fraud, pharmaceutical diversion, narcotics abuse and trafficking, death penalty review, and computer forensics matters. He also served as Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud and executive director of the DOJ’s Intellectual Property (IP) Task Force, where he developed strategic initiatives and metrics to monitor health care fraud, waste, and abuse efforts as well as corporate counterfeit and IP theft detection.

Mark has extensive congressional investigative experience on Capitol Hill in both the House and Senate. Mark was deputy general counsel for Chairman Trey Gowdy on a House Select Committee and was a legislative assistant to former Senator John Ashcroft from Mark’s home state of Missouri.

Mark served as the deputy general counsel to the Special Inspector General of Iraq Reconstruction, a role in which he oversaw civil and criminal litigation pertaining to procurement fraud and false claims act matters involving the more than $10 billion of government funds appropriated for Iraq reconstruction.

Education and Other Credentials

• Harvard Business School, Leading with Finance Online Certification
• University of Missouri School of Law, J.D.
  • Thurgood Marshall Scholar; CALI Excellence for the Future Award
• Truman State University, B.A.
  • Magna Cum Laude; Dean’s List; President’s Honorary Scholarship; NCAA Academic All- Conference Scholar
• Admitted to Practice: Supreme Court of the United States; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Missouri Bar; D.C. Bar
• Active Security Clearances: Top Secret/SCI is renewable, if needed

Kevin Hall

Partner,
Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP

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Kevin Hall is the Managing Partner of Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP’s Columbia, South Carolina office, Chair of the Firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, and a member of the Firm Management Committee.

Kevin is a skilled commercial litigator and political law attorney. He has more than 30 years of experience in complex commercial litigation, administrative law, education law, and First Amendment law. Kevin’s practice includes representation of plaintiffs and defendants in regulatory and business disputes involving claims for breach of contract, business torts, unfair trade practices, unfair competition, commercial disparagement, antitrust, and related business claims. He has represented clients from a variety of industries including, but not limited to, construction, electric and gas, telecommunications, software, healthcare, infrastructure, legal services, accounting services, and financial services. He has obtained multi-million dollar verdicts or settlements in cases involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty, unfair trade practices, breach of contract, breach of contract accompanied by a fraudulent act, and other business torts.

As defense counsel, Kevin has successfully defended utilities, health care companies, telecommunications providers, and insurance companies in class actions, defeating class certification in some cases and achieving dismissal in others. He has represented a variety of businesses including law firms, securities dealers, utilities, retailers, finance companies, real estate companies, and pharmaceutical companies in business tort and commercial contract disputes, as well as in shareholder disputes and oppression claims asserted by minority shareholders. Kevin has represented securities brokers and dealers in civil investigations initiated by the South Carolina Attorney General.

Kevin also has represented multiple clients in constitutional challenges arising from state and federal campaign finance laws and state criminal domestic violence statutes. He served as successful amicus counsel for the South Carolina Equality Coalition in its challenge to the constitutionality of South Carolina’s criminal domestic violence statutes. Kevin also represented South Carolina students and LGBT advocacy organizations in a successful equal protection challenge of South Carolina’s anti-LGBT curriculum provisions included in the state’s Comprehensive Health Education Act of 1988. On the political law front, Kevin has successfully represented multiple statewide elected officials in cases in the original jurisdiction of the South Carolina Supreme Court, before legislative ethics committees, and in impeachment proceedings brought by the South Carolina House of Representatives.

Kevin is active in South Carolina politics and public policy. He has served as legal counsel to the South Carolina Republican Party, Governor Mark Sanford, Senator Lindsey Graham, Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, Senator Jim DeMint, and Representative Trey Gowdy, among others. Kevin served as co-chair of the Republican Party’s Victory 2008 Committee, and was elected as an alternate delegate in 2008 to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

JENNIFER IVAN

Associate General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation

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Jennifer Ivan is an Associate General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, where she leads Microsoft’s Windows and Devices legal team. In this role, she leads a team of legal professionals that provide legal support in all areas of the Windows + Devices business, including AI, privacy, intellectual property, compliance, competition, and commercial and consumer issues. Prior to that role, she led the team that supported all commercial sales in the United States and Canada, and government and community affairs for Canada. Prior to that role, Jennifer led the legal team for the M365 Security, Compliance, and Management (SCM) group.

She also previously led Diversity & Inclusion for Microsoft’s Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization. In this role, she led CELA’s efforts to build and sustain a diverse department that reflects the diversity of our global company, the communities in which we work, and the customers that we serve and to take full advantage of that diversity by creating and nurturing a culture of inclusion that allows individuals and teams to do their best work.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Jennifer was Legal Director for Dell Computer Corporation in Austin, Texas, where she supported the Dell Services organization.

Prior to joining Dell, Jennifer was a Staff Attorney for IBM in Austin, Texas, where she provided comprehensive legal support for IBM’s Server Group.

Jennifer graduated Cum Laude with Honors in Liberal Arts with a B.A. in Political Science and English from the Ohio State University in 1990. Jennifer received her J.D. Cum Laude from the Ohio State University School of Law in 1994. She has served for more than 15 years on the board of Youth Eastside Services (currently President), a non-profit that provides counseling and support programs for children and young adults who are dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues, abuse and other difficult issues. She is also on the Next Generation Advisory Board for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her 19-year-old daughter (Olivia), her 25-year-old son (Parker) and her husband, Donnie.

She can be reached at jenivan@microsoft.com

Manish K. Jain

Counsel – Labor and Employment,
General Motors LLC

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Manish Jain attended the University of California at Berkeley for his undergraduate degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, he worked as an Auditor for KPMG and later as Policy Analyst in Education for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. After working for 4 years, he decided to attend law school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. After taking a few courses in employment law, he found the subject matter incredibly interesting and accepted a job with a law firm named Ogletree Deakins in Minneapolis, MN, where he focused his practice on labor and employment issues. In 2015, he joined General Motors LLC in Detroit, MI, which has a workforce of over 100,000 employees, to practice in-house as a labor and employment attorney.

Marie Ma

Chief Legal Officer,
Articulate

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Marie Ma is Chief Legal Officer at Articulate, the leader in creator tools for workplace learning loved by all the Fortune 100. Prior to Articulate, Marie served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Gap Inc. leading the Corporate Secretary’s Office, Corporate & Finance, Global Equity, Legal Operations and M&A teams where she advised on a wide range of corporate, securities, governance, disclosure, ESG, finance, executive compensation, transactional, compliance and nonprofit issues. She also served as division General Counsel for Banana Republic brand. Marie is a passionate advocate for increasing diversity among legal leadership across the profession having led the legal diversity efforts at her prior organization and is now creating the first ever legal diversity program at Articulate through recruiting and hiring practices, engagement with its law firm providers and partnership with key diversity organizations like the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). She previously served on the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area’s (AABA) Board and currently serves on AABA’s Law Foundation Board. Marie is a 2018 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow. In 2013, Marie was named a Rising Star by MCCA. Marie earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law where she attended the evening program while working full-time. She earned her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Alexis Mendoza

Chief Compliance Officer,
Nokia

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Alex leads Nokia’s global Ethics & Compliance function and is based in the New York City area. He joined Nokia in 2010 and has held various senior roles within Legal & Compliance including in the areas of Litigation, Compliance and Sales. Prior to assuming the role of Chief Compliance Officer in January 2022, Alex served as VP, Deputy CLO and Global General Counsel for its Cloud & Network Services business group and Customer Experience organization. Alex is active in the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion space. He leads various internal and external initiatives devoted to the topic and collaborates frequently with the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (“MCCA”) on driving change within the legal community.

Joseph Moonjely

Assistant General Counsel, IP,
BASF Corporation

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Joseph Moonjely is assistant general counsel, IP at BASF Corporation, based out of BASF’s headquarters in Florham Park, NJ. Mr. Moonjely has been with BASF since 2016. In his current role, Mr. Moonjely provides IP support for the catalyst and enzymes divisions of BASF, including, IP transactional support, IP opinions, patent portfolio management, M&A support and litigation support. He also chairs the DEI team for BASF NA’s legal and IP group. Mr. Moonjely earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University and his JD/MBA from Temple University and is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Oderah Nwaeze

Partner,
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

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Oderah C. Nwaeze is a first-chair trial attorney who helps clients resolve complex corporate and commercial disputes. His practice includes matters involving shareholder rights; actions arising under Delaware General Corporation Law and Delaware common law; lawsuits stemming from mergers, acquisitions and other corporate transactions; and breach-of-contract matters. Given the influence of Delaware law on other states, Oderah handles similar matters in jurisdictions across the firm’s footprint.

Oderah also has experience representing clients in state and federal class actions involving securities laws, statutory and common law fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

He counsels financial institutions in consumer-related litigation, having developed an understanding of the legal and business sensitivities of banking clients through a secondment with TD Bank.

Oderah is a graduate of Emory University School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of Emory Advocates, a member of Emory Mock Trial Society, president of the Student/Alumni Association and served on the Emory Law Honor Court. He is also a graduate of Wake Forest University, where he was a member of the Track & Field team and a recipient of the Joseph G. Gordon Merit Scholarship.

Angelique M. Okeke

Vice President, Global & NA Consumer Marketplace Counsel,
Nike, Inc.

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Angelique M. Okeke is Vice President, Global & North America (NA) Consumer Marketplace Counsel at Nike, Inc. She is responsible for leading and managing the company’s legal team supporting Nike’s Global & North American consumer business. Okeke also serves as strategic business counsel on Nike’s NA Senior Executive Leadership Team. In this role, she advises on worldwide issues affecting Nike’s retail, e-commerce, digital partnerships, marketing, distribution, and other marketplace matters. 

Prior to joining Nike, Angelique was Corporate Counsel with Amazon Web Services. In that role, she served as business and legal advisor to the Sales and Marketing business team for AWS. While at Amazon, Angelique helped establish the legal support function to the newly formed AWS Professional Services business. Prior to joining Amazon, Angelique served as Vice President and General Counsel at Lotame, a data management platform company. As the company’s first in house attorney, Angelique counseled on Lotame’s business model transformation from an ad network to a data management platform and led the global legal team, strategy, and operations for the company. Okeke began her legal career as a corporate and mergers and acquisitions attorney with multinational law firms in Boston and Washington, D.C. 

Okeke serves and has served on the Board of Directors of a variety of civic and non-profit organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors of Girls, Inc., Pacific Northwest Chapter, the Classroom Law Project and the Board of Trustees of Seattle Repertory Theatre. She is also the executive sponsor for Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee for Nike’s Office of the General Counsel, spearheading Nike’s strategy to influence and change representation and retention of diverse attorneys in the legal industry. 

Okeke has received numerous industry awards and recognition for her work, including, the Nike Maxim Award, a global company award, for embodying Nike’s leadership values for her work on the global expansion of Nike.com into 26 new countries. Drawing on her expertise in commercial agreements and legal issues in the retail industry, Okeke is a frequent panelist, speaking on enterprise business counseling at various conferences focused on enhancing the personal and professional development of practicing and aspiring lawyers. 

As an adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Law, Angelique co-teaches a course on Sports & Social justice focusing on the power and consequences of professional athletes’ engagement in social justice activities. 

Okeke is graduate of Boston College, received her Masters in Public Communications, with distinction from American University and earned her law degree from Howard University School of Law. While in law school, Angelique served as President of the Sports and Entertainment Law Students Association and as Business Chair and lead advocate on the Charles Hamilton Houston Moot Court Team. 

Okeke resides in Seattle with her husband and two sons. 

Krista Palframan

Vice President and Lead Counsel,
LexisNexis Risk Solutions

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Krista is Lead Counsel of the insurance business unit at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. She leads a global legal team that supports the strategic initiatives of the business in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and China. Krista is passionate about diversity and inclusion initiatives. She assisted with the development of a grassroots diversity and inclusion program within the broader LexisNexis Risk Solutions legal department, called Powered by People. Prior to her current role, Krista was Lead Counsel of the healthcare business unit at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Senior Counsel at First Advantage Corporation, and Associate Contract Director at TSYS.

Krista received her undergraduate degree from the University of Windsor, law degree from the University of Western Ontario and Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School. Krista is licensed to practice law in the United States and Canada.

CEDRIC POWELL

Partner,
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

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Cedric Powell is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP’s Washington, D.C. office.

He is a seasoned private equity, M&A attorney with extensive experience in middle market M&A transactions, representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, strategic acquirers, and founders in both buy-side and sell-side transactions. Cedric’s experience spans various industries, including aerospace and defense, manufacturing, food and beverage, national security, government services, retail, technology, chemical distribution, consumer packaged goods, grocery, third-party logistics, and healthcare to name a few. Additionally, Cedric regularly represents clients in various other corporate and transactional matters, including equity financings, strategic investments, joint ventures, and corporate governance.

Cedric co-chairs the DC Office’s Diversity and Inclusion Office Working Group and Recruiting Committee. He also co-chairs the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Attorney Network (DIAN) and Black Lawyers Network.

Cedric was named a 2019 Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2021 MCCA Rising Star, 2023 Legal 500 M&A/Corporate and Commercial Recognized Lawyer, and 2024 US News Best Lawyers “Ones to Watch.”

Lauren Rothenberg

Senior Corporate Counsel,
Amazon.com, Inc.

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Lauren is a Senior Corporate Counsel at Amazon where she is the lead lawyer for the Books risk and content policy teams and Kindle Direct Publishing business. She previously managed commercial, product liability and personal injury litigation across Amazon’s businesses. Lauren serves on Amazon’s Diversity Leadership Team and leads Amazon’s Election Protection partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She is a former member of the Board of Directors for Bay Area women’s leadership incubator The CLUB and served on the leadership team for the Seattle chapter of Leading Women in Technology. Lauren is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School.

Rachael Vaughn Ray

Senior Counsel,
Google LLC

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Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rachael studied mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan and attended law school at University of Houston while working as a patent agent for Shell Oil Company. After law school, she spent time working abroad in the Netherlands as a lawyer for the Shell IP department.

In 2012, she joined Microsoft as a licensing attorney in the OEM business and a product attorney supporting a variety of hardware projects including the Microsoft HoloLens, Microsoft Health, and the Microsoft Band. Rachael continued counseling clients developing new form factor devices at Google, where she was the lawyer for the Daydream AR/VR business. After a few years counseling in the AR/VR space, Rachael moved to the Payments legal team where she currently leads the product counsel team supporting Google Wallet.

During her free time, Rachael dabbles in video editing, practices yoga, and volunteers as a member of the legal committee for the Organization for Transformative Works. Her claim to fame: winning an international scavenger hunt known as GISHWHES with her awesome team known as the Vatican Cameos.

Dominique Ward

Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel, Retirement Plan Services,
Lincoln Financial Group

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Dominique B. E. Ward is an Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel at Lincoln Financial Group in Retirement Plan Services based in Radnor, PA. In her current role, she primarily provides legal guidance to Lincoln’s business partners responsible for providing retirement plan products and services.

Prior to joining Lincoln Financial, Ms. Ward served as an Associate Attorney at Jennings Sigmond, P.C., a boutique law firm specializing in multiemployer benefit plans, and worked on an assortment of employee benefits and tax law issues. She also served as a Deputy City Solicitor in the Major Tax Unit at the City of Philadelphia Law Department, where she handled tax litigation regarding the Internal Revenue Code, City of Philadelphia Code, and associated regulations.

Ms. Ward has served as faculty for various professional training programs and continued learning education seminars on assorted topics ranging from “Tax Controversy” to “The Women, Diversity & Law: Awareness into Action Summit.”

Recently, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Community of College of Philadelphia and currently serves on several other boards, such as: the City of Philadelphia Labor Standards Board and Tax Review Board, the Foundation of the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division– Philadelphia Chapter, and as a Board of Director of Philadelphia VIP. Lastly, she is a former president of The Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, Inc., an organization founded to address the professional needs of Black lawyers in the City of Philadelphia, and past member of the Philadelphia Bar Association Judicial Commission and the Board of Governors.

Currently at Lincoln Financial Group, she serves as co-lead of the enterprise-wide African American Business Resource Group.

Previously, Ms. Ward was named as a 2020 Lawyer on the Fast Track by the Legal Intelligencer and as one of Philadelphia’s 2020 Most Influential Leaders by The Philadelphia Tribune.

Ms. Ward received her LL.M in Taxation and Certificate in Employee Benefits from Temple University Beasley College of Law, J.D. from Florida International University College of Law, and Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Miami, where she majored in International Finance and Marketing and minored in Accounting.

Jon Westlund

Senior Privacy Counsel,
Pfizer Inc.

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JON WESTLUND is Senior Privacy Counsel in the Pfizer Global Privacy Organization (“GPO”) where he serves as a key member of the GPO team. Along with four other privacy attorneys and two non-attorney privacy professionals Jon reports to Chief Privacy Officer Patrice Ettinger. In 2006, Jon began his privacy counsel career with a European based company in the earlier stages of an emerging privacy law field providing him with invaluable insight and understanding. In 2015, while working at Wyndham, He led an internal team enabling compliance with an Order in the landmark cybersecurity case of FTC vs. Wyndham. Jon joined Pfizer’s GPO in the summer of 2018.

Jon has a track record of helping organizations develop and implement sophisticated individually tailored global privacy programs. He partners with senior management and other key stakeholders to develop and foster a vision for a company’s privacy and cybersecurity programs. As a seasoned Privacy attorney, Jon is well-versed in providing insightful risk-based advice in an emerging privacy field, often navigating clients through uncharted waters. He is focused on enabling desired business outcomes while being mindful of privacy compliance requirements.

Jon’s area of expertise now spans a wide variety of global privacy & cybersecurity related topics. He is currently responsible for privacy matters for Human Resources, Digital, Compliance, Internal Medicine, and Immunology & Inflammation. He also is responsible for internal data transfers, incident management and procurement contracts.

Jon is admitted to the New York State Bar and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional / United States – private sector by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. He received his law degree from New York Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He is a frequent speaker at events sharing his expertise and insights related to various privacy matters. He is a member on the Pfizer Legal Division Diversity and Equity Committee. He serves as counsel and a board member for a non-profit organization providing transitional housing for recovering alcoholics and addicts and is a former White Plains Planning Board Member. He provides pro bono services to children seeking asylum or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and has been a high school and middle school mock trial coach with a focus on disadvantaged minority students from the South Bronx. During his free time, he enjoys surfing, practicing yoga, skiing, snowboarding, hiking and most any outdoor activity. He has participated in election voter protection work helping ensure voting rights of individuals. He has taken his love of surfing and provided surf lessons to minority New York City high school students through Laru Beya Collective and Stoked.org as a surf mentor. He enjoys traveling to tropical destinations to surf warmer waters and better waves. He lives in Westchester, NY with his family.

Ursula Willie

Senior Attorney,
USAA

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Ursula Willie is a senior attorney at USAA providing legal support to teams dedicated to accessibility compliance, and privacy and data protection. Ursula has 14 years of legal experience, with the last nine years representing and providing legal advice to major banks. Ursula also serves as the Lead for USAA’s Chief Legal Office’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion Program and is responsible for leading a team of DE&I practitioners in the implementation of DE&I strategies. Prior to joining USAA, Ursula spent her career as in-house counsel at Citigroup and Fidelity National Title Insurance, and in private practice as a commercial litigator. Ursula received her B.A. from Texas A&M University, J.D. from Western Michigan University (cum laude), and Masters of Law (Taxation) from the University of Florida. In her spare time, Ursula enjoys traveling the world and spending time with her family.

Priya Aiyar

Chief Legal Officer,
American Airlines

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Priya Aiyar is Chief Legal Officer and leads American’s Legal Affairs team and its legal strategies. This includes the company’s corporate governance, securities and corporate finance, commercial, litigation, competition and antitrust, compliance, privacy, environmental, labor and employment, and intellectual property legal issues and work. Priya joined American in 2019 and played a crucial role in the company’s navigation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining American, Priya served as a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, as Acting General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and as Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. Earlier she held other senior legal roles within the federal government and was a partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel PLLC. She began her legal career as a clerk to Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Priya holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Monica Howard Douglas

Senior Vice President and General Counsel,
The Coca-Cola Company

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Monica Howard Douglas is senior vice president and general counsel of The Coca-Cola Company. In this role, she oversees the company’s global legal function, reporting to Chairman and CEO James Quincey.

Douglas was appointed to her role in April 2021. She previously served as chief compliance officer and associate general counsel for the North America operating unit.

Douglas joined Coca-Cola in 2004 as senior managing counsel. She went on to hold roles of increasing responsibility, including as legal director for Coca-Cola Southern and East Africa, before being named general counsel for Coca-Cola North America in 2018.

Prior to Coca-Cola, Douglas was an attorney with Equifax and an associate at Troutman Sanders LLP, now known as Troutman Pepper LLP, both in Atlanta.

She is member of the board of directors for VICI Properties Inc., Junior Achievement USA and Cool Girls Inc.

Douglas earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Stanford University.

Mike Jackson

Associate General Counsel/General Manager, Compliance & Ethics Governance, Training, and Culture,
Microsoft Corporation

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Mike Jackson currently serves as Associate General Counsel and Head of Microsoft’s Compliance & Ethics Governance, Training, and Culture team. Mike’s team is responsible for advancing Microsoft’s culture of trust through several centers of excellence, including anti-corruption and regulatory compliance, compliance training, compliance communications, culture of compliance analytics, and global readiness which ensures that Microsoft’s products, goods, and marketing is localized, inclusive, and reflect the company’s values globally. Mike is a member of the Corporate, External, Legal Affairs (CELA) Leadership Team and has held other leadership roles within the department. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mike built and led teams at several Fortune 500 companies, including Target and The J.M. Smucker Company.

Mike is a member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)’s N-Gen Advisory Board and previously served on the Board of Directors for the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association. Mike has also been recognized by Yahoo U.K. as part of its OUTstanding LGBTQ+ Role Model List. Mike and his husband, Chad, reside in the Seattle, Washington metro area.

Ann Miller

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
Nike, Inc.

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Ann Miller joined Nike in 2007 and brings more than 20 years of legal and business expertise to her role. Ann serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer for NIKE, Inc. where she oversees all legal, compliance, government & public affairs, social & community impact, security, resilience, and investigation matters for the company.

For the past six years, she served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, and previously served as Converse’s General Counsel. Prior to joining Nike, Ann worked at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, received her JD from the University of Arizona where she finished second in her class, was selected for the Order of the Coif, and served as a member of the Law Review. As an undergraduate at Smith College, Ann was named NCAA Division III Basketball Player of the Year.

Ann serves on the Board of Directors of Dutch Bros., Inc. and is currently a member of the Association of General Counsel.

William Min

Executive Vice President & General Counsel,
LexisNexis Risk Solutions

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William (Bill) Min is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for LexisNexis® Risk Solutions (“LNRS”) based in Alpharetta, Georgia. Bill is responsible for all legal, compliance, privacy, and regulatory matters at LNRS and leads a global team of approximately 100 legal professionals. LNRS is a portfolio of brands that provides its customers with information-based analytics and decision tools in multiple industries, including agriculture, aviation, chemicals and energy, commercial property, financial services, government and law enforcement agencies, healthcare, human resources, insurance, and tax.

Bill’s legal career spans more than thirty years. Prior to joining LNRS in 2019, Bill held in-house legal positions at Western Union, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Sara Lee Corporation, and Sunkyong America, Inc. He began his legal career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at two New York City firms.

Bill is a champion for diversity and inclusion. At LNRS, Bill serves as the Executive Sponsor for the company’s Ethnically Diverse Group of Employees Employee Resource Group. He is also a member of LNRS’ Inclusion Council. Bill is a sponsor in the company’s Ignite and Accelerate program, a leadership development program that is currently focused on providing women with opportunities to move into senior leadership roles.

In 2023, Bill was honored by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Georgia Chapter in partnership with the Atlanta Business Chronicle as the General Counsel of the Year – Large Legal Department. Outside his work as a lawyer, Bill dedicates his life generously to serving his community. He has volunteered more than 7,000 hours as an Emergency Medical Technician. In 2016, Bill received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his volunteer service from President Barack Obama.

Bill holds a BA in the Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania, a MA in Liberal Studies from Stony Brook University, and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.

Jorge Martinez

Senior Assistant General Counsel,
Intuit Inc.

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Jorge Martinez is Senior Assistant General Counsel, Platforms and AI at Intuit and the lead legal business partner for our Virtual Expert Platform. Prior to his current role, he was the lead marketing counsel for Intuit and lead legal business partner for Intuit’s professional tax group and live services products. Jorge is also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion programs at Intuit and leads the effort in the Legal team for helping underrepresented minorities understand the opportunities in our profession. Jorge is a graduate of UCLA with a B.A. Cum Laude in English Literature and received his J.D. at Loyola Law School. He is a long time tennis player and lives in Los Angeles, California with his family. He is admitted to practice law in California.

Vandana Venkatesh

Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer,
Verizon

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Vandana is EVP and Chief Legal Officer of Verizon, and is responsible and has oversight for all Legal and Corporate Security functions for the company.

Before assuming this role in October 2022, she was Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Verizon Consumer Group, which provides wireline voice, data, and TV products and services, and wireless connected experiences to more than 100 million consumers every day.

Previously, she was the General Counsel for Verizon’s Enterprise business unit which delivers business solutions to global enterprises and governments, including 99% of the Fortune 500. She has held other roles at Verizon leading the legal functions for Verizon’s IT and Sourcing & Procurement organizations, supporting transactions for all of Verizon’s spend as well as data security, outsourcing, and supply chain issues impacting Verizon.

Prior to joining Verizon, Vandana was a lawyer with Genuity, an internet start-up, and an Associate at the law firms of Morse, Barnes-Browne, & Pendleton and Bingham Dana where she was counsel to internet, high tech, and biotech startups. Before her career in the law, she was a Congressional Aide to Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

Vandana sits on the board of Bottom Line, a non-profit that seeks to improve college access and success for high school students who are first in their family to attend college. Vandana has a law degree from Georgetown University Law School, and a Master and Bachelor’s degree in History from UCLA.

Debbie Walters-Francique

Vice President & Assistant General Counsel, Chief Counsel, Pricing & Access,
Pfizer Inc.

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Debbie Walters-Francique is a Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, and a member of the Legal Division Executive Team. She is the Chief Counsel for the Pricing and Access Legal Team (P&A Legal). P&A Legal provides legal support to key functions across the enterprise, including supporting day-to-day activities related to managed access, drug pricing and government reimbursement programs, patient access programs and innovative transactions with healthcare stakeholders globally. Mrs. Walters-Francique also provides expertise and counsel to a broad range of clients across the entire organization related to the federal and state Anti-Kickback laws, as well as provides key strategic counsel into the development and evolution of key commercial and medical roles and interactions.

Mrs. Walters-Francique has been with Pfizer since October 30, 2000.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Mrs. Walters-Francique was in private practice with the law firm of Shearman Sterling in their Mergers Acquisitions Group. Prior to law school Mrs. Walters-Francique worked for GTE (now Verizon) as an accountant in their financial group and prior to GTE as a Certified Public Accountant for Deloitte Touche.

Mrs. Walters-Francique received her undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of Connecticut and her law degree from Fordham University.

Michael Wu

Chief Legal Officer,
Bath & Body Works, Inc.

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Michael Wu is chief legal officer of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (NYSE: BBWI), an international retailer with over 2000 stores and 90,000 employees worldwide. He joined the company (f/k/a L Brands, Inc.) in 2021 and led the successful spin-off of the Victoria’s Secret business into an independent, public company. Michael is responsible for legal, ethics and compliance, government affairs, regulatory and global trade compliance at Bath & Body Works.

Prior to Bath & Body Works, Michael was chief legal officer and corporate secretary of Madewell, where he drove the company’s preparation for an IPO and spin-off from J.Crew prior to the company’s bankruptcy proceeding and restructuring.

Prior to joining Madewell in 2019, Michael was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Carter’s (NYSE: CRI), a leading children’s apparel company. Michael joined Carter’s in 2014 and was responsible for all legal, government affairs, compliance, internal audit, risk management and corporate social responsibility at Carter’s.

Prior to Carter’s, Michael was general counsel of Rosetta Stone, an education technology software company. He joined Rosetta Stone in 2006 and established Rosetta Stone’s anti[1]piracy/anti-fraud enforcement program. Michael oversaw the company’s successful IPO on the NYSE, a secondary stock offering (private equity sponsor exit), and four acquisitions.

Before joining Rosetta Stone, Michael was vice president and general counsel of Teleglobe (Nasdaq: TLGB), an international telecommunications provider. Michael was a key member of the team responsible for restructuring Teleglobe in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings which led to the sale of the core business to Cerberus Capital Management. Michael became general counsel of Teleglobe upon the acquisition by Cerberus and led Teleglobe’s acquisition of ITXC Corp., the listing of Teleglobe on NASDAQ and the sale of Teleglobe to the Tata Group in 2006.

Prior to Teleglobe, Michael was a senior attorney in the Hong Kong office of Global One, an international JV between Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. He was also associated with Baker Botts LLP in Houston, Texas and a firm in Washington, D.C. that merged into Morgan Lewis.

Heidi Yurkiw

Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel,
Bath & Body Works, Inc.

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Heidi Yurkiw is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel for Bath & Body Works and leads the Litigation, Employment/Labor and Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability practice areas. Her work also includes oversight of the Affirmative Action program and government affairs.

Heidi joined the company in 2018. Previously, she served as Deputy General Counsel for Honda and led their labor and employment, litigation and immigration practice groups. She also practiced litigation with the law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease in Columbus, Ohio and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph P. Kinneary in the Southern District of Ohio.

Heidi has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and a Juris Doctor from the Ohio State Moritz College of Law.

Heidi is the incoming Board Chair for the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden. She previously served on the Boards of BalletMet and the YWCA in Columbus, Ohio. She was also a guardian ad litem for CASA, which advocates for abused, neglected children.

David Zapolsky

Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy and General Counsel,
Amazon

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As Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy & General Counsel, David Zapolsky manages a broad range of domestic and international legal, public policy, compliance, and regulatory affairs for the company. Before becoming General Counsel in 2012, he served for thirteen years as Associate General Counsel, leading Amazon’s Litigation and Regulatory group and advising on a variety of litigation, privacy, consumer protection, competition law, securities regulation, intellectual property, and labor and employment matters.

Prior to joining Amazon in 1999, Zapolsky was a litigation partner in the Seattle offices of Dorsey & Whitney and Bogle & Gates. He moved to Seattle in 1994 from New York, where he served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, focusing primarily on sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence prosecutions, and an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he practiced securities litigation and white collar defense. He is a graduate of Berkeley Law and Columbia College.

In addition to his work at Amazon, Zapolsky is active in several civic, educational, and legal organizations that, among other things, seek to promote diversity and pro bono work in the legal profession. He has served as a Trustee of the King County Bar Foundation, a member of the Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) Washington State Advisory Committee, a corporate advisory member of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, a member of the Leaders Council for the Legal Services Corporation, and a Director of Seattle’s Alliance for Education, the Berkeley Law Alumni Association, and the University of Washington Foundation. In 2013, he founded the Amazon legal department’s pro bono initiative, also known as the Amazon Justice League, which encourages and enables Amazon attorneys and legal professionals around the world to donate thousands of hours of pro bono legal work each year.