We hope that all who attended will incorporate what they learned at Pathways into their own companies and law firms. Pathways fostered discussions on global DEI strategies, crisis management and navigating the anti-DEI backlash, creating a culture of belonging, and more!
The conference has ended, but the work has not. Continue to engage and advocate for change in the legal profession so that we can know better, do better, lead better, and transform for the better. From all of us at MCCA, again, thank you so much for your dedication, passion, and unwavering support.
Please add events@mcca.com to your Address Book or Contacts to receive future communications regarding the Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference.
COURSE MATERIALS
CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION
- Creating a Culture of Belonging in Legal Organizations: Strategies for Inclusion and Well-Being
- Crisis Management: DEI and Navigating a Challenging Election Year
- Global DEI Strategies: Scaling for Quantifiable and Sustainable Impact
- Harnessing the Power of Age Diversity
- Leading During Crisis and Change
- MCCA’s Annual General Counsel Survey of the Fortune 500 & Fortune 1000: Pipeline Impact
- Navigating EEO-1 Changes: Refining Demographic Reporting for Equity and Compliance
- Navigating the Anti-DEI Backlash and Minimizing Legal Risk with System-Focused Solutions
- Owning Your Success: Strategies from Executives in Corporate America
- Reframing the Narrative: Addressing the Branding Challenges of ESG and DEI
- The Battle for Talent: Competing Beyond Compensation
2024 Pathways Sponsorship
Our sponsors and exhibitors are integral to providing participants with a conference that continues to lift the bar. Sponsors of the Pathways Conference have the opportunity to contribute to unique and substantive discussions on inclusion issues within the legal profession.
CHAMPION SPONSOR
2024 Pitch Session Network
MCCA will host the Eighth Annual Pitch Session Network (“PSN”) at the 2024 Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference on September 23-25. PSN allows in-house counsel to connect with law firm partners at majority law firms, diversify their service client portfolios, and develop relationships with service providers whose values align with their company values including diversity, equity, and inclusion. PSN provides a platform for law firm partners and legal service providers to meet privately, make meaningful connections, and build lasting business relationships with corporate legal departments interested in legal services.
PSN applications are now closed.
2024 PSN Corporate Participants
2024 Paula L. Ettelbrick Honoree
The 2024 Paula L. Ettelbrick Award will be presented to Wesley D. Bizzell, Senior Assistant General Counsel, External Affairs, and Managing Director of Political Law and Ethics Compliance Programs at Altria Client Services LLC at the MCCA Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference on September 24, 2024.
In this role, Wesley provides counsel on matters relating to the political, legislative, lobbying, and corporate responsibility activities for the Altria family of companies. With over two decades of experience, Wesley has established himself as a leading authority on political compliance law and is a frequent speaker on these topics. Wesley’s unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ+ movement not only uplifts those within the community, but also inspires others to join in the fight for justice. By challenging norms and confronting adversity head-on, Wesley paves the way for a more inclusive and compassionate world, reminding us all that progress is possible when we stand in solidarity.
2024 Rainmakers
Christa Brown-Sanford
Partner / Firm-wide Intellectual Property Department Chair,
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Tony Chan
Partner,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Tiffany Cheung
Partner,
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Meenakshi Datta
Partner, Executive Committee Member,
Sidley Austin LLP
Heidi B. Friedman
Partner & Co-Chair, ESG Collaborative,
Thompson Hine LLP
Charles E. Harris, II
Partner,
Mayer Brown LLP
Elizabeth Ising
Partner & Co-Chair of Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance and ESG Practice Groups,
Gibson Dunn
Yabo Lin
Partner,
Sidley Austin LLP
Gilbert K.S. Liu
Partner and Chair, Securitization,
Kramer Levin
Sonal N. Mehta
Partner-in-Charge, Palo Alto and Vice-Chair, Litigation Department,
WilmerHale
Vicki Odette
Partner,
Haynes Boone LLP
Preston K. Ratliff II
Partner and Litigation Office Chair,
Paul Hastings LLP
Srikanth K. Reddy
Partner,
Goodwin Procter LLP
Rohit Sachdev
Partner,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Katie Schwarting
Real Estate Partner | Servicing & Special Servicing Practice Chair,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Pallavi Mehta Wahi
Co-United States Managing Partner and Seattle Managing Partner,
K&L Gates LLP
2024 Rising Stars
Alyse I. Adamson
Principal,
Beveridge & Diamond, PC
Shahira D. Ali
Senior Director, Deputy General Counsel — Global Litigation and Cybersecurity Legal,
Workday Inc.
Wesley Cheng
Senior Corporate Counsel,
Apple, Inc.
Michelle Park Chiu
Partner,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
Melissa Colón-Bosolet
Partner,
Sidley Austin LLP
Jemar Daniel
Vice President & Senior Counsel,
Paramount Global
Patrick S. Dorime
Corporate M&A Partner,
Ropes & Gray
Avia M. Dunn
Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
Jaelyn Edwards Judelson
Partner,
Akin
Adrienne Gittens
Corporate Deputy General Counsel,
Comcast Corporation
Mari Grace
Partner,
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
LTC Corey P. Gray
Partner,
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Ravdeep Singh Grewal
Senior Counsel,
Employment and Litigation,
TikTok Inc.
Jack Hamilton
Partner,
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Lisa Harris
Partner – Labor & Employment,
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
Kyle Jason Hayes
Partner and Co-Chair,
Hydrogen Practice,
Foley & Lardner LLP
Renny Hwang
Deputy General Counsel,
OpenAI
Kail Jethmalani
Partner,
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP
Vinita Kailasanath
Life Sciences & Tech
Transactions Partner,
Freshfields Bruckhaus
Deringer LLP
Colleen Lee
Partner, M&A, Corporate Securities and Venture Capital,
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Winnie Ling
General Counsel, Head of
Legal & People,
Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE: BLND)
Jesse Ryan Loffler
Member,
Cozen O’Connor
Lauren Moore
Partner,
WilmerHale LLP
Juan Morado Jr.
Partner and National Co-Chair
of DEI Committee,
Benesch Friedlander
Coplan & Aronoff
Josh Morales
Associate General Counsel,
Reality Labs,
Meta
Robert Niles-Weed
Partner,
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Philip I. Person
Labor & Employment Shareholder,
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Adam Reinke
Partner,
King & Spalding LLP
Joe Santiesteban
Partner, Cybersecurity,
Orrick, Herrington &
Sutcliffe LLP
Sean Spence
Partner,
Proskauer
Brian P. Sylvester
Partner,
Perkins Coie LLP
Allison Brooke Tomlinson
Principal, Regional Counsel,
Gensler
Kenneth Trujillo-Jamison
Co-Managing Partner,
Willenken LLP
LeDeidre S. Turner
Assistant General Counsel,
Exelon
Onika K. Williams
Of Counsel,
Steptoe LLP
2024 GEORGE B. VASHON INNOVATOR AWARD WINNERS
Most Improved
Best Overall
Pathways Advisory Council
Caroline Abney
Director of Diversity
and Inclusion,
King & Spalding LLP
Diana Arredondo
Senior Corporate Counsel,
Amazon.com, Inc.
Elizabeth A. Borges
Senior Counsel,
Intel Corporation
Errin Braddock
Vice President &
Chief Diversity Officer,
Enterprise Mobility
Elizabeth “Liz” Davis
Partner, Co-Chair Financial Services Practice Group,
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Lisa Harris
Partner, Labor and
Employment,
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter &
Hampton LLP
Manish K. Jain
Counsel – Labor and Employment,
General Motors LLC
Peter Kim
Vice President,
Culture and Counsel,
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Kawana King
Senior Technology Advisor
and Counsel,
Google LLC
Malaika Lindo
Senior Director of
Diversity & Inclusion,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP
Alexis Mendoza
Chief Compliance Officer &
Deputy CLO,
Nokia
Lauren Rothenberg
Senior Corporate Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation
Debra Sydnor
Director of Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion,
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Dominique Ward
Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel, Retirement Plan Services,
Lincoln Financial Group
Heidi L. Yurkiw
Senior Vice President &
Deputy General Counsel,
Bath & Body Works, Inc.
Justification Toolkit
You recognize the value of attending the Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference, but how do you convey that message to your manager? With budgetary constraints and increased scrutiny on business travel, gaining approval to attend conferences can sometimes pose a challenge. It is important to demonstrate the benefits of attending in order to justify the expense. Use MCCA’s Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference Justification Toolkit to help you make the ask, prepare for the Pathways Conference, and get the most from our conference and your membership.
EVENT AGENDA
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2024
*Please note the agenda times are in MST. Below is an overview of the conference program. Session titles and descriptions will be updated as they become finalized.
3:00 PM – 5:30 PM
REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION DESK
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
KICK-OFF RECEPTION
Sponsored by:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024
*Please note the agenda times are in MST.
6:30 AM – 7:30 AM
IMPROVING WELLNESS: YOGA
In addition to our panels and networking opportunities, MCCA will be offering wellness sessions to start our day. We hope to enhance our attendee’s overall well-being, reduce stress, and improve productivity by holding walks, runs, and a yoga session.
Sign up for yoga here. Space is limited.
7:00 AM – 6:00 PM
REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION DESK
7:00 AM – 9:00 AM
BREAKFAST
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
MCCA’S BLUEPRINT WORKSHOP FOR SELLING & BUYING – A PITCH WORKSHOP FOR OUTSIDE COUNSEL
Registration for MCCA’s Blueprint Workshop has closed. For any questions, please email events@mcca.com.
MCCA’s Blueprint for Buying and Selling is designed to address this gap by offering an informative and interactive learning session where diverse partners and of counsel receive invaluable business development coaching and feedback from seasoned in-house counsel.
Participants will collaborate in teams to respond to a mock request for proposal (RFP) and pitch to a potential “client”. An expert panel of senior in-house counsel will act as coaches, offering support and constructive feedback on presentation skills, style and nonverbal communication. However, participating in this workshop is not just about enhancing your presentation skills. It’s about understanding how to develop business and client relationships, and ultimately, advancing your career.
This exclusive workshop is available only to MCCA law firm members and can accommodate 30 participants, so early registration is advised. Law firm partners and of-counsels aiming to expand their book of business are strongly encouraged to register. Senior associates within a one-tier partner system may also apply. Non-members will be placed on a waiting list, as will any other participants, once we reach maximum capacity.
Further details and workshop materials will be provided to confirmed participants prior to the conference.
Note: The Blueprint Workshop is not part of the Pitch Session Network (PSN). However, we encourage attorneys participating in PSN to register for this workshop in preparation for their PSN meetings.
Coaches:
- Mark Grider – Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
- Neil Jackson – Counsel, State Farm
- Jorge Martinez – Senior Assistant General Counsel, Platforms and Emerging AI, Intuit Inc.
- Debbie Walters-Francique – Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Pfizer Inc.
8:00 AM – 5:30 PM
PITCH SESSION NETWORK
MCCA’s Pitch Session Network (“PSN”) provides opportunities for in-house counsel to connect with law firm partners, diversify their service client portfolios, and develop relationships with service providers whose values align with their company values including diversity, equity, and inclusion. Member law firms, sponsors, and legal service providers meet privately with in-house counsel to pitch the legal services they offer and develop meaningful connections with potential clients. MCCA created PSN to address the lack of diversity at the equity partner level in law firms.
PSN applications are now closed.
To learn more about PSN and view FAQs, click here.
2024 PSN CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
LUNCH
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Leading with Courage: Riding Into the Headwinds of Equity & Belonging
In today’s climate, efforts to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces face hostility and heightened resistance. Now more than ever, leaders and change agents must choose courage to sustain forward momentum. This keynote explores what it means to lead with courage in the face of adversity, offering practical strategies to navigate challenges, inspire others, and cultivate an inclusive culture where equity and belonging thrive.
Featured Speaker:
- Kori Carew – TEDx speaker, Keynote speaker, belonging & inclusion strategist, truthteller, Bridge 68 LLC
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Navigating the Anti-DEI Backlash and Minimizing Legal Risk with System-Focused Solutions
As organizations continue their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), they are encountering external pushback and legal challenges. Recent court decisions, a politically divided climate, and increased scrutiny have placed DEI programs under close examination. For example, activist groups have filed lawsuits against many large companies over these programs, alleging instances of reverse discrimination and infringement of free speech rights. Furthermore, anti-DEI legislation is creating legal, regulatory, and compliance issues. Since 2023, 82 anti-DEI bills have been proposed, and as of June 2024, 10 states have passed anti-DEI laws.
This crucial session is designed to address the pressing challenges of navigating the backlash against DEI initiatives. It will provide you with pragmatic strategies for mitigating the legal and reputational risks associated with DEI efforts in the current landscape, instilling a sense of confidence in your ability to handle these issues.
Key discussion topics:
- Understanding Legal Risks: learn about recent legal developments impacting DEI programs and understand the criteria that make DEI initiatives the riskiest from a legal perspective.
- Mitigating Risk While Maintaining Progress: identify high-risk DEI activities, assess their impact, and conduct a self-audit in partnership with legal counsel to evaluate risk levels.
- System-Focused Solutions: this comprehensive discussion will shift the focus from individual actions to systemic change, providing you with the tools to frame DEI efforts to align with legal requirements. You will also explore strategies to de-bias talent systems, improve hiring practices, and ensure equity in promotions.
Panelists:
- Jennifer Ivan – Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation
- Dariely Rodriguez – Acting Co-Chief Counsel, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Debbie Walters-Francique – Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Pfizer Inc.
- Joseph K. West – Trial Partner and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Duane Morris LLP
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Reframing the Narrative: Addressing the Branding Challenges of ESG and DEI
Sponsored by:
In today’s corporate landscape, two critical acronyms have become buzzwords – ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). However, both face significant branding and legal challenges. ESG, once a symbol of responsible business practices, is now considered a ‘dirty word.’ Its broad scope has led to confusion and skepticism, hindering meaningful dialogue and progress. DEI policies are essential for fostering diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces, but there is recognition of the need for a rebrand.
This session will discuss why these terms are often misunderstood, their impact on corporate reputation, how they increase legal and reputational risk, and, most importantly, how we can reframe the narrative to drive positive change.
Key discussion topics:
- The need for a fresh perspective on ESG and how to communicate its true value to stakeholders, moving beyond terminology to focus on the business imperative behind DEI initiatives.
- The challenges in sustainability efforts and the importance of solutions focused on metrics to highlight progress and shortcomings while minimizing legal and reputational risk. Understanding the parallels between sustainability metrics and measuring the impact of DEI initiatives.
- The potential harm of narrative attacks – deliberate efforts to undermine a company’s reputation through negative storytelling – to brand reputation, investor confidence, and stakeholder trust. By learning how to shape their narratives, companies can build trust, drive positive change, protect their brand and bottom line, minimize legal risk, and protect their brand and bottom line.
Moderator:
- Samantha Grant – Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Panelists:
- Natasha Fapohunda – Senior Vice President & Assistant General Counsel, Strategic Growth, Mastercard
- Jorja Jackson – Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Workday
- Karina Juarez – Associate General Counsel, Cybersecurity and Regulatory Compliance, Microsoft Corporation
- Sharon Masling – Partner and Director of Workplace Culture Consulting, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Navigating EEO-1 Changes: Refining Demographic Reporting for Equity and Compliance
The EEO-1 report, a crucial annual data collection process mandated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), provides a comprehensive understanding of workforce demographics. It is a requirement for all private sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees. This report, which includes data on sex, race/ethnicity, and job category, is instrumental in tracking trends, comprehending recruitment practices, and identifying potential employment discrimination. Recent updates to the EEO-1 Report have further enhanced its relevance, impacting employers’ approach to collecting and reporting workforce demographic data.
The changes to the EEO-1 Report, while aiming to provide a more accurate depiction of the US workforce, can pose administrative challenges for the agency and compliance risks for employers. Therefore, it is crucial to delve into these changes and understand their implications to address any potential compliance issues effectively.
Key discussion topics:
- Revised Categories: understand the revised racial and ethnic categories in the EEO-1 Report, encompassing the incorporation of Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) as a distinct category. Delve into how these modifications yield a more precise portrayal of employee demographics.
- Elimination of Distinctions: acquire insights into the elimination of the differentiation between race and ethnicity in reporting and scrutinize the ramifications of this modification for data collection and analysis.
- “Two or More Races” Category: explore the replacement of the “two or more races” category with an option to select all relevant categories, including sub-categories and consider the impact on workforce representation and diversity tracking.
- Compliance Risks and Challenges: identify foreseeable administrative and compliance challenges for employers in implementing the new standards and deliberate on strategies to ascertain accurate reporting compliance and mitigate legal risks.
Moderator:
- Hon. Marla O. Anderson (Ret.) – Mediator and Arbitrator, JAMS
Panelists:
- Ellen Duffy – Senior Vice President, Employment Law, Lincoln Financial Group
- Kayla Delgado Grundy – Senior Associate, Employment Litigation, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Allie Holubis – Counsel, Human Resources Law Group (HRLG), IBM Corporation
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
PITCH SESSION NETWORK DINNER
Sponsored by:
Pitch Session Network Dinner is by Invite-Only. Your attendance must be confirmed in advance of the dinner.
9:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Networking Under the Stars
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2024
*Please note the agenda times are in MST.
6:30 AM – 7:30 AM
IMPROVING WELLNESS: RUN & WALK
In addition to our panels and networking opportunities, MCCA will be offering wellness sessions to start our day. We hope to enhance our attendee’s overall well-being, reduce stress, and improve productivity by holding walks, runs, and a yoga session.
7:00 AM – 6:00 PM
REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION DESK
7:00 AM – 9:00 AM
BREAKFAST
8:00 AM – 5:30 PM
PITCH SESSION NETWORK
MCCA’s Pitch Session Network (“PSN”) provides opportunities for in-house counsel to connect with law firm partners, diversify their service client portfolios, and develop relationships with service providers whose values align with their company values including diversity, equity, and inclusion. Member law firms, sponsors, and legal service providers meet privately with in-house counsel to pitch the legal services they offer and develop meaningful connections with potential clients. MCCA created PSN to address the lack of diversity at the equity partner level in law firms.
PSN applications are now closed.
To learn more about PSN and view FAQs, click here.
2024 PSN CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Welcome Remarks, 2024 George B. Vashon Innovator Awardees and Rising Stars Award Ceremony
Sponsored by:
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Global DEI Strategies: Scaling for Quantifiable and Sustainable Impact
Sponsored by:
Our increasingly interconnected world is experiencing significant challenges as it moves into 2025. Economic volatility, geopolitical tensions, and high levels of inequality persist while transitioning to new technologies and sustainable practices creates wider social and economic gaps. Organizations that proactively champion diversity, equity, and inclusion on a global scale not only navigate the complexities of our interconnected world more successfully, but also position themselves to thrive in a culturally diverse and dynamic global marketplace. However, the challenge remains: how do we implement DEI strategies in multinational companies and law firms that make an impact and are scalable and sustainable over time?
During this session, we will delve into the critical corporate initiatives that have led to significant, measurable, scalable, and sustained impact for underrepresented groups. We’ll also investigate companies’ strategies to achieve sustainable outcomes with real impact, providing practical and effective tools to implement in your organizations.
Key discussion topics:
- Current Trends and Future Outlook: learn about the latest global DEI practices and predictions for future advancements.
- Developing DEI Strategies with Global and Local Relevance: discover how to integrate DEI with your organization’s global goals and adapt global DEI strategies to meet regional needs.
- Scaling DEI Initiatives: gain insights on how to scale DEI programs across multinational organizations and balance centralized strategy with decentralized execution.
- Measuring and Sustaining Impact: learn how to set quantifiable DEI goals, track progress, and ensure the long-term sustainability of DEI initiatives.
Moderator:
- Malaika Lindo – Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Panelists:
- Genhi Givings Bailey – Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Perkins Coie LLP
- Errin Braddock – Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer, Enterprise Mobility
- Judy Estes – Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Services & Strategic Growth, Mastercard
- Alexis Mendoza – Chief Compliance Officer & Deputy CLO, Nokia
- Peter Wilson, Jr. – Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Harnessing the Power of Age Diversity
We are currently in the midst of the most significant generational shift since World War II. Millennials and Gen Z individuals are positioned to take on leadership roles across various societal institutions, including business, politics, education, media, arts, and entertainment. This shift has led to an increase in tensions between different generations within organizations. These tensions often impede collaboration, spark conflicts, and result in higher employee turnover and decreased team effectiveness. Furthermore, a lack of awareness and understanding of age-related issues can lead to discriminatory practices in hiring and promotions, exposing organizations to legal risks. Organizations are now faced with the challenge of creating advancement opportunities for young employees to retain them while ensuring that older employees, with their valuable skills, feel included – especially in competitive labor markets.
Key discussion topics:
- Understanding Generational Differences: gain insights into the defining characteristics and work styles of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.
- Promoting Intergenerational Collaboration: learn strategies such as reverse mentorship for fostering effective communication and collaboration among diverse age groups. Discover how to leverage the strengths of each generation to enhance teamwork and productivity.
- Building an Inclusive Culture: in a diverse workplace, creating an inclusive environment that values and respects age diversity is crucial. Understand the importance of this and learn how to implement policies and practices that promote equity and inclusion across all generations.
- Future Trends and Implications: learn about the future trends in the legal profession related to generational diversity, specifically the potential decline in diverse people attending law school and its impact on the pipeline given Gen Z’s demands for diverse workspaces, changing client expectations, and evolving work practices that will impact intergenerational dynamics in the future.
Moderator:
- Alicia Forte – Senior Counsel, Verizon
Panelists:
- Michelle Banks – Strategic Advisor & Executive Coach, BarkerGilmore
- Rayen Dennis – Director, Trial Attorney, USAA
- Allen Lo – Deputy General Counsel and VP, Intellectual Property, Meta
- James I. McClammy – Partner, Civil Litigation, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
- Demetrius Warrick – Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Luncheon & 2024 Paula L. Ettelbrick and Rainmakers Award Ceremony
Sponsored by:
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
The Battle for Talent: Competing Beyond Compensation
Sponsored by:
In today’s fiercely competitive legal landscape, simply relying on salary negotiations to attract and retain top talent is no longer sufficient. The legal industry has faced significant challenges during the “Great Resignation,” marked by a surge in associate turnover and attrition rates. Law firm leaders have been grappling with increased expenses and economic uncertainty. In response to the rising associate salaries, firms have been forced to adapt their recruitment strategies. However, the ongoing need to attract and retain diverse legal talent remains a critical issue that demands a strategic and comprehensive approach.
Key discussion topics:
- Holistic Compensation: explore benefits, work-life balance, and professional growth opportunities and learn how to create a compelling package that goes beyond mere paychecks.
- Culture and Purpose: understand the role of organizational culture in talent attraction and discover how purpose-driven firms and legal departments stand out and retain exceptional lawyers.
- Career Development Paths: move beyond theoretical concepts and ladder-climbing and learn how to offer clear paths for advancement, skill-building, mentorship, sponsorship and lateral moves.
- Workplace Flexibility: implementation of more nimble and innovative work arrangements to attract exceptional and diverse talent.
- Building Your Employer Brand: craft an authentic narrative that resonates with legal professionals and showcases your firm’s core values and commitment to growth.
Moderator:
- Amanda A. Sonneborn – Partner, King & Spalding LLP
Panelists:
- Ana Iacovetta – Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Cisco
- Tom Robertson – Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation
- Dwight S. Yoo – Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
MCCA’s Annual General Counsel Survey of the Fortune 500 & Fortune 1000: Pipeline Impact
Since 1999, MCCA began tracking information about Fortune 500 general counsel and, more broadly, Fortune 1000 since 2004. MCCA’s Fortune 1000 General Counsel Report (the Report) contributes to MCCA’s understanding of the trends and status of diverse representation at the legal offices in America’s top companies – the Fortune 1000. By providing a summary of the representation and year-over year trends among the Fortune 1000, MCCA hopes to inform stakeholders about the state of DEI work and provide a benchmark of corporate legal departments’ diversity levels, allowing interested groups to set goals and strategies to achieve equitable representation across the corporate legal pipeline.
There is still a long way to go before Fortune 1000 GCs represent the US population. Industry-wide, the representation of women and non-White/Caucasian GCs has remained somewhat stagnant relative to the prior years. These results vary across business sectors and company resources (e.g., revenue levels, consistent company placement in the Fortune 1000) but indicate overall stagnation in progress toward diverse representation at the highest legal offices in corporate America. MCCA hopes that our findings will catalyze corporate legal departments to refocus their efforts toward diverse representation at all levels – especially at the top – which starts with careful succession planning at every level. In addition to succession planning, we hope leaders will focus on developing supportive work environments and shape policies fostering inclusivity and equity. These changes will pave the way for a future where executives in legal roles reflect the diversity seen among new attorneys entering the workforce from law schools.
This session will review the 2024 MCCA report findings, the impact of the current political and social climate on the talent pipeline, the key factors to sustaining focus and strategies on how to increase representation at the top in the legal profession.
Moderator:
- Yolanda Sanders – Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Gap Inc.; Division General Counsel, Athleta
Panelists:
- Andrea Bricca – Managing Partner, DHR Global
- John Gilmore – Co-Founder & Managing Partner, BarkerGilmore
- Dede Orraca-Cecil – Partner, Head of U.S. Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Practice, Egon Zehnder
- Victoria Reese – Partner, Heidrick & Struggles
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Owning Your Success: Strategies from Executives in Corporate America
Sponsored by:
“Owning Your Success” is a candid panel discussion that delves into the personal and professional strategies employed by top executives to navigate the turbulent waters of Corporate America. Despite facing significant headwinds, these leaders are charting a course for success and setting an example for resilience.
This panel aims to shed light on the emotional, mental, and physical fortitude required to lead in uncertain times. By providing hope, perspective, and practical tips, we seek to empower all attendees with the tools to navigate their own paths to success.
Key Discussion Points:
- Challenges: What unique difficulties are executives facing in today’s corporate landscape?
- Change: How does the current period of uncertainty differ from previous experiences?
- Well-being: Strategies for excelling when mental, physical, and emotional needs are under strain.
Join us for an engaging and thought-provoking session that promises to offer insights into the triumphs and trials of leading in today’s dynamic corporate environment. Whether you’re a seasoned executive or an aspiring leader, this panel will provide valuable perspectives on managing adversity and owning your success.
Moderator:
- Mike Jackson – GM & Associate General Counsel, Compliance & Ethics (C&E) Governance, Training, and Culture, Corporate External Legal Affairs (CELA), Microsoft Corporation
Panelists:
- Jay Grant – Chief Legal Officer, The Trade Desk, Inc.
- Hossein Nowbar – Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation
- Michael Tang – Senior Vice President, Secretary and Chief Legal Officer, Emerson
- Wanji Walcott – Chief Legal and Business Affairs Officer, Pinterest
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MCCA Dine-A-Rounds
Looking to connect with colleagues during Pathways? Join your fellow attendees for an informal* Dine-A-Round dinner. Connecting in a smaller setting will allow you to benefit from diverse experiences and foster new relationships.
*Attendees must pre-pay for their meal ($225) online during registration in order to attend a Dine-A-Round dinner. Payments are non-refundable. Dine-A-Round pricing encompasses a pre-selected menu, including taxes and gratuity.
The Dine-A-Round event will take place at restaurants within walking distance of the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. Reservations will be arranged by MCCA and will range in size. Details to follow. The Dine-A-Round event is open to registered Pathways attendees only.
This event is $225 and a separate fee not covered by membership or sponsorship discount codes.
*
9:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Networking Under the Stars
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2024
*Please note the agenda times are in MST.
6:30 AM – 7:30 AM
IMPROVING WELLNESS: RUN & WALK
In addition to our panels and networking opportunities, MCCA will be offering wellness sessions to start our day. We hope to enhance our attendee’s overall well-being, reduce stress, and improve productivity by holding walks, runs, and a yoga session.
7:00 AM – 2:30 PM
REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION DESK
7:00 AM – 9:00 AM
BREAKFAST
Sponsored by:
8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
PITCH SESSION NETWORK
MCCA’s Pitch Session Network (“PSN”) provides opportunities for in-house counsel to connect with law firm partners, diversify their service client portfolios, and develop relationships with service providers whose values align with their company values including diversity, equity, and inclusion. Member law firms, sponsors, and legal service providers meet privately with in-house counsel to pitch the legal services they offer and develop meaningful connections with potential clients. MCCA created PSN to address the lack of diversity at the equity partner level in law firms.
PSN applications are now closed.
To learn more about PSN and view FAQs, click here.
2024 PSN CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Creating a Culture of Belonging in Legal Organizations: Strategies for Inclusion and Well-Being
Sponsored by:
In today’s diverse legal workplaces, the pursuit of “belonging” begins with ensuring that your attorneys and legal support team are (1) able to bring their whole selves to work for themselves and their clients and (2) provided with tools to support their emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Inclusive legal organizations successfully mitigate the social forces and structural disadvantages caused by racism, gender bias, ageism, and other discriminatory factors to create a legal workspace that recognizes and celebrates unique perspectives while creating a collaborative environment where everyone feels they truly belong.
In this session, we’ll discuss practical ways to transition your law firm or legal department from good intentions to a focused belonging initiative to attract and retain talented legal professionals.
Key discussion topics:
- What does creating “inclusion” rather than “assimilation” mean in legal organizations? Define “belonging” and its impact on lawyer behavior, decision-making, and well-being.
- The role of inclusion in cultivating lawyer well-being and leader actions that drive inclusion and belonging.
- Measuring Belonging: identifying metrics or indicators to assess the level of belonging within an organization through surveys, retention data and established KPIs.
- Strategies to generate inclusive policies and systems to improve morale and reduce burn-out and attrition.
- Recognizing the unique challenges and specific stressors faced by diverse attorneys and discussing the impact of racial and cultural factors on mental health.
Moderator:
- Tamaron Houston – Real Estate Partner and National Co-Chair of Firm’s Diversity, Action & Inclusion Team, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Panelists:
- Tim Brown – President, Venerable Investment Advisers; EVP & Chief Legal Officer, Venerable Holdings
- Kori Carew – TEDx speaker, Keynote speaker, belonging & inclusion strategist, truthteller, Bridge 68 LLC
- Joseph Drayton – Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP
- Marie Ma – Chief Legal Officer, Articulate
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Crisis Management: DEI and Navigating a Challenging Election Year
Amidst the current cultural upheaval and a highly contentious presidential election year, organizations are grappling with the controversial nature of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. As the longest general election season in recent history approaches, adeptly managing DEI is poised to become a significant political and reputational challenge for companies, given the increasingly complex political and regulatory landscapes. Businesses must confront these interconnected challenges head-on, including meeting employees’ expectations for active engagement on social and political issues. As leaders, it is imperative to implement robust strategies to bridge potential divides and foster a truly inclusive environment.
Key discussion topics:
- Navigating the Political Landscape: understand how DEI initiatives intersect with the political climate during an election year, the potential impact of political discourse within the workplace, and the corresponding legal and business implications.
- Risk Assessment: learn how to proactively integrate threat monitoring with crisis management to safeguard the company’s brand, culture, and employees.
- Crisis-Ready Communication: delve into effective communication strategies for crisis management related to DEI, honing the ability to respond decisively to external pressures and internal dynamics with a non-partisan approach while firmly aligning messaging with organizational values.
- Scenario Planning and Preparedness: review the various scenarios that may arise during election-related turbulence and how to develop crisis response plans that account for DEI-specific challenges.
Moderator:
- Richard Lui – News Anchor (MSNBC, NBC News, CNN), Author, Filmmaker
Panelists:
- Debo Adegbile – Partner, Chair, Anti-Discrimination Practice, WilmerHale
- Andrew Friedman – Executive Vice President, Legal Affairs and Crisis Communications, BerlinRosen
- Tony Pierce – Partner in Charge – Washington DC Office, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
- Heidi Yurkiw – Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Bath & Body Works, Inc.
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Leading During Crisis and Change
Sponsored by:
We are currently experiencing the most significant generational and geopolitical changes since World War II. Millennials and Gen Z individuals are positioned to take on leadership roles across various societal institutions, including business, politics, education, media, arts, and entertainment. Geopolitical issues have impacted our economy and how we interact as colleagues in the workplace and in our communities. The U.S. presidential election will have diversity, equity and inclusion front and center as one of the key issues. These challenges have led to an increase in tensions amongst different groups within organizations. At times, these tensions have contributed to thoughtful discussions and at times escalated into conflicts within the workplace amongst colleagues and between employer and employee. For leaders, these issues have been exacerbated by a lack of awareness and empathy for those marginalized groups. However, the challenges are real as leaders must learn how to navigate an ever-changing world and workplace.
Join us as we explore these challenges and possible solutions with one of the most respected former Fortune 500 general counsel, now public company board member and now a talented musician for riveting discussion on her leadership journey and what we must do to establish a foundation for a better future.
Panelists:
- Paula Boggs – Founder, Boggs Media, LLC
- Sumit Mallick – Deputy General Counsel, Brex
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Closing Luncheon
Sponsored by:
EVENT ATTENDEES & SPEAKERS
Additional speakers coming soon.
Debo Adegbile
Partner, Chair, Anti-Discrimination Practice,
WilmerHale
Hon. Marla O. Anderson (Ret.)
Mediator and Arbitrator,
JAMS
Genhi Givings Bailey
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer,
Perkins Coie LLP
Michelle Banks
Strategic Advisor &
Executive Coach,
BarkerGilmore
Paula Boggs
Founder,
Boggs Media, LLC
Errin Braddock
Vice President &
Chief Diversity Officer,
Enterprise Mobility
Andrea Bricca
Managing Partner,
DHR Global
Tim Brown
President,
Venerable Investment Advisers
EVP & Chief Legal Officer,
Venerable Holdings
Kori Carew
TEDx speaker, Keynote speaker, belonging & inclusion strategist, truthteller,
Bridge 68 LLC
Rayen Dennis
Director, Trial Attorney,
USAA
Joseph Drayton
Partner,
Proskauer Rose LLP
Ellen Duffy
Senior Vice President, Employment Law,
Lincoln Financial Group
Judy Estes
Executive Vice President,
General Counsel, Services
& Strategic Growth,
Mastercard
Natasha Fapohunda
Senior Vice President &
Assistant General Counsel,
Strategic Growth,
Mastercard
Alicia Forte
Senior Counsel,
Verizon
Andrew Friedman
Executive Vice President,
Legal Affairs and Crisis Communications,
BerlinRosen
John Gilmore
Co-Founder & Managing Partner,
BarkerGilmore
Jay Grant
Chief Legal Officer,
The Trade Desk, Inc.
Samantha Grant
Partner,
Reed Smith LLP
Mark Grider
Partner,
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Kayla Delgado Grundy
Senior Associate,
Employment Litigation,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Allie Holubis
Counsel, Human Resources
Law Group (HRLG),
IBM Corporation
Tamaron Houston
Real Estate Partner and National Co-Chair of Firm’s Diversity, Action & Inclusion Team,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Ana Iacovetta
Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer,
Cisco
Jennifer Ivan
Associate General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation
Jorja Jackson
Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs,
Workday
Mike Jackson
GM & Associate General Counsel, Compliance & Ethics (C&E) Governance, Training, and Culture, Corporate External Legal Affairs (CELA),
Microsoft Corporation
MEET MIKE >
Neil Jackson
Counsel,
State Farm
Karina Juarez
Associate General Counsel,
Cybersecurity and Regulatory Compliance,
Microsoft Corporation
Malaika Lindo
Senior Director of
Diversity and Inclusion,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Allen Lo
Deputy General Counsel
and VP, Intellectual Property,
Meta
Richard Lui
News Anchor (MSNBC, NBC News, CNN), Author, Filmmaker
Marie Ma
Chief Legal Officer,
Articulate
Sumit Mallick
Deputy General Counsel,
Brex
Jorge Martinez
Senior Assistant General Counsel, Platforms and
Emerging AI,
Intuit Inc.
Sharon Masling
Partner and Director of Workplace Culture Consulting,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
James I. McClammy
Partner, Civil Litigation,
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Alexis Mendoza
Chief Compliance Officer
& Deputy CLO,
Nokia
Hossein Nowbar
Chief Legal Officer and
Corporate Vice President,
Microsoft Corporation
Dede Orraca-Cecil
Partner, Head of U.S. Legal,
Regulatory and Compliance Practice,
Egon Zehnder
Tony Pierce
Partner in Charge –
Washington DC Office,
Akin Gump Strauss
Hauer & Feld LLP
Victoria Reese
Partner,
Heidrick & Struggles
Tom Robertson
Corporate Vice President &
Deputy General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation
Dariely Rodriguez
Acting Co-Chief Counsel,
Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law
Yolanda Sanders
Amanda Sonneborn
Partner,
King & Spalding LLP
Michael Tang
Senior Vice President,
Secretary and Chief Legal Officer,
Emerson
Wanji Walcott
Chief Legal and
Business Affairs Officer,
Pinterest
Debbie Walters-Francique
Vice President,
Assistant General Counsel,
Pfizer Inc.
Demetrius Warrick
Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom LLP
Joseph K. West
Trial Partner and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer,
Duane Morris LLP
Peter Wilson, Jr.
Chief Diversity &
Inclusion Officer,
Cravath, Swaine &
Moore LLP
Dwight S. Yoo
Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Heidi Yurkiw
Senior Vice President &
Deputy General Counsel,
Bath & Body Works, Inc.
AbbVie, Inc.
Adams and Reese LLP
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP
Alston & Bird LLP
Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon Web Services
American Arbitration Association
American Express
Apple, Inc.
ArentFox Schiff LLP
Articulate
Aura
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP
Baker Botts LLP
Baker Donelson
Baker McKenzie
BarkerGilmore LLC
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Bath & Body Works
Benesch Healthcare+
Berlin Rose
Beveridge & Diamond PC
Blank Rome
Blue Williams
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Branch Metrics
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Butler Snow LLP
Chime Financial, Inc.
Cisco
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP
Comcast Corporation
Consilio
Cozen O’Connor
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Dechert LLP
Dentons US LLP
DHR Global
DLA Piper LLP (US)
Duane Morris LLP
eBay, Inc.
Egon Zehnder
Emerson Electric Co.
Enterprise Mobility
Evergreen Valley Law Group
Exelon Corporation
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Farella Braun + Martel LLP
Fisher Phillips
Foley & Lardner LLP
Fraud Section, Department of Justice
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Gap Inc.
GE HealthCare
General Motors LLC
Gensler
Gibson Dunn
GitHub
Global Black Economic Forum
Goodwin Procter LLP
Google LLC
Greenberg Traurig, P.A.
Groom Law Group
Haynes Boone
Heidrick & Struggles
Hodgson Russ LLP
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Honigman LLP
IBM Corporation
Intuit Inc.
Ivins, Phillips & Barker
JAMS
K&L Gates LLP
King & Spalding LLP
Kirkland & Ellis
KPMG LLP
Kramer Levin
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Legalpeople
LexisNexis, a division of RELX, Inc.
Liberty Mutual
Lincoln Financial Group
Locke Lord LLP
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Mastercard
Mayer Brown LLP
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
Meta Platforms, Inc.
Micron Technology, Inc.
Microsoft Corporation
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morrison & Foerster
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
Navistar, Inc.
NBC News
Nokia
Ogletree Deakins
OpenAI
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Paramount
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
Perkins Coie LLP
Pfizer Inc.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Pinterest
Proskauer
Quarles & Brady LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Ropes & Gray LLP
Sanders Roberts LLP
Saul Ewing LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Shook, Hardy & Bacon
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Inc.
State Farm
Steptoe LLP
Stevens & Lee
Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Tapestry, Inc.
Target Corporation
Textron Inc.
Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc.
The Partners Group
The Trade Desk
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Thomas Horstemeyer LLP
Thompson Hine
TikTok Inc.
Trane Technologies
Troutman Pepper
USAA
Venerable Holdings
Verizon
Visa, Inc.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
White & Case LLP
Wiley Rein LLP
Willenken LLP
WilmerHale
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP
Workday, Inc.
Worldpay
Registration & Fees
PAYMENT MESSAGE
All payments must be received no later than September 20, 2024, 11:59 PM ET.
Visa, Mastercard and American Express accepted.
MCCA Law Firm Members and Corporate Members: Please note as part of your company’s/firm membership benefits you may be entitled to complimentary registration(s) or a discounted member rate.
For complimentary registrations, members must obtain their complimentary registration codes from their organization’s MCCA relationship point of contact and use them during registration. The complimentary codes should be entered in the discount code field at the Payment Page and members must click “Apply Now” to zero their balance.
For any questions or inquiries regarding registration or membership confirmation, please contact events@mcca.com.
CANCELLATIONS & SUBSTITUTIONS
All cancellations MUST be received in writing and submitted to events@mcca.com.
Cancellation requests received on or before September 13 will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. There will be NO refunds received after September 20.
An organization may substitute one paid participant for another participant from the same organization.
FINANCIAL HARDSHIP POLICY
To apply for the financial hardship scholarship, please click here to complete the application.
This financial hardship policy applies to attorneys from MCCA member organizations, non-member organizations, or attorneys in public service. Attorneys who are unable to afford event registration fees due to financial hardship may petition for registration fee waivers or discounted registration fees. Full scholarships and discounts to attend MCCA’s conference are given priority to pro bono attorneys, judges, law professors, lawyers who work for nonprofit organizations, legal services organizations or government agencies, and unemployed attorneys with financial hardships. MCCA may waive or reduce the registration fee for MCCA conference at their discretion.
Additional Information:
MCCA will review applications on a rolling basis. The deadline for the 2024 Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference financial hardship applications is August 16.
Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
Full scholarship or reduced registration fees will not be granted retroactively.
Full scholarship or reduced registration fees are non-transferable from event to event or person to person.
MCCA will not review applications that are not submitted via the official application form.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Any special needs for facilities, visual aids or dietary requirements must be sent to events@mcca.com.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Click here to review the MCCA Conference Registration General Terms and Conditions.
Previous Creating Pathways to
Diversity® Conferences
Wesley D. Bizzell
Senior Assistant General Counsel, External Affairs, and Managing Director of Political Law and Ethics Compliance Programs,
Altria Client Services LLC
—
Wesley Bizzell serves as Senior Assistant General Counsel, External Affairs and Managing Director of Political Law and Ethics Compliance Programs for Altria Client Services LLC (“ALCS”), where he leads the legal team providing counsel on matters relating to the political, legislative, lobbying, and ESG-related activities of Altria Group, Inc., its service companies, including ALCS, and its operating companies, including Philip Morris USA Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. LLC, John Middleton Co., NJOY, and Helix Innovations LLC.
For over seventeen years, Mr. Bizzell has pioneered the Political Law & Ethics Compliance Program for Altria and its companies to ensure this Fortune 250 company complies with all laws and regulations regarding federal, state, local, and international campaign finance, government ethics, gifts to government officials, lobbying disclosure and reporting, and charitable giving. Overseeing a comprehensive compliance system covering the regulation of government affairs, Mr. Bizzell provides advice and guidance on political law compliance for more than 75 jurisdictions and has built integrated compliance resources and systems that have served as benchmarks for the business community. Mr. Bizzell also supports Altria’s public policy activities, providing significant services related to legislative and regulatory drafting and interpretation. In 2022, Mr. Bizzell received Altria’s CEO Impact Award for recognition of the unique contributions he has made to Altria and its businesses.
Mr. Bizzell is a leading authority on political compliance law with over two decades of experience in advising corporations and other organizations active in the political and public policy arenas. He is extremely active in the compliance legal community, chairing the Conference Board’s Committee on Corporate Political Spending, a committee of leading American corporations dedicated to accountability, education, and engagement on issues of corporate political activity. In addition, he is a longtime faculty member for the Practicing Law Institute’s annual Corporate Political Activities conference. For four years, he served as co-chair of the Conference Committee for the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (“COGEL”), a professional organization of government officials with responsibilities or interests in governmental ethics, elections, campaign finance, and lobby laws, and he currently serves on COGEL’s board. In 2018, COGEL awarded Mr. Bizzell its highest honor, the COGEL Award, for making a “demonstrable and positive contribution to the fields of campaign finance, ethics, elections, lobbying and freedom of information over a significant period of time.”
Mr. Bizzell has lectured on political compliance law issues at many venues, including the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics’ Corporate Compliance Institute, the Conference Board’s Symposium on Corporate Political Spending, the COGEL Annual Conference, the Heartland Governmental Ethics Conference, the American Conference Institute’s National Forum on Corporate Lobbying and Political Activities, and the Practicing Law Institute’s annual Corporate Political Activities conference. He has also conducted numerous webinars and seminars on political law issues for the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Public Affairs Council, the Conference Board, the Clear Law Institute, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, among others. Mr. Bizzell’s articles on the topics of political compliance law and lobbying have appeared in Corporate Counsel, Corrections Today, American Jails, the COGEL Guardian, Compliance & Ethics Professional, and Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.
Previously, Mr. Bizzell was an attorney in Winston & Strawn LLP’s Federal Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group. His career also includes more than six years on Capitol Hill, where he served as an aide to Arkansas Senators David Pryor and Dale Bumpers and handled matters involving the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Social Security Administration, Department of Education, and Department of Labor. Additionally, he has worked in the Office of General Counsel and the Privatization and Special Projects Branch of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, where he focused on a myriad of issues involving privatization and government procurement.
While at Winston & Strawn, Mr. Bizzell provided significant representation on political compliance, government affairs, legislative, and regulatory matters to Fortune 500 companies in the corrections, automotive, banking, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and technology-oriented industries, as well as trade associations, non-profit organizations, and local and territorial governments. He served as outside ethics counsel to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, provided legal counsel to the election campaigns of gubernatorial and congressional candidates, represented corporate clients in enforcement actions before the Federal Election Commission, and conducted high-profile investigations related to corporate political activities.
Mr. Bizzell is extremely active in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal and corporate communities. He is a founder and global chair for Altria’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group, Mosaic. He has been appointed by three American Bar Association (ABA) Presidents to be a Commissioner for the ABA’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Commission, where he served from 2021-2024. He currently serves on the ABA’s Council for Diversity in the Educational Pipeline. He also has held multiple leadership positions within the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, the leading association for LGBTQ+ lawyers, law students, judges, and other legal professionals, including serving as President from 2019 through 2021 and currently serving as the Inaugural Chair of its Corporate Counsel Division. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates.
For the past eight years, he has been named as one of the 100 worldwide OUTstanding Leading LGBT+ Corporate Executives for his work on diversity and inclusion issues. Chambers and Partners also named him the 2019 LGBT+ Equality Lawyer of the Year for his dedication and commitment to LGBTQ+ diversity programs and his efforts to advance LGBTQ+ professionals in the law. He is a board member for the tech nonprofit InReach, which helps LGBTQ+ individuals, including asylum seekers, find safe resources while their U.S. asylum process is pending. He also serves on the Thomson Reuters Institute’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board. Mr. Bizzell volunteers as a mentor for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s (“LCLD”) Law School Mentoring Program and was selected as a 2014 LCLD Fellow. His family was recognized as the Adoptions Together Family of the Year in 2018 for their work to promote adoption within the LGBTQ+ community. Mr. Bizzell previously chaired the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the Lowell School Board of Trustees and co-chaired the Marin Academy Diversity, Inclusion, and Outreach Committee.
Mr. Bizzell graduated with a B.A. in justice, magna cum laude, from the American University in Washington, D.C. and received a Master of Social Work with a focus in public policy from the Catholic University of America. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Georgetown Law Journal. He was a member of the inaugural class of the Stanford Graduate School of Business’ LGBTQ Executive Leadership Program. He is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia bars and is admitted as a registered in-house counsel in California.
Christa Brown-Sanford
Partner / Firm-wide Intellectual Property Department Chair,
Baker Botts L.L.P.
—
Christa Brown-Sanford is the Chair of the Baker Botts Intellectual Property Department and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee and Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Christa has a full-time patent practice, with the ability to advise on a number of different issues — working together with her clients to be a true counselor. With an electrical engineering background and keen business sense, her ability to communicate with anyone, from clients, opposing counsel, inventors, or patent examiners alike, in a clear and digestible way, underscores her commitment to being a true partner at every stage of the process. Christa’s clients appreciate that “[s]he is thoughtful and thorough . . . [and] can think through issues and solve [them].” (Chambers USA, 2020)
She provides guidance on patent procurement, patent portfolio development, patent litigation, and patent licensing – particularly involving telecommunications, blockchain, electronics, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, software, personal mobility, and other cutting-edge technologies. Clients describe her as “top notch” and consider her as “the subject matter expert.” (Chambers USA, 2022)
Christa also assists companies in developing and managing their patent portfolios and generating revenue from their intellectual property assets through licensing campaigns. While leading licensing efforts for companies, she continues to provide counsel and advice on patent procurement and litigation exposure.
An adjunct professor at SMU’s Dedman School of Law, Christa teaches patent licensing and enforcement, in addition to patent prosecution courses.
Actively involved in the community, Christa is a member of the Charter 100 and serves on the boards of Southern Methodist University, SMU’s Dedman School of Law, the Baylor Scott & White Foundation, and New Friends New Life (an organization focused on empowering trafficked women and girls). She recently completed serving as the President for the Junior League of Dallas, during the League’s Centennial year.
Tony Chan
Partner,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
—
Tony’s practice focuses on advising companies and investors in the life sciences and tech sectors on strategic domestic and cross-border corporate transactions. Tony regularly advises clients on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, growth equity, and venture capital transactions, as well as on corporate governance, joint ventures and corporate finance.
His clients include global strategic buyers and sellers, as well as financial sponsors and their portfolio companies in the life science, healthcare, investment management and technology industries.
Tony has been recognized for his life sciences and M&A work by a number of notable publications, including The Legal 500 US, Law360, IFLR1000 and Legal Media Group. In particular, Law360 highlighted his work in navigating the complex life sciences industry and key partnership negotiations between biotechnology and drug companies.
In addition, Tony sustains an active pro bono practice, serving as counsel to nonprofit organizations such as Aequitas, APAI Vote, Chefs Stopping Asian American Hate, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Film Society, Partners for Public Good and the Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance. Tony serves as the President of board of the Harvard Law School Association of DC, the Vice-Chair of board of the Museum of Modern Art Arlington and on the board of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of DC. Tony is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School where he has taught Takeovers, Mergers and Acquisitions annually since 2015.
Tiffany Cheung
Partner
Morrison & Foerster
—
Clients seek out Tiffany for her successful track record in defending class action claims on behalf of clients in a broad range of industries, including technology, healthcare, and consumer product companies. She represents numerous Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation involving privacy and marketing claims in courts throughout the United States. Tiffany’s practice includes leading class actions at the cutting edge of privacy law, including claims involving data security and biometric information. She also has advised extensively on Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) matters, as well as cases involving unfair business practice claims and consumer advertising issues. Tiffany is a former co-chair of MoFo’s global Litigation Department and the firm’s Class Actions & Mass Torts Practice Group.
The Daily Journal recently named Tiffany on its 2023 list of Top Women Lawyers and as a 2023 Leading Commercial Litigator in California. Chambers USA 2023 again ranked her in commercial litigation, while The Legal 500 2023 again recommended her in product liability and marketing and advertising. BTI Consulting Group has recognized Tiffany as one of a small group of attorneys nationwide who represent the “absolute best of the best” in the area of client service. Her clients include leaders in the technology, healthcare, financial services, and retail sectors.
She is a former editor of, and frequent contributor to, the Morrison Foerster’s Class Dismissed blog and a contributing editor of the TCPA Report section of MoFo’s Financial Services Quarterly Report. As a thought leader, Tiffany often speaks to groups of industry peers about key developments in class action privacy litigation.
Because she is committed to the firm’s pro bono program, Tiffany works on diverse matters in that arena, including representing numerous clients in connection with guardianship proceedings and immigration proceedings for children.
Tiffany earned her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley with high honors and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 2000, she received her J.D. from the University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of the Asian Law Journal. From 2000 to 2001, she was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Marian Blank Horn of the United States Court of Federal Claims and also served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Susan R. Bolton of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona from 2001 to 2002.
Meenakshi Datta
Partner, Executive Committee Member,
Sidley Austin LLP
—
Meena Datta is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and global co-leader of Sidley’s Healthcare practice. She leads the Chicago Healthcare group and the firm’s Digital Health Initiative, and is a member of the firm’s Global Life Sciences Leadership Council. Meena manages key strategic regulatory, transactional, litigation, and enforcement matters for life sciences, healthcare, and health technology companies around the world.
She is highly experienced in representing Fortune 100 healthcare and life sciences companies, and small biotech, medtech, and telehealth companies. She regularly advises Boards of Directors and c-suite personnel on sensitive regulatory matters. Her client base includes pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and their trade associations and private foundations; manufacturer not-for-profit coalitions; distributors; large healthcare providers; telemedicine and telehealth providers; genetic and early cancer detection screening companies; clinical diagnostic laboratories; private equity firms and public companies focused on healthcare and life sciences investments; health tech companies; and innovators and disruptors.
Meena aggressively defends clients on healthcare regulatory theories of liability – particularly drug pricing and Anti-Kickback Statute theories – in the context of enforcement initiated by the Department of Justice and Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services. She also regularly leads Sidley teams that mount litigation challenges and pursue advocacy strategies in response to controversial regulatory developments, particularly drug pricing and reimbursement issues.
Meena is regarded as a leading government price reporting practitioner in the country. Her experience spans the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, Average Sales Price, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, and non-FAMP and the Federal Ceiling Price. She has won declinations from DOJ on drug pricing enforcement issues, and has successfully led major disclosures and restatements to the government agencies including CMS, HRSA, and VA. Meena also leads the Firm’s Global Drug Pricing Task Force.
Meena helps clients solve critical business problems and formulate litigation strategy involving drug pricing; healthcare reform; fraud and abuse compliance, particularly in the design and execution of arrangements in compliance with the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the Travel Act; the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act; state drug price transparency laws; federal healthcare program coverage and reimbursement issues; healthcare compliance programs; market access; HIPAA and HITECH implementation and compliance; and the Sunshine Act and similar state laws.
Over the years, Meena has served as lead healthcare counsel in 30 new drug and device product launches, where she has effectively partnered with in-house counsel and business teams on a wide variety of critical business issues including clinical trial design; distribution and market access models; value-based arrangements; patient assistance programs; early access and post-trial access programs; drug pricing; and customer interactions in the field. A substantial portion of her work in this area is for novel drug therapy companies focused on rare diseases, gene therapy, cell therapy, and digital therapeutics.
She is also one of the leading healthcare compliance program lawyers in the country. She adds a significant breadth of knowledge across various settings of care in order to help her clients conduct internal investigations and risk assessments, and has helped dozens of clients establish effective compliance programs and compliant patient assistance programs. She has worked closely with Chief Compliance Officers across the country to present to Boards of Directors, and has authored the most recent changes to the most significant industry code for pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world.
Meena regularly leads regulatory due diligences for private equity and M&A transactions, compliance program assessments, as well as sensitive internal reviews on a global and programmatic scale, making key recommendations on diligence strategy and areas of potential risk.
Meena has been recognized as a top healthcare lawyer by The National Law Journal, LMG Life Sciences, Law360, and Crain’s, and was named to the National Law Journal’s “Emerging Therapies/Life Sciences Trailblazers.” She was also ranked in Chambers USA’s “USA-Nationwide Life Sciences: Regulatory/Compliance,” “Illinois Healthcare,” and “Illinois Healthcare: Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory” in 2023.
Meena is a highly sought-after speaker on key pharmaceutical, biotech, and digital health matters across the country, and frequently publishes and is often quoted by nationally recognized life sciences trade press. She often leads panel discussions for a wide range of business trade groups; and currently represents three of the leading pharma and digital health industry associations. She has spoken on the drug pricing implications of the Inflation Reduction Act at numerous events, including the widely respected 2023 BIO CEO and Investor Conference. She has lectured at Loyola University’s Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Seton Hall Law School Healthcare Compliance Certificate Program. She frequently authors thought leadership articles.
Meena received her B.A. from Brown University and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Heidi B. Friedman
Partner & Co-Chair, ESG Collaborative,
Thompson Hine LLP
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Heidi Friedman is a member of Thompson Hine’s Environmental and Product Liability Litigation groups and co-chair of the firm’s ESG Collaborative. She serves as national environmental counsel for many large corporations, including several Fortune 500 companies, and is recognized for her legal skills, business acumen and innovative solutions. A partner since 2004, Heidi has earned the respect of her peers, colleagues and clients and manages the firm’s relationships with numerous significant clients. In addition to her substantive knowledge and experience, she is a champion of Thompson Hine’s efforts to transform the delivery of legal services to better meet clients’ needs and provides much of her legal support on alternate fee arrangements. “Innovation” is not just a buzzword to Heidi; she proactively develops creative approaches to solving her clients’ business issues, which in turn moves the firm, and the practice of law, forward.
Heidi is a co-founder of the ESG Collaborative, Thompson Hine’s multidisciplinary team that partners with clients to achieve their evolving ESG goals. Several years ago, seeing that investors and other key stakeholders were increasingly applying ESG criteria in evaluating material risks and growth opportunities, she identified another Thompson Hine partner with a corporate governance background and together they launched the group. Heidi now is nationally recognized by clients and others as an ESG expert. She also was the driving force behind Thompson Hine conducting its own ESG materiality assessment and preparing an ESG report, one of the first such efforts by an Am Law 200 firm.
Heidi is routinely recognized in the area of environmental law by third parties such as Chambers USA (Band 1), The Best Lawyers in America and Who’s Who Legal USA, and in 2017, she was one of just 20 lawyers nationwide inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
Nearly 20 years ago, Heidi co-founded the firmwide women’s initiative, Spotlight on Women®, at a time when few firms allocated resources to such programs. The award-winning program focuses on advancing women’s professional development, both inside and outside the firm. Heidi propelled this important strategic initiative by building relationships and infrastructure and leading efforts to remove barriers. As chair, Heidi developed formal mentoring programs for women attorneys, created a leadership development program for non-partner women lawyers (Spotlight on Leaders), and designed and implemented a flexible schedule policy that enables all of Thompson Hine’s non-partner lawyers to succeed in their careers while balancing competing responsibilities. She also has assisted many clients in developing their own gender-based programs and shared her expertise and best practices with regional and national professional associations, where she also founded several other women’s group and DEIB committees.
Heidi has made a name for herself as a tireless advocate and effective leader in the effort to bring more women’s voices to the forefront in the workplace, the boardroom and the courtroom. While striving to reach the top of her profession, Heidi has worked with purpose and determination throughout her career to remove obstacles and provide opportunities for other women professionals. Within Thompson Hine, in the legal profession as a whole and in the broader business community, Heidi has achieved impressive results in empowering women.
Heidi currently serves on the Foundation Board for the International Association of Defense Counsel, where she helps to raise and distribute funds to help further the rule of justice and the law. Additionally, Heidi is serving on the Foundation Board for the American College of Environmental Lawyers (where she was previously Secretary), where she works to identify programs to distribute grants from the College to help protect and preserve the environment.
Heidi has been recognized as a YWCA Woman of Achievement and a Crain’s Woman of Note and was selected as the National Diversity Council’s Ohio Leadership Excellence Award recipient. Most recently, she received ORT America’s Jurisprudence Award in recognition of her contributions to her profession and community.
Heidi received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Case Western University School of Law, and her B.S., summa cum laude, from The Ohio State University. She received her Sustainable Capitalism & ESG certificate from Berkley Law Executive Education.
Charles E. Harris II
Partner,
Mayer Brown LLP
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Charles E. Harris, II, a partner in Mayer Brown’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution group, is dual-qualified in the United States and United Kingdom. His international litigation practice focuses on matters of paramount importance to the business community, including class actions, antitrust, contract and real estate-related disputes, technology-related disputes, administrative actions, and privacy and cybersecurity. For instance, Charles has successfully defended individual and class action suits under the TCPA, AIPA, FCRA, FDCPA, and state consumer protection statutes and defended data breach lawsuits under the CFAA and Stored Communications Act. He has also defended clients in administrative actions before agencies such as the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation and the Illinois Department of Revenue. Charles has also handled many First Amendment cases alleging defamation and other privacy torts, and as a registered patent attorney, he has litigated IP disputes. Charles has prepared matters for trial, tried cases to completion, and represented clients on appeal in federal and state courts.
In addition to being an accomplished litigator, Charles has significant experience in all areas of arbitration. He has represented clients in domestic and international arbitration before many administrators, including the AAA, ICDR, ICC, and International Film and Television Alliance. He has also litigated dozens of actions to enforce arbitration agreements. And in doing so, Charles has faced many threshold questions of arbitrability, such as whether the court or an arbitrator decides if an arbitration agreement permits class arbitration. In addition, Charles is an arbitrator for organizations such as the AAA, ICDR, ICC, and CPR and has presided over 50 arbitrations—these arbitrations range from complex computer software integration disputes to disputes regarding the control of a business entity. Charles is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Charles is also a trusted counselor for clients in several areas. As for privacy, Charles has assisted insurance companies, higher education institutions, service providers, and healthcare organizations in complying with HIPAA and its implementing regulations and responding to data breach incidents. Notably, Charles passed the Certified HIPAA Privacy Security (CHPSE) exam. Charles also advises clients on creating and sustaining arbitration programs, complying with the TCPA, VPPA, and Section 230 of the CDA, and avoiding First Amendment and privacy issues. Charles is also a thought leader in his practice areas, and he has published extensively on subjects such as class-action defense, arbitration agreements, and First Amendment-related issues. Charles is also the co-host of a podcast, International Arbitration: Across the Pond.
Before joining Mayer Brown, Charles clerked for the late Judge David D. Dowd Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He received a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MS in Biology, summa cum laude, from North Carolina Central University, and his JD, summa cum laude, from Cleveland State University College of Law. Charles has received several accolades for his leadership and legal experience, including Super Lawyers naming him to its “Illinois Rising Stars” list from 2013 to 2017, The Network Journal honoring him with its “40 Under Forty” Achievement Award, and the Illinois Diversity Council Multicultural Leadership Award.
Elizabeth Ising
Partner & Co-Chair of Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance and ESG Practice Groups,
Gibson Dunn
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Elizabeth Ising is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance and its ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) practices. She also is a member of the firm’s Hostile M&A and Shareholder Activism team and Financial Institutions practice group. She advises clients, including public companies and their boards of directors, on corporate governance, securities law and, ESG and sustainability matters and executive compensation best practices and disclosures. Representative matters include advising on Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements, proxy disclosures, SASB and TCFD disclosures, director independence matters, proxy advisory services, board and committee charters and governance guidelines and disclosure controls and procedures. Ms. Ising also regularly counsels public companies on shareholder activism issues, including on shareholder proposals and preparing for and responding to hedge fund and corporate governance activism. She also advises non-profit organizations on corporate governance issues.
Ms. Ising was recognized as a member of Lawdragon’s Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law guide for the second year in a row due to her work in ESG compliance and disputes (2023, 2024). For the third year, Ms. Ising was also named in Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Dealmakers in America guide, which recognizes lawyers who “set the pace for lawyering in the financial world,” in recognition of her work in Corporate Governance and Securities Regulation (2021,2022,2024). BTI Consulting named Ms. Ising an MVP to its 2018 and 2019 BTI Client Service All-Stars lists, recognizing the “lawyers who truly stand out as delivering the absolute best client service time and time again” as determined by a poll of corporate counsel. Chambers USA has recognized Ms. Ising as a top Securities: Regulation attorney in each of the last six years. She also has been named to The Best Lawyers in America list annually since 2018. Ms. Ising was named to the 2016, 2017, and 2023 editions of Who’s Who Legal: M&A and Governance, a guide based on independent client and peer surveys. In 2017, Ms. Ising was elected as a fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Northwestern University’s Securities Regulation Institute, is a member of the Advisory Board of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware and previously was named a “Rising Star of Corporate Governance” by Yale School of Management’s Center for Corporate Governance and Performance.
Ms. Ising is a frequent author and speaker on securities law and corporate governance issues. Recent publications include the publication “ESG Legal Update: What Corporate Governance and ESG Professionals Need to Know” (published in conjunction with the Society for Corporate Governance in June 2020), “Legal Risks and ESG Disclosures: What Corporate Secretaries Should Know” (published in conjunction with the Society for Corporate Governance in June 2018), an article in the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Business Law Today titled “Recent Developments Related to the SEC’s Shareholder Proposal Rule”, the article “Top 11 Legal and Regulatory Tips for Boards of Directors” published by Corporate Board Member and articles in Insights – The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor. Ms. Ising also co-authors a chapter in the treatise “A Practical Guide to SEC Proxy and Compensation Rules” and contributed to the most recent edition of the ABA’s “Handbook for the Conduct of Shareholders’ Meeting”. Recent presentations include to the Securities Regulation Institute, TheCorporateCounsel.net, the Practicing Law Institute, Bloomberg BNA, the Society for Corporate Governance Professionals and the ABA.
Ms. Ising served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Corporate Governance from 2020 to 2023 and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at McLean School of Maryland, which specializes in college-bound students with challenges like dyslexia and ADHD. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Proxy Statements and Business Combinations Subcommittee of the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee of the ABA and Chair of the Corporate Finance Committee; Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Section of the District of Columbia Bar.
Ms. Ising graduated with high honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 2000. She was a member of Order of the Coif and was inducted into the James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Society. Ms. Ising was also a published member of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation. Ms. Ising is admitted to practice in the State of North Carolina and in the District of Columbia. She is a former chair of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington, D.C. Diversity Committee and co-chair of the LGBT Committee.
Yabo Lin
Partner,
Sidley Austin LLP
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Yabo Lin is a partner in Sidley’s Palo Alto office. He counsels both U.S. and international clients on corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions. His experience covers a wide range of industries, including information technology, e-commerce, mobile payments, biotech, and manufacturing. Yabo also counsels foreign-based clients on transactions involving U.S. national security issues in connection with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”).
Yabo’s recent significant experience includes representing:
- Salesforce in its $1.33 billion acquisition of Vlocity, Inc.
- Salesforce in its acquisition of CloudCraze, a leading B2B commerce platform built natively on Salesforce that powers B2B commerce experiences for leading global companies
- Several major investors in their respective investments in a leading mobile app company totaling $280 million;
- Synopsys, Inc., in its $420 million stock acquisition of SpringSoft, Inc., a Taiwan Stock Exchange-listed company, through tender offer; and
- Flextronics International in acquiring Motorola Mobility’s global manufacturing operations.
In 2006, Yabo received the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) highest honor, the Trailblazer Award, for “making substantial and lasting contributions to the Asian Pacific American Community.”
Gilbert K.S. Liu
Partner and Chair, Securitization,
Kramer Levin
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Gilbert K.S. Liu advises and represents issuers, underwriters, borrowers, lenders and service providers in connection with structured finance and securitization transactions involving a wide variety of esoteric asset classes, including residential and commercial solar assets, timeshare loans, US government energy savings performance contracts, venture loans, life science loans, recurring revenue loans, home improvement loans, equipment leases, auto loans, trademark and licensing rights, and music royalties.
Both Legal 500 and Chambers USA have repeatedly recognized Gil as a leading securitization lawyer. Chambers USA noted: Gil “provides excellent counsel” and “has continued to be a leader in the space. He thinks through matters critically and deliberately, bringing tremendous experience to the table.” Citing clients, Chambers has also described him as “thoughtful and knowledgeable” and “a tremendous [lawyer] with a deep knowledge of structures and market norms, which he can apply to novel situations,” noting his great reputation in the esoteric market and “[skilled] handling of esoteric assets,” and “his efficiency in ‘absorbing our objectives and crafting solutions’ and ability to ‘break things down and figure everything out step by step.’”
Crain’s New York Business named Gil to its list of Notable Asian Leaders in 2022, the Asian American Business Development Center named him one of its Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business in 2014, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association honored him with its Best Under 40 Award in 2009.
Gil currently serves on the board and executive committee of Apex for Youth, a non-profit organization providing support for underserved Asian immigrant youth in New York City. He also serves on the board of Homerun Projects, a nonprofit organization supporting youth-based programs in New York City. For more than 10 years, Gil served on the board and executive committee of Harlem RBI (now known as DREAM), a nonprofit organization providing social, academic and athletic services for youth in East Harlem, NY. He has also been a member of the board of Volunteers of Legal Service. Gil has been involved in pro bono matters for Harlem RBI, the DREAM Charter School, the Chinese American Health Foundation, the CAIPA Foundation, Lowline, Broadway Barks, Infinite Variety Productions and the Seido Juku Benefit Foundation.
Gil also serves on Kramer Levin’s Executive Committee, Operations Committee, Collaboration Committee, Pro Bono Committee and Diversity Committee, and is a member of the firm’s Attorneys of Color Affinity Group.
Sonal N. Mehta
Partner-in-Charge, Palo Alto and Vice-Chair, Litigation Department,
WilmerHale
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Sonal is a dynamic litigator and strategic counselor representing many of the world’s leading technology and life sciences companies in complex disputes spanning IP, antitrust, class action, and complex commercial issues. She is regularly called upon by clients—ranging from Silicon Valley’s top technology companies to cutting-edge start-ups—to serve as lead counsel in the courtroom and as a trusted advisor in the boardroom.
Sonal has over 20 years of experience across all aspects of trial and appellate practice, including federal jury trials, state court jury and bench trials, International Trade Commission investigations, international arbitrations, and appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit and the California appellate courts.
Sonal’s honors include:
- Regularly recognized by Chambers USA Guide in California and nationwide for intellectual property: patents.
- Recognized in the 2023 and 2024 edition of Chambers Global in the category of intellectual property: patents.
- Named to Benchmark Litigation’s elite Top 10 Women in Litigation list in 2021 and 2022.
- Named Benchmark Litigation’s San Francisco Attorney of the Year across practice areas in 2020 and named the California Intellectual Property Litigator of the Year in 2021.
- Named to the Daily Journal’s list of Leading Commercial Litigators (2023 and 2024) and recognized as a Top Intellectual Property Lawyer (2022–2023).
- Regularly recognized by The Legal500 United States for patent litigation: full coverage.
- Named San Jose Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America for patent litigation (2020, 2022 and 2024), patent law (2020 and 2024) and intellectual property litigation (2023–2024).
Sonal is also a leader at her firm, serving as Partner-in-Charge of WilmerHale’s Palo Alto Office, Vice-Chair for the firm’s Litigation and Controversy Department, and on the firm’s Management and Compensation Committees.
Prior to joining WilmerHale, Sonal was a partner at another large international law firm, where she built her practice representing major technology sector companies in high-stakes patent litigation at the trial and appellate levels. She then joined a litigation boutique firm based in San Francisco, where she continued to serve as lead counsel for leading technology and life sciences clients in patent and commercial litigation matters.
Vicki Odette
Partner,
Haynes Boone LLP
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Vicki Odette joined Haynes Boone in 1997 as an investment management attorney and has worked her way through the ranks to become a partner, executive committee member and part of the board of directors. She is the global chair of the investment management practice group and leads an international team of over 75 attorneys. Vicki advises investment funds on the structure of their underlying private equity investments and assists clients with complex partnership, LLC, joint venture and preferred equity arrangements. She also advises fund sponsors on seed arrangements and executive compensation and employment arrangements. Vicki is a global financial industry leader and has worked with a long list of top-tier clients for the firm throughout her twenty-five years in the investment management group.
Vicki is a trusted advisor and counsel to Fortune 500 companies as well as to high-profile clients throughout the world. She helps manage some of the firm’s most significant client relationships, including institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and family offices with net worths exceeding $1 billion. Businesses, individuals and families seek her advice on business planning matters associated with the formation and operation of family offices and for representation on their investments. She regularly advises fund sponsors on the structure of their U.S. and non-U.S. investment funds, coinvestments, and separately managed accounts in every section of the hedge, venture, and private equity space.
Vicki has helped spearhead the efforts of the #2 client in the firm, raking in a collective $43.6 million, as well as the #8 client, producing $26.5 million in revenue over the past three years. She recently created a combination private equity/hedge fund IDF structure for an investment sub-advisor which was the first of its kind in the market. Vicki has been ranked as one of the top tax lawyers in America by The Best Lawyers in America for eleven straight years.
Some of Vicki’s representations include a sovereign wealth fund on wordwide investments in energy, private equity, infrastructure hedge, debt and credit fund co-investments. She has also represented an oil and gas company sponsor on the formation of numerous investment funds with taxable, tax-exempt, and foreign investors. In addition, Vicki has worked with natural resource operating companies and producers on pipeline, drilling, working interest, net profits interest, and royalty joint ventures.
Vicki volunteers her time in the legal community where she currently serves on the angel board of Texas Wallstreet Women. Formerly, she was on the private equity and venture capital committee for the American Bar Association, corporate tax committee and ex-vice chair for the State Bar of Texas Tax Section, tax law advisory commission for the State Bar of Texas, and international environmental tax subcommittee for the American Bar Association Taxation and Business Law Section. In addition, Vicki is an active participant in the Dallas Bar Association, American Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, and New York Bar Association.
In recognition of her service in the legal industry, Vicki has been named one of the Best Women Lawyers in Dallas for Tax by D Magazine in 2010, selected for inclusion in the Dallas Business Journal’s list of Who’s Who in Energy by the American City Business Journal in 2015, and has received a Peer Review Rating of AV Preeminent through the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory. She has been given high praise from her peers and is known as a powerhouse attorney who goes “all in” with every task she’s given.
Vicki has traveled to investment fund conferences across the globe, speaking on best practices and participating in networking events. She co-authored an article for The Drawdown exploring the core elements needed when building a successful private equity firm and was a speaker at the New York Energy Series. Vicki also has been actively involved in educating others about the SEC’s new private fund advisor rules that were implemented in 2024. She filmed a webinar discussing the issues and spoke at several events about the topic.
Vicki serves on various committees including the attorney diversity, equity & inclusion committee and affinity committee both of which center around LGBTQ+, women and black initiatives. She has been instrumental in the hiring, training and development of a number of attorneys who are now in leadership roles themselves at the firm. Vicki is an avid supporter of equal rights for everyone and has been an advocate of helping others succeed through networking, education, and professional advocacy in both her business and community endeavors.
Preston K. Ratliff II
Partner and Litigation Office Chair,
Paul Hastings, LLP
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Preston K. Ratliff II is the Chair of the Firm’s Litigation practice in New York. Mr. Ratliff focuses his practice on complex, high-stakes litigation with an emphasis on patent litigation in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural, and renewable fuel sectors. He has successfully represented major and emerging companies both pre-trial and at trial. Chambers USA notes that Mr. Ratliff is “really outstanding and excels at all aspects of litigation. What stands out is that he is a brilliant strategist who sees the big picture and can anticipate risks that aren’t always necessarily apparent…he is a very calming and unflappable presence even in the most difficult and stressful situations.”
Mr. Ratliff also has extensive experience counseling clients with respect to their IP portfolios and evaluating strategic licensing opportunities. In addition, Mr. Ratliff is a frequent publisher in patent journals and an invited speaker at some of the most prestigious life sciences industry conferences.
EXEMPLARY REPRESENTATIONS
Seagen Inc. v. Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited.
Lead counsel in a hotly-contested, nearly 100 billion dollar breach of contract intellectual property biotechnology dispute involving antibody-drug conjugates (“ADCs”) for the treatment of various cancers. Mr. Ratliff, along with his team, obtained a complete victory dismissing the opposition’s claims as both substantively meritless and time-barred. This win was reported to be among the largest disputes ever handled by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, which is the American Arbitration Association’s forum for global conflict resolution.
Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma et al. v. Emcure Pharmaceuticals et al.
Lead counsel that locked in full patent protection and revenues arising from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma’s chemical compound patent for its billion-dollar-plus-per-year schizophrenia and bipolar drug, Latuda®. Specifically, Mr. Ratliff obtained a Federal Circuit decision that affirmed a district court’s November 2016 claim construction ruling and a February 2017 judgment of infringement against three generic drug manufacturers. Taken together, these dual victories secured patent protection for Latuda® while blocking more than a dozen generic drug manufacturers, including industry giant Teva Pharmaceuticals, from launching competing products.
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Sandoz Inc. and Accord Healthcare, Inc.
Co-led a trial team that won an important trial victory for Merck concerning its pharmaceutical product Emend® for Injection, which is used in the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy. After a bench trial, the district court ruled that Merck’s patent was valid and infringed, defeating the challenge brought by several generic companies. Mr. Ratliff also co-led a team that convinced the Patent Office to deny Canadian pharmaceutical company Apotex’s petition for an IPR, challenging a patent protecting Merck’s Emend® for Injection franchise. Mr. Ratliff also convinced the PTAB to deny Apotex’s further request to rehear its IPR petition.
Pfizer Inc. v. Amgen Fremont Inc. and Amgen Inc.
Co-led a team that obtained a complete victory in a highly-complex breach of contract and intellectual property dispute in Delaware Chancery Court concerning billion-dollar biotechnology drug products.
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al. v. Par Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al.
Lead trial counsel for Sucampo in a Hatch-Waxman litigation protecting its leading medication Amitiza® for bowel disorders. In its suit against Par, Mr. Ratliff helped secure a settlement that provides Sucampo additional market exclusivity, as well as a royalty-bearing
Biovail International Laboratories v. Andrx Pharmaceuticals, LLC et al.
Co-led a trial team that secured a highly-favorable settlement in a patent infringement litigation regarding the company’s top-selling drug product for managing blood pressure.
Srikanth K. Reddy
Partner,
Goodwin Procter LLP
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Srikanth Reddy is a partner in Goodwin’s Litigation department and a member of the IP Litigation practice, where he concentrates his practice on intellectual property opinion and litigation matters. He is also a member of the firm’s Life Sciences Disputes group and currently serves as the Boston Hiring Partner.
Srikanth counsels clients in a broad range of intellectual property litigation matters, including patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret matters. He has specific experience working on a highly diverse range of patent litigation matters including enforcement investigations before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Hatch-Waxman/ ANDA cases, other district court patent litigation matters and post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
EXPERIENCE
The technology areas at issue in the intellectual property litigation matters handled by Srikanth are highly varied and include, for example, pharmaceutical chemistry, biotechnology, immunoassays, vibration-monitoring equipment, semiconductor fabrication, computer chip assembly and packaging, digital out of home displays, light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturing and packaging, razor cartridges, cosmetic lasers used in the medical device industry, computer implemented business methods, mobile software applications, source code analysis and modems.
Rohit Sachdev
Partner,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
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Rohit Sachdev represents over 25 of the world’s leading renewables and energy storage developers on project development and project M&A arrangements.
Rohit has extensive experience in the solar, wind, energy storage, and biofuel sectors, and has advised on numerous award-winning transactions. He is recognized nationally by Chambers in the Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy category. Rohit’s clients describe him as “very commercial” and “very plugged into the market.”
In recent years, Rohit’s practice has focused particularly on project development and project M&A transactions. He has successfully negotiated many GWs of “physical” and “virtual” PPAs and tolling agreements, as well as a variety of construction, supply and other development arrangements. Rohit has also represented clients on the purchase and sale of renewables projects in various U.S. jurisdictions, as well as joint venture and other project asset arrangements. He has particularly focused on the development, financing and sale of domestic and international energy storage projects, including stand-alone, hybrid, front-of-meter and behind-the-meter projects.
Rohit co-leads Orrick’s South Asian Affinity Group and served as a Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
He started his legal career at an international law firm in New York, where he focused on project development and project finance transactions across the globe. Prior to law and business schools, Rohit was an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse in San Francisco, where he provided M&A and financial advisory services to technology companies in Silicon Valley.
Katie Schwarting
Real Estate Partner | Servicing & Special Servicing Practice Chair,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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Katie is an invaluable asset to clients as they navigate the legal complexities of commercial real estate capital markets.
Katie’s practice focuses on commercial mortgaged back securities (CMBS), including conduit and single asset, single borrower securitizations, collateralized loan obligations (CLO), and Freddie Mac securitizations—both the K Series and Small Balance Loan products representing special servicers, master servicers, sub-servicers and investors (B Piece buyers).
Katie’s practice is firmly rooted in providing comprehensive legal solutions to clients’ regulatory challenges related to securitization, portfolio, and warehouse servicing agreements, including disclosure, compliance, and audit requirements. Katie also handles sale and purchases of securities, the collapse of pool trusts, workout and foreclosure strategies, asset management, transfers of servicing, and facilitating the sale of commercial mortgage servicing rights, cementing her reputation as an indispensable resource in the realm of real estate finance law.
Katie chairs the firm’s Servicing & Special Servicing practice group. She is also an active member of the commercial real estate community, including serving as Chair of the Governance and Best Practices Committee of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC) and is a member of Women in Housing & Finance.
From 2003 to 2007, Katie was senior director of the Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Department of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, DC. Her key responsibilities included advancing issues, standards, regulations, and legislation to support the commercial real estate industry MBA members in asset administration (including CMBS, portfolio lending, and life company servicing) and loan origination (including lenders, rating agencies, consultants, insurance companies, and attorneys).
Katie is also Vice Chair, Board of Trustees for Charlotte Museum of History and on the Advisory Board, for Duke University Alumni Giving.
Katie earned her BA from Duke University and her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Pallavi Mehta Wahi
Co-United States Managing Partner and Seattle Managing Partner,
K&L Gates LLP
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Pallavi Mehta Wahi is the Managing Partner of the Seattle office and Co-Managing Partner of the United States for K&L Gates. She is a member of the Firmwide Management Committee. Pallavi frequently represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters and works closely with many Fortune 50 corporations and other companies worldwide, representing their interests with an emphasis on corporate and technology issues. She has argued before various tribunals and courts in hearings and at trial with success. She has represented clients across the country in multiple jurisdictions in commercial and intellectual property disputes. She also acts as the trusted advisor and litigator for several clients across a wide range of jurisdictions, countries, and business matter areas. She represents some of the largest household brands in the world on a regular basis as their trusted advisor.
Pallavi is ranked in Chambers USA for Litigation: General Commercial in Washington State. She also has been named to the Washington Super Lawyers list for Business Litigation for many years; the “IP Stars” list published by Managing Intellectual Property in the U.S. and Washington State categories; and recognized in Best Lawyers in America in the Commercial Litigation and Litigation – IP categories. She has also been recognized by the Legal 500 US for commercial litigation. She is has been included in “The A-List: International,” a list of the top India-focused lawyers at international law firms for many years, compiled by The Indian Business Law Journal.
Pallavi has also been named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the U.S. by editors and writers across The Business Journals’ network of more than 40 publications. For many years, she has been honored with inclusion in the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “Power 100,” a spotlight on the 100 most influential business leaders in the Puget Sound area. The Puget Sound Business Journal also recognized her as a “Woman of Influence” and a member of the first-ever group of 40 Under 40 “All-Stars.” She was also selected as one of the Most Influential People of 2021 by Seattle Magazine.
Pallavi was also named to the fifth annual “Power List” by Lawyers of Color which recognizes the most influential minority attorneys and allies in the nation. She was included in the inaugural “Nation’s Best” List, also published by Lawyers of Color, which recognizes noteworthy accomplishments and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. She was selected by the National Diversity Council as one of Washington’s “Top 15 Business Women” and selected to the Indian Corporate Counsel Association’s “Most Trusted Corporate Lawyers” list. She is also a past recipient of the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the King County Bar Association.
Pallavi is an experienced and well-known litigator in the local and national arena and business community. In 2022, she was appointed to the Seattle Branch Board of Directors of The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to represent the interests of the 12th Reserve District and help the Board fulfill its policy and operational responsibilities. She is currently serving as the Chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Board and is a passionate advocate for the Seattle business community and the people and companies who help it thrive. She is also an active member of the International Women’s Forum.
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.
Caroline Abney
Director of Diversity and Inclusion,
King & Spalding LLP
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Caroline Abney joined King & Spalding in December 2002 and is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion. In her role, she drives the development and implementation of firm-wide Diversity and Inclusion programs. She works closely with the firm’s Diversity Committee and stakeholders to develop and implement the Firm’s diversity initiatives by partnering with key stakeholders, including the Diversity Committee, Recruiting, Professional Development, Firm leadership, external organizations and clients. She previously served as the president of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals (ALFDP). ALFDP’s mission is to act as a catalyst for the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal profession through collective knowledge, vision, expertise and advocacy in the area of law firm diversity.
Prior to joining King & Spalding, Caroline had over 10 years of increasing management and Human Resources experience. Besides her work in the areas of diversity and inclusion she also has an extensive background in internal consulting, employee relations, recruiting and retention, management training, compensation and benefit administration and Human Resources Management Information Systems.
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.
Elizabeth A. Borges
Senior Counsel,
Intel Corporation
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Elizabeth A. Borges joined Intel’s Manufacturing Group legal team in April 2019. Elizabeth is the lead attorney for the Global Materials Organization (“GMO”) group within Intel’s award-winning Global Supply Chain organization. Elizabeth negotiates complex multi-million-dollar agreements that help keep Intel fab sites running. In addition to her role as the lead GMO attorney, Elizabeth is also the Supply Chain Responsibility legal team lead. She was named Intel’s liaison to MCCA in 2023.
Elizabeth began her legal career in the energy sector in Houston, TX. In 2018, she relocated to Portland, OR, where she currently resides. Elizabeth holds a BA with honors from Rice University in Houston; a Masters’ Equivalent in Fashion Marketing & Communication from ESMOD (Ecole Supérieure de Modélisme et Design) in Paris, France; and a JD from Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is fluent in French. Elizabeth is licensed in Texas, Oregon, and Washington. When not executing on her various Intel Legal duties, Elizabeth enjoys exploring Portland with her husband and two young sons.
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.
Mark Grider
Partner
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
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Mark is an experienced litigator committed to cultivating an atmosphere of exceptional client service. A former Deputy Associate Attorney General and Senior Associate White House Counsel, Mark now leads the firm’s Litigation, Government Response, and Crisis Management team.
As a tenured attorney practicing in the Washington, D.C. and New York markets, Mark has successfully guided numerous Fortune 500 companies and individuals through high-stakes litigation and investigative matters. For nearly 20 years, he worked across multiple administrations in the federal government, including as a deputy associate attorney general in the office of the associate attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where his portfolio included criminal and civil matters relating to the Antitrust Division, Civil Division, the Consumer Protection Bureau, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and the Tax Division. He also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as senior counsel in the office of the deputy attorney general in the DOJ, where he managed health care, IP, and civil and criminal enforcement matters.
Mark has managed complex litigation on behalf of corporations, startups, and individuals, and is well-versed in litigating complex criminal and civil actions, and handling cases involving multiple regulators, private litigants, Congress, and high-stakes crisis management engagements. An experienced trial lawyer and investigator, he also represents clients in sensitive government enforcement actions, corporate and congressional investigations, and litigating civil business disputes. Mark served as counsel in more than 10 jury trials to verdict in federal courtrooms across the nation.
Mark has represented major corporations and well-known individuals and has successfully resolved issues and disputes with government authorities. He worked as a deputy compliance officer in a Fortune 500 health care company that was under an HHS-OIG Corporate Integrity Agreement and served as a special advisor to boards and tech companies. He knows firsthand how to counsel companies and boards on effective detection of fraud, waste and abuse and how best to refer or disclose possible fraud matters to government agencies, including Congress, the DOJ, SEC, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, state attorneys general and foreign regulators.
Additionally, Mark supports clients in managing FCPA matters related to the DOJ and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as investigations relating to cybersecurity issues. He has worked closely with government authorities to minimize exposure and advised on ESG litigation and compliance procedures.
He has deep experience on matters relating to the False Claims Act, health care fraud, the opioid crisis, and competition and consumer harm in the online marketplace. He managed False Claims Act and bribery investigations for the DOJ’s Civil and Criminal Fraud Sections, was a member of DOJ’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force, and served as deputy general counsel for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. Grider has collaborated with the Department of Defense, the State Department and other agencies addressing international fraud and money laundering issues stemming from the nation’s involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and other contingency operation locations. He also liaised on policy initiatives relating to elder fraud and financial exploitation, as well as criminal antitrust procurement collusion.
Mark served in the Executive Office of the President 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 Congress, the White House, Health and Human Services, and federal agencies contributing special expertise on litigation matters related to technology oversight and policy issues. He is also a fellow of the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and sat on the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) Pathways Advisory Council.
Mark has held several other high-profile roles, including as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, special counsel for Health Care Fraud for the DOJ and executive director of the DOJ’s Intellectual Property (IP) Task Force, and as a special trial attorney in both the civil and criminal fraud sections of the DOJ. As the executive director of the DOJ’s Task Force on Intellectual Property, Grider spoke internationally on domestic and cross-border investigations and government enforcement strategies for corporate and small-business trade secret and intellectual property protection.
Mark also has extensive experience on Capitol Hill, having served as a member of Sen. John Ashcroft’s staff, and later on a special House investigations committee led by Chairman Trey Gowdy and ranking member Elijah Cummings.
Peter Kim
Vice President, Culture and Counsel,
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
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Peter K. Kim serves as Vice President, Culture and Counsel at Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this role, Peter focuses on elevating the employee experience by shaping the culture of the company. Diversity and Inclusion and Employee Engagement are part of the Culture and Counsel platform. Prior to leading the Culture and Counsel Platform, Peter served as the Chief Employment Counsel, which is a position that he still currently holds. Before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, Peter worked at Pfizer and Nestle USA, both in employment law positions. Peter obtained his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and his undergraduate degree from UCLA. Peter lives in Carlsbad, California with his partner of twenty-five years.
Kawana King
Senior Technology Advisor and Counsel,
Google LLC
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Kawana T. King is a Senior Technology Advisor and Counsel at Google LLC, where she supports Google’s advertising business. In her role, Kawana leads a global team and advises on a wide array of complex technology, privacy, advertising, media and consumer protection matters. She also negotiates deals with some of the world’s largest companies utilizing Google’s technology and advertising solutions. Kawana’s expertise in the areas of technology, privacy, advertising and media stem from her diverse professional experience and background.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Kawana started her career as a litigation associate at Proskauer Rose, LLP, where she represented clients in false advertising, media, technology and intellectual property matters. In 2011, Kawana joined the law firm of Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips. While at Manatt, Kawana established herself in the fields of technology, media, and advertising; and she was often the lead advisor to several Fortune 500 companies on technology and privacy matters, key marketing and advertising campaigns, and on compliance with federal and international regulations.
At Google, Kawana is a “go-to” advisor on a number of high-stakes matters and is recognized by her colleagues and clients as a true partner and thought leader. Google has featured Kawana in The Keyword, Google’s official blog spotlighting powerful, dynamic female Googlers. Kawana also received Google’s inaugural NYC Site Citizenship Award in 2019 for her active role in various social impact efforts, including Tech Exchange, Google’s applied computer science residency program for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Kawana’s work in the tech field has also been recognized outside of Google. In March 2018, Kawana was invited to be a featured speaker at the African American Women in Tech Conference hosted by the Internet & New Tech Subcommittee of the New York State Assembly and received a Proclamation in recognition of her work in the tech field and her community efforts. Kawana is also a 2024 LCLD Fellow.
Kawana is a Brooklyn native, born and raised in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant (“Bed-Stuy”). Prior to law school, she attended Howard University, graduating summa cum laude with degrees in political science and sociology. Kawana continues to reside in Bed-Stuy where she is active in various community affairs and initiatives, particularly in the areas of community development and criminal justice reform.
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.
MALAIKA LINDO
Senior Director of Diversity & Inclusion,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP
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Malaika Lindo directs Morgan Lewis’s global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and collaborates with senior leadership and the engagement and talent teams to create a workplace that is as diverse and inclusive as possible, consistent with the firm’s core values. In this leadership role, Malaika directs a team of six in developing data-driven recruitment, retention, and advancement programming for diverse talent; is a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee; supports the firm’s lawyer and professional staff networks; liaises with firm clients; and collaborates across virtually every firm administrative department to achieve DEI goals.
Malaika, a lawyer by training, began her legal career representing global financial institutions in a wide range of complex domestic and cross-border financing transactions. During those six years, she assisted in the development of Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Department of Diversity and Inclusion, with a focus on community engagement, pipeline strategy, inclusive leadership programming and performance building initiatives. She later joined Sidley Austin as East Coast Regional Manager of Professional Development, where she focused on designing lawyer programs to promote career development ownership, collaboration with colleagues, and full engagement of each attorney within the firm. Following Sidley, she joined Eversheds Sutherland as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to lead the development of diversity-related client collaborations, practice group integration of inclusive leadership best practices, and participation in the Move the Needle Fund initiatives by Diversity Lab. Her experience in private practice as an attorney and administrator has provided her with the unique ability to assess and develop internal structures in order to maximize effectiveness of law firm strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Malaika received her J.D. cum laude from Jacob D. Fuchsberg Touro Law Center, an M.A. in Political Science from Long Island University, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
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 & Deputy CLO,
Nokia
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Alex leads Nokia’s global Ethics, Compliance & Regulatory function and is based in the New York City area. He joined Nokia in 2016. Prior to assuming the role of Chief Compliance Officer in 2022, Alex served as VP, Deputy CLO and Global General Counsel for Nokia’s Cloud & Network Services business group and Customer Experience organization. Prior to joining Nokia, he held various senior in-house legal roles with Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent including in the areas of Litigation and Compliance. Prior to going in-house in 2010, Alex worked as a litigator in the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General and with a law firm in the New York metropolitan area. 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.
Lauren Rothenberg
Senior Corporate Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation
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Lauren is a Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft where she is responsible for commercial and class action litigation matters across Microsoft’s businesses. Lauren leads Microsoft’s Election Protection partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and serves on Microsoft’s Women in CELA leadership team. 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.
Debra Sydnor
Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
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Debra Sydnor is the Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at Greenberg Traurig, a global law firm with more than 2750 attorneys in 47 locations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. In her role, she works closely with the firm’s senior leadership and cross-functional teams to devise, implement, and execute strategic initiatives and programs. These efforts help deepen the firm’s DEI commitments, further enriching the firm’s culture of inclusivity, client engagements, and community investments. Previously, Debra practiced law for more than 17 years at Alston & Bird LLP, where she was a Partner in the firm’s Litigation and Products Liability practice groups. Debra graduated cum laude from Howard University School of Law.
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.
Alyse I. Adamson
Principal,
Beveridge & Diamond, PC
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Alyse uses her experience as a federal prosecutor to assist clients with compliance, enforcement, internal investigations, and white collar matters.
As a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Alyse offers firm clients strategic counsel on high-stakes enforcement and compliance matters, particularly in complex or large-scale white-collar litigation and internal investigations. Her strong background in criminal investigation, prosecution, and litigation complements the firm’s robust environmental and natural resource regulatory practices.
Highlights of her career include:
- Serving as the U.S. Attorney’s Office Deputy Chief of the Felony Trial Unit, capping a distinguished seven-year career at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in which she received multiple DOJ Special Achievement Awards in recognition of her trial and investigative work.
- Serving as the Early Case Assessment Section’s first Deputy Chief, supervising more than 20 attorneys involved in case screening, warrant review, and arraignment and detention hearings. She received the 2020 U.S. Attorney Team Award for her work in establishing this new section, which is responsible for all case initiation (except for sex offense and homicide) in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.
- Arraigning on local charges the first defendants arrested in the January 6th U.S. Capitol insurrection.
- Trying over 40 cases (15 of which were jury trials), consisting of various criminal offenses, with complex cases including counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. She also served in the Appellate Division, where she authored appellate briefs and prepared oral arguments.
- Reviewing, investigating, and approving the highest level of warrants submitted to the section, to include complex long-term investigations, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, and high-profile local cases.
- Leading extensive criminal investigations on social media, telecommunications, transportation, and other tech companies, while working closely with the FBI, Secret Service, ATF, Capitol Police, and the DC Metropolitan Police Department on pending cases.
- Coordinating grand jury investigations, issuing subpoenas, questioning witnesses before the grand jury returned indictments for a variety of offenses.
Alyse is also a former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Associate Director of the Civic Legal Corps, a non-profit entity designed to close the gap to legal services.
Throughout her career, Alyse has participated in numerous diversity, equity & inclusion efforts in various capacities, including serving as Eastern Regional Director of the National Black Prosecutor’s Association, Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee of the DC Women’s Bar Association, and on the Diversity Committee in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. She also speaks frequently on the topic of diversity in the legal field.
Shahira D. Ali
Senior Director, Deputy General Counsel — Global Litigation and Cybersecurity Legal,
Workday Inc.
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Shahira Ali is Director, Associate General Counsel of Litigation & Cybersecurity at Workday, Inc., where she leads Workday’s Litigation and Cybersecurity Legal teams. Shahira represents Workday in a wide variety of commercial litigation, pre-litigation, and alternative dispute matters. As Workday’s dedicated cybersecurity counsel, she also plays a key part in supporting and developing Workday’s ongoing efforts to ensure secure networks and products, and leads Workday’s cybersecurity legal strategy in alignment with evolving global cybersecurity laws and regulations. Shahira received the Outstanding Contributor Award, a company-wide award that recognizes select employees who go above and beyond business as usual to inspire a brighter work day for all.
Shahira is heavily involved in Workday’s DEI initiatives, serving as Co-Chair of the Legal Department’s Value Inclusion Belonging Equity (VIBE) Committee to lead DEI-focused efforts for pro bono services, recruiting & retention, learning, and outside counsel. In addition, Shahira has initiated multiple DEI programs for Workday’s legal department, serving as a critical stakeholder from inception to execution, including the Street Law Program and Legal Fellows Program. Through the Street Law Program, Shahira leads Workday’s efforts to bring exposure to the legal profession to a local high school with a large under-represented minority population, with the goal of increasing diversity and equity for the next generation of legal practitioners. As a Co-Chair of the Legal Fellows Program, Shahira has created a direct track from law school to an in-house career at Workday. The Legal Fellows Program highly values diversity and strongly encourages traditionally underrepresented law students to apply.
Shahira also serves as a Lecturer at Berkeley Law School, where she teaches Legal Research & Writing. Before Workday, Shahira worked as an attorney at the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. At Davis Polk, she represented clients in a broad range of matters in state and federal courts and government investigations, with specific experience involving antitrust, securities, fraud, and contract actions; cybersecurity and privacy issues; and FCPA, DOJ, SEC, and FCC investigations. During her time at the firm, Shahira maintained an extensive pro bono practice related to immigration, civil rights, and criminal justice reform, and received The Legal Aid Society’s “Pro Bono Publico Award,” which recognizes outstanding pro bono services to the Legal Aid Society and its clients. Prior to joining Davis Polk, Shahira clerked for Judge Barrington D. Parker, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Shahira earned her J.D. at Harvard Law School, cum laude, where she served as Notes Editor on the Harvard Law Review. Shahira also holds a master’s degree in business administration, summa cum laude, and a bachelor’s degree in management information systems, summa cum laude, from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Wesley Cheng
Senior Corporate Counsel,
Apple, Inc.
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Wesley Cheng is a Corporate Counsel in Apple’s Global Security Investigations team that focuses on issues related to IP and cyber security. Additionally, Wesley contributes significant time to Apple’s pro bono and inclusion and diversity programs, serving as the volunteer lead for both AsianPacific@Apple and Legal & Global Security. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco where he teaches a course on electronic surveillance law.
He previously was an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as well as Director of the Criminal Prosecution Clinic at New York Law School. Wesley is a graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was selected as a recipient of the Inspire! Award for his demonstrated commitment to public service.
Michelle Park Chiu
Partner,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
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Michelle Park Chiu is a seasoned antitrust litigator, representing clients in all phases of antitrust litigation from trials to appeals, including cartel allegations, monopolization claims, and vertical restraint cases. She is also adept at defending clients facing complex civil litigation, including matters brought under California Business & Professions Code § 17200 (UCL), as well as representing clients in complex breach of contract disputes. She currently serves as the San Francisco office’s hiring partner.
Twice recognized in Best Lawyers (2023 and 2024) for her commercial litigation work and in Bloomberg Law’s inaugural “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40” in 2021, Michelle served as trial counsel for a global technology company in a jury trial in November 2023 and currently defends an international technology company against price-fixing claims in multiple markets for electronic components.
As lead counsel in another commercial litigation matter, she successfully obtained a $24 million judgment on behalf of a financial institution pursuant to an indemnification agreement relating to a data breach in the Southern District of Texas, which was affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. Additionally, she has successfully enforced arbitration clauses on behalf of financial institutions in multiple putative class action claims.
She also played a vital role on the team defending Intercontinental Exchange’s acquisition of Black Knight against an FTC challenge. It became one of the only technology deals the FTC challenged and then closed under the current FTC administration with the vision of making the mortgage origination process more affordable and accessible to all.
Michelle has an active pro bono practice representing individuals in immigration matters. She successfully defended a detained refugee in removal proceedings, resulting in the complete dismissal of all charges against the client during a multiyear representation that resulted in the client becoming a naturalized US citizen. Michelle also successfully obtained a U-Visa for a victim of criminal activity and secured asylum for a client from Syria. Michelle currently serves on the Morgan Lewis Foundation Board.
Melissa Colón-Bosolet
Partner,
Sidley Austin LLP
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Melissa represents clients in high-risk business disputes in federal and state courts, arbitrations, and internal investigations. Her extensive litigation experience spans all aspects of pleadings, discovery, evidentiary hearings, and trial. Melissa’s engagements span numerous industries and legal claims, including those involving breach of contract, business torts, and securities claims. Melissa also represents companies and board committees in some of their most complex and sensitive enforcement and investigation-related issues.
Melissa’s litigation and leadership skills and reputation as a trusted business counselor, writer and speaker has earned her industry accolades. In 2023, Melissa co-authored “M&A Buyer’s Remorse: Fraud or Breach of Contract,” which was published in the New York Law Journal. In 2021, Melissa was named to Bloomberg Law’s inaugural edition of “They’ve Got Next: 40 Under 40.” In 2020, she was recognized in Crain’s New York Business’ “Notable Women in Law” and New York Law Journal’s “Rising Stars.” She has also been named a “Rising Star” for Business Litigation in New York City by Super Lawyers from 2014 through 2018. Additionally, Melissa is a recipient of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s 2017 “Top Lawyers Under 40” Award.
Jemar Daniel
Vice President & Senior Counsel,
Paramount Global
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Jemar Daniel is currently a Vice President and Senior Counsel at Paramount Global. Jemar has been a member of Paramount Global’s Business and Legal Affairs department since 2014. He advises clients on various pre-production-related legal matters, including defamation. intellectual property. right of publicity. production transactions, marketing and promotions. and pre-litigation strategy. His clients include scripted, unscripted. digital. news, off-channel production teams and various ad-sales business units. Jemar also works closely with other Paramount law department teams to create legal guidelines and policies for integrated marketing business units that produce branded content for digital platforms.
Jemar is also a member of Paramount Global’s legal departments Diversity, Equity. and Inclusion Committee. As co-chair of the Partnering with Outside Counsel subcommittee, he leads initiatives and coordinates programs to foster a more diverse and inclusive field for minority and underrepresented legal practitioners.
Jemar is a frequent panelist and guest lecturer on First Amendment law, production legal matters, intellectual property, advertising Law, and general media law developments. He is also a Legal Council on Legal Diversity Fellow alumnus and was a Black In-House Counsel “Rise Up” executive leadership development program cohort member (2023).
Before joining Paramount Global. Jemar was a member of BET Networks’ Business and Legal Affairs department. He obtained his J.D. from The American University’s Washington College of Law and is admitted to practice in New York. He is a graduate of McDaniel College and a visiting member of its Board of Trustees.
Patrick S. Dorime
Corporate M&A Partner,
Ropes & Gray
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Patrick Dorime (36, March 13, 1987) is a nimble and versatile deal lawyer who advises investment firms and their portfolio companies in corporate transactions, many involving companies in distressed and special situations. Patrick was elected to the partnership at Ropes & Gray in October of 2021 – the firm’s youngest partner at the time of his election. He leads clients across industries through mergers and acquisitions, structured equity investments and other bespoke corporate transactions, including special situations. Patrick also works closely with the firm’s restructuring group to offer a corporate perspective for clients undergoing in- and out-of-court restructurings and similar distressed transactions.
A natural problem solver, Patrick enjoys working with clients and counterparties to come up with creative solutions to complicated issues that arise in deal-making. He is also commended by clients and colleagues for his calming presence in negotiations and his exceptional ability to read the room. He brings these strengths to counseling clients in many industries, including health care, technology, energy and infrastructure, manufacturing, chemicals and industrial services.
As the son of two Haitian immigrants, Patrick is active in giving back to his community, representing Haitian immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. Patrick and his family also participate in periodic missions to his grandparent’s home in Arcahaie, Haiti, which they converted into a medical clinic after the couple was tragically killed by gunmen during a break-in. The medical clinic provides free medical services to the community in Arcahaie, Haiti through a non-profit organization established by his family, the Dorsainvil Foundation.
Avia M. Dunn
Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
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Avia Dunn provides bespoke and practical solutions to life sciences companies on matters related to the development, implementation and oversight of their health care compliance programs, both proactively and in connection with the negotiation of corporate integrity agreements.
Ms. Dunn advises clients on matters related to compliance with fraud and abuse laws, HIPAA privacy restrictions and industry codes related to product promotion and manufacturer interactions with providers and patients. She also counsels extensively on product support programs, providing strategic guidance on program structures, program tactics and policies and procedures. Additionally, Ms. Dunn regularly represents life sciences companies in government enforcement actions and internal investigations involving a full range of fraud and abuse issues. She also conducts pre- and post-transaction reviews in connection with transactions in the life sciences industry and has advised clients on more than 100 life sciences-related transactional matters.
Ms. Dunn was recently named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Litigators in America. She is active with Skadden’s diversity leadership initiatives and serves on the firm ‘s Women and Diversity committees. Ms. Dunn also was recently named to the Lawyers of Color’s inaugural list of Wonderful Women, which recognizes dynamic women attorneys working in law firms, companies and government agencies across the U.S. who show promise in their careers and demonstrate a strong commitment to advancing diversity in the legal profession. In addition, she previously was a fellow in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s Fellows Program, a yearlong leadership and professional development initiative.
Jaelyn Edwards Judelson
Partner,
Akin
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Since joining the firm in 2012, and as described in more detail above, Jaelyn Edwards Judelson has built an impressive record as a go-to advocate for clients, deploying innovative solutions to solve complex issues. Her most successful accomplishments routinely involve navigating the intersection of international business and trade regulations, assisting clients in conducting global investigations and audits, and developing compliance programs and strategies spanning export controls, economic sanctions and anticorruption matters.
A decorated lawyer with several recognitions under her belt, Jaelyn was named among the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2023 Leaders of Influence: Thriving in Their 40s list. She has also been named among The Recorder’s 2022 “Lawyers on the Fast Track,” National Bar Association’s 2020-2021 Top 40 Under 40: Nation’s Best Advocates and The Network Journal’s 2019 40 Under Forty Achievers Award winners.
Jaelyn is an esteemed alumna of the University of Chicago, where she graduated with honors with an A.B. in Public Policy Studies and Georgetown University Law Center, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree.
Adrienne Gittens
Corporate Deputy General Counsel,
Comcast Corporation
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Adrienne is an integral part of the Comcast Corporate Compliance team, which oversees and reports on the compliance programs across Comcast’s global subsidiaries: Xfinity, NBCUniversal and Sky. Adrienne works closely with the legal teams and key business leaders of Comcast’s subsidiaries to ensure that the Company conducts business in compliance with existing and developing laws and regulations and agreements. Adrienne also has led on key aspects of the Company’s compliance program, including managing the Company’s statements and strategic oversight of procedures related to human rights and anti-forced labor.
In 2023, Adrienne was appointed and served as the Interim Chief Compliance Officer for Sky, Comcast’s UK-based subsidiary. During this time, Adrienne led a team of more than 45 Compliance and Data Protection lawyers and legal professionals across Sky’s UK, Italy and Germany offices. Adrienne oversaw and reported to Sky’s senior executives on all facets of the Company’s Compliance and Data Protection programs for Sky’s 34,000+ global employees including training, communications, due diligence and third-party risk management, complex investigations, and risk assessments.
Adrienne’s impact is not limited to her compliance role. She serves as the Chair of Comcast’s Law Firm Diversity Committee, in which she leads the Company’s efforts to improve DEI in the engagement and retention of diverse outside counsel and legal service providers. She is also an active member of Comcast’s Legal DEI Committee and leads on the company’s strategic relationships with organizations such as the National Bar Association and Corporate Counsel Women of Color.
Due to her outstanding work at Comcast, Adrienne was selected in 2021 as Comcast’s Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow. Adrienne was also recognized as a “Next Generation Leader” by Legal Momentum, the nation’s first and oldest legal defense and education fund for women, and as a top 40 under 40 lawyer in Pennsylvania by National Black Lawyers. Prior to joining Comcast, Adrienne was a senior associate at a global law firm, where she was named a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by the Legal Intelligencer for her complex commercial litigation practice and extensive pro bono work.
Adrienne graduated from Princeton University magna cum laude and received her juris doctorate from Harvard Law School. Following law school, Adrienne clerked for the Honorable Robert B. Kugler for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Mari Grace
Partner,
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
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Mari Grace is a partner in Davis Polk’s Civil Litigation practice. She represents clients in a wide range of civil litigation matters, including complex commercial and contractual disputes, securities litigation, bankruptcy-related litigation and class actions.
Mari’s extensive clientele features major energy companies, telecommunications companies and financial institutions, among others, which she has advised on matters in both federal and state courts across the country. Most recently, this includes reaching a favorable resolution for Murphy Oil in a multi-million-dollar contract dispute, as well as helping telecommunications company BT Group win a putative class action over alleged securities fraud.
Outside of her full practice, Mari has a deep focus on supporting the next generation of associates through mentoring. She is an active member of the firm’s DPWomen, Asian/South Asian/Middle Eastern (ASAME), LGBTQ+, and First Generation Affinity Groups – which are a cornerstone of the firm’s culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. The various firmwide affinity groups have enabled Mari to network, mentor and take on leadership opportunities as well as further develop her robust career.
Additionally, Mari is an active member of the Asian American Bar Association and is actively involved with DirectWomen — an organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards. She’s also an active member of Women in Securities Litigation, an organization created to promote and support collaboration, networking, profile-raising, and mentoring among women who practice in or are associated with the field of securities litigation defense.
Widely recognized as a leader in her practice area, Mari was awarded Lawdragon 500 X’s “The Next Generation” award in 2023 as well as being named a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation. She was also selected as a fellow by Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and was awarded the Pro Bono Publico Award by Legal Aid Society.
Mari graduated from Fordham University School of Law in 2011. She has two additional master’s degrees from Fordham University and Columbia University in international political economy and development and social work, respectively. While at Davis Polk, Mari also briefly served as a public defender for Legal Aid Society in Manhattan.
LTC Corey P. Gray
Partner,
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
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Corey Gray is a commercial litigator with Boies Schiller Flexner, based in the firm’s Fort Lauderdale office, and he is also a board member on the firm’s diversity council. Corey specializes in high-stakes contract, antitrust, and energy litigation that often involves issues of first impression. With a mindset focused on serving the people, he’s also active in pro bono outreach.
Before becoming an attorney, Corey served as an Officer in the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division and was deployed twice to Iraq. It was during his second deployment, when his service included a counterinsurgency strategy course, that his moral compass pointed him toward law school. Today, Corey continues to serve as Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University and his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.
Ravdeep Singh Grewal
Senior Counsel, Employment and Litigation,
TikTok Inc.
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Rav Grewal is Senior Counsel, Employment and Litigation at TikTok Inc. Previously, Rav served as Senior Counsel, Global Employment Law at Shutterfly where he counseled and supported business partners throughout North America, EMEA, and APAC on all matters related to labor and employment law. Prior to joining Shutterfly, Rav led successfully 24 Hour Fitness’ Covid-Response Taskforce where he effectively helped convince numerous local and state governments to safely reopen gyms across the United States.
For almost the last decade, Rav has served on the Board of Directors for the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (SABA-NC), and most recently, as its dynamic and accomplished President. During the past four SABA-NC galas, Rav’s fundraising efforts have raised more than a record-breaking $150,000 for charities and non-profits who operate in Northern California. In an unprecedented and remarkable evening at SABA-NC’s 2023 annual gala, Rav single-handedly raised almost $50,000 in 15 minutes on behalf of the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) of North America to help create the very first South Asian Legal Defense Fund. For his selfless efforts and dedicated service to SABA, Rav is the inaugural recipient of SABA-NC’s Kohinoor Award.
Upon graduating high school at the age of 16, Rav attended the University of California, Berkeley, where completed degrees in both Economics and Political Science within 3 ½ years. Shortly thereafter he earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis – King Hall.
Jack Hamilton
Partner,
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
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Jack Hamilton is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where they are a member of the mergers and acquisitions practice. Jack has extensive transactional experience, having represented clients in both public and private mergers, stock purchases, asset acquisitions, tender and exchange offers, SPAC transactions, and other strategic corporate transactions. In addition, Jack has counseled privately and publicly held companies on general corporate governance and disclosure matters.
Prior to joining the firm, Jack practiced at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
Lisa Maria Harris
Partner – Labor & Employment,
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
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Lisa Harris is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm’s Orange County and New York offices. Her practice focuses on Labor and Employment and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion counseling and compliance.
Areas of Practice
Lisa counsels and represents management in both employment and traditional labor matters. She regularly conducts and advises on high-level investigations and trains HR professionals on how to conduct such investigations internally. She also advises on diversity, equity and inclusion best practices. As a member of the firm’s ESG and Sustainability Industry Team, Lisa supports clients in addressing the social aspects of ESG through development and promotion of a healthy and equitable workplace. In addition to her experience as outside counsel, Lisa has several years of experience as in-house counsel both on a full-time and seconded basis. This experience gives her specific insight into the challenges and issues faced by in-house employment counsel and DE&I teams.
Employment Counseling. Lisa regularly counsels management in all aspects of California, New York and federal employment law, including employee hiring and discipline procedures, worker classification issues, leaves of absence, reasonable accommodations, wage and hour compliance, employee severance and termination procedures, and restrictive covenants. She has significant experience drafting all types of employment agreements and policies, including employee handbooks, sexual harassment policies, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and severance agreements.
Investigations. Lisa is an experienced investigator. She regularly assists employers with sensitive internal investigations. She has conducted several investigations into alleged misconduct by senior executives of sports teams, a publicly traded alternative investment advisor, a publicly traded utility, and a national communications firm.
Training. Lisa conducts harassment prevention training for both supervisors and non-supervisors, which satisfies current state-mandated training requirements in both English and Spanish. She also conducts DE&I training for both employees and HR professionals addressing various topics, including implicit/unconscious bias, promoting an equitable workplace, bystander intervention, and allyship. Additionally, she trains HR professionals on wage and hour compliance, conducting internal investigations, managing leaves of absence and reasonable accommodations, and other employment matters.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Lisa assists clients with the development and roll-out of their employee resource groups, drafts DE&I policies, and advises on the implementation of DE&I initiatives within legal parameters.
Traditional Labor. Lisa counsels and represents management in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements and regularly advises on labor disputes. Lisa frequently represents management in labor arbitrations involving both contract interpretation and employee discipline and termination matters. She also represents management before the National Labor Relations Board defending against unfair labor practice charges.
Employment Litigation. Lisa represents employers in single and multi-plaintiff harassment and discrimination claims. She also has extensive experience representing employers before administrative agencies and responding to complaints filed with those agencies alleging violations of federal and state employment laws.
Lisa earned her law degree from St. John’s University and graduated with a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Kyle Jason Hayes
Partner and Co-Chair, Hydrogen Practice,
Foley & Lardner LLP
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Kyle Hayes is a partner and corporate lawyer in the New York office of Foley & Lardner LLP and serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Hydrogen practice. His practice focuses on all phases of renewable energy project development and M&A across a wide spectrum of assets and technologies, principally including solar, battery storage, wind, EV charging infrastructure, hydrogen and renewable fuels. Having previously served as a federal regulator and in-house counsel to one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the U.S., Kyle brings both deep industry connections and experience to clients within the renewables and energy transition space, having handled hundreds of transactions over more than a decade.
Kyle’s representation includes that of developers, sponsors, utilities, investors and corporate offtakers, with a focus on helping clients create both financeable and marketable renewable assets, as well as counseling buy-side clients in both corporate and project-level acquisitions. Kyle also counsels infrastructure-focused asset managers with respect to fund formation focused on renewables and energy transition assets.
Prior to entering private practice, Kyle served as an in-house counsel to Con Edison of New York, where he handled a variety of legal and commercial matters within the utility’s wholesale and retail energy markets. He began his legal career at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Kyle is an active thought leader and participant in the renewables industry, having provided analysis and perspective to major industry publications and media outlets, including, for example, on the role of RNG as an asset class and how to best mitigate the nature of equipment supply chain constraints. He currently serves as a member of Dynamo Energy Hub’s Board of Advisors.
Renny Hwang
Deputy General Counsel,
OpenAI
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Renny Hwang is currently Deputy General Counsel at OpenAI as the head of all litigation and regulatory matters. Previously, Renny Hwang was Senior Director of Litigation for Google where he worked for nearly 14 years. In this role, Renny worked on the Oracle v. Google and Gonzalez v. Google, the only two cases where Google appeared before the Supreme Court, and secured victories for both. He managed a team of over 50 attorneys and technical advisors worldwide. He also successfully managed a docket of approximately 250 patent and other intellectual property matters. Renny advised on intellectual property issues related to open source, as well as complex licenses, acquisitions and transactions.
Previously, Renny practiced IP litigation in Los Angeles at a global law firm. He also has experience in product management and software development, leading product and engineering teams in building Internet software technologies.
Renny received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a B.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Engineering Management from Stanford University.
Kail Jethmalani
Partner,
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP
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Kail Jethmalani represents clients across industries in all areas of antitrust law, including high-stakes litigation, domestic and cross-border mergers, and investigations. As one of only three attorneys named “most highly regarded” Future Leaders in Competition in North America” by Who’s Who Legal in 2021 and 2022, clients rely on Kail’s pragmatic approach to advancing cohesive defense strategies as coordinating counsel in multidistrict litigation. His recent litigation experience includes multiple treble-damage class actions and State Attorney General litigations alleging industrywide conspiracies to raise the prices of broiler chicken and pork, and to suppress compensation to broiler chicken farmers.
Kail serves as Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law’s Marketing Administrative Committee. His diverse pro bono practice includes helping immigrants obtain asylum in the U.S., representing a prison inmate in a civil rights case against government officials, and representing a class of restaurant workers to recover unpaid wages.
Prior to joining Axinn, Kail interned at the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. He earned his JD from the University of Michigan Law School.
Vinita Kailasanath
Life Sciences & Tech Transactions Partner,
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
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Vinita Kailasanath has extensive experience in strategic intellectual property and data-driven transactions in life sciences and technology, and particularly at their intersection. Vinita leads the MedTech practice at Freshfields and has represented life sciences companies, technology companies, healthcare companies and providers, and investors in connection with the execution of their cutting-edge MedTech and digital health strategies in addition to many of their other complex licenses and collaborations, strategic investments, and R&D and supply agreements. Vinita has advised clients on transactions involving medical devices (including SaMD), wearables, mobile apps, telemedicine, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), IoT, software, hardware, pharmaceutical products and biologics, and also routinely advises on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures.
Vinita’s work across the life sciences and technology sectors makes her uniquely well-equipped to structure a wide variety of agreements to enable clients to develop, use, commercialize and protect innovative offerings. In doing so, she draws on her graduate degree in molecular and cellular biology and in-depth knowledge of intellectual property gained through a clerkship at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She is well-versed in the business, regulatory environment, and goals of the healthcare sector, while also being deeply familiar with Software as-a-Service (“SaaS”), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (“IaaS”) and Platform-as-a-Service (“PaaS”) arrangements as well as other cloud and technology-related considerations.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Vinita conducted graduate-level neuroendocrinology research; worked in the legal department of a leading alternative energy company specializing in the production of algal oils and bioproducts; and assisted pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies with product launches and other marketing and sales matters.
Vinita is the co-chair of the Freshfields Asian, Pacific, South Asian American Employee Resource Group and serves on the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors.
Colleen Lee
Partner, M&A, Corporate Securities and Venture Capital,
Baker & McKenzie LLP
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Colleen Lee is a partner in the Palo Alto office of Baker & McKenzie LLP, where she focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and startup investments, spin-offs, carve-outs, corporate securities, corporate governance and other corporate matters. Recognized as a “One to Watch” by Best Lawyers in 2023 and 2024, Colleen represents and advises companies and private equity firms in a variety of U.S. and cross-border acquisitions and dispositions, restructurings, strategic investments and governance matters.
In addition to her corporate law practice, Colleen gives pro bono presentations at schools to educate students on their legal rights in relation to cyber, hate and sex crimes.
She is an active member of diversity and API initiatives in her community.
Colleen received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her law degree from New York University School of Law, receiving many awards and honors, including first in her major at Berkeley.
Winnie Ling
General Counsel, Head of Legal & People,
Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE: BLND)
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As the General Counsel and Head of Legal & People at Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE: BLND), a technology company powering the future of banking by bringing simplicity and transparency to financial services, Winnie oversees all aspects of its Legal & Compliance functions, in addition to leading Human Resources and Strategic Operations.
Winnie is a trusted advisor, strategic partner and dynamic executive who helped steer Blend through a successful IPO and NYSE listing in 2021, the pinnacle of the company’s growth trajectory to date. She has a track record of guiding cross-functional teams towards operational excellence and financial improvements, including through times of intense organizational change and market volatility. Winnie’s leadership extends beyond legal expertise as she drives business success, navigates complex regulatory landscapes, and mitigates risks, all while fostering an inclusive and high-performing culture.
Prior to joining Blend, Winnie was a corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, a prestigious law firm, where she advised financial institutions, technology companies, and other clients on a wide range of capital markets, financing, M&A and other strategic transactions as they expanded their impact and reach. As an Australian with extensive experience in New York and London, Winnie brings an international perspective and invaluable cross-border expertise when leading companies and teams through key opportunities and challenges.
Winnie was honored by NYC FinTech Women as an “Inspiring FinTech Female” in 2023, recognizing her impact, influence and advocacy efforts.
Winnie graduated from Columbia Law School as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and also holds a business degree and a law degree from the University of New South Wales.
Jesse Ryan Loffler
Member,
Cozen O’Connor
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Jesse focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, including matters relating to real estate litigation, securities law, shareholder litigation, contract, governmental investigations, insurance, bankruptcy, and employment disputes. He has handled matters at all levels of the state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.
In particular, Jesse has extensive experience in real estate litigation and has handled a wide range of complex real estate disputes in state and federal trial and appellate courts around the country, including but not limited to cases arising out of distressed assets and foreclosures; commercial mortgage-backed securities and trust issues; disputes between trustees, special and master servicers, lenders, and borrowers; disputes relating to purchase agreements, including options and rights of first refusal; complex landlord-tenant disputes, including the interplay between ground leases, subleases, and commercial financing; and multimillion-dollar cases involving damage and destruction to real property and its owners.
Jesse also has experience with significant shareholder and securities litigation, including actions involving breaches of fiduciary duties, squeeze outs of minority shareholders, joint venture and intra-corporate disputes, derivative lawsuits, securities fraud and 10b-5 actions, and disputes relating to convertible notes and other complex financing arrangements.
In addition, Jesse’s broad complex commercial practice ranges from constitutional law claims (including a victory before the U.S. Supreme Court in Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, 139 S. Ct. 1921 (2019)) to corporate and governmental investigations, board and audit committee representations, adversary proceedings and other bankruptcy-related proceedings, and all manner of commercial contract disputes.
Before joining the firm, Jesse was a litigation associate at the New York headquarters of an international law firm. While there, he engaged in all aspects of complex commercial litigation at trial and appellate level in federal and state courts.
Jesse also serves as president of the board of directors of the National LGBT Bar Association. Jesse also maintains an extensive pro bono practice serving a diverse range of clients in impact litigation, including matters relating to LGBTQ and political asylum, voting rights, women’s access to health care, and transgender rights.
Jesse gained valuable business experience before attending law school. He was co-founder and managing director of Magellan Publications, Inc. and manager of Research & Business Development for the Regina Regional Economic Development Authority (now Economic Development Regina, Inc.).
Jesse earned his undergraduate degree in Government from Harvard University, and earned his law degree, magna cum laude, from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was head editor of the Cardozo Law Review and member of Order of the Coif. While attending law school, he was a research assistant to Professor Marci Hamilton, with whom he was a founding board member of CHILD USA, a nonprofit think tank dedicated to protecting children and preventing abuse. Jesse was also an Alexander Fellow, acting in the capacity as junior clerk, to Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Lauren Moore
Partner,
WilmerHale LLP
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Lauren Moore, 36, is a partner at WilmerHale LLP in Washington, D.C.
Lauren earned her B.A., magna cum laude, in political science and communications from the University of Southern California in 2009. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2012, where she served as articles editor of the Harvard Law and Policy Review and an executive board member of the Black Law Students Association. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Lauren began her career at WilmerHale in 2012 as an associate in the firm’s Litigation/Controversy Department. As an associate, she participated in the work and life of the firm in ways that far surpassed her age and experience. For instance, she provided meaningful contributions to help establish the firm’s Anti-Discrimination Practice. She advised colleges and universities on Title IX matters; advised corporations and other entities on sensitive internal investigations; and helped respond to subpoenas and civil investigative demands from federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In 2018, Lauren left the firm to serve as deputy general counsel and then general counsel to then-Senator Kamala D. Harris on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, she led the Senator’s work on judicial nominations and civil rights policy. Lauren’s leadership qualities, maturity, and judgment put her in position to lead high-stakes hearings, including Supreme Court confirmation hearings and oversight hearings involving then-Attorney General William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and other senior Justice Department officials.
In 2021, Lauren was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to serve as associate counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office. In that role, Lauren worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice to respond to litigation challenging various federal programs—including provisions of COVID-19 relief funding that were focused on historically underserved populations. She also advised the Domestic Policy Council on executive orders involving civil rights and equity issues, advised the Gender Policy Council on Title IX and reproductive health policies, and helped establish and lead policy initiatives relating to clemency and access to counsel.
Since returning to WilmerHale in 2022, Lauren’s practice has grown rapidly to support clients on matters at the intersection of law, government, media, and public policy. She is currently leading civil rights reviews for corporate clients; assisting clients with reverse discrimination lawsuits and demand letters; representing clients in congressional investigations; and representing major technology companies in False Claims Act litigation. Lauren also has an active pro bono practice, where she has advised nonprofit organizations on racial equity and DEI initiatives after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC.
Juan Morado Jr.
Partner and National Co-Chair of DEI Committee,
Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff
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Benesch Partner and National Co-Chair of the firm’s national Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Juan Morado Jr. is a seasoned health care regulatory and policy attorney with a history of public service and mentorship of young Latinx attorneys throughout the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Juan has extensive experience working with state and federal agencies, and provides strategic counsel to private and public corporations, organizations, and individuals. He also serves as a critical point of communication between state regulators and members of the community when new health care facilities are planned and built.
At Benesch, Juan advises hospitals, health systems, physician groups, pharmacies, cannabis businesses, and other clients, helping them to ensure compliance while navigating complex regulatory requirements and the implementation of industry best practices.
Juan has risen in the ranks quickly at Benesch. In 2021, Juan was named an equity partner after just four years at the firm. Juan also serves as the relationship partner for several client matters and leads attorney teams for clients NANI, Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Center, Resilience Healthcare, Rush University System for Health, Dialysis Care Centers, Insight Hospital and Medical Center, Humboldt Park Health, Ignite Resorts, Tampico Beverages, and The Jellyvision Labs.
In his health care practice, Juan is one of the leading Certificate of Need (CON) attorneys in Illinois, a marquee skill set valued by clients that sets him apart from his peers. In Illinois, hospitals and health services operators seeking to open or significantly expand facilities must receive a CON from the state, confirming that there is, in fact, a need for their services in the area where they wish to locate. Juan guides clients through the process of establishing new hospitals, surgery centers, and nursing homes, and obtaining regulatory approval for complex multimillion-dollar facility changes of ownership.
Juan also works with a wide range of clients dealing with both internal and government investigations, issues involving disadvantaged business enterprises, litigation related to government procurement, and property tax exemption appeals. In addition, Juan assists clients through the federal, state, county, and city Minority-Owned Business and Women-Owned Business certification and appeal processes.
Throughout his career, Juan has honed his ability to work within the complexity of Illinois’ health care regulatory laws. Prior to joining Benesch, Juan was general counsel for the Health Facilities and Services Review Board of the State of Illinois. He provided strategic counsel on a wide range of legal matters having statewide ramifications, developed administrative rules governing the CON process, and managed the Board’s Long-Term Care Advisory Subcommittee.
Juan also served in the Office of the Illinois Governor from 2013-2015 as a Deputy Chief of Staff and Associate General Counsel. During that time, Juan acted as the Governor’s Senior Advisor on Transportation and Infrastructure Policy. Juan was also appointed by the Governor to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning Board. Juan began his legal career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, where he focused on land use and zoning issues, and municipal code compliance.
Juan’s continued ascension, both at the firm and in the broader community, has earned him many recognitions and accolades. In 2020 and 2021 Juan was listed as a Chambers USA Leading Lawyer in Healthcare and was named by Crain’s Chicago Business as a “Notable Leader in DEI.” From 2018-2022 he was named to the “Most Notable Minorities in Accounting, Consulting and Law” list by Crain’s Chicago Business. He was also named to the 40 under 40 lists by Chicago Lawyer Magazine and Chicago Daily Bulletin, and Negocios Now.
Juan is a graduate of DePaul University, where he majored in American Political Systems, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Josh Morales
Associate General Counsel, Reality Labs,
Meta
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Josh Morales leads product counseling for virtual reality devices and related accessories at Meta’s Reality Labs. In this role, he advises on all legal and regulatory aspects of Meta’s VR hardware development roadmap and has served as cross-functional legal team leader for Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, and all other VR headsets currently in development at Meta. He has also counseled Reality Labs researchers, scientists, engineers, and business leaders on matters impacting research and development, including the negotiation of IP and other technology driven transactions.
Prior to joining Meta, Josh honed his technology and IP transactional expertise in private practice. He began his career at Kirkland & Ellis LLP where he represented private equity funds and their affiliates in structuring and negotiating domestic and international M&A transactions and other corporate matters.
Josh credits his subsequent experience at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP with igniting his passion for the intersection between law and technology and what would become his ultimate focus on building the metaverse. At Parker Poe, Josh represented companies engaged in IP and technology driven transactions in various industries, including consumer electronics, education, entertainment, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and software/information technology. He regularly advised clients on the preparation and negotiation of a variety of commercial agreements, including IP licensing and assignment agreements as well as purchase, supply, distribution, services, employment, and consulting arrangements. He also frequently counseled clients regarding their trademark, copyright, domain name, and other proprietary rights, including in connection with acquisitions, divestitures, licensing, and the clearance, adoption, registration, and protection of new brands.
Josh has championed diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the various stops in his career, often in leadership roles focused on amplifying LatinX voices in legal practice. He has served as regional deputy president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, mentored Miami-area LatinX youth through starting their careers in the law, and provided pro bono legal services for Female and BIPOC owned and operated businesses for over a decade.
Josh grew up in Miami, Florida and received a BBA in Legal Studies (Business Law) from the University of Miami in 2008. He received his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2011. Today, he resides in Seattle, WA with his wife, Rebecca, their 13-month-old daughter, Amelia, and a vintage guitar collection he has been building since he was 10 years old.
Robert Niles-Weed
Partner,
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
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Robert B. Niles-Weed is a partner in Weil’s Complex Commercial Litigation and Appeals and Strategic Counseling practices, where he focuses on various commercial disputes at all phases of trial court litigation, as well as appeals in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Robert’s work mainly involves developing case strategy, drafting and arguing dispositive motions and appeals, and serving as appellate counsel at trial in cases addressing high-stakes and cutting-edge legal issues. His practice encompasses a variety of subject matters and disciplines, including bankruptcy, intellectual property, antitrust, securities and M&A, constitutional and administrative law, and other complex commercial litigation.
Robert’s notable recent experience on Weil teams includes:
Bankruptcy
Securing a unanimous win for the respondent in the U.S. Supreme Court in Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, a case involving the Bankruptcy Code’s fraud exception to discharge.
Representing Westinghouse Electric Company in a successful certified interlocutory appeal before the Third Circuit on a first-impression issue of bankruptcy claims administration. (Robert’s successful oral argument can be heard here.)
Winning significant appellate victories in the Second Circuit in multi-hundred million dollar cases arising out of the bankruptcies of Sears and Lehman Brothers.
Intellectual Property
Drafting an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of small and medium biotechnology companies in Amgen v. Sanofi on the standard for patent enablement.
Securing pre-verdict judgment as a matter of law of non-infringement for Comcast in a $150M+ patent infringement case initiated by WhereverTV, Inc. in the Middle District of Florida related to Comcast’s X1 interactive guide.
Antitrust
Representing Microsoft in litigation arising from its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc., a leading publisher of popular PC, console and mobile games.
Representing Regeneron in connection with a monopolization claim in Delaware federal court against Amgen for leveraging sales of Otezla and Embrel to boost sales of Amgen’s drug, Repatha.
Securities and M&A
Winning a significant victory in Delaware Chancery Court on behalf of Carlyle Group in a seminal business litigation arising out of the triggering of a material adverse effects clause in a deal negotiation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Representing Sasol Ltd., a South African energy and chemical company, and senior executives in a securities class action in the Southern District of New York relating to the construction of a multi-billion dollar chemical plant in Louisiana.
Constitutional and Administrative Law
Successfully bringing and arguing a landmark First Amendment case for Upsolve Inc. in the Southern District of New York to empower non-attorney justice advocates to provide legal advice to expand access to justice for low-income defendants in debt collection lawsuits. The case was featured in the New York Times and described by Law360 as one of “the cases that most affected access to justice in 2022.”
Winning a significant victory against the Small Business Administration in a case under the Administrative Procedure Act that helped to obtain loan forgiveness for small business owners with prior criminal history struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
Complex Commercial Litigation
Representing NBA #1 draft pick Zion Williamson in high-profile multi-jurisdictional litigation, including several appeals in Florida state court and North Carolina federal court arising out of a dispute with a marketing agency, with asserted claims of more than $100M in potential damages.
Prior to joining Weil, Robert clerked for Justice Elena Kagan of the United States Supreme Court. He also previously served as a law clerk for Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Robert graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College.
Philip I. Person
Labor & Employment Shareholder,
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
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Philip I. Person serves as the Co-Lead of the firm’s California Wage & Hour Taskforce. Philip focuses his practice on representing employers in wage and hour, wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, trade secret misappropriation, non-competition, non-solicitation, and whistleblower claims. He is an experienced litigator, having defended employers against single-plaintiff and class action litigation in both federal and state courts. He also represents employers in labor and employment arbitrations.
Philip coordinates with executives and management to develop and implement plans to mitigate the employer’s risk. He often counsels and advises his clients on employment issues pertaining to leaves of absence, disciplinary actions, terminations, restructurings, reductions in force, employee classifications, handbooks, and policies.
Philip is also a recognized thought-leader in the area of employment law. He has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Corporate Counsel, and Law360 Pulse; is the Co-Editor and Co-Author of PLI’s Employment Law Yearbook, an annually updated treatise on employment law issues; and is the Co-Host of The Performance Review, a California labor and employment podcast available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Philip is Co-Chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Due Diligence Subgroup, the firm’s Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig African American Inclusion Network, and a member of the firm’s Justice Initiative.
Experience
Labor & Employment Litigation
- Co-chaired a 3.5-week jury trial regarding professional negligence and negligent misrepresentation against insurance brokers for their failure to provide employee health care plans and health reimbursement accounts compliant with San Francisco health care ordinances. The jury awarded a $2,335,008.21 verdict in favor of the client. Thereafter, first-chaired the appeal, where the appellate court affirmed the judgment in its entirety.
- First-chaired a labor arbitration involving a large casino’s decision to terminate an employee for possessing marijuana on casino property. The arbitrator declined to award the employee any back pay, reinstatement, or any other requested remedy.
- Co-chaired an employment arbitration involving 24 causes of action asserted by a former employee of a large cruises and events company. The arbitrator declined to award the employee any recovery against the individual respondents or on 22 of the 24 causes of action. The arbitrator only granted $4,500 on the remaining two causes of action.
- Represented executives and investors of a medical device and equipment company in an arbitration against claims from a terminated executive for defamation, intentional misrepresentation, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and conspiracy. The arbitrator granted a motion to dismiss and subsequent motion for summary disposition in favor of our clients, thereby dismissing the clients entirely from the arbitration.
- Represented a large cruise and events company in an audit by a local employment government agency. The government agency initially found that the company was required to provide certain health care plans and make health care expenditures to employees. At the conclusion of the audit, the local agency reduced the assessment against the company by more than $11 million.
- Represented an international company in a lawsuit by a former employee claiming that he was entitled to stock options. The California Superior Court sustained a partial demurrer in favor of the employer on the grounds that stock options are not wages. The parties settled soon thereafter.
- Represented an insurance provider against its former officer’s whistleblower retaliation claims. The California Superior Court sustained a partial demurrer in favor of the employer on the grounds that an associational retaliation cause of action does not exist under the California Labor Code. The parties settled soon thereafter.
- Represented one of the largest healthcare systems in the nation against a doctor’s claim for age discrimination.
Employment Counseling
- Advised and counseled an out-of-state health information management and technology systems company as it opened its first California office. Drafted California-specific addendums to the company’s handbook and policies.
- Advised startup as it retained an independent contractor to establish its national marketing program. Drafted independent contractor agreement to significantly minimize risk of litigation.
- Revised a renewable energy education center’s employee handbook as to comply with state and local employment laws.
Labor & Employment Due Diligence
- In connection with SemiFive’s acquisition of Analog Bits, Inc.
- In connection with Aveanna Healthcare, LLC’s acquisition of Dunn & Berger, Inc. dba Accredited Nursing Services, for a base purchase price of $180 million, plus up to $45 million subject to satisfaction of certain 2021 volume targets.
- In connection with IF&P Food Holdings Company, LLC’s (a portfolio company of Rotunda Capital Partners) acquisition of Get Fresh Produce, LLC.
Adam Reinke
Partner,
King & Spalding LLP
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Adam Reinke defends class actions and high-stakes product liability lawsuits involving automobiles, medical devices, and consumer goods in federal and state courts throughout the United States.
Adam represents product manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in all phases of class actions and other complex cases. In addition to his experience as a litigator, Adam has written chapters in several practitioner treatises, including a chapter on class actions in Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (2d ed.) and a chapter on food and drug litigation in Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (4th ed.)
Adam graduated first in his class from Emory University School of Law. While in law school, Adam served as the Executive Articles Editor of the Emory Law Journal. After law school, Adam clerked for the Honorable Edward E. Carnes, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Joe Santiesteban
Partner, Cybersecurity,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
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Joe Santiesteban is a trusted cybersecurity lawyer and strategic advisor, who regularly steers clients through data breaches as a partner in crisis management.
He brings significant experience advising companies – from one of the largest telecommunications providers to leading entertainment companies to startups on the cutting-edge of AI and more – on the full cycle of an incident. Joe also advises clients regarding regulatory investigations, class actions, and contract disputes that frequently flow from privacy and cybersecurity incidents.
His goal is to help clients respond quickly and with integrity to protect their brand, build trust and mitigate legal risk. Joe is highly adept at directing incident investigations, analyzing potential claims and defenses, examining potential notification obligations and advising on communications strategies that build trust and engagement.
Joe is committed to using these experiences to find creative and engaging strategies to help companies proactively prepare for an incident and mitigate cybersecurity legal risk. This includes helping to build and improve incident response programs through incident response plans, simulated incidents, threat workshops, and training. It also includes assisting clients with practically evaluating the legal risk of security decisions in a variety of transactions and across the product lifecycle.
He also provides strategic advice to cybersecurity companies, including those looking to push technological and defense boundaries in cyber defense, incident response, and threat intelligence. This includes helping companies maximize their security offerings by navigating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), and the Federal Wiretap Act, as well as state law analogs.
Joe serves on Orrick’s Pro Bono Committee. A leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives, Joe is the co-head of the Latinx affinity group at Orrick and served as a fellow for the Leadership Counsel on Legal Diversity. He is also a member of the Washington Latino Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association.
Brian P. Sylvester
Partner,
Perkins Coie LLP
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Brian Sylvester, a partner in Perkins Coie’s Washington, D.C., office, focuses his practice on food and beverage regulatory matters before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and analogous state regulatory bodies. He is a leading authority on food tech regulation and serves as a trusted advisor to global brands, startups, life science companies, investors, and trade associations.
His practice also extends beyond food and beverage to include cosmetics, OTC drugs and other consumer products and, across all these regulated product categories, spans enforcement actions, audits and investigations, regulatory compliance, labeling and advertising, import and export, due diligence, consumer litigation, comment preparation, public policy advocacy at the federal and state levels, and new product development.
Brian has particular and extensive experience in developing regulatory strategies to commercialize a range of food tech innovations, including transgenic crops and alternative proteins like cultivated meat, among others. He leverages his experience as a former regulator at USDA to counsel clients on strategic considerations around engagement with and advocacy before USDA and FDA on numerous complex issues, including those of first impression. For example, within the past year, Brian obtained a greenlight from FDA for a leading Israel-based precision fermentation startup to commercialize a proprietary milk protein produced without cows.
Brian is a prolific author and frequent speaker at industry-leading events in the United States, Asia, the European Union, Israel, and other parts of the world. Examples from the past year include: (1) In February 2024, Brian was a featured speaker in Barcelona, Spain at the Meat Evolution Leaders Summit (MEVO); (2) this past November 2023, he presented in Beijing, China at the China International Food Safety & Quality (CIFSQ) Conference; and (3) last summer, Brian presented a session on US food tech regulation to MassChallenge Israel in Jerusalem, Israel.
Sean Spence
Partner,
Proskauer
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Sean Spence is a partner in the Corporate Department and a member of the Private Funds Group. He advises asset managers in connection with private equity fund formations, internal governance and ongoing fund operations.
As a US-qualified lawyer based in London, Sean maintains a global practice covering multiple fund jurisdictions across several strategies, including buyout, energy and infrastructure, real estate, credit and emerging markets funds.
Sean also advises a diverse group of institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds in connection with their global alternative investment strategies, including negotiating investments in primary and secondary transactions across a variety of vehicles and asset classes.
Sean has received several awards for his contributions to the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, including for his tenure as chair of the Black Lawyer Affinity Group and having launched the Firm’s A Path Forward speaker series on racial equity. He has also served as a key member on the Firm’s Hiring and Summer Program Committees.
Sean was previously based in the Firm’s New York office and, prior to joining Proskauer, was an associate in the investment funds group at White & Case.
Other Distinctions
Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch 2023-2024
National Bar Association: “40 Under 40”
The Legal 500 United Kingdom: Investment Fund Formation & Management: Private Funds 2024
Allison Brooke Tomlinson
Principal, Regional Counsel,
Gensler
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As the Northeast (and formerly, Latin American) Regional Legal Counsel, Allison is responsible for multiple offices across the region. She developed the firm’s first compliance program, which acts as the foundational guide for Gensler’s business practices. She also is a Strategic Legal Advisor to various practice areas and communities, including Product Design, Digital Experience Design and the Global Design Realization leaders. Additionally, Allison is a co-Chair of Gensler’s Global Race and Diversity Committee.
In 2017, Allison was recognized by Engineering News-Record as a “Top Young Professional” for her impact in the design industry, as well as being named to the GC Powerlist U.S. Latin American Specialists list. In 2019 and 2020, she was named as a Lawyer of Distinction in the In-House Counsel category. In 2021, she was listed in the National Black Lawyers Top 100 List. And in 2022, she was selected as one of Crain’s New York Business Notable Black Leaders. She was the Co-Vice President of the NY Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute, and is a member of The Fourth Floor, a networking community for women in leadership. She is a former board member of the Greater NY Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and Co-Chair of the ACC’s Long Island Chapter, and former member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, where she served on the annual gala committee. She currently is on the board for the Center for Architecture and is active in the scholarship committee. Allison holds a Bachelors in Architecture from University California Berkeley, a Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University, and a Doctorate in Law from Hofstra University.
LeDeidre S. Turner
Assistant General Counsel,
Exelon
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LeDeidre S. Turner is an Assistant General Counsel in the regulatory litigation department of Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd). In this role she represents ComEd in regulatory proceedings and other relevant litigation as well as advises clients with respect to all legal matters. During her time with ComEd, LeDeidre has been an active member of her company’s Legal’s DEI Committee Community and Pipeline Subcommittee as well as volunteered with her colleagues to create wills for veterans and first responders and complete expungement documents for those seeking to move forward in life.
Prior to joining ComEd, LeDeidre served as a Commissioner on the Illinois Human Rights Commission (IHRC) where she also served as the vice-chair. In this role, she resolved complaints of discrimination filed under the Illinois Human Rights Act. Prior to joining the IHRC, she was an Assistant Commissioner of Prosecution and Adjudication for Business Affairs and Consumer Protection with the City of Chicago. In this role she provided guidance, direction, and training to attorneys and law clerks in the division. She also co-managed labor relations for the department and assisted all divisions with labor-management issues. Prior to joining the City, LeDeidre was an Assistant State’s Attorney with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO). She began her career there in the Child Support Enforcement Division. From there, she moved to the Juvenile Justice Bureau, Child Protection Division. She was also assigned to the Juvenile Justice Bureau, Delinquency Division where she reviewed and prosecuted misdemeanor and felony offenses committed by juveniles. She ended her career with CCSAO in the Felony Review Unit where she reviewed cases presented by law enforcement and made ultimate charging decisions for felony cases in Cook County.
LeDeidre currently serves as the Vice President of Education and Information for the Cook County Bar Association, as well as the Co-Chair of its annual Minority Law Student Job Fair, the largest of its kind in the Midwest. She is also a member of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago. LeDeidre serves as a Board Member for Legal Aid Chicago and Foster Progress. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Lambda Tau Omega Chapter. LeDeidre received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology Spelman College and a Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School now known as UIC School of Law.
Onika K. Williams
Of Counsel,
Steptoe LLP
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Onika K. Williams is Of Counsel in Steptoe LLP’s Transportation practice in Washington, DC. Onika advises clients on compliance and enforcement before Surface Transportation Board (STB), the economic regulator of the railroads. Clients benefit from her experience as a legal advisor in the STB’s Office of Proceedings. While there, she advised the Board in proceedings arising under the ICC Termination Act of 1995, involving questions of statutory, administrative, and constitutional law.
Prior to the STB, Onika served as a Law Clerk at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission where she advised and assisted three judge boards in adjudicating cases under the Atomic Energy Act, regarding nuclear safety, security, and the environment.
Outside of private practice, Onika is involved with various bar associations on the local and national levels. For instance, Onika served as the 2020-21 Chair for the National Bar Association Young Lawyers Division during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Onika’s leadership, the NBA YLD led or co-sponsored almost 70 virtual programs and was named the 2021 Division of the Year by the NBA President. She has volunteered as a writer with the American Bar Association’s Litigation News publication and has published over 30 legal articles.
Onika is also an avid volunteer within the Washington, D.C. community and serves through several organizations, including the Junior League of Washington (JLW), where she previously served as a Presidential Appointee for the Junior League for Washington’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Task Force. In her prior role as Assistant Council Director for the JLW’s Community Affairs Council, Onika helped to oversee five committees that are responsible for bringing JLW’s focus on literacy to the forefront of the League’s programming in the community, provided increased opportunity for hands-on work for JLW members, and forged new literacy-focused partnerships and collaborations. Onika also serves as DC Social Action Coordinator for her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In this role, she leads DC-wide social action activities for the organization’s local chapters to assist DC’s most vulnerable communities with voting registration and education efforts and other outreach efforts. She also assists in organizing the organization’s local advocacy efforts in meetings with our U.S. Congressional delegate and DC councilmembers.
A member of the Florida Bar and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, Onika was named a 2023 Law360 Rising Star in Transportation; 2023 Rising Star in Transport: Rail & Road – Litigation & Regulation by Legal 500 US; 2021 Kim M. Keenan Advocacy & Leadership Award Recipient by the Washington Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (WBA YLD); a 2020 Rising Star Award Recipient by the Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women Lawyers Division, National Bar Association (GWAC); a 2019 Young Lawyer of the Year by the WBA YLD; a 2019 “Nation’s Best Advocates” 40 under 40 Honoree by the National Bar Association; and “Top 40 Under 40” of Washington, D.C. by The National Black Lawyers in 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.
Kenneth Trujillo-Jamison
Co-Managing Partner,
Willenken LLP
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Kenneth Trujillo-Jamison uses his sharply honed analytical and strategic skills to efficiently handle his clients’ most complex and challenging matters. Having spent time on secondment, Kenneth knows the importance of aligning litigation strategy with his clients’ business objectives. Kenneth has been recognized as “One to Watch” in the 2021 and 2022 editions of Best Lawyers and a SuperLawyers Rising Star for 2021, and has been selected to The National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 List.
Kenneth’s successes in the courtroom abound. As but one example, as a member of AbbVie’s 100%-diverse trial team in “one of the five big healthcare lawsuits” of 2020, Kenneth helped convince the Delaware Chancery Court to find Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. liable for breach of contract. At trial, Kenneth examined and defended multiple expert witnesses.
Kenneth also has deep experience litigating entertainment matters. Kenneth is currently defending Disney and Pixar in a copyright infringement case involving the film “Moana,” and a prominent portrait photographer in a right-of-publicity case brought by the rapper Jay-Z. He also helped convince two other district court judges to dismiss on the pleadings copyright infringement claims involving motion pictures, ending those matters before discovery.
Kenneth also is experienced defending technology companies in litigation about users and user-generated content posted on their platforms. As but one example, he successfully obtained dismissal, on Communications Decency Act grounds, of an action seeking to hold a social media company liable for claims arising from the suspension of a user from its platform.
Kenneth also has experience in consumer class actions. He has, for example, represented Procter & Gamble in a dispute involving claims of unfair and deceptive labelling for a popular body wash product, and Mattel and Fisher-Price in false advertising cases involving a popular infant product. Kenneth also has experience counseling Southern California Gas Company on regulatory issues before the California Public Utilities Commission.
Aside from his practice, Kenneth is a leader in the Los Angeles legal community. Kenneth is a past member of the Board of Trustees for the Los Angeles Copyright Society, a members-only organization of attorneys who practice in copyright, trademark, communications, and related areas that meets monthly to hear speakers present on varied topics of vital and current interest to practitioners. He is also the President of the Board of the Inner City Law Center, which works towards ending the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the poorest and most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles, and is also a past president and current board member of the Housing Rights Center, Los Angeles’ largest public interest law organization dedicated to enforcing fair housing laws.
Kenneth is also active in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal community. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the California Minority Counsel Program and the past Chair of California Minority Counsel Program’s Ambassadors Council. He also served on California Minority Counsel Program’s 2019 Annual Business Conference Planning Committee. Finally, Kenneth is also a 2022 Fellow and a 2018 Pathfinder in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity program.
Prior to joining Willenken, Kenneth practiced at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. He also served as a law clerk for The Honorable Judge Paul J. Watford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In his time away from the law, Kenneth enjoys listening to podcasts and spending time with his wife and his two young children.
Debo Adegbile
Partner, Chair, Anti-Discrimination Practice,
WilmerHale
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Debo P. Adegbile, Chair of WilmerHale’s Anti-Discrimination Practice and a member of the firm’s Government and Regulatory Litigation Group, focuses on a range of matters at the intersections of law, business, government, not-for-profit, and education law and policy. He regularly represents colleges, universities, and higher education sports leagues, and was a member of the team that successfully defended university admissions policies and practices at trial and on appeal in SFFA v. Harvard. That case is now pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Debo also represents companies assessing ESG strategies. He regularly provides strategic counseling in high-stakes cases, anti-discrimination matters and investigations. Debo’s expertise extends to advising corporations on civil rights audits and assessments. He recently led the team that conducted the Google civil rights audit and is currently co-leading McDonald’s civil rights audit.
Debo has deep experience representing clients in matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice. He was lead counsel in the negotiation of the Baltimore police department’s consent decree following the killing of Freddie Gray, and the interagency resolution of the NYCHA False Claims Act housing conditions investigation. Debo also has assisted clients in responding to government inquiries about their uses of AI technologies. In 2020, he was appointed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals as amicus curiae to brief and argue an en banc Fair Housing Act appeal involving an issue of first impression.
Debo is a member of WilmerHale’s Global Management, Compensation, Recruitment, and firmwide Executive Diversity and Inclusion Committees. In addition to his practice at the firm, Debo recently completed a six-year term as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, following his appointment by President Obama.
Prior to joining the WilmerHale, Debo spent more than a decade litigating cases for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where he served in several leadership roles. At LDF, Debo argued significant civil rights cases in the U.S. Supreme Court (including Shelby County v. Holder, and Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder). He also previously served as senior counsel to the Chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where he worked on the initial version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act bill. Debo has testified before congressional committees several times, including in support of the 2006 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.
Debo chairs the Board of Trustees of Connecticut College and sits on the Boards of NYU School of Law and the Vera Institute of Justice, of which he is Vice Chair. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Council for the Center for Democracy and Technology and the advisory board of the Policing Project at NYU School of Law.
Among other recognitions for his civil rights advocacy and public service, Debo has received awards from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Southern Center for Human Rights, Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee, Latino Justice, The American Constitution Society, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
Hon. Marla O. Anderson (Ret.)
Mediator and Arbitrator,
JAMS
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Hon. Marla O. Anderson (Ret.) joins JAMS after almost 30 years as a judge. Judge Anderson brings her collective leadership skills as a court, judicial education and judicial branch leader. While on the Monterey County Superior Court, she presided over each of the court’s calendars and served as presiding judge. She also served as faculty as well as dean of the Witkin Judicial College of California. For 10 years, she served on the Judicial Council of California, the policymaking body of California’s court system. In addition to serving on its various committees, she served as chair of the Litigation Management Committee, which oversees litigation and claims against the trial and appellate courts, the Judicial Council and employees of those bodies that seek recovery of $100,000 or more or raise important policy issues. Judge Anderson also chaired the Legislation Committee, where she was instrumental in helping to pass key judicial reforms in California. Prior to the bench, Judge Anderson began her legal career as an associate attorney with Sacramento law firm Weintraub, Genshlea, Hardy, Erich & Brown. She subsequently joined the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, where she tried many cases as a deputy district attorney prior to appointment to the bench. Judge Anderson is collaborative and insightful when mediating. She has “the unique ability to take difficult issues, break them down into manageable components and then facilitate a candid and intelligent discussion about solutions.” She is “adept at drilling down on what matters and closing the gap between opposing interests.” She is known in the legal community as through, well prepared, fair and impartial. The following case types were handled by Judge Anderson as a jurist.
Damien Atkins
Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel,
Aura
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Damien Atkins is an accomplished business and legal executive with experience overseeing corporate governance, securities regulation, ethics and compliance, M&A, government investigations, and privacy matters.
Prior to Aura, Damien led legal operations at The Hershey Company and at Panasonic Corporation of North America, also serving as CEO of Panasonic Enterprise Solutions. Additionally, as SVP, Deputy General Counsel – Corporate and Chief Compliance Officer for AOL Inc, he supported the company’s spin-off from Time Warner. Damien holds a BA in History from Stanford and a JD from NYU School of Law.
As Aura’s Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, Damien is responsible for legal and regulatory affairs as the company navigates a period of high growth and rapid innovation.
Genhi Givings Bailey
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer,
Perkins Coie LLP
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As Perkins Coie’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and a member of the Senior Leadership Team, Genhi Givings Bailey is responsible for developing and executing the firm’s strategy to attract, recruit, retain and promote diverse talent and to foster a firmwide culture of equity, inclusion, and belonging. Genhi works with other firm leaders and firm management to advance Perkins Coie’s long-held commitment to diversity and to embed inclusive practices into all the ways in which the firm runs its business.
Previously, Genhi led the strategic diversity and inclusion efforts at another large law firm for over 10 years; during which time, the firm received numerous diversity awards and recognitions for its progress. She is a former music lawyer and holds a J.D. from Mitchell Hamline College of Law (formerly William Mitchell College of Law).
Genhi believes that creating and fostering more diverse and inclusive workplaces and communities is everyone’s responsibility, and she consistently works to encourage people to learn more and to do more to advance the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
Michelle Banks
Strategic Advisor & Executive Coach,
BarkerGilmore
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Michelle Banks is a Strategic Advisor at BarkerGilmore specializing in providing executive leadership coaching to women general counsel. She also delivers keynote speeches and leads strategic and professional development workshops. For ten years, Michelle was Global General Counsel of apparel retailer Gap Inc. Before joining Gap, she worked as legal counsel for the Golden State Warriors NBA team and in Tokyo as American counsel for Itochu Corporation. Her prior law firm practice with Sheppard Mullin and Morrison & Foerster in California and New York focused on corporate finance and international commercial transactions.
Michelle co-founded UCLA Law Women LEAD, a network of more than 4,200 women law students and alumnae at her alma mater, and Ms. JD’s LaddHer Up retreat, pairing women general counsel with women law firm associates for inspiring professional development and mentorship. From 2007-2017, Michelle served on the board of directors of MCCA. She served as board chair of MCCA from 2015-2017 and was a member of the board’s executive, governance, and strategy committees over her ten-year tenure. She also co-chaired MCCA’s diversity gala from 2015-2017.
Michelle has received many national awards, including the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Woman Lawyer of Achievement award, for her professional accomplishments and her dedication to enhancing the careers of other women lawyers. Michelle and 22 co-authors published a best-selling anthology Women in Law Discovering the True Meaning of Success, which is available from Amazon, bookshop.org, and other book sellers, and is intended to empower people to define their own pathways to success in their lives, with proceeds benefiting nonprofit Ms.JD.
Paula Boggs
Founder,
Boggs Media, LLC
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Paula Boggs is the founder of Boggs Media, LLC, a business that manages her music, speaking, and other creative business activities. She is a TEDx© Speaker, Writer, Lawyer, Army Veteran, and Musician. She is also a Board Member of numerous organizations.
Paula Boggs served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Starbucks Corporation from 2002 to 2012. In 2009, NASDAQ© named her its top general counsel. Her prior professional experience includes serving as Vice President Legal at Dell Computer Corporation, and as a partner at the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP. She also had a 14-year career in public service, including as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and in various capacities as an attorney for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Legal Counsel. She served eight years as a Regular Officer in the United States Army, earned Army Airborne wings and a Congressional appointment to the US Naval Academy – among America’s first women to do so.
Paula Boggs is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University. She was also an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law. Since leaving Starbucks, Paula Boggs gives speeches across the United States and beyond, writes essays and music, co-produces albums for, and tours extensively with, Paula Boggs Band. In 2013, President Obama appointed her to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in 2018 she received the Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award and in 2021 Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX) conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws.
Paula Boggs owns several U.S. Copyrights and is a Voting Member of The Recording Academy, Pacific Northwest Chapter.
Errin Braddock
Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer,
Enterprise Mobility
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As vice president and chief diversity officer, Errin Braddock is responsible for bringing the organization’s strategic vision for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). That includes developing and implementing an enhanced global DE&I strategy to advance key initiatives, as well as tracking and communicating progress toward organizational objectives.
Braddock joined Enterprise in 2008 in the role of employment counsel. In 2014, he was promoted to assistant vice president for labor and employment. He advanced to vice president for labor and employment in 2020 before the promotion to his current position in 2021.
Braddock has guided and supported the company’s DE&I team since its inception, emphasizing content creation, training, and accountability for the company’s many DE&I programs. He is a key advisor for the organization’s HR professionals, general managers and other senior leaders on difficult issues related to race, age, gender, and disability opportunities.
Prior to Enterprise, he specialized in labor and employment matters as an associate at Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin (now Husch Blackwell) law firm in St. Louis. Throughout his career, Braddock has provided counsel and support on affirmative action compliance, inclusion and diversity training and equal opportunity laws.
Outside of his full-time job, Braddock has dedicated his time and expertise to organizations committed to serving underrepresented communities. He has served on more than 10 local boards of directors, including his current involvement with the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, Girls Inc., and De Smet Jesuit High School.
Braddock earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hampton University and Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
Andrea Bricca
Managing Partner,
DHR Global
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Andrea Bricca has recruited top legal talent for 25 years. She leads searches for General Counsel, Ethics Officers, Chief Compliance Officers, and various senior in-house legal and compliance professionals across industries. Andrea has extensive experience placing high-caliber legal talent, with companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 and in public and private organizations. She also has a strong record of matching lawyers at all levels of expertise with top law firms, smaller regional firms, and boutiques.
Andrea is Managing Partner of the Legal Practice and the Las Vegas office for DHR Global. Prior to joining DHR, she served as a Partner with the legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa. She began her search career as a Recruiter with The Portfolio Group, one of California’s top legal search firms. She currently hosts the podcast GENeration eXecutive, where she interviews executives from Generation X. She previously hosted the podcast Between the Legal Lines, where she interviewed women General Counsel.
Additionally, Andrea spent 11 years with AlliedSignal, Inc. (now Honeywell), where she developed legal and business expertise as Manager of Ethics and Business Conduct in the company’s Los Angeles aerospace division and in congressional relations and marketing for the government relations office in Washington, D.C.
Andrea earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the University of Maryland. Andrea holds certificates in Ethics in the Workplace from the Josephson Institute on Ethics, Managing Ethics in Organizations from Bentley College; and a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification from AlliedSignal Aerospace Six Sigma Academy. She is active in the Las Vegas philanthropic community and a member of the Leadership Las Vegas class of 2011.
Tim Brown
President, Venerable Investment Advisers
EVP & Chief Legal Officer, Venerable Holdings
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Tim Brown joined Venerable Holdings, Inc. in June 2018 as the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary. He leads the Law and Compliance Departments and is responsible for a range of areas including corporate governance, securities, regulatory law, compliance, litigation, mergers & acquisitions, commercial contracting, intellectual property, and government affairs. In 2023, he was appointed to the additional role of President of Venerable Investment Advisers where he has P&L responsibility for the investment adviser business line.
Previously, Mr. Brown was Vice President and Chief Counsel for Voya Financial, Inc., a Fortune 500 financial services company. During his time at Voya, Mr. Brown served as M&A, Corporate Transactions, and Regulatory Counsel. As a member of the leadership team, he took the company public in 2013 and played a pivotal role in driving global market realignment and margin expansion initiatives. He also led successful industry efforts to pass legislation to further strategic business priorities.
Mr. Brown started his legal career as a Corporate and Securities attorney with King & Spalding, LLP before moving to Greenberg Traurig, LLP. He is currently a member of the board of trustees of Venerable Variable Insurance Trust and the board of directors of the Federation of Iowa Insurers. He is also the past Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Hands on Atlanta board of directors.
A native of Nashville, TN, Mr. Brown earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee State University, cum laude, and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
Kori Carew
TEDx speaker, Keynote speaker, belonging & inclusion strategist, truthteller,
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.
Kori brings a fierce love of community and belonging that embraces differences to her work, ministry, and life. 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 and leadership development as well as diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging topics. 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. Beyond her work within organizations she actively serves her community as a civic leader. Her TEDx, Just belonging: finding the courage to interrupt bias can be found here.
Rayen Dennis
Director, Trial Attorney,
USAA
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Rayen P. Dennis serves as Director, Trial Attorney at USAA, a Fortune 100 financial services company that proudly serves the military community. As Director, Rayen leads a team of attorneys and legal assistants within the Chief Legal Office in defense of members and USAA in auto and homeowners’ litigation in San Antonio and Austin.
Rayen has defended clients in various areas ranging from personal injury and wrongful death to catastrophic loss and civil rights violations. An experienced trial attorney, Rayen has consistently earned results for her clients in and out of the courtroom, often finding creative resolutions by recognizing that monetary gain may not always be the solution.
Rayen graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School before beginning her practice at a large commercial and business litigation firm in Chicago where she handled a range of cases in both Federal and State courts.
Rayen is bilingual in Spanish as she was born and lived in Chile until age six. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and being outdoors with her husband and two young children. Additionally, she is an active volunteer serving on boards at her church and her children’s school.
Joseph Drayton
Partner,
Proskauer Rose LLP
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A first-chair trial lawyer, Joe Drayton has represented some of the nation’s most prominent companies across a wide array of industries in all facets of intellectual property (IP) litigation before both state and federal courts, as well as the International Trade Commission and American Arbitration Association.
Joe has more than two decades of experience specializing in both domestic and international intellectual property and complex commercial disputes, including patent, trade secrets, copyright, trademark and trade dress and false advertising across diverse industries. He also counsels clients in all aspects of IP acquisition, transfer, protection and enforcement.
Joe is a trusted advisor for several corporate executives and a national leader in the legal community. He is regularly recognized as one of the top lawyers in the U.S., having consistently been named to the IAM Patent 1000 list. Most recently, Joe received the C. Francis Stadford Award by the National Bar Association, the highest award bestowed by the association that is given to a member whose leadership, integrity, legal skills and devotion have inspired colleagues and contributed greatly to the legal profession. A longtime bar leader, Joe served as the 76th president of the National Bar Association and is also a former vice president and Board chair of the New York City Bar Association.
Ellen Duffy
Senior Vice President, Employment Law,
Lincoln Financial Group
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Ellen Duffy is Senior Vice President, Head of Employment Law at Lincoln Financial Group where she leads the Employment Law team, providing executive leadership, strategy and legal representation for all aspects of human resources, including labor, employment, employee benefits and immigration. Ellen provides strategic counsel to senior leadership on employment-related legal issues such as diversity and inclusion, and discrimination and harassment prevention. Ellen serves as the Executive Sponsor for Lincoln’s Legal Diversity Action Team.
Ellen has 30 years of experience in all aspects of labor and employment law. Previously, she worked for Genworth Financial where she served as Deputy General Counsel, focused on labor and employment, for nearly 15 years. Prior to that, she was Vice President, Senior Employment counsel at GE Financial Assurance. She was also a partner with LeClair Ryan and held various other leadership roles within the labor and employment legal space including the firm, Goodwin Procter, and the Equal Employment Advisory Council.
Ellen began her legal career as law clerk intern for the Honorable William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She earned her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and American Studies, magna cum laude, from Wellesley College. Ellen serves on the board of directors for the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger and has served as a board member for Feed More: central Virginia’s core hunger relief organization. Ellen is a member of the American Employment Law Council, the nation’s premier organization of senior labor and employment attorneys.
Judy Estes
Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Services & Strategic Growth,
Mastercard
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Judy Estes is Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Services & Strategic Growth at Mastercard. She is responsible for leading global legal teams that support Mastercard’s Services and Strategic Growth business units, which collectively provide value-added services including data analytics, cyber security, AI, fraud and authentication services, consulting, open banking marketing and loyalty services, and supports our engagement with government partners and promotes financial inclusion and philanthropic initiatives. Ms. Estes also serves on executive management teams in the business units and the law department to help set and deliver on the groups’ strategic initiatives as well as day-to-day operational goals.
Prior to the current position, Ms. Estes managed a legal team that provided transactional expertise and other general support that drive revenue, strategic initiatives, regulatory, litigation, and general matters in the US Markets. Prior to this role, Ms. Estes held a few positions at Mastercard supporting the company’s largest and global customer relationships and other strategic transactions, including managing the then-newly formed Strategic Transactions Group, a legal team that provides support to Mastercard’s mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures and global initiatives that launched innovative products and partnerships.
Prior to joining Mastercard, Ms. Estes was a corporate associate with the law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, and managed clients and handled various complex transactions in connection with mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, project finance, private and public financings and general corporate matters.
Ms. Estes graduated from Fordham University School of Law and received her Bachelor of Science degree from Binghamton University, School of Management, with a double concentration in Finance and Management Information Systems.
Natasha Fapohunda
Senior Vice President & Assistant General Counsel, Strategic Growth,
Mastercard
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Natasha Fapohunda serves as Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Strategic Growth at Mastercard, responsible for leading a global legal team focused on growing strategic partnerships, scaling new business opportunities, and advancing the company’s efforts to partner with governments and other institutions to address major societal and economic issues. Her team also supports all aspects of sustainability/ESG, financial inclusion, and inclusive growth efforts. Natasha co-leads the Mastercard Pro Bono Committee and ‘In Solidarity’ program. She serves as Vice Chair of the environmental justice organization, Groundwork Hudson Valley and is on the Board of the Legal Aid Society. Natasha is an advisory board member of the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project and was appointed to New Rochelle’s Community Police Partnership Board. Natasha started her legal career at Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, after earning a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University.
Alicia Forte
Senior Counsel,
Verizon
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Alicia Forte is Senior Counsel at Verizon Business Group, specializing in enterprise commercial contracting. Alicia serves as the primary legal contact for a host of customers, including retail and financial accounts located in the Northeast and South areas. She provides strategic legal advice concerning legal and business matters arising from complex commercial agreements.
Alicia’s extensive experience and knowledge includes providing guidance to the overall enterprise organization, where she has been enlisted to assist on various corporate wide legal projects. Alicia manages the contract managers on her team.
Alicia has been with Verizon since 2008, supporting enterprise customers. Prior to arriving at Verizon, Alicia was an associate for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP and Pepper Hamilton LLP (now Troutman Pepper) where she was a commercial litigation associate specializing in antitrust cases. Alicia received her Juris Doctorate degree from Villanova University School of Law and her Bachelor of Science from the first accredited HBCU, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
Andrew Friedman
Executive Vice President, Legal Affairs and Crisis Communications,
BerlinRosen
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Andrew Friedman is an Executive Vice President and leads the firm’s Legal Affairs and Crisis Communications practice. The Legal & Crisis team builds and executes complex communications strategies for nonprofits, institutions, corporations, C-suite executives and more, frequently partnering with clients’ outside counsel in doing so. Andrew partners with a wide range of clients, from global technology companies and multiple AmLaw 50 firms to Sandy Hook families and international philanthropies, to plan for and manage communications around high-stakes legal battles, corporate challenges, leadership transitions, organizational conflicts and reputational threats. Before joining the firm, he was the Deputy Communications Director for the New York State Attorney General and, before that, spent 15 years in broadcast journalism at CBS, NBC and Fox.
John Gilmore
Co-Founder & Managing Partner,
BarkerGilmore
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John Gilmore is the co-founder and Managing Partner of BarkerGilmore. With more than three decades of experience in executive search, John has skillfully navigated BarkerGilmore on its path to becoming the highest quality boutique in-house legal, compliance officer, and leadership advisory firm in the country. Dedicated to the advancement of others and functioning seamlessly across industries, John is a key advisor to many of the world’s most successful companies. Internally at the firm, John oversees the large and sophisticated recruiting function by heading up a team of high-performing executive search consultants. He is well known for his uncanny capacity to mentor and bring out the best in others.
John’s discretion and ability to move both quickly and effectively through the lifecycle of an executive search make him one of the most trusted and sought-after senior recruiting consultants in the industry. While leading Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer search assignments, often on a confidential basis, John partners closely with CEOs, CHROs, and Board Members of major organizations, including those of Fortune 1000, emerging growth, PE-owned, VC-backed, non-profit, and government entities.
Accolades
Considered an authority on succession planning, compensation, and employment trends for legal and compliance, his monthly articles are read by thousands of the top law firm and in-house lawyers in the country. He is often quoted in the press, and his insights have appeared in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Corporate Board Member Magazine.
Education
John holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Experience
John’s unparalleled reputation in executive search and assessment led him to develop the next-generation CustomFit℠ process, which is employed in every BarkerGilmore engagement. This innovative tool provides a powerful recruiting solution yielding rates of candidate placement, diversity, and retention that are consistently far above industry average. John’s assessment process reveals the soft skills critical to candidate selection. Being Hogan Certified and having a wealth of experience, John’s reliance on key candidate indicators such as emotional intelligence and the ability to serve as a strategic advisor continues to be integral to his success.
Jay Grant
Chief Legal Officer,
The Trade Desk
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Jay R. Grant is the Chief Legal Officer of The Trade Desk, Inc.
In this role, Jay leads a global team of attorneys in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, responsible for governance and growth of company in its 35 offices in 19 countries.
Jay’s legal career includes stints as EVP & General Counsel of Univision Communications Inc.’s (UCI) Digital and News divisions and an officer for over two dozen broadcasting networks, cable networks, digital and mobile properties and over 120 television and radio stations. He has served as EVP & General Counsel at UCI’s English language media division, representing digital publishers, cable networks, a studio, and brands like the Root, Deadspin and the Onion.
Jay has managed corporate governance and advised boards of directors while leading corporate development and strategic growth group.
Jay has also served on the board of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications. He started his career in private practice at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.
Jay is an alum of Harvard College (A.B.), Berkeley Law (J.D.), and N.Y.U. (MBA). A Washington D.C. native, he now resides in Manhattan with his family.
Kayla Delgado Grundy
Senior Associate, Employment Litigation,
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
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Kayla is a trusted advisor to companies big and small on a wide range of employment issues including discrimination, harassment, pay equity, and general wage and hour compliance. Kayla is an experienced class action litigator, but also brings her experience to bear in defending companies in systemic investigations and audits by state and federal agencies, including the EEOC and OFCCP. Kayla is a member of Orrick’s Pay Equity and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task forces where she collaborates with colleagues to develop thought leadership in those areas of practice.
Allie Holubis
Counsel, Human Resources Law Group (HRLG),
IBM Corporation
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Allie Holubis is Counsel in IBM’s Human Resources Law Group (HRLG) at Corporate Headquarters where she supports global HR and serves as HRLG support for the IBM Software business unit. She is responsible for providing legal advice and counsel and working on creative solutions on US employment law and employee relations matters, including hiring, performance management, terminations, restrictive covenant enforcement, the use of artificial intelligence in HR, and compliance with various state and federal laws, including but not limited to ADA, ADEA, CCPA, FMLA, FLSA and Title VI. Allie also serves as the HRLG CHQ focal for D&I policy and AI in HR.
Tamaron Houston
Real Estate Partner and National Co-Chair of Firm’s Diversity, Action & Inclusion Team,
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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Commercial real estate transactions require responsive and agile counsel. As a partner in one of the top 5 real estate practices in the US, clients turn to Tamaron to help them navigate complex transactions and decisions efficiently, across offices and practices. She partners with them on a wide range of matters, including commercial mortgage loan originations, securitizations, acquisitions, and dispositions of raw land, commercial real estate, hotels, and multifamily real property.
Tamaron represents clients including (but not limited to) banks, life companies, developers, national retailers, special servicers, start-ups and technology companies.
She represents lenders in connection with CMBS financings, multi-state mortgage loan portfolios, and master and special servicers on distressed assets, remedies, and workouts. In defaulted loans and workouts, she advises servicers and borrowers on forbearance and settlement agreements, loan modifications, restructuring, foreclosures, and deed-in-lieu agreements.
Clients engaged in acquisitions and dispositions of real property, including technology companies and start-ups turn to Tamaron for guidance. She counsels her technology clients in connection with site acquisition and construction matters and other ground-up development issues unique to data centers, including, without limitation, energy connections, utility supply agreements and land use planning.
Having started her career in Texas, a major Energy hub, Tamaron has and continues to represent clients in energy related industries, including the acquisition and disposition of oil and gas facilities and dealings with regulatory agencies related to entity acquisitions, and advises clients on lien and security matters common to oil and gas properties and investments.
Throughout her legal career, Tamaron has committed to empowering others. She is national co-chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Action Team. Since 2012, Tamaron has also chaired the Spelman and Morehouse Internship Program, which provides undergraduate students who are interested in attending law school with an opportunity to gain practical law-firm experience working at Seyfarth. She is also a member of Seyfarth’s Lawyer Development Committee.
While in law school at the University of Virginia, Tamaron clerked for the NAACP legal department in Houston, Texas during Hurricane Katrina, helping evacuees with landlord and tenant disputes, wrongful evictions, and foreclosure matters.
Tamaron uses Seyfarth’s Lean Six Sigma approach and unique technology tools in her everyday practice. These tools are an integrated and integral part of the way she handles and staffs transactions.
Ana Iacovetta
Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer,
Cisco
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Ana Iacovetta is the Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at Cisco. Ana has over 20 years of in-house legal and compliance experience. She started her inhouse career at IBM where she held a number of leadership posts, including as the head of Trust & Compliance group for IBM’s Growth Markets, based in Shanghai. After IBM she joined VMware and served there as VP, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer for almost 6 years. Her expertise in governance, compliance, and financial accountability along with her people-first approach to business established her as a leader with sound integrity. She currently manages a worldwide multicultural and multidisciplinary group of legal, compliance and anti-counterfeiting professionals.
Mike Jackson
GM & Associate General Counsel
Compliance & Ethics (C&E) Governance, Training, and Culture
Corporate External Legal Affairs (CELA)
Microsoft Corporation
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Mike Jackson serves as Associate General Counsel and Head of Microsoft’s Compliance & Ethics Governance, Training, and Culture team. Mike’s team advances Microsoft’s culture of trust and ethics through several centers of excellence, including anti-corruption and regulatory legal advice, compliance training, compliance communications, culture of compliance analytics, and global readiness which ensures that Microsoft’s products and goods are localized, inclusive, and reflect Microsoft’s values globally. Mike is a member of the Corporate, External, Legal Affairs (CELA) Leadership Team and has held other leadership roles within Microsoft. 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 was recognized as part of the 2024 Empower Executive Role Model List sponsored by YouTube, which highlights senior executives of color who have broken barriers and glass ceilings within their fields and companies.
Neil Jackson
Counsel
State Farm
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I serve as Counsel in the Life/Health/Investment Planning Services unit of the Law Department at State Farm®. In this role, I primarily supervise litigation and provide legal advice related to life, disability income, and (supplemental) health insurance products and annuities. I also advise Corporate & Business Development on contractual matters related to strategic alliances.
While in college, I interned at State Farm for two summers in the Law Department before starting full-time as an Employee Relations Analyst in the Human Resources Department in Bloomington, Illinois. I then had the amazing privilege to live and work in Washington, D.C. for seven years as a Public Policy Analyst in the Federal Affairs Office of the Law Department before returning to Bloomington for my current role.
My bachelor’s degree is in political science and economics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. I graduated magna cum laude from American University Washington College of Law. I hold the ChFC®, CPCU®, and CLU® designations. I enjoy volunteering on the boards of State Farm Federal Credit Union, four different state life and health insurance guaranty associations (IL, IN, WY, CO), National Conference of Insurance Guaranty Funds, as well as a local non-profit, Providing Access to Help, Inc., or PATH.
I grew up in a small, rural town in North Central Wisconsin. Outside of work, I enjoy rowing, yin yoga, pickleball, reading fintech news, and volunteering. My husband, Christopher Charles Jackson, also works for State Farm as legislative/regulatory counsel.
Karina Juarez
Associate General Counsel, Cybersecurity and Regulatory Compliance,
Microsoft Corporation
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Karina Juarez is Associate General Counsel for the Microsoft Security organization. She leads the team responsible for external engagement, threat intelligence sharing and legal support for product engineering, business development and regulatory compliance in the cybersecurity space. Karina is currently the Chair Emeritus of the Corporate External and Legal Affairs D&I Council and is accountable for defining global priorities and executing Microsoft’s D&I plan across 54 countries. She partners with senior leadership and human resources on D&I strategy, including supporting, developing and retaining diverse talent.
Malaika Lindo
Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion,
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
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“At Morgan Lewis, diversity is not just a concept we talk; it is an asset we cultivate. Our firm’s culture emphasizes inclusion by ensuring access to development opportunities; by prioritizing collaboration of diverse perspectives to better support clients; and by holding ourselves accountable in having open conversations about our own efforts.”
Malaika Lindo directs Morgan Lewis’s global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and collaborates with senior leadership and the engagement and talent teams to create a workplace that is as diverse and inclusive as possible, consistent with the firm’s core values. In this leadership role, Malaika directs a team of seven in developing data-driven recruitment, retention, and advancement programming for the firm’s talent and leadership; is a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee; supports the firm’s lawyer and professional staff networks; liaises with firm clients; and collaborates across virtually every firm administrative department to achieve DEI goals.
Malaika, a lawyer by training, began her legal career representing global financial institutions in a wide range of complex domestic and cross-border financing transactions. During those six years, she assisted in the development of Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Department of Diversity and Inclusion, with a focus on community engagement, pipeline strategy, inclusive leadership programming and performance building initiatives. She later joined Sidley Austin as East Coast Regional Manager of Professional Development, where she focused on designing lawyer programs to promote career development ownership, collaboration with colleagues, and full engagement of each attorney within the firm. Following Sidley, she joined Eversheds Sutherland as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to lead the development of diversity-related client collaborations, practice group integration of inclusive leadership best practices, and participation in the Move the Needle Fund initiatives by Diversity Lab. Her experience in private practice as an attorney and administrator has provided her with the unique ability to assess and develop internal structures in order to maximize effectiveness of law firm strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Malaika received her J.D. cum laude from Jacob D. Fuchsberg Touro Law Center, an M.A. in Political Science from Long Island University, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Allen Lo
Deputy General Counsel and VP, Intellectual Property,
Meta
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In his 30+ year career, Allen has held senior leadership roles at three high-growth Silicon Valley tech companies—Meta, Google, and Juniper Networks. He also has significant experience in private practice and government, and has been recognized as a DEI thought leader in the legal industry.
Allen currently serves as Deputy General Counsel and Vice President at Meta. During his seven-year tenure, he has had responsibility for overseeing various functions, including IP, product counseling for all of Meta’s products (including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, AI products, Quest VR headset, and Metaverse), and legal operations, managing a combined team of 400 people at its peak. He led Meta Legal’s D&I steering committee and served as executive sponsor for Meta Legal’s LGBTQ+ and API affinity groups.
Before joining Meta, Allen was Deputy General Counsel for Patents and IP Litigation at Google for six years, responsible for Google’s patent strategy in defending Android during the high-profile Smartphone Patent Wars which involved Google’s $12.5B acquisition of Motorola to obtain patents to use against Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle. Allen successfully resolved the disputes and preserved Android’s availability in the marketplace.
Allen also served as Deputy General Counsel and VP Legal at Juniper Networks for 12 years where he was responsible for litigation, IP, product counseling, privacy, legal operations, and support for the Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance committee. He’s also worked in private practice and government. His diversity work has been recognized through industry awards, including the Business Impact Award by the Asian Law Alliance and the Top 50 General Counsels award by the National Diversity and Leadership Conference.
Richard Lui
News Anchor (MSNBC, NBC News, CNN), Author, Filmmaker
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Richard Lui is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years in broadcast journalism, film, technology, and business. Currently an anchor at MSNBC / NBC News and previously with CNN Worldwide, Lui was the first AAPI male to anchor a daily national news show. The team Emmy and Peabody winner is also the longest-serving AAPI male in the national anchor seat, now for almost two decades. Lui is seen as an authority on race and intersectionality and has spoken at over 500 community events related to gender, race, and equity over the last decade, and remains one of the longest-serving correspondents who has reported on communities of color without pause.
Lui is the author of the bestselling and award-winning book “Enough About Me” from HarperCollins Zondervan, as well as author of the groundbreaking Inclusion@work risk reports released at Davos, SXSW, and CES. As a film director he recently released the Oscars- and Grammy-qualifying documentaries ‘Sky Blossom’ (2021) and ‘UNCONDITIONAL’, (2023) which were honored with an unprecedented series of premieres at the White House, U.S. Congress, United Nations, and European Parliament.
Richard’s overlapping 20-year business career includes time at Citigroup, Oliver Wyman, Mrs. Fields Cookies, a fintech patent, and launching six tech brands over three business cycles. As an NACD Fellow, he has served on private and NGO boards in the AI, gender equity, and human trafficking sectors. In 2017, Lui founded PRISCA, a not-for-profit organization focused on action-based narrative change strategy. He is a volunteer and celebrity caregiving ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Association, AARP, Plan International, BrightFocus, and Caring Across Generations.
Sumit Mallick
Deputy General Counsel,
Brex
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Sumit started his legal career at Berkeley Law as a Colbentz Civil Rights Fellow. As a fellow, he worked on education civil rights work with the NAACP LDF, MALDEF and the ACLU to address inequities in the public education system. After graduating from law school, Sumit worked as a Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights focusing on affirmative litigation in the area of educational equality. At the Lawyers’ Committee, Sumit worked as co-counsel on an affirmative litigation against the New Orleans school district for its disparate treatment of disabled students. Sumit was also part of a team that sought injunctive and compensatory relief against the state of Maryland for its long standing disparate funding of the state’s HBCUs. Sumit then joined the law firm of WilmerHale in Washington, D.C. where he was a part of the appellate and while collar groups. Sumit represented clients in a variety of industries focusing on internal investigations, regulatory inquiries, and appellate matters. Sumit maintained a robust pro bono practice while in the private sector. Sumit co-chaired a class action lawsuit with the SPLC against the city of Mobile, Alabama for its practice of long-term suspending students without proper due process which disparately impacted minority students. Sumit also briefed and argued several state appellate arguments on gay marriage and LGBT adoption rights. Sumit transitioned to public service and joined the Department of Justice in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Sumit’s career in public service focused on prosecuting violent crimes, sexual assaults, human trafficking, drug cartels, gun trafficking, cyber crimes, and financial crimes. Sumit more recently has returned to the private sector where he led the Global Litigation and Investigations team at Stripe prior to joining Chime in his current role as the Head of Litigation and Product.
Jorge Martinez
Senior Assistant General Counsel, Platforms and Emerging AI,
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.
James I. McClammy
Partner, Civil Litigation,
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
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Jim is a seasoned trial attorney with a broad litigation practice. Financial institutions, corporations, debtors, creditors and creditor committees look to Jim for representation in a wide range of matters, including securities, commodities and antitrust class actions, bankruptcy-related litigation, and other complex federal and state law litigation. These matters cover a range of industries, including finance, pharmaceuticals, private equity, airline, and energy.
Clients appreciate the effort he invests in finding the optimal solutions to their cases. Given the size and complexity of his typical cases, there is clearly no one-size-fits-all approach. To this end, Jim focuses on developing a bespoke litigation strategy to deliver the desired results, while balancing each client’s objectives and budgetary constraints with what is at stake in the case.
Jim’s recent matters include the representation of banks, other financial institutions and hedge funds in class actions asserting violations of the federal securities and antitrust laws; lenders and other creditors in contested bankruptcy litigation; pharmaceutical and other debtors in challenging chapter 11 proceedings; and the foreign representatives of numerous companies seeking relief from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Hossein Nowbar
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Vice President,
Microsoft Corporation
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Hossein Nowbar is Microsoft’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Vice President, leading a multidisciplinary team of legal, business operations, government, and community affairs professionals. His team supports Microsoft’s global engineering, marketing, and sales organizations, enabling customers in over 100 countries. Hossein is a key participant in shaping Microsoft’s policy priorities, fostering public trust, navigating complex regulatory landscapes, and ensuring the company’s business operations are conducted with integrity and compliance around the world. Passionate about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in the legal profession, Hossein is leading the integration of AI and Microsoft Copilot within the legal department. His strategic approach generates actionable insights, scales operations, enhances agility, and drives further innovation. Additionally, Hossein is a champion of leveraging Microsoft Copilot to multiply the impact of pro bono and social good efforts and aiding partners in their digital transformations.
Before assuming his current role, Hossein served as General Counsel for Corporate Legal Affairs, leading the teams responsible for Microsoft’s intellectual property, litigation, compliance and ethics, competition and market regulation, HR and immigration, finance, M&A, business development, and legal operations. As Microsoft’s corporate secretary, he oversaw corporate governance and the teams responsible for providing strategic legal counsel to Microsoft’s business leaders on a broad range of legal and regulatory issues. Since joining Microsoft in 1997, Hossein has participated in or led numerous negotiations—including overseeing the legal strategy for Cloud + AI and Open Source Counseling—resulting in intellectual property and competition law agreements with competitors and governments around the world.
In and outside of work, he is a strong advocate and leader in diversity and inclusion efforts. He is a member of the Pro Bono Institute’s Corporate Pro Bono Advisory Board and the Executive Sponsor of Microsoft’s Pro Bono Program, focused on inspiring and empowering Microsoft employees and community partners to create solutions that promote justice for all by providing those in need with access to legal knowledge, resources, and services. In addition, Hossein is a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and serves on the Association of Corporate Counsel Global Board of Directors.
Dede Orraca-Cecil
Partner, Head of U.S. Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Practice,
Egon Zehnder
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“I’m energized by understanding who you are, what motivates you, where you want to go, and how far you are on that journey. I want to know and understand people and develop strong relationships along the way.”
Dede Orraca-Cecil is a trusted advisor to CEOs, boards and senior executives across industries. As the Leader of the firm’s U.S. Legal Practice and member of the firm’s Board and CEO Advisory Practice, Dede consults on a wide range of talent acquisition and leadership solutions to help meet the challenges that many of her clients face as their industries grapple with a dynamic shifts in regulation, new corporate governance demands and the need for greater stewardship and risk assessment across the public, private and third sectors. Dede is also a fellow with the Aspen Institute with a focus on helping companies move beyond the rhetoric of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into practical strategic planning and implementation.
Before joining Egon Zehnder, Dede was a Principal at Tapestry Networks, a strategy consulting firm specialized in creating multi-stakeholder public-private partnerships to address issues in health care, finance, and corporate governance. Previously, she was a Litigation Associate in the New York and San Francisco law offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Dede also spent a number of years working in global health, development, and foreign policy with the World Health Organization, the Clinton Foundation, Yale’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS and others.
Dede earned a JD from Columbia University School of Law, a master’s degree in global health policy and development from Yale University, and a BA in art history from Williams College. She is passionate about her husband and four young children, and about promoting women’s leadership. She is currently building an organization, called “She Rules,” to introduce elementary school girls to politics and civics.
Tony Pierce
Partner in Charge – Washington DC Office,
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
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- A litigator with a winning trial history across numerous industries and areas of law.
- Handles sensitive, high-value litigation.
- Is highly engaged in key legal and business organizations throughout the Capital Region.
Tony Pierce is the partner in charge of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Tony draws on more than three decades of trial and litigation experience to deliver positive results. Clients look to Tony as a problem-solver, an aggressive advocate and a reliable source of practical legal advice. His clients span an array of industries, including technology, telecommunications, health care, energy, media and entertainment, financial services and government contracting.
His range of cases is equally broad. Tony has defended large class actions and complex commercial disputes involving breach of contract, consumer protection, data privacy, trade secrets, product liability, intellectual property and high-level employment claims. He also has conducted numerous internal investigations. An experienced trial lawyer, Tony brings well-honed litigation skills, ingenuity and a vigorous presence.
Throughout his career, Tony has been an active force in legal organizations, including the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia.
Tony is also highly engaged in influential business organizations in the Capital Region. He is the past chair of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and serves on the board of the Greater Washington Partnership, a group of civic-minded business leaders investing in solutions that drive growth and create economic opportunity. He is also the General Counsel of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. and a member of the Federal City Council.
Victoria Reese
Partner,
Heidrick & Struggles
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Victoria Reese is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ New York office and the global managing partner of the Corporate Officers practice with oversight of the Legal, Risk, Compliance and Government Affairs, Financial Officers, Human Resources, Marketing and Technology Officers practices. Prior to this, she served as the first global head of Diversity & Inclusion, advancing the firm’s commitment to D&I internally and externally. She has served on the H&S Management Committee since 2017.
Victoria places top legal talent in General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer and other senior roles across all industries and around the globe. In addition, she focuses on executive searches for compliance professionals, Board members and other corporate governance executives. She is an advisor to many of her clients on succession issues and, by drawing on the talents within Heidrick’s assessment and advisory services, she helps them to create programs that accelerate their team’s performance.
Victoria is a sought-after speaker and moderator on leadership trends involving corporate governance, succession, diversity and crisis management. She has presented programs at Stanford Law School’s Directors’ College, GAPABA, the Practicing Law Institute, Best Lawyers and Minority Corporate Counsel Association, amongst others.
Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Victoria worked for a boutique financial services recruitment firm focused on recruiting senior management in operational and marketing roles. Victoria also spent five years in various not-for-profit organizations.
Victoria is a member of the President’s Advisory Council at Vassar College. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Komera, a group that works in rural Rwanda to develop and support young women through education, community development and sport; and Advocates for Children of New York, an organization that provides legal and advocacy services to at-risk students in the New York City school system. For two years, Victoria served on the Capital Campaign Committee for the Windward School.
Victoria earned a BA in art history from Vassar College.
Tom Robertson
Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel,
Microsoft Corporation
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Tom Robertson leads the Corporate, External & Legal Affairs team that supports the Experiences and Devices Group, which is responsible for Office, Windows, M365, Microsoft Surface devices, Teams, and many other products and services. He has led several other teams in Seattle, Tokyo, and Hong Kong since joining Microsoft in 1997. Before Microsoft, Robertson served as Associate General Counsel in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where he was responsible for intellectual property issues globally and general trade issues with U.S. trading partners in the Asia Pacific region. Before that, Robertson practiced law at Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C., and London, England, and was a law clerk to the Honorable Albert Bryan, Jr., then Chief Judge in the U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.
Robertson holds both Bachelor of Science and Law degrees from the University of Virginia. He is admitted to practice in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Washington State. He serves on the Boards of the National Bureau of Asian Research, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and Town Hall Seattle. He is a Life Member of the Council of Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program.
He lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife and three daughters.
Dariely Rodriguez
Acting Co-Chief Counsel,
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
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Dariely Rodriguez is a Deputy Chief Counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law where she works closely with the President and Executive Director, the Chief Counsel, managers, and staff to provide strategic guidance for litigation and advocacy projects that advance racial justice. Dariely serves on the organization’s Senior Leadership team and plays a key role in supporting synergy and integration across the organization’s practice areas, and overseeing the professional development of the organization’s legal staff.
Dariely previously served as the Lawyers’ Committee’s Economic Justice Project Director, where her work focused on combatting discrimination in employment, healthcare, and economic opportunities on behalf of communities of color. In this capacity, she served as plaintiff-side counsel in various impact litigation matters. Dariely regularly co-authors or otherwise significantly contributes to amicus briefs before the Supreme Court and other federal courts.
Dariely currently serves as an adjunct professor at GW Law School. She previously served as a political appointee Chief of Staff in the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor under the Biden Administration. Earlier in her career, she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau in the Office of the Attorney General of New York and worked in private practice focusing on labor and employment issues.
Dariely received her J.D. from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University where she was the recipient of the Dwight L. Greene full tuition scholarship. She received her B.A. from New York University.
Yolanda Sanders
Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Gap Inc.
Division General Counsel, Athleta
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Yolanda Sanders is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Gap Inc., a portfolio of purpose-led, billion-dollar lifestyle brands including Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta. She provides day-to-day leadership of the Gap Inc. Legal Department, which includes oversight over the department as well as functional teams, on behalf of more than 120,000 employees, millions of customers, and Gap Inc. brands worldwide. She leads the company’s Global Employment Law, Corporate & Finance Law, Global Equity Administration, Corporate Secretary’s Office, Corporate Governance, Legal Operations, Real Estate Law and Employee Relations and Engagement teams Yolanda is also division General Counsel to Athleta brand serving on the brand president’s leadership team.
Beyond her work as legal counsel for Gap Inc., Yolanda played a pivotal role leading the Company’s Coronavirus Vaccine Task Force, a cross functional team tasked with development and implementation of the Company’s global COVID safety and response strategy. Yolanda also champions the company’s commitment to inclusion and belonging and works tirelessly to bring it to life for all. Through her work with Gap Inc.’s Equality & Belonging team, in 2020, she helped develop, craft, and launch the Company’s Commitments to Create For All, With All. On the Legal team, she co-leads diversity and inclusion initiatives for her department to foster an environment of belonging and support the engagement and development of department members to achieve their full potential. Her work is crucial to the Legal team’s mission to drive increased diversity among legal leadership across the profession through recruiting and hiring practices, engagement with law firm providers, and partnership with key diversity organizations like Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), Diversity Lab, and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD).
Yolanda is a 2019 LCLD Fellow and served on the Advisory Board for Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule: Legal Department Edition 2.0. In 2022, Yolanda was selected as an inaugural Journey Fellow, a unique, year-long program designed to accelerate the diversity and trajectory of women in leadership. She currently sits on the Journey Board.
Yolanda is also a dedicated volunteer in her community, involved parent, and a member of planning committees in the Castro Valley, California education system, where her two children attended school.
Amanda Sonneborn
Partner,
King & Spalding LLP
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Amanda is a partner in King & Spalding’s Global Human Capital and Compliance practice. She advises and represents clients across a number of industries in strategic employment related issues in the United States, including employment, employee benefits, labor relations, and diversity issues. Amanda has handled a wide-variety of bet the company litigation matters, labor organizing campaigns and collective bargaining, high level executive investigations, and projects relating to workforce reorganizations and diversity strategy. She has advised employers on complex issues relating to harassment and discrimination claims, pay equity strategy, and worker misclassification. Amanda has a particular focus on technology companies and the issues that they face with their workforces.
Amanda’s employment related counseling and litigation experience includes serving as lead defense trial counsel in “bet the company” employee litigation matters, as well as addressing executive level, harassment and discrimination allegations, independent contractor risks, and union organizing campaigns. Amanda provides strategic guidance to clients regarding key employee issues, such as workforce reorganizations and diversity program development, including management of potential brand impact of such issues. She has also served as outside counsel and independent counsel to boards of directors and executive team members in connection with internal investigations and highly sensitive government investigations.
Amanda also has considerable experience in the area of employee benefits risk management. Amanda has advised high level executives regarding their fiduciary obligations for effective management of their employee benefit plans. Her ERISA and employee benefits experience includes defense of and advice regarding claims for benefits, breach of fiduciary duty claims, cash balance plan claims, breach of contract claims, and ERISA Section 510 employment discrimination claims. Amanda has handled class actions, as well as hundreds of single-plaintiff cases, brought in federal court under ERISA. Amanda has also counseled clients regarding Department of Labor investigations and issues relating to their benefit plans’ investment strategy. She often speaks on ERISA risk management issues and serves as a chapter editor for the American Bar Association’s book on employee benefits.
Within the arena of labor relations law, Amanda has served as national counsel to several corporations facing targeted corporate campaigns. She has experience advising clients during all aspects of union organizing campaigns, including public relations, government relations, and investor relations issues that arise during the course of these campaigns. In addition, she provides clients with day-to-day labor relations advice on a wide spectrum of topics, including independent contractor issues and neutrality agreements. She also frequently negotiates collective bargaining agreements on behalf of clients. Finally, Amanda has handled several appellate cases seeking review of National Labor Relations Board decisions.
Michael Tang
Senior Vice President, Secretary and Chief Legal Officer,
Emerson
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Michael Tang is senior vice president, secretary and chief legal officer of Emerson. In this role, he is responsible for all legal matters and global security pertaining to Emerson, including corporate governance, M&A, compliance, dispute resolution, and corporate and commercial operational matters. He also is a member of Emerson’s Office of the Chief Executive, which helps develop and guide the company’s global business strategies.
Tang has more than two decades of extensive legal and leadership experience. Prior to joining Emerson in 2023, he held the role of senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Agilent Technologies Inc. Before joining Agilent in 2006, Tang served as an associate specializing in corporate and securities at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Fenwick & West LLP.
Tang received his Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School of Business. He is an active member of the State Bar of California and serves on the Board of Directors of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.
Wanji Walcott
Chief Legal and Business Affairs Officer,
Pinterest
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Wanji Walcott is the Chief Legal and Business Affairs Officer at Pinterest and is responsible for leading Legal, Compliance, Public Affairs & Policy, Philanthropy, ESG and Community Operations.
As an experienced senior executive, Wanji advises the senior leadership and the board of directors and has extensive experience with corporate governance, fintech, technology & innovation, compliance, government relations, investigations, M&A, talent management, and diversity. Prior to joining Pinterest, Wanji served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer at Discover Financial Services. Wanji also served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel at PayPal and has also held positions at American Express, Lockheed Martin IMS Corporation and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
She is on the board of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. Wanji also serves on the Frederick Gunn School board of trustees and on the Women’s Board of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Debbie Walters-Francique
Vice President and Assistant General Counsel,
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.
Demetrius Warrick
Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
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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. Mr. Warrick 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.
In recognition of his work, Mr. Warrick has been selected for inclusion in Chambers USA. In 2023, Mr. Warrick was named a Rising Star by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and honored as a Diversity Initiative Winner by the New York Law Journal in recognition of his “significant contributions to progressing diversity and inclusion efforts in New York’s legal community.” He 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.
Joseph K. West
Trial Partner and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer,
Duane Morris LLP
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Joseph K. West is Trial Partner, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and a Member of the Partners Board at Duane Morris LLP. West is an experienced trial lawyer having successfully handled hundreds of matters to conclusion in jurisdictions throughout the country. He manages Duane Morris’ comprehensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program and he chairs the firm’s DEI Consulting Practice. He is an internationally recognized authority in DEI, having worked, lectured and written extensively on the subject. He is the inaugural recipient of the Chambers Lifetime Achievement Award for Equity and Inclusion. He was awarded both the President’s Award as well as the Cora Walker Corporate Award by the National Bar Association, and in 2024 he was inducted into the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame. Savoy Magazine named him one of the nation’s 100 Most Influential Lawyers.
Prior to Duane Morris, West was Associate General Counsel and Head of Global Outside Counsel Management at Walmart Stores Inc.; President and CEO of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association; Assistant General Counsel in the Litigation Group of Entergy Corporation; and spent over 13 years as a litigator and partner in Louisiana.
In addition to serving as co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, West also served as Chair of the ABA Council for the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. West is a member of the Xavier University of Louisiana Board of Trustees. He was recently played by Laurence Fishburne on stage in New York in the play “Like They Do In the Movies” which portrayed his real-life heroics during Hurricane Katrina.
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.
Dwight S. Yoo
Partner,
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
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Dwight S. Yoo is a corporate partner in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. His practice focuses on capital markets and other corporate transactions, with extensive experience in the insurance and financial institutions, including fintech and insurtech, sectors. Mr. Yoo represents issuers, investment banks and private equity firms in public offerings and private placements of equity, debt and hybrid securities, exchange offers and consent solicitations, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, spin-offs and separation transactions. He also counsels clients on corporate governance, SEC reporting and securities laws matters. Representative experience includes IPOs, follow-on offerings, debt offerings, spin-offs and liability management transactions involving The Coca-Cola Company, Sea Limited, Bowhead Specialty, Kinsale Capital, Acrisure, NFP, Marsh & McLennan, Citigroup, American Express, MetLife, Everest Group, Travelers Companies and F&G Life & Annuities. Mr. Yoo received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School.
Mr. Yoo is a global co-chair of the Firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. Mr. Yoo also is committed to pro bono service and twice received the Legal Aid Society Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Service for his representation of low-income tenants in New York City Housing Authority matters. He is a former President of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY).
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. Her areas of responsibility include Litigation, Employment/Labor Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability and Government Affairs.
Previously, she served as Deputy General Counsel for Honda and led their labor and employment, litigation and immigration practice groups. Prior to joining Honda, she practiced litigation with Amlaw firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease in Columbus, Ohio and also clerked for Federal District Court Judge Joseph P. Kinneary in the Southern District of Ohio.
Heidi has a BS in Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and received her J.D. from the Ohio State Moritz College of Law.
She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Columbus, Ohio.