The Top Women Leaders in Law for 2024 (Complete)

Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top Women Leaders in Law for 2024. Throughout the years, women have made great strides in representation in the American justice system and the legal profession. However, there is still work to be done to reach true equality. Less than 30% of law firm partners are women, and at large firms, it’s only 16%. 

That’s why it’s paramount to acknowledge the accomplishments of women leaders in law and provide them with the accolades they deserve and the support they need to continue growing in their careers. 

This year’s honorees feature many women at the partner level, including Helen Maher, Partner of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, a global law firm established in 1792. Maher is an expert in sports law, dominating two traditionally male spaces. 

We also acknowledge the storied career of Jennifer Chheda, the Intellectual Property Partner at Jones Day. With both a JD and PhD in Microbiology, Chheda has 20 years of experience developing and enforcing life science-related patents.

Finally, we extend honors to Britt Miller, Partner at Mayer Brown, a leading global law firm. Miller serves on Mayer Brown’s Global Management Committee and co-leads the firm’s global Antitrust and Competition practice.

Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top Women Leaders in Law for 2024. 

Susannah Torpey
Co-Chair, Technology Antitrust Group & Litigation Partner, Winston & Strawn 

Co-Chair of Winston’s Technology Antitrust Group and a Litigation Partner, Susannah Torpey is a leading antitrust litigator with nearly twenty years of experience representing Fortune 500 companies in multimillion and billion-dollar antitrust class actions, competitor litigations, government investigations, and counseling partnerships. 

Torpey has been repeatedly recognized as a “SuperLawyer,” “Top Woman Attorney,” and a “Star” in Antitrust and Litigation for obtaining critical wins for her clients, whether at trial on behalf of plaintiffs or by winning complete dismissals on behalf of defendants. She has also been recognized as one of the “Top 50 Women Leaders in Technology” and as a high-tech expert. Torpey has further been honored with the Lexology Client Choice Award for her ability to add real value to clients’ business above and beyond the other players in the market based on clients’ praise for her subject matter expertise; exceptional knowledge and capability to handle complex antitrust matters; deep understanding of the operative case law, and ability to apply this knowledge deftly to the important economic and market issues that underlie these cases; as well as her ability to quickly understand the nuances of her client’s business. Torpey has been further recognized as an incredibly effective advocate who is highly regarded for handling complex oral arguments; as a very trusted and valued advisor; and as an excellent outside counsel advisor and a very experienced antitrust litigator.

Torpey has litigated virtually every type of antitrust claim across a broad range of industries, has experience at every level of the federal court system, and has represented clients in both civil and criminal matters, including in criminal antitrust investigations. Torpey also routinely counsels international and US businesses regarding the minimization of antitrust risk, pricing strategies, antitrust compliance, and business issues relating to the use of tech and IP, many of which are key to a company’s global strategy.  She also co-leads the Next Generation Lawyers Association, is a Vice Chair of the ABA Antitrust Unilateral Conduct Committee, and co-leads Winston’s Family Affinity group for the New York office.

Elina Tetelbaum
Corporate Partner, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz

Lina Tetelbaum is a Corporate Partner at Wachtell Lipton, where she focuses on shareholder and hedge fund activism defense and preparedness, proxy fights, takeover defense, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions. She has been named a Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer, one of The Deal’s Top Women in Dealmaking, a Law360 Rising Star for M&A, and one of the 500 Leading Dealmakers in America by Lawdragon, among other honors. She regularly counsels boards and management teams in navigating, resolving, and prevailing in activist situations, proxy fights, and M&A contests, and frequently lectures and publishes on corporate governance and M&A.

Tetelbaum has advised both public and private companies in a wide range of industries in mergers and acquisitions, including Allergan in its $83 billion acquisition by AbbVie, PDC Energy in its $7.6 billion acquisition by Chevron, and successful proxy fight defense against Kimmeridge, Forest Laboratories, Inc. in its $28 billion acquisition by Actavis plc. and successive proxy contests with Carl Icahn, and AbbVie in its $21 billion acquisition of Pharmacyclics. Tetelbaum has extensive expertise advising companies in response to unsolicited takeover offers, including National Instruments in its $8.2 billion acquisition by Emerson following its unsolicited offer, Kansas City Southern in its unsolicited transaction with Canadian National Railway and $31 billion acquisition by Canadian Pacific Railway, Dorian LPG in its response to the $1.1 billion unsolicited proposal by BW LPG, and Vulcan Materials Company in its response to the $4.7 billion unsolicited offer by Martin Marietta Materials.

Tetelbaum received an AB magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and completed a JD from Yale Law School, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal on Regulation and editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, Tetelbaum served as a law clerk to the Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Tetelbaum is the President of the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association, an advisory board member of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, and a board member of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law. Previously, she served as secretary to the Corporation Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and Secretary of the First Generation Harvard Alumni.

Tatiana Monastyrskaya
Partner, Debt Finance, Energy & Infrastructure, Project Finance, Kirkland & Ellis

Tatiana Monastyrskaya is a Partner in Debt Finance, Energy, and Infrastructure and Project Finance at Kirkland & Ellis, one of the world’s leading law firms. Monastyrskaya represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a variety of energy and infrastructure financing transactions, including commercial bank debt, Term Loan B, private placements, and bank-bond deals. She works across energy transition and renewables industries, including battery storage, RNG, carbon sequestration and storage, hydrogen, as well as transmission, LNG, and digital infrastructure. In addition to single-asset project financings, she advises on structuring back leverage and mezzanine financings for acquisitions of portfolios of projects in the context of joint ventures. While Monastyrskaya focuses primarily on representing sponsors in infrastructure financings, she also represents developers in energy transition development projects, and credit funds as direct lenders.

Monastyrskaya first got her start in 1999 as a research assistant at the City University of Hong Kong. From there, she eventually rose to partner, project financing; and energy at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates, her most recent position before joining Kirkland & Ellis.

Monastyrskaya graduated from The George Washington University Law School with a JD, from the City University of Hong Kong with a PhD in economics, and from Lomonosov Moscow State University with a MA and an undergraduate degree in East Asian studies.

Amy Hargreaves
Partner, Latham & Watkins

Amy Hargreaves is a Partner at Latham & Watkins, a global law firm with more than 3,500 lawyers in its offices located in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Hargreaves’ practice focuses on assisting clients within the healthcare industry with internal investigations, responding to government subpoenas, self-disclosures, compliance program development, and physician contracting.  Hargreaves spends the majority of her time defending her clients against False Claims Act qui tam actions, which are commonly used as vehicles for enforcement of the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as various similar state statutes. 

Hargreaves works primarily with large hospital system clients but also has significant experience with medical device and pharmaceutical clients at varying stages of development. She has advised clients on a wide range of compliance issues, from the proper structuring of physician arrangements to the analysis of potential liabilities under the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and numerous regulations relating to federal healthcare programs. 

Hargreaves is the Local Department Chair for the Litigation Department in San Diego. She also served as a past Global Leader of Latham's Women Lawyers Group and currently sits on the Diversity Leadership Committee. She is a member of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce's Healthcare Subcommittee. She is also a member of the Lawyer's Club of San Diego, the San Diego County Bar Association (Law and Medicine practice group), the California State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Health Care Compliance Association, the California Women Lawyers, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, USC Alumni Association and is active in the UCSD Alumni Association’s San Diego Chapter by serving as an alumni and student career advisor. Hargreaves graduated from USC Gould School of Law with a JD in Law and from UC San Diego with an undergraduate degree in political science and government.

Diana Erbsen
Partner, DLA Piper

Diana Erbsen is a Partner at DLA Piper, a global law firm. Erbsen has more than two decades of experience in tax controversy, representing clients in all aspects of sophisticated, challenging, and often high-stakes tax disputes. In 2014, Erbsen was appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Appellate and Review for the Tax Division of the US Department of Justice by President Obama. Following the end of the administration on January 20, 2017, Erbsen returned to DLA Piper as a partner.

In her capacity as a Presidential appointee to the DOJ's Tax Division, Erbsen oversaw its largest section, the Appellate Section, the Office of Review, and the Financial Litigation Unit.  Additionally, she was actively involved in the management and operations of the Civil and Criminal sections of the Tax Division and served in an ex officio capacity on the Bankruptcy Rules Advisory Committee. Since returning to DLA, Erbsen has resumed representing public and privately held corporations, as well as partnerships, estates, and individuals, in all aspects of tax disputes. She concentrates her practice on federal, state, and local tax controversies, including criminal tax matters. Informed by her experience at the DOJ and her historical perspective, she regularly counsels clients on issues relating to judicial deference to IRS guidance, including regulations, as well as on the appeal process and the intersection of criminal and civil tax enforcement. In 2020, Erbsen served as Chair of the IRS Advisory Council (IRSAC), which advises the IRS Commissioner on tax administration issues.

Before joining DLA Piper, Erbsen was an attorney in Gordon Altman. Earlier in her career, she worked with the  United States Tax Court as an attorney-advisor. Erbsen graduated from Northeastern University School of Law with a JD in law, from New York University School of Law with an LLM in tax law, and from Amherst College with an undergraduate degree in American studies.

Stephanie Debrow
Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright

Stephanie Debrow is a Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. Debrow's practice focuses on patent litigation and appeals. She has represented clients in federal district courts across the country and is experienced in the day-to-day management of complex patent litigation, including the development of litigation strategy, coordinating written discovery and document production, taking and defending depositions, working with experts, drafting and arguing claim construction and dispositive motions, direct and cross-examination of trial witness, post-trial briefing, and mediation/settlement. Debrow also regularly practices in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, having briefed and argued patent appeals on behalf of a wide variety of clients. 

Debrow has represented clients in a broad range of technological fields, including wired and wireless networking, network security, telecommunications, Internet and e-commerce systems, distributed computing systems, fintech, manufacturing systems, oil and gas tools and systems, and nutritional supplements. In addition to her patent litigation experience, Debrow tried seven jury trials to verdict while serving as a Deputy Prosecutor for the City of Austin in conjunction with the firm's attorney loan program. Before attending law school, Debrow worked as an engineer for a semiconductor equipment manufacturer, and following law school, she served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Timothy B. Dyk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Debrow first got her start in 2004 as an engineer at Applied Materials. From there, she went on to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, before eventually rising to intellectual property attorney at  Baker Botts LLP, her most recent position before joining Norton Rose Fulbright. Debrow graduated from The University of Texas School of Law with a JD and from Texas A&M University with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.

Summer Austin
Partner, Baker McKenzie

Summer Austin is a Partner at Baker McKenzie. She has spent most of her time in the Washington DC office and was seconded to the Dusseldorf office during 2011 and 2012, where she worked with colleagues in Germany and throughout Europe.

Austin’s practice focuses on tax dispute resolution, transfer pricing, and international tax planning. Specific to the field of tax dispute resolution, Austin has significant experience in audit defense and tax litigation, as well as Competent Authority matters and Advance Pricing Agreements. She has extensive experience in addressing transfer pricing issues, both within the planning and dispute resolution contexts. Austin has also advised clients on a variety of international tax matters.

Before joining Baker McKenzie, Austin completed a judicial clerkship for Justice R. Malcolm Graham at the Massachusetts Appeals Court (2005-2006). She also taught as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center during the spring of 2010 and the spring of 2011. Austin graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD in law and from The University of Texas at Austin with an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary liberal arts.

Michelle Rutta
Partner, White & Case

Michelle Rutta is a Partner at White & Case's New York office and a member of the Securities Group and M&A Group, with over 30 years of experience in securities law, corporate governance, acquisition finance, high-yield debt, and complex securities offerings, often using her knowledge to create innovative solutions for her clients. 

Rutta regularly advises domestic and foreign public companies on the Securities and Exchange Commission, stock exchange, securities law compliance and disclosure matters, and general corporate and governance issues. Clients also seek Rutta's advice in connection with M&A of public companies, stock and asset purchases of private companies, spin-offs, leveraged buyouts, and other acquisition transactions. Rutta has represented companies in numerous acquisition financings in the healthcare industry, with a transaction history that includes high-yield, bank, and equity financings for LifePoint Hospitals, Triad Hospitals, Healthtrust, Inc. and Omnicare, Inc. Rutta advised Omnicare, Inc. in financing its acquisition of NCS HealthCare, Inc., which included the first-ever issuance of a contingent interest, contingent convertible trust preferred security.

Rutta has extensive experience in the retail industry, having represented the underwriters in numerous capital markets transactions for issuers. Other significant deals in which Rutta was involved include her representation of NBC Universal, Inc. in negotiating joint venture ownership arrangements for Universal City Florida Holding Co. and in a related high-yield financing. Rutta has represented acquirers, targets, boards of directors, special committees, and investment banks in numerous negotiated and unsolicited, public and private strategic transactions. Rutta graduated from New York University School of Law with a JD in law.

Carolyn Vardi
Partner & Head of Private Equity Industry Group, Ropes & Gray

Carolyn Vardi is a Partner and head of Ropes & Gray’s private equity industry group. She first joined the company in 2019. Ropes & Gray has approximately 1,500 lawyers and legal professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology, and government in Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington DC. Vardi promotes and supports the development of young women professionals in the private equity and finance industries. She also co-wrote a widely respected report focused on trends that could drive private equity firms to improve gender balance within their ranks and promote more women to senior positions in the field.

Vardi was named “Private Equity Dealmaker of the Year” in 2021 for the middle market by The Deal. She represents international private equity sponsors and corporate clients in a wide range of transactions, including leveraged buyouts, going-private deals, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, and dispositions. She has extensive experience representing buyers and sellers in public and private mergers and acquisitions, including joint ventures and equity co-investments. She has also advised on strategic M&A and bankruptcy-related matters and regularly counsels clients on general corporate matters and corporate governance. Vardi has advised on large acquisitions across many industries and verticals, including financial services, software, healthcare, industrials, and consumer and retail.

Vardi has been consistently recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a leading lawyer in Private Equity. Clients remark that she is “a smart lawyer and has an amazing deal sense and ability to deal with people.” A top private equity attorney, Crain’s New York recognized Vardi in its 2019 Notable Women in Law report, which highlighted her “strong track record in the resolution of complex transactions for both corporate clients and private equity funds.” Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Awards also recently honored Vardi as among the “Best in Private Equity” in the United States. Vardi earned a JD in law from Columbia Law School and an undergraduate degree in comparative literature from Yale University.

Bridget O'Connor
Partner, Business Torts & Litigation, JONES DAY®

Bridget O'Connor is a Partner in Business Torts & Litigation at JONES DAY, a District of Columbia-based multinational law firm that offers legal advisory and support services for sectors, including utility and real estate. O'Connor's clients and colleagues trust that she will master every detail in a way that will make complex issues simple for judges and juries. She has played pivotal roles in developing legal and factual strategies in complex multidistrict and commercial litigation matters and the presentation of those strategies at trial.

Previously, O'Connor was a trial attorney and litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Earlier in her career, she worked with the US Court of Appeals as a clerk, Third Circuit, Hon. D. Brooks Smith. O'Connor has built an expansive reputation as a go-to lawyer for clients involved in sophisticated disputes across the country. She has been on the front lines driving high-profile, highly technical disputes to successful conclusions in state and federal courts, arbitrations, and other forums. O'Connor's successful track record spans multidistrict litigation (MDL) and investigations in a range of matters. Before joining Jones Day, O'Connor obtained in-court wins for BNSF Railway Company in a series of arbitrations; Charter Communications in its Chapter 11 restructurings, obtaining a precedent-setting decision; and EFH in one of the largest and most complex restructurings in history. O'Connor has also held in-court trial roles in noteworthy product liability and mass tort actions.

O'Connor has prioritized public interest and pro bono work throughout her career, including for the plaintiffs in a successful challenge to North Carolina voting restrictions and obtaining a stay of execution and commutation of her client's death sentence in a death penalty appeal. O'Connor earned a JD from Duke University School of Law, an MPP in public policy analysis from Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, and an undergraduate degree in government from the University of Notre Dame.

Claire Rajan
Partner, Allen & Overy

Claire Rajan is a Partner at Allen & Overy. She first joined the company in 2018 as senior counsel. Allen & Overy is a global law firm that helps the world's leading businesses to grow, innovate and thrive. Rajan’s experience includes cross-border litigation, federal and state government investigations, internal investigations, transactional due diligence, and compliance risk assessments. Rajan represents clients across various sectors. Rajan’s investigations practice. She also represents clients in World Bank investigations. She has extensive experience evaluating and enhancing corporate compliance programs, including advising clients during and after FCPA investigations to remediate and comply with self-reporting obligations regarding the development of the compliance program. She also has in-house experience from multiple secondments to major global financial services providers.

Rajan leads A&O’s Political Law Group, which advises multinational corporations and financial institutions on federal, state, and local regulations on campaign finance, pay-to-play, electoral engagement, lobbying, ethics, conflicts of interest, and gifts to public officials. Rajan has been recognized by Chambers USA from 2017 through 2021.

Before joining Allen & Overy, Rajan worked as a litigation attorney for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and served as counsel to Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub. Her FEC litigation experience includes matters at the United States Supreme Court, as well as various federal circuit and district courts throughout the United States. Rajan earned a JD from American University Washington College of Law and an undergraduate degree in political science from UCLA.

Renee Latour
Partner, Clifford Chance

Renee Latour is a Partner at Clifford Chance. Latour has more than 15 years of experience advising clients in international trade regulation and compliance matters, including complex cross-border and domestic issues involving export controls, economic sanctions, and national security reviews of foreign investment conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Latour has extensive experience in the development and implementation of global compliance and training programs, conducting internal investigations representing entities in enforcement actions, and negotiating national security agreements with the US government.

With expertise in US export controls and economic sanctions administered by the Departments of Commerce, State, and Treasury, Latour advises on international trade-related matters related to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), including anti-boycott regulations, and US sanctions programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Latour also counsels on national security matters related to foreign investment and cross-border transactions. Latour also advises on the foreign direct investment reporting requirements of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and other trade and investment-related regulations in the context of mergers and acquisitions. Latour advises clients on matters arising under anti-corruption and anti-bribery measures.

Before joining Clifford Chance, Latour was an attorney at Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Earlier in her career, she worked with Covington & Burling as a paralegal. Latour graduated from Boston College Law School with a JD.

Celine Crowson
Partner, Head of IPMT Americas, Hogan Lovells

Celine Crowson is the Partner and Head of IPMT of Americas for Hogan Lovells. A leading woman in technology law, Crowson, is at the forefront of patent litigation, protection, and commercialization for the world's most valuable technology companies. Crowson uses her technical background in electrical engineering and her deep experience in intellectual property law to provide her clients with practical, winning solutions to their most complex and important problems.

Crowson is a first chair trial lawyer in patent cases in district courts and the International Trade Commission. She has defeated claims amounting to millions of dollars in damages, saved products from exclusion from the market, and obtained numerous dismissals when aggressors were forced to give up after insurmountable hurdles. The American Lawyer has touted her wins for the best-known computer and telecom companies. Crowson has led the patent teams in the most important global technology deals, including one that appeared on the front page of The New York Times. Companies entering into the newest, even disruptive, innovative fields have relied on her skill. Crowson's techno-legal sweet spots include telecom, mobile devices, mapping and navigation, chip technologies, power savings, unmanned and autonomous vehicles and aircraft, automotive technologies, control systems, myriad medical devices, agriculture, and cutting-edge energy technologies.

Crowson is also at the forefront of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent challenge practice. She has been involved in numerous Inter Partes Review proceedings, all of which resulted in creating favorable outcomes for her clients in their patent disputes. Crowson is handling the first-ever instituted Post Grant Review proceeding at the USPTO. Crowson is on the board of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, is a frequent guest lecturer at Georgetown Law School's Class in Entrepreneurship, and is an active alumnus of Duke University's engineering school.

Meghan Rissmiller
Antitrust & M&A Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US

Meghan Rissmiller is the Antitrust and M&A Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US, a global law firm. Rissmiller is active in the firm’s law school and judicial clerk recruiting process. In addition, she is a member of Freshfields’ diversity committee, was co-head of the African-American Attorney Affinity Network at her prior firm, and was a 2017 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) fellow. She’s been representing clients in merger and non-merger investigations for over a decade before the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Rissmiller is consistently recognized for her work and client service by leading industry publications, including Legal 500, Who’s Who Legal, and Lawdragon 500.

Rissmiller is experienced in counseling clients on a wide range of antitrust issues, including competitor collaborations, joint ventures, all aspects of vertical relationships, and contractual arrangements. She has also litigated antitrust cases in federal court and administrative actions. She has significant experience in a variety of industries with a particular emphasis on technology, media and telecommunications; retail and consumer goods; chemicals; and manufacturing. 

Previously, Rissmiller was a partner in the antitrust, competition, and economic regulation practice group at Hogan Lovells. Before that, she was a law clerk at the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Earlier in her career, she worked with SAIC as a national security analyst. Rissmiller is a leader in the American Bar Association's Section of Antitrust Law through her role as a co-chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee. Early in her career, Rissmiller clerked for the Honorable Jane R. Roth of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Rissmiller earned a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and an undergraduate degree in international relations from William & Mary.

Kristin Holland
Partner, Dentons

Kristin Holland is a Partner of Dentons. She litigates commercial, real estate, civil rights, class action, and intellectual property matters. She develops efficient and intelligent strategies to win cases and resolve disputes for private and public corporations, media companies, lenders, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and rights holders ranging from social media websites to film studios to clothing retailers. Holland has litigated copyright, trademark, trade secret, advertising, defamation, and false light claims for media companies throughout the US. 

She has handled class actions involving sweeps of the homeless by the City and County of Honolulu, deprivation of special education services by the state Department of Education, and coverage for applied behavioral analysis treatment under Medicaid for children with autism. In California, she litigated class actions involving closed-captioning on DVDs, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, representations to consumers by an online travel company, California’s Unfair Competition statutes, student admissions at for-profit universities, and tenant complaints related to condominium conversion projects. In the real estate field, Holland has litigated a wide range of cases from inception through appeal, securing full victories at bench and jury trials and through binding arbitration. She obtained a US$40 million judgment against a guarantor developer who defaulted on a loan related to an over 400-unit condominium conversion project in Northern California.

Holland graduated from UCLA School of Law, where she was on the Moot Court Board and an editor of the Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, and received her undergraduate degree in political science from UC, Berkeley. She has been on the boards of the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel, the Center for Law in the Public Interest, the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the West Coast Executive Board of the Women’s Leadership and Mentoring Alliance and was National Chair of Katten’s Women’s Leadership Committee. She was also a judicial extern for Hon. Alan M. Ahart, US Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. Holland has also served as vice chair of the ABA Business Law Litigation's Intellectual Property Subsection, is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, and has been a member of the Litigation Committee of the Media Law Resource Center. She is also a frequent speaker and contributor on litigation practice and intellectual property issues.

Rachel Proffitt
Partner & CEO, Cooley

Rachel Proffitt is a Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Cooley. She first joined the company in 2017 as a partner. Cooley has over 1,300 lawyers across 19 offices in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and a total workforce of nearly 3,000. 

Before becoming CEO in January 2024, Proffitt headed Cooley’s San Francisco corporate practice and served as a member of the strategic committee and board nominating committee. She also was a founder and co-chair of the firm’s legal education committee. Previously, Proffitt was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Proffitt is known as a trusted strategic adviser to public and private companies, as well as venture capital and investment banking firms and other institutional investors, across a broad range of industries. Her corporate and securities law practice focuses on general corporate and complex transactional matters, including venture capital transactions, public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and other strategic transactions, and public company disclosure and corporate governance.

Proffitt earned a JD in Law from the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco, and an undergraduate degree in English language and literature from UCLA.

Tracy Billows
Co-Office Managing Partner, Seyfarth Shaw 

Tracy Billows is the Co-Managing Partner of the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw and past chair of the Chicago office Labor & Employment Department, concentrating her practice on representing and counseling employers throughout the country in the entire range of employment law matters. Billows provides extensive advice and strategic guidance to clients on a wide array of Human Resources topics and issues, including policy development and review, auditing the Human Resources functions, leave and absence management, EEO compliance, reductions in force, employee relations, labor relations, performance management, discipline and discharge, and various other areas, with an emphasis on instituting best practices and avoiding litigation.

One of Billows’ areas of experience is leaves and accommodations. Employers must contend with myriad layers of leave and accommodation laws–federal, state, and local. She provides practical, business-savvy guidance on how to comply with the various leave and accommodation laws, while also helping clients achieve their business objectives. This includes the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, paid sick leave, paid family leave, pregnancy leaves and accommodations, and countless other rules and regulations that employers face. She has also conducted training for employers throughout the country and through Seyfarth at Work, including in the areas of leave management and reasonable accommodation, EEO and non-harassment, employee handbooks, codes of conduct and ethics, managing within a union environment and positive employee relations.

Billows is a former human resources professional who spent nine years in HR in a unionized manufacturing environment. She was also seconded for several months to a client as part of its in-house legal team. These experiences give her the unique ability to better relate to clients and their needs, having been a client herself at one point. It also allows her to be practical when advising on the various legal nuances and compliance options. She leverages the firm's resources in technology and process improvement to support and provide value to her clients. She uses Seyfarth Link, Survey Center, document automation, process mapping, mind mapping, and other innovative tools to increase communication and transparency – and decrease friction and pain points – between client and attorney teams during all client matters, large and small.

Cynthia Krus
Executive Partner, Eversheds Sutherland

Cynthia Krus currently serves as the Executive Partner of Eversheds Sutherland (US) and is on the Global Executive Management Team and the Global Board for Eversheds Sutherland Ltd. In addition to being responsible for the day-to-day management of Eversheds Sutherland (US), Krus focuses on the integration efforts of the firm’s practice groups with the global legal practice and the firms’ operational integration. Eversheds Sutherland provides legal advice and solutions to an international client base, which includes some of the world's largest multinationals. Their purpose is to help their clients, their people, and their communities to thrive. 

Krus works with management teams and boards of directors to develop strategic plans and timing for critical decisions in all aspects of their businesses. She is recognized as a leading adviser to business development companies and small business investment companies. With more than 20 years working in this specialized area, Krus brings deep, hands-on experience to the complex issues – both legal and strategic – faced by companies. She counsels public companies in a broad range of corporate and securities matters, such as corporate governance, crisis management, whistleblower response, disclosure, executive compensation, and shareholder matters.

Krus is the author of the Corporate Secretary’s Answer Book, which is updated annually, and frequently speaks at industry conferences on regulatory, corporate governance, and capital-raising issues. She is also prominent in the community. She recently joined the board of directors for the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. In addition, Krus is a patron of the National Building Museum, the DC Police Foundation (Krus was awarded a “Citizen of the Year” for 2013 by the Metropolitan Police Department), and Bread for the City, where she was a long-time board member. Krus graduated from Tulane University Law School with a JD and from Emory University with an undergraduate degree.

Susan Lafferty
Partner, Holland & Knight LLP

Susan Lafferty is a Partner at Holland & Knight LLP. Lafferty advises clients on compliance issues impacting an array of commodities. Under her leadership, her team has been recognized by Environmental Finance as having the best practices for Northern American Markets, RINs, and renewable energy certificates from 2017 to 2022.

Lafferty is recognized as a leading energy transition adviser on regulatory, commercial, and policy issues related to mandatory climate change programs. She also helps clients navigate voluntary markets and the trading of carbon offsets. Lafferty is part of the firm's Greenwashing Team, helping guide clients through the increasingly regulated and litigated world of green and renewable claims and statements. Lafferty has been at the helm of the response to dozens of enforcement matters and self-disclosures at the US Environmental Protection Agency and in California, as well as inquiries from the Federal Trade Commission and California Attorney General into energy costs. She assists clients with navigating environmental exposures involved in producing, trading, and storing commodities, and has advised on incident responses and crisis management. Lafferty also has helped clients establish trading desks for commodities and carbon credits, including the adoption of compliance programs, as well as assisting with registrations and licenses.

Lafferty first got her start in 1994 as a staff member at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. From there, she went on to Olsson, Frank, and Weeda, before eventually rising to partner in charge of the Washington DC office at Eversheds Sutherland, her most recent position before joining Holland & Knight LLP. Lafferty graduated from George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School with a JD and from the University of Virginia with an undergraduate degree in history and foreign affairs.

Christine Yiu
Partner, Bird & Bird

Christine Yiu is a Partner at Bird & Bird, an international law firm with a focus on helping organizations being changed by technology and the digital world. Yiu has a broad range of experience in contentious IP matters and has handled many copyright, design, trademark, patent, unfair competition, and trade secret disputes. She has also advised clients on non-contentious matters, such as brand management and technology transfer. 

Owing to her science background, Yiu’s special focus is on patent litigation. Her reported patent cases include EMGS v Schlumberger (oil exploration), Nokia v IPCom (mobile phones), iAnywhere v TeliaSonera (communication system), Nichia v Seoul Semiconductor (blue LED), as well as over 50 other patent cases both before the infringement courts in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Xiamen, as well as invalidation proceedings before the Patent Re-examination Board in China. Yiu has worked with clients from the semiconductor, software, consumer electronics, telecommunication, construction equipment, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries since qualifying in 2005.

Previously, Yiu was an associate in the intellectual property group at Bird & Bird LLP. Earlier in her career, she worked with Hogan Lovells as an associate in the intellectual property group. Yiu earned a Master of Electrical and Information Science from the University of Cambridge and an undergraduate degree in intellectual property law from the University of Oxford.

Jennifer Estrella
Partner, Head of Miami Office, Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy

Jennifer Estrella is a Partner and Head of the Miami Office at Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen and Loewy, a leading firm dedicated to immigration services worldwide. Estrella leads the firm’s Miami office and provides counsel on all aspects of corporate US immigration. With a focus on the hospitality industry, she is also among a specific group of immigration attorneys with experience counseling clients on complex, ever-evolving H-2B visas–a category reserved for temporary or seasonal workers. Estrella also works with luxury hotels helping them secure important L-1 visas for the intra-country transfer of their talent.

Estrella serves as an advisor to companies in the following industries: civil engineering, paper manufacturing, advanced filtration materials, universities, travel services, corporate benefit solutions, supply chain solutions, and marine refurbishment. As a first-generation American herself, she has a tremendous appreciation for the human story behind every immigration case she handles. Her personal experience of assimilation, as well as being educated and living abroad, shaped her into who she is–both personally and professionally.

As a leader, Estrella is proud of the culture of mentorship within the Miami office and knows the importance it plays in the career growth of younger lawyers. Estrella’s attentiveness to the development of Associates has won her rave reviews from her mentees and the Daily Business Review’s 2021 “Best Mentors” award. Localizing the firm’s global efforts, Estrella also serves as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion leader for the Miami office. Before joining Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen and Loewy, Estrella was an associate at Gunster Yoakley. Earlier in her career, she worked with Bryan Cave as an associate. Estrella graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law with a JD in law and international legal studies and from Rutgers University with an undergraduate degree in political science.

Marie Napoli
Partner, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC

Marie Napoli has been an attorney for over 30 years and has experience handling complex cases in a full range of practice areas. 

As a founding Partner of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, Napoli plays an integral role in achieving the multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements in the firm’s many practice areas, including the over $1.3 billion settlement in the New York Opioid Jury Trial,  the jury verdict for plaintiffs in the Ohio Opioid Trial (the federal bellwether trial against national pharmacy chains), the $640 million Flint Water Crisis agreement, and the $1 billion settlement in the World Trade Center litigation. The firm continues to be at the forefront of national and noteworthy legal cases, including those involving anti-trust generic drug litigation, Aqueous Film-Forming Foam water contamination cases, where a $1.185 billion agreement with Dupont, Chemours, and Corteva was recently announced, and civil rights matters.

Napoli’s areas of expertise include employment discrimination, civil rights, mass tort litigation, pharmaceutical litigation, medical malpractice, and personal injury cases. 

Allison Helsinger
Equity Partner, Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele 

Allison Helsinger joined Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele in 2014 and currently serves as a partner in the firm’s Lexington, Kentucky office. Practicing primarily in Workers’ Compensation Defense and Insurance Defense, Helsinger is a member of the firm’s Civil Litigation department.  She is a top-rated attorney practicing in the Lexington, Kentucky area. Providing legal representation in Kentucky for a variety of different issues, Helsinger was selected to Rising Stars for 2019 through 2021.

Originally from West Chester, Ohio, a suburb just north of Cincinnati, Helsinger first moved to Kentucky to attend Eastern Kentucky University, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 2007. Upon graduation, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky, to attend the University of Kentucky College of Law. During her time in law school, Helsinger was active with the Trial Advocacy Board, the Student Bar Association, and the College’s renowned, Legal Clinic, providing legal services to low-income persons in Lexington and its surrounding areas. After graduating in 2010 and successfully passing the Kentucky Bar Exam, she joined a regional civil defense firm as an associate in their Lexington office, where she practiced motor vehicle liability, premises liability, product liability, and some employment law throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Currently, her primary practice is in workers' compensation defense, but the office also specializes in civil subrogation, business and transactional matters, civil liability, and collections.

Helsinger is admitted to practice in Kentucky and permitted to appear before the Eastern and Western, United States District Courts, as well as the Supreme Court of Kentucky. She is a member of the Fayette County Bar Association, the Kentucky Bar Association, the Kentucky Defense Counsel, the Women's Law Association, and the Central Kentucky American Inns of Court. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where she is actively involved with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass, the Eastern Kentucky University Alumni Board, and the Chi Omega Fraternity. Specifically, Helsinger is a member of Chi Omega’s legal education team, traveling to college campuses and providing legal education on hot-button issues relevant to women attending college in today’s legal climate.

Caroline Kane
Partner & Co-Chair, Labor & Employment Practice Group, Franczek P.C. 

Caroline Kane is a Partner at Franczek P.C. and serves as the co-chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group. Franczek P.C. has been synonymous with high-quality legal services for employers and educational institutions for 30 years.

Kane regularly counsels employers on various labor and employment-related issues arising throughout all stages of the employment relationship. She represents clients in litigation matters before state and federal trial and appellate courts and in administrative hearings before state and federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Rights. She also counsels and represents employers in traditional labor matters, including collective bargaining, union organizing campaigns, grievance arbitrations, and matters before federal and state labor boards.

She provides clients with proactive counseling in drafting and implementing employment-related policies to ensure compliance with various state and federal laws. She also assists clients with transactional matters, including drafting and negotiating employment agreements, as well as separation agreements. She conducts training for both managerial and non-managerial employees on personnel policies and relevant laws, including policies related to the prevention of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. She advises clients on conducting investigations into employee complaints, particularly in the context of harassment.

Sasha Klein
Partner, PwC 

Sasha Klein is a partner in PwC’s Private practice, where she co-chairs the PwC Trust & Estate Academy. She specializes in ultra-high-net-worth consulting services with a particular emphasis on business-owning families, wealth transfer planning, QSBS planning, family offices, and private trust company structuring.  She also serves as a subject matter expert providing tax and wealth planning advice to individuals and families, including some of the wealthiest families in the region.

Before joining PwC, she was a partner in private law practice, where she served as the Chair of their Estate and Tax planning group. Klein has over 18 years of experience counseling clients on innovative tax and estate planning strategies, as well as trust structures. She has expertise in designing fiduciary and family governance structures to preserve privately owned businesses and manage sensitive family dynamics. Her passion is family legacy, and to that end, she is particularly focused on thoughtfully guiding clients on how to structure their wealth to achieve their goals, protect against risk, and minimize taxes for generations. Klein is also a nationally recognized lecturer and a frequent published author on a range of estate planning, wealth management, and tax law topics. She is very active in leadership with national and state bar and bankers’ associations, and nonprofit boards, including serving as chair of the board for her children's private school, as well as volunteering and supporting several civic and charitable organizations, to better the community in which we live. 

Klein holds a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School and a post-doctorate (LL.M.) in tax law from the University of Florida College of Law – graduate tax program. She also graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida. While practicing law, she was recognized as the top legal talent in the world by the most respected lawyer peer review publication “Best Lawyers in America” an honor conveyed to less than 1% of all practicing attorneys nationwide. She was awarded many other professional honors, including, but not limited to: Florida Legal Elite, Jupiter Top Lawyers, Palm Beach Top Lawyers, and the American Institute of Legal Counsel's 10 Best Estate Planning Attorneys in America. She holds an Accredited Estate Planner Designation, is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, has served as a visiting professor for the University of Florida’s graduate tax program, and was named the Florida Bankers Association 2018 Trust Member of the Year. Always passionate and spirited, Klein loves yoga, nutrition, traveling, rock climbing, and spending time with her family.

Andrea Muchin
Partner, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck

Andrea Muchin, an internationally ranked attorney specializing in high-asset family law and divorce cases, brings over three decades of experience to her practice at Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP. With a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, Andrea combines her extensive legal knowledge with a compassionate and individualized approach to serving her clients.

Throughout her career, Andrea has navigated complex family law matters, employing both negotiation and litigation strategies to achieve favorable outcomes for her clients. Andrea is also a trained mediator. Her expertise spans a wide range of issues including intricate financial matters, business valuations, spousal and child support, custody arrangements, relocation, and visitation rights. Andrea is also skilled in drafting pre-and post-nuptial agreements, facilitating amicable resolutions, and providing guidance to individuals from diverse backgrounds, both inside and outside the home.

With a commitment to personalized service, Andrea takes the time to understand each client's unique circumstances, priorities, and goals. She empowers her clients by providing them with a clear understanding of their legal options and helps them navigate the complexities of family law proceedings. Andrea's approach blends legal acumen with interpersonal skills, ensuring that her clients receive comprehensive support tailored to their specific needs.

In addition to her legal practice, Andrea is actively involved in professional associations including the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Illinois State Bar Association. She is a graduate of the American Bar Association’s Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute and has contributed significantly to the field through lectures and writings on various family law topics. 

Andrea's prolific writing has earned her recognition in numerous legal publications. Her latest piece, "Recognizing Addiction Bias in The Legal Field - What Impact Does It Have?" is featured in the Illinois State Bar Association’s Family Advocate Journal. She also recently contributed a scholarly article on prenuptial agreements to the esteemed Chambers & Partners 2023 Family Law Guide. Notably, Andrea stands as one of only four attorneys from Schiller DuCanto & Fleck to be honored by Chambers & Partners, a prestigious international awards organization, specifically for her expertise in High Net Worth Family Law. Outside of her legal endeavors, Andrea is dedicated to community service, serving on the Boards of the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School and the Jewish United Fund Women’s Philanthropy, among others.

Joan Gilbride
Partner, Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan

Joan Gilbride is a Partner at Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan. Her practice focuses on the representation of management in employment litigation and complex commercial litigation. Her practice also includes insurance coverage litigation and professional liability defense. Practicing law since 1987, Gilbride has obtained extensive pre-trial, trial, and appellate experience in both individual and class actions in federal and state courts throughout the country. She has been admitted to practice on a pro hac vice basis in numerous states and often manages complex litigation on a national basis. Gilbride has tried many cases to verdict to date and has been involved in media-intensive class action litigation. She litigates and arbitrates before administrative agencies as well and is well-versed in ADR proceedings. Gilbride also has significant appellate experience, having briefed and argued numerous appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as New York State appellate courts.

In addition to defending clients in litigation, Gilbride regularly counsels clients on a broad array of employment and commercial law matters, including employment agreements, independent contractor and wage and hour issues, and non-competition agreements. Gilbride is a frequent lecturer for various organizations and clients. She has participated as a panelist for ABA-sponsored employment panels, as well as panel presentations for human resource professionals on various topics. Gilbride also participated in a panel discussion on litigating employment discrimination cases, presenting management’s perspectives on pre-trial and trial practices.

Before joining Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan, Gilbride was a partner at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker. Gilbride graduated from Brooklyn Law School with a JD in Law and from Barnard College, Columbia University with an undergraduate degree in psychology.

Melanie Scroble
Partner, Ansell Grimm & Aaron PC

Melanie J. Scroble is a shareholder and a member of Ansell Law's Commercial Real Estate, Corporate, Finance & Banking, and Residential Real Estate departments. With an impressive track record spanning over 25 years, Melanie has become a trusted advisor for clients nationwide, specializing in complex commercial real estate matters. Throughout her career, Melanie has successfully represented clients in a wide range of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, and financing of various commercial properties across the country. Her expertise lies particularly in shopping centers, retail pads, multi-family apartment buildings, 1031 exchange transactions, and commercial financing and lending. From national REITs to first-time investors, Melanie has built strong relationships with her diverse client base. Melanie's dedication to staying at the forefront of legal developments is evident in her involvement with the International Council of Shopping Centers and her participation as a roundtable speaker at its annual Law Conference.

Melanie is also a valued member of Ansell Law's Controlled Substances and Regulatory Law Department. Her focus on retail leasing for cannabis-related matters in the state of New Jersey showcases her adaptability and willingness to explore new opportunities in emerging industries.

Ansell Law, a prestigious law firm established in 1929, is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year. With its main office in Ocean, New Jersey, and several satellite offices, the firm has built a reputation for excellence and a client-centric approach. Melanie is the on-site managing shareholder at the Woodland Park, New Jersey office, further exemplifying her leadership skills and commitment to the firm's success.

Kimberley Robidoux
Partner, WR Immigration

Kimberley Robidoux is a Partner at WR Immigration, a global immigration firm known worldwide for its innovation, technology, high-touch legal services, and flawless execution. Robidoux is a San Diego-based attorney with over 25 years of immigration law experience counseling corporate clients. 

Robidoux specializes in counseling corporate clients on immigration and related business matters, including corporate nonimmigrant visa matters, as well as employment-based immigrant petitions, such as outstanding researcher, extraordinary ability, multinational manager, and labor certification. She is well-versed in the area of employer I-9 requirements and defends employers against I-9 compliance audits, conducts "in-house" audits to asses, and assists employers in bringing I-9 records into compliance.

Robidoux first got her start in 1999 as a senior associate attorney at Mintz Levin. From there, she went on to Larrabee Albi Coker LLP, before eventually rising to senior attorney at Maggio Kattar, her most recent position before joining WR Immigration. Robidoux graduated from Cornell University ILR School with an undergraduate degree in industrial and labor relations.

Charina Garcia
Strategy & Innovation Partner, Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP

Charina Garcia is the Strategy and Innovation Partner at WR Immigration and manages the firm’s Northern California offices. She represents and advises many Fortune 500 and start-up companies, as well as individuals on both employment and family-based immigration matters. She presents at many industry conferences on the intersection between law and technology, focusing on the firm’s technology, WRapid, a centralized, cloud-based technology, and Enterprise Resource Planning solutions software powered by Salesforce. 

Garcia has been nominated for Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law award under the category Innovators of the Year – Law Firm Individual Finalist. She is appointed to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF), and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and Innovation and Tech Committee. She has served on the Executive Board of the Northern California Chapter of AILA and was the vice chair of the AILA National Liaison Committee for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service’s California Service Center. In addition, Garcia has served on the board of directors for Filipino Advocates for Justice (formerly Filipinos for Affirmative Action) and has previously served on the board for the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC).

Garcia earned a JD from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. While attending the University of Washington, she argued successfully before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and participated in the Refugee and Immigrant Advocacy Clinic. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley earning a major in Economics and a minor in Asian-American Studies.  Garcia is also admitted to argue before the US Supreme Court. She regularly hosts podcasts with Charlie Oppenheim, former Department of State Chief of Visa Control, regarding the Visa Bulletin found on YouTube and Spotify.

Helen Maher
Partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Helen Maher is a Partner of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, a global law firm established in 1792. She helps some of the biggest sports organizations on the planet with strategizing in business transactions and navigating complex litigation.

Maher was previously a partner expert in sports law and commercial litigation for Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm of internationally recognized trial lawyers, crisis managers, and strategic advisors known for their creative, aggressive, and efficient pursuit of success for their clients. After 22 years in this role, she accepted her current position at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in 2022.

Maher received her JD from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, New York.

Tamra Moore
VP, Corporate Counsel, Global Data, Privacy, & AI, Prudential Financial

Tamra Moore is a Vice President and Corporate Counsel for Global Data, Privacy, & AI at Prudential Financial. She works collaboratively with data scientists, marketing, HR, risk management, and others to scale the company's AI governance program according to best practices and compliance with proposed AI regulatory guidance and to improve processes and procedures for intake assessments, third-party risk evaluation, enterprise notice, and consent.

She was previously a partner in King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice, where she leveraged her prior experience as a DOJ attorney representing the United States and its federal agencies to advise clients in government-facing litigation and investigations, including those initiated by DOJ, FTC, CFPB, and State Attorneys General. Before joining King & Spalding, Moore was senior counsel at a Fortune 100, global aerospace and defense technology company, where she managed a diverse litigation docket and played a key role in developing the company’s AI governance framework. Recognizing the growing importance of AI to clients who develop products that rely on AI or use AI technologies in their business operations, Moore obtained a certification in global AI policy. A recognized authority in AI ethics, she is a peer reviewer for the Journal of AI & Ethics and has spoken at national conferences on AI ethics, bias mitigation, and privacy. 

Earlier in her career, Moore was senior counsel in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch, where she represented the United States in complex and novel legal challenges to federal policies and programs impacting healthcare and other regulated industries. She also has experience litigating under federal consumer protection and civil rights laws based on her tenure as senior litigation counsel in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and as a staff attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Financial Practices. Moore earned a JD from Boston College Law School and an undergraduate degree in biomedical ethics and Judaic studies from Brown University.

Ada Okafor
General Counsel & Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer, American Board of Surgery

Ada Okafor serves as General Counsel for the American Board of Surgery (ABS), the national certifying body for general surgeons. She also serves as the inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer (CDEIO). Okafor is the first person of color to hold these positions in the organization’s 86-year history. As general counsel, she leads the organization’s legal, compliance, ethics, and enterprise risk management functions. As CDEIO, she leverages data analytics, coaching, facilitated discussions, workshops, and educational training to promote diversity within the surgical space, cultivate a culture of belonging, and foster employee well-being, innovation, productivity, and retention. 

Before joining ABS, Okafor practiced at national and international law firms, where she specialized in complex ERISA, employee benefits, health, retirement, and executive compensation law. She has received numerous awards for her success. Okafor is an active member of various professional, civic, and alumni organizations, including the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Women’s General Counsel Network, the American Board of Medical Specialties Bar Association, the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, the National Association of Women Lawyers, the ERISA Lawyers Network, the Diverse Lawyers Network, the Nigerian Lawyers Association, the Leadership Development Committee of the DC Bar, the Steering Committee of the American University Washington College of Law Alumni Association (AUWCLAA), and the AUWCL Health Law and Policy Program Alumni Advisory Council.

Okafor holds a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University, a JD from American University Law School, and an undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their three children. She also enjoys writing DEI-focused content, traveling, cooking authentic Nigerian cuisine, photography, graphic design, listening to podcasts, and hosting bespoke gatherings.

Angka Hinshaw
Senior Counsel, Amundsen Davis LLC

Angka Hinshaw is a Senior Counsel for Amundsen Davis LLC. She serves clients who serve the community. She is committed to advising, supporting, and advocating for her clients so they can thrive as health providers. Her years of experience dealing with government agencies, civil and criminal, have helped her successfully and creatively solve complex problems and manage complicated risks. She represents mental health centers, post-acute care facilities, nursing facilities, individual professionals, and other healthcare providers in a variety of matters. 

Hinshaw represents providers in Medicaid fraud investigations, regulatory compliance, professional licensure investigations, third-party payer audits, survey and audit appeals, and involuntary commitment hearings. Hinshaw is heavily involved with the Indiana State Bar Association as a board member, 2023 Annual Meeting House of Delegates Chairwoman, an appointed member of the state bar’s Criminal Justice Section, past chairwoman of the Latino Affairs Committee, and invited member of the Equities Task Force – Police Brutality Affecting People of Color. She co-hosts the state bar’s national award-winning Open Conversations program about race and racism. She is a past board member of the Indianapolis Bar Association and past chairwoman of the Marion County Bar Association. 

Her professional achievements and service to the legal profession have led to her appointment to two Indiana Supreme Court programs, the Judges Lawyers Assistance Program Committee, and the inaugural Indiana Innovation Initiative. Outside the office, Hinshaw enjoys running, collecting unique bookmarks, and perfecting her Spanish. She is an active board member for various boards, including Happy Hollow Children’s Camp and The Milk Bank, as well as service to their Medical Advisory Committee. She is a past milk donor and supporter of the benefits of breast milk to help sick babies.

Diea Schum
Senior Counsel, Donahue Fitzgerald

Diea Schum joined Donahue Fitzgerald in 2021. As Senior Counsel, she currently focuses her practice on construction matters, real estate litigation, and complex commercial litigation. Schum is the co-chair of the firm’s Construction Practice Group and handles all areas of construction from contract negotiations to construction litigation. She is an effective litigator who is not afraid to tackle the most complicated legal issues and tailors her approach to each client based on their objectives.

Before joining the firm, Schum was an attorney in Florida handling commercial litigation matters for Fortune 500 companies, construction and real estate matters, partnership and/or corporation breakups, contract disputes, intellectual property issues, and other business disputes. She began her legal career as a law extern to multiple judges at the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Outside the office, Schum is an avid traveler and even spent time studying law at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has volunteered as the mock trial coach for the local high school and enjoys being an active member of her community.

Ashley Jackson
Co-Founder & CEO, Halo 7 Rum

Ashley Jackson is a global privacy and AI legal expert, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, and community college professor. She is the Co-Founder of Halo 7 Rum, alongside with JeNai Stanley, and she served as the CEO. 

Jackson and Stanley built Halo 7 as a luxury brand that gives honor to their ancestors, celebrates the present, and builds a legacy for the future. Encapsulating richness and complexity with notes of vanilla, coconut, and caramel, Halo 7 defines an exceptionally iconic and indulgent experience, elevating rum to the next level.

In addition to Halo 7, Jackson serves as legal counsel to a prestigious global hospital, an associate professor at her local community college, an officer of E.Y.E. LEAD Foundation, Inc., and a co-founder and board president of Community Justice Alliance in California. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Jackson holds a BS in business administration from the University of Southern California and her JD from Boston University. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and daughter.

Tatyana Ruderman
Partner, InfoLawGroup, LLP

Tatyana Ruderman is a Partner at InfoLawGroup, LLP, a national boutique law firm focused on privacy and data security, advertising and marketing, and technology and ranked by Chambers both globally and in the US. Ruderman’s practice is concentrated on privacy law, as well as marketing and other regulatory compliance. She often practices in highly regulated industries, such as cryptocurrency and alcoholic beverages. She counsels companies ranging from F100 to startups in a wide variety of industries, including consumer goods and equipment, EdTech, entertainment & media, finance, logistics, hospitality, publishing, real estate, social media, and software.

Ruderman’s day-to-day practice involves counseling clients on legal and practical issues related to the collection, use, sharing, and overall management of personal data; developing websites, mobile applications, and other consumer products and promotions; addressing novel technologies and issues; and generally advising clients on compliance with US state privacy laws, US federal privacy laws, international privacy laws, and regulatory compliance. Before joining ILG, Ruderman worked as a litigator, where she represented local and international clientele in diverse litigation and transactional matters involving Internet, privacy, entertainment, intellectual property, startup, employment, contract, and tort law matters, including cases involving claims for defamation and false light, as well as those brought under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and the Illinois Eavesdropping Act. Ruderman also negotiated and drafted agreements for entertainment industry clients, including screenwriter, director, and artist agreements, prepared trademark and copyright filings, and responded to Office actions. 

Ruderman is an active Council Member of the Illinois State Bar Association Privacy and Information Security Section, a Certified Information Privacy Professional, and member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and a member of Women Owned Law. She received her JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law and two undergraduate degrees from DePaul University in psychology and communications and a minor in international politics.

Janean Dunn
Senior Counsel of Global Employment Law, IQVIA

Janean Dunn is a Senior Counsel of Global Employment Law at IQVIA, a Fortune 500 Company that is a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry. As Senior Counsel, Dunn is a legal advisor to business leaders and HR professionals on global employment law matters. She works closely with key stakeholders to execute business strategy in a practical and compliant manner, including driving efficiency across the global enterprise through process and procedure improvements. She advises on a range of global employment law matters, including restrictive covenant agreements, artificial intelligence initiatives, diversity and inclusion, wage and hour issues, employment policy development and implementation, and employee relations matters.

Dunn has presented at the North Carolina Bar Association on employment law and diversity and inclusion topics, and she has also been invited to present at the American Bar Association’s Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference. She has been recognized by the National Black Lawyer's Top 40 under 40 African American attorneys in business labor and employment law. Previously, She was an Associate Attorney at Jackson Lewis PC, an AM100 national labor and employment law firm. At Jackson Lewis, Dunn represented private and public employers in federal and state courts and administrative proceedings before the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the US Department of Labor. She also provided a variety of transactional services to employers, including due diligence in corporate transactions, drafting various employment agreements, and advising on reductions in force, site closures, and workplace investigations. She has also held employment attorney positions at the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Forrest Firm. 

Dunn graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and political science. She earned her JD degree from Elon University School of Law. While attending Elon University School of Law, she was a contributing editor of Elon Law’s Journal of Leadership and the Law. 

Jennifer Chheda
Intellectual Property Partner, Jones Day

Jennifer Chheda is a partner at Jones Day in its New York office. Jones Day’s multi-discipline, global footprint provides clients with accomplished attorneys who seamlessly collaborate on a global scale across practices to help clients achieve their goals. 

Chheda has over 20 years of experience in global patent portfolio development, management, and enforcement of life science-related patents. Her practice includes patentability, invalidity, noninfringement, freedom-to-operate, and inventorship analyses, conducting due diligence for clients, providing strategic advice to clients regarding post-grant proceedings and invalidity actions, and drafting and negotiating intellectual property agreements.

Chheda has a PhD in Microbiology from New York University, a JD from New York Law School, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut.

Maggie Ebert
Litigation Partner, Kutak Rock

Maggie Ebert is a Litigation Partner in the Omaha office of Kutak Rock. She focuses on intellectual property, antitrust, and complex commercial litigation. Her litigation practice is national in scope, and she has litigated cases in various state and federal courts across the country. She has successfully brought and defended numerous claims for trademark infringement, copyright infringement, and misappropriation of trade secrets. Her antitrust practice centers around nationwide class-action, multi-defendant, multi-district, antitrust cases.

In her commercial practice, Ebert is an expert on liability for commercial speech and has successfully obtained consent judgments and settled claims for defamation, trade libel, false advertising, and violations of the First Amendment. Ebert also frequently advises clients on claims for tortious interference with a business expectancy, breach of contract, civil fraud, unfair competition, deceptive trade practices, and other business torts. She has substantial experience with records management, e-discovery, and major discovery documentation review, including expertise with numerous e-discovery platforms. In addition to her litigation practice, Ebert has a 100% success rate for obtaining P-1B visas for internationally recognized entertainment groups coming to the US to perform at top-rated venues and music and art festivals across the country. Her immigration clients have included some of Europe’s finest, award-winning musicians and bands. On the pro bono side, Ebert assists low-income families with the Green Card application process.

Ebert served as a law clerk for the Honorable Lyle E. Strom of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. She assisted Judge Strom with over 20 jury trials in the District of Nebraska and the Northern District of NY and with appeals in the Eighth and Ninth Circuits. Ebert also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael G. Heavican, Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court. As a law student, she served as a summer intern for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska. Ebert is active in the American Inns of Court, the National Association of Women Lawyers, and the American Bar Association.

Janeé Weaver
Senior Counsel Regulatory Compliance, Lyft

Janeé Weaver is a leading expert in regulatory compliance with a career that spans over 13 years. She began her career at the Maryland Attorney General’s Office as an Associate supporting the state’s automobile insurance division. Weaver continued her career at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she assisted with the Affordable Care Act implementation by drafting the state’s Medicaid regulations. Weaver then joined the compliance team at the WALZ Group, where she ensured fair mortgage practices were implemented by the nation’s top finance institutions. 

In 2016, Weaver returned to the transportation industry as a principal compliance officer for the North County Transit District (NCTD). At NCTD, she implemented the District’s Comprehensive Compliance Oversight Program, which ensured compliance with the Federal Transportation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and California Public Utilities Commission regulatory requirements. In addition, she oversaw NCTD’s Internal Audit Program. She assisted with the mobilization of NCTD’s rail contract, valued at $300 million, and NCTD’s bus contract, valued at $400 million.

Currently, Weaver is a Senior Counsel of Regulatory Compliance at Lyft, a transportation network company that strives to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation. At Lyft, she advises lines of business on rideshare, autonomous vehicles, sustainability, accessibility for persons with disabilities, and data privacy regulatory requirements. She also provides regulatory support for new product features and the expansion of Lyft rideshare into new markets. Weaver is a proud alumnus of Purdue University and the University of Iowa School of Law.

Britt Miller
Partner, Mayer Brown

As a Partner, Britt Miller serves on Mayer Brown’s Global Management Committee and co-leads the firm’s global Antitrust and Competition practice. Mayer Brown is a leading global law firm with more than 1,800 lawyers in offices across 27 cities and four continents. Miller’s practice focuses on high-stakes antitrust litigation and complex commercial litigation, representing domestic and international corporations in price-fixing, market allocation, monopolization, and conspiracy cases, and has also counseled clients on general antitrust issues.

For more than two decades, Miller has litigated some of the largest antitrust cases in the United States involving a host of different products and industries. Since joining Mayer Brown in 1998, her antitrust work has involved a variety of products and industries, including synthetic rubber, aspartame, resins, household moving services, consumer health products, industrial chemicals, paper products, financial services, fertilizers, and vitamins. Her general litigation experience spans both the federal and state court systems and includes client representations relating to contract disputes, constitutional rights, securities fraud, banking practices, airline deregulation, product liability, and trust interpretation. 

Miller graduated from Auburn University with an undergraduate degree in political science, English, and musical performance. She earned her JD from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

Lauren Woodland
Senior Counsel, Novian & Novian

Lauren Woodland is a Senior Counsel at Novian & Novian. She is a top-rated civil litigator specializing in business and commercial litigation whose work has been consistently recognized by her peers. 

Woodland is experienced in handling cases for plaintiffs and defendants through all stages of litigation, including mediation, trials, and appeals in state and federal court. She handles a broad range of matters, including breach of contract, business torts, fraud, partnership disputes, defamation, and sexual harassment.

Before joining Novian & Novian, Woodland was a litigation associate at White & Case LLP. She received her JD from UCLA School of Law, where she was managing editor of the UCLA Entertainment Law Review, and received her BA in history magna cum laude from the University of Southern California.

Yvette Puckett Cravins
Senior Counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Yvette Puckett Cravins is a Senior Counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, a leading international law firm with a particular focus on the technology, media and telecom, energy and natural resources, financial, and real estate and construction sectors.

As a lawyer and lobbyist, Puckett Cravins represents, advocates, and advises clients as a member of Pillsbury’s award-winning Government Law & Strategies practice. She has over 25 years of law and government experience on the local, state, and federal levels, providing exceptional client services, and innovative bipartisan government policy solutions, with a commitment to stakeholders and served communities.

Before joining Pillsbury Winthrop, Puckett Cravins was a Capitol Hill Chief of Staff and an Oversight and Investigative Committee Counsel in the US House of Representatives. She is a proud Louisiana native, a graduate of Southern University Law Center, and a 2022 inductee into the Southern University Law Center Alumni Hall of Fame.

Diane Cafferata
Partner, Quinn Emanuel

Diane Cafferata is a Partner of Quinn Emanuel in the firm’s Los Angeles and Chicago offices. Her practice involves a wide variety of complex commercial litigations in federal and state courts, where she represents both plaintiffs and defendants. She has substantial experience in patent, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property matters, privacy issues, class actions, derivatives and other financial matters, construction and real estate disputes, contract and business tort cases, and probate litigation. Cafferata’s transnational practice includes several foreign clients and issues of comparative law.

During more than two decades at the firm, Cafferata has enjoyed several high-stakes and bet-the-company cases, and her teams have brought in more than $3 billion through trials and settlements. Her practice also incorporates many other smaller litigation and counseling matters. In 2020, Cafferata published Business Litigation Demystified: Bridging the Gap Between Your Company and Outside Counsel, which hit number one in five Amazon categories in its first week. Business Litigation Demystified is a readable and entertaining overview of the US litigation process. It provides background to business executives, managers, and lawyers in domestic and foreign companies that enables them to make better, more informed decisions around dispute resolution issues. 

Cafferata graduated from Stanford University with a JD and MBA, from George Washington University with an MA in Russian and East European studies, and from Indiana University Bloomington with an undergraduate degree in Russian and East European studies.

Elinor Sutton
Litigation Partner, Quinn Emanuel

As a Litigation Partner, Elinor Sutton has practiced law at Quinn Emanuel for more than 15 years in both its Dallas and New York offices, where she heads the firm’s East Coast Infrastructure and Construction Practice. A graduate of Yale Law School, she is an experienced trial and arbitration lawyer, and her formidable skills have allowed her to steer her clients to success both in and out of the courtroom.

Sutton has tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as before domestic and international arbitration panels. Her practice focuses on high-stakes complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property, securities, finance, energy, and employment. She has represented a broad array of clients in the fields of banking, oil and gas, telecommunications, software development, aviation, and construction, as well as representing investment, private equity, family, and hedge funds.  

With an undergraduate degree in economics from Villanova University, Sutton’s financial expertise provides her with the distinct ability to understand the complex financial situations her clients face, and to work with them hand-in-hand to ensure the best strategic outcome. Clients have praised her judgment, tenacity, and intellect, as well as the value she places on open communication and the importance of examining a dispute from every possible angle. Sutton has been recognized by Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers as a Super Lawyer in General & Business Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution in New York City, as well as a Rising Star and a Top Woman Rising Star repeatedly from 2014 through 2019. Before attending law school, Sutton worked as a public high school teacher through Teach For America.

June Bashant
Partner, Rouda, Feder, Tietjen & McGuinn

June Bashant is a Partner at Rouda, Feder, Tietjen & McGuinn. She represents clients to secure financial stability after the loss of income and medical expenses that follow when a loved one is severely injured or killed by negligence. In 2022, she worked as lead counsel in a complex multi-plaintiff cross-over collision that resulted in a settlement exceeding $15 million for her clients. Her practice focus is catastrophic injuries and wrongful death.

Consumer safety and San Francisco wrongful death attorney, Bashant has established a 23-year reputation for her hard work representing individuals and families injured by the careless conduct and choices of others. Bashant has successfully arbitrated cases involving wrongful death against Kaiser and consistently mediates seven and eight-figure settlements in a variety of cases ranging from premises liability, negligent security, product defects, pedestrian and bike collisions, trucking accidents, auto defects, elder abuse, and medical malpractice. 

Bashant’s work on behalf of her clients has resulted in improved safety standards and consumer protections. She is a member of the American Association of Justice and is currently on the board of the Consumer Attorneys of California. Bashant has been recognized as a 2023 Lawyer of Distinction in the New York Times.

Danielle Kays
Senior Counsel, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Danielle Kays is a Senior Counsel and co-leads the Seyfarth Shaw Biometric Privacy Team in Chicago. She’s a trial lawyer in the Employment Litigation Group. She represents companies in a broad range of biometric, privacy, and employment law matters in individual and class actions, litigating in federal and state courts and arbitrations across the country. 

With over 19 years of experience and more than 30 successful trial verdicts, clients seek Kays’ expertise on cutting-edge issues relating to complex biometric and privacy law litigation and compliance and employment law. She stays knowledgeable of the ever-changing biometric privacy landscape and the various defenses to the evolving theories and has been featured in various publications, including Bloomberg Law and Crain’s Chicago Business.  

When Kays is not representing clients, she serves on the Illinois Wesleyan University Board of Trustees Executive Committee and has served as a board director for the Bloomington-Normal YMCA. In addition, she has taught trial advocacy for the Notre Dame Law School, coached the trial team for Chicago-Kent Law School, and mentors college and high school students interested in the law. Kays graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law, cum laude, and Illinois Wesleyan University.

Carolyn Martino
Partner, Slovak Baron Empey Murphy & Pinkney

Carolyn Martino is a Partner at Slovak Baron Empey Murphy & Pinkney. She is a highly accomplished family law practitioner based in the Coachella Valley, California region who primarily handles cases for high-net-worth individuals with complex financial situations and assets. She earned her undergraduate degree at UCLA and her law degree at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.

Martino is an experienced attorney known for her compassion for clients, as well as her aggressive advocacy on their behalf. She is dedicated to simplifying complex situations and achieving positive results for her clients in litigation, mediation, or collaborative divorce. During her tenure practicing in Los Angeles, as well as the Coachella Valley, Martino has represented a wide range of professional clients, including doctors, attorneys, business owners, real estate developers and investors, hospitality industry leaders, sports entrepreneurs, celebrities, professional athletes, and their spouses.

Martino is the immediate past co-chair of the Family Law Section of the Desert Bar Association, her second term in that role. She has worked as a Certified Minor’s Counsel appointed by the court to protect the interests of children during marital dissolutions. She has been named a Palm Springs Top Lawyer and has participated with the Inns of Court. Martino is admitted to practice before all California state courts, as well as the US District Court for the Central District of California, the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the California Supreme Court, and the US Court of Appeals 9th Circuit.

Stephanie Hamm
Partner, Thompson & Horton

Stephanie Hamm is a Partner of Thompson & Horton. She represents school districts, colleges, and other governmental entities in a wide range of disputes in both state and federal court. 

Hamm primarily focuses on matters arising under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Texas Labor Code, and the Texas Education Code. She also represents clients in administrative matters before the State Office of Administrative Hearings and the Texas Education Agency.

Hamm graduated from the University of Saint Thomas, summa cum laude, with an undergraduate degree in political science. She received her JD, magna cum laude, from South Texas College of Law. While attending South Texas College of Law, Hamm was a varsity moot court advocate with one of the nation’s top advocacy programs and was also a member of South Texas Law Review. She also interned with United States District Judge David Hittner at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Mary Powell
Partner & Attorney, Trucker Huss

Mary Powell is a Director at Trucker Huss in San Francisco, CA. She has over two decades of experience in all aspects of employee benefits. Currently, her main focus is assisting employers with the implementation of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and drafting executive compensation and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Powell assists employers with obtaining Private Letter Rulings from the IRS and she submits comments to the Department of Treasury/IRS and Department of Labor both before the issuance of regulations and in response to proposed guidance issued by those agencies.

Powell has extensive experience in handling benefit plans in mergers and acquisitions. Her clients include large publicly held companies and complex multi-entity healthcare organizations. She has lectured frequently on various employee benefits topics, including drug pricing issues under health plans, the impact of the Dobbs decision on health plans, and executive compensation topics for many clients and organizations, including The Commonwealth Club of California, a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate, and the American Bar Association. For many years she was a contributing author to the ABA Labor Section’s Employee Benefits Law, published by BNA. Powell is a Chambers-rated lawyer and has been listed as a Top-Rated Employee Benefits Attorney by Northern California Super Lawyers since 2017.

Powell earned an LLM in taxation, with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center, a JD with honors from Golden Gate University, and a BA in rhetoric and philosophy from Willamette University.

Monica Williams Monroe
Partner, Tucker Ellis

Monica Williams Monroe currently serves as Partner-in-Charge of the San Francisco office of Tucker Ellis LLP. She practices in the area of complex civil litigation, with a focus on commercial and product liability claims. 

In her capacity as both local and national counsel, Monroe has represented a variety of corporate and insurance interests, including those of technology companies and product manufacturers. She regularly handles client matters involving general contract analysis and business disputes, including pre-litigation counseling designed to identify and address potential litigation risk and support business teams with unique solutions to address key external partnerships.

Monroe is a long-term member of the Tucker Ellis Equity & Inclusion Committee, serving to support minority and underrepresented groups through the development of sustained diversity initiatives throughout the firm. She also serves as a Practice Group liaison, helping to guide and mentor the firm’s most senior counsel in their overall practice growth and professional development. Monroe received her undergraduate degree from Clark Atlanta University and earned her JD from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she attended as a Loyola Scholar and was inducted into the Order of the Coif in 2003.

Paula Wyatt
Attorney & Founding Partner, Wyatt Law Firm

Paula Wyatt is a Founding Partner of the Wyatt Law Firm, Ltd., which concentrates on litigating catastrophic personal injury claims. Wyatt has extensive experience in handling complex litigation, including cases involving wrongful death, truck accidents, carbon monoxide exposure, oil field explosions and other injuries, defective industrial products, corporate negligence, and consumer safety. 

Shortly after graduating from the University of Houston, Wyatt began her legal career as a prosecutor (assistant district lawyer) in Nueces County, Texas. She quickly distinguished herself as an accomplished, exceptional trial lawyer. She was instantly recognized as one of the most aggressive and productive prosecutors in the county. Wyatt soon became chief felony prosecutor for the 347th District Court and was instrumental in reducing the court's backlog of cases. 

Since leaving the District Attorney's Office, Wyatt has devoted herself to personal injury litigation, once again quickly distinguishing herself as a formidable presence in the field. Her extensive experience in handling contentious litigation cases has earned her multiple accolades and a reputation as an exceptional trial attorney.

Christina Russo
Partner, Akerman

Christina Russo is a Partner and Co-Chair of Akerman’s Capital Markets Practice. With extensive experience representing public and private companies, she routinely advises clients on corporate and securities matters, and mergers and acquisitions. She also counsels boards and senior management on a variety of corporate governance matters, including environmental, social, and governance matters.

Public companies value Russo's knowledge of public offerings, PIPE financings, periodic reporting requirements, and regulatory compliance, including compliance with the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, The Nasdaq Stock Market, The New York Stock Exchange, FINRA, and state securities laws. 

As a Hispanic woman, Russo supports women and minority lawyers. She graduated from Emory University School of Law with a JD and from the University of Florida with an undergraduate degree in accounting.

Erin Lothson
General Counsel, Dandy

Erin Lothson is a trusted business partner and C-suite executive. She serves as General Counsel and as part of the senior leadership team at Dandy, a high-growth software company building a digital dental OS with a nationwide lab network.

Throughout her career, Lothson has been relied on by corporate and functional leadership for long-term strategic advice on risk management, compliance, and business operations. Her focus is on helping businesses scale at hyper-growth speed while managing changing regulatory, economic, and market conditions, as well as shifts in corporate priorities.

Lothson is committed to the idea of the corporate lawyer as a proactive, practical, and forward-looking strategic adviser, and she is known for developing deep and trusted business relationships across all functions and levels of seniority; building corporate cultures of integrity accountability; and understanding business and economic drivers along with the strategic initiatives that drive results.