LACBA 2019 > SpeakersSPEAKERS

IVY KAGAN BIERMAN

Ivy Kagan Bierman’s practice includes the representation of entertainment and related companies in labor, production, distribution, technology and other business matters. She handles both transactional and litigation matters for clients.

Ivy is one of a select few entertainment industry labor lawyers looked to for representation in guild and union matters by film and television production companies, digital companies and networks, cable networks, public broadcasting companies, distribution companies, film finance companies, national advertisers and advertising agencies. She regularly counsels entertainment and advertising companies with respect to SAG-AFTRA, DGA, WGA, AFM, IATSE and Teamsters agreements. She also negotiates separate agreements and waivers with the guilds and unions for entertainment and advertising clients. She was one of the first to negotiate interactive, multimedia and secondary digital channel agreements with SAG-AFTRA, the WGA and the DGA.

Ivy strategizes with film and television production, distribution and finance companies regarding WGA, SAG-AFTRA and DGA negotiations and potential strikes. She advises national advertisers and advertising agencies with respect to the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract negotiations and potential strikes. She also protects film, television and public broadcasting companies during guild and union organizing campaigns and advises them with respect to their obligations and rights during picketing and strikes.

Ivy currently advises clients with respect to the guilds’ and unions’ evolving positions regarding realitytelevision, brand integration, and development and exhibition of digital content.

Ivy also regularly provides sexual harassment, discrimination and non-fraternization training tailored toentertainment industry companies with “edgy” programming content. She handles investigations of sexual harassment claims and violations of non-fraternization policies in connection with high-profile television series and works closely with television network attorneys to resolve such claims. She is currently serving as a member of the Legal, Legislative and Policy Committee on Sexual Harassment and Gender Parity for Time’s Up and is outside counsel on Sexual Harassment and Gender Parity for The Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.

Ivy’s litigation practice is also focused on the entertainment industry. She has represented several television production companies and payroll companies in a series of entertainment industry-wide wage and hour class action lawsuits which were settled favorably for the firm’s clients. Ivy also defends entertainment companies against wage and hour claims before the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. She also representsentertainment companies in investigations by the Labor Commissioner’s Bureau of Field Enforcement and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and defend them against citations arising out of suchinvestigations. Ivy also defends clients against guild and union grievances and arbitration claims and unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board.

Ivy is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami Law School where she teaches a short course titled Union Organizing and Collective Bargaining in the Entertainment Industry.

HON. KEVIN C. BRAZILE

Judge Kevin C. Brazile was appointed Judge to Los Angeles Superior Court (LASC) by Governor Gray Davis in December 2002.

Judge Brazile graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Bachelor of Arts inPolitical Science (Cum Laude) in 1980 and earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1983.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Brazile was a Civil trial attorney for the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office from 1984-2002, where he handled Personal Injury (PI), employment discrimination,dangerous condition of public property, and Federal civil rights litigation.

Judge Brazile has been assigned to LASC’s Stanley Mosk Courthouse since October 1, 2007. On January 1, 2008, he was given a general civil (unlimited) calendar where he conducted jury and non-jury trials and heard law and motion matters. From January 2013 to December 31, 2014, Judge Brazile was one of two AssistantSupervising Judges of Civil for LASC. On January 2, 2015, he became the Supervising Judge of Civil for LASC, where he was assigned to the Master Calendar Courtroom (Dept. 1) of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.

In October 2016, Judge Brazile was elected Assistant Presiding Judge for LASC, effective January 1, 2017. In September 2018, he was elected as the Presiding Judge for the LASC, effective January 1, 2019 thru December 31, 2020.

Prior to his assignment at Stanley Mosk Courthouse, Judge Brazile was the Site Judge of the West Covina Courthouse, where he handled criminal trials, felony preliminary hearings, and arraignment in 2005.

SWETHAA BALLAKRISHNEN

Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen is a socio-legal scholar whose research examines the intersections between law,globalization and stratification from a critical feminist perspective. Particularly, across a range of sites and different levels of analysis, their work interrogates how law and legal institutions create, continue, and counter different kinds of socio-economic inequalities. Together, these motivations have resulted in three main areas of empirical inquiry. The first is a set of interrelated projects that analyze gender inequality and representation through the lens of comparative legal institutions. The second concentrates on inclusivity in global legaleducation and the resultant implications for organizational diversity within the legal profession. A third emerging field of interest focuses on transnational migration and its implications for intergenerational mobility, international human rights, and transnational family law.

Scholarship from these projects has appeared (or is forthcoming) in, among other journals, Law and Society Review, Law and Social Inquiry, Fordham Law Review, International Journal of the Legal Profession, and the Journal of Professions and Organization. Alongside this scholarly output, Professor Ballakrishnen’s research has been featured in a range of professional and popular media including Harvard Business Review, Stanford News Report, Above the Law, Bloomberg Law, Quartz, Law School Transparency Radio, The Practice, and WPR. They have presented research at over 50 conferences worldwide, delivered over 25 invited talks in a range of academic and professional settings, and their legal opinions on family and financial laws have been cited by the Probate and Family Court of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit respectively.

In addition to their position at NYU Abu Dhabi, Professor Ballakrishnen is an affiliated fellow at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, a co-founder of the Law and Society Collaborative ResearchNetwork on Legal Education, and a board member of the ISA Research Committee on Sociology of Law. In 2017-18, they were the AccessLex Visiting Scholar on Legal Education at the American Bar Foundation. For over a decade before entering academia full-time, Professor Ballakrishnen was a legal intern to Hon’ble Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court of India, an international banking associate in Mumbai, and an external consultant for cross-border litigation financing in New York City.

KEITH M. AMEELE

Keith Ameele is the managing partner of Foley & Mansfield’s Los Angeles office and a member of the firm’s executive committee. He concentrates his practice entirely on litigation, with an emphasis on product liability, toxic tort, mass tort, general negligence and business litigation. Serving as both trial counsel, nationalcoordinating counsel and regional counsel, he defends manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and premises owners in high-risk toxic tort, products liability and complex business litigation matters.

On behalf of the firm’s clients, Keith has a successful record in securing dismissals and favorable results at trial in California, Nevada, Washington, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Utah.

Keith holds the Martindale Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and adherence to professional standards of conduct, ethics, reliability and diligence.* He is frequently invited to speak at seminars on issues unique to toxic tort and products liability litigation.

Marisa Blackshire lead BNSF’s environmental legal and air programs system-wide. Based in California, she also work on various environmental permitting, regulatory compliance and litigation matters in a territory that includes CA, AZ, NV, UT, CO and NE.

Prior to joining BNSF, she also focused my practice on environmental permitting, compliance and litigation. Within this framework, she assisted clients in obtaining environmental permits, and provided adviceregarding environmental issues including: environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); air and water quality; global climate change;endangered & threatened species; and permitting under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Marisa alsolitigated. Primarily, she represented clients in legal actions challenging the sufficiency of CEQA/NEPAdocuments including Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), and in actions alleging the failure to prepare an environmental document. In the more traditional environmental litigation context, she worked on state and federal cost recovery actions arising under California’s HSAA and CERCLA.

MARISA BLACKSHIRE

Wesley T.L. Burrell is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Mr. Burrell’s practice spans a broad range of complex litigation matters, with particular emphasis on intellectual property and finance-related litigation. He also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing domestic human trafficking victims in civil litigation against their former enslavers and traffickers. Key Representation: Bank of America in numerous mortgage-backed securities cases in state and federal courts across the country, with a focus on claims brought against RMBS trustees under common law, New York’s Streit Act, and the federal Trust Indenture Act.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Burrell clerked for Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He also served as a judicial extern to Judge Consuelo M. Callahan of the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before clerking, Mr. Burrell was an associate at Winston & Strawn LLP. Mr. Burrell received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, magna cum laude. At Loyola, he was an editor and published author on the Loyola Law Review. Mr. Burrell earned undergraduate degrees, summa cum laude, in Film Studies and English from theUniversity of Oklahoma. After college, he worked as a writer, producer, and film distributor before transitioning to non-profit work, creating and directing afterschool arts and education programming for children through the Salvation Army.

WESLEY T.L. BURRELL

Dr. Kenneth Chaiprasert graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and History from UCLA. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School before earning a Ph.D. in Political Science from UCI. Dr. Chaiprasert is assistant professor and vice chair of political science at East Los Angeles College, where he runs the Pathway to Law School transfer program. He is active on campus as second vice-president of the academic senate and serves on various campus committees. He is thrilled to help ELAC students become the lawyers, scholars, advocates, and heroes of tomorrow.

KENNETH CHAIPRASERT

HON. ANDRÉ BIROTTE, JR.

Judge Birotte was appointed by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in July 2014. The son of Haitian immigrants, Judge Birotte graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1991 and Tufts University before that.

Prior to his nomination to the federal bench, Judge Birotte served as the United States Attorney for the Central District for four years. As United States Attorney, Judge Birotte represented one of the largest Federal Judicial Districts in the country and was responsible for overseeing approximately 265 attorneys and 200 staff members located in offices in Los Angeles, Riverside, and Santa Ana.

From 2003 to 2010, Judge Birotte served as Inspector General of the Los Angeles Police Department. As head of the Office of the Inspector General, he was responsible for conducting and overseeing LAPD internal investi-gations and audits to ensure compliance with both LAPD policies and mandates imposed by a Federal Consent Decree. Judge Birotte first joined the Office of the Inspector General in 2001 as an Assistant Inspector General.

From 1999 to 2001, Judge Birotte worked as an associate at Quinn Emanuel, where he represented clients in white-collar crime and commercial litigation matters. Prior to joining Quinn Emanuel, Judge Birotte served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District from 1995 to 1999, and as a Deputy Public Defender in Los Angeles County from 1991 to 1995.

Saundra K. Wootton is litigation partner with Kutak Rock LLP who has litigated a number of complex matters in both state and federal court, including claims related to anti-trust/unfair competition, real estate disputes, product defect, employment, environmental, toxic torts, catastrophic injuries and professional malpractice (legal and design professionals). Her diverse civil litigation experience enables her to effectively serve and advise her clients on a broad range matters both inside and outside of the courtroom. Saundra has lectured and authored numerous articles and alerts on breaking legal developments.

Saundra actively works to advance Kutak Rock’s robust diversity and inclusiveness initiatives and pro bonoinitiatives. She also enjoys serving on LACBA’s Diversity in the Profession Committee and serving hercommunity at-large.

SAUNDRA K. WOOTTON

Sophia Mei-Ling Chang has a diverse real estate practice representing governmental entities, health careproviders, investors, developers and other property owners in all aspects of acquisitions, sales, options, leases, financing, joint ventures and land use matters. She also represents commercial lenders in real estate financings. Sophia has extensive experience working with governmental entities and private developers to create public infrastructure, provide affordable housing and create development opportunities.

She previously served as a commissioner for the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission. In that capacity, she was responsible for making regional planning decisions and reviewing zoning administrator decisions. She also evaluated applications and appeals for conditional use permits, land use entitlements, zone changes,subdivisions, and community specific plans.

Sophia is deeply involved in the community and has worked with a number of nonprofit organizations in the Los Angeles area. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Barlow Respiratory HospitalFoundation, whose primary mission is to support Barlow Respiratory Hospital. Founded in 1902, Barlow Respiratory Hospital is the only not-for-profit long-term acute care hospital in California. Sophia is also the co-founder and former executive director of Dancing Classrooms Los Angeles, which provided arts-in-education social development programs to elementary school students. In addition, she served as a staffattorney for the Center for Law in the Public Interest, where she developed legal and policy strategies toadvocate for under-represented communities in Los Angeles.

Sophia graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in sociology and urban policy, summa cum laude. She earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School. Sophia served as an inaugural law clerk to the Hon. Dolly M. Gee, U.S. Central District, and as a law clerk to the Hon. J. Spencer Letts, U.S. Central District.

Sophia is an integral member of the Steering Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Conference.

SOPHIA MEI-LING CHANG

Judge Yolanda Orozco was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court on December 6, 2010. She currently presides over an unlimited jurisdiction civil department at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Judge Orozcopreviously presided over a misdemeanor trial court, and in probate, limited and personal injury civildepartments.

For the past five years, Judge Orozco has been the Chair of the Court’s Diversity Committee. As Chair, Judge Orozco has organized the past four of the Court’s Judicial Diversity Summits, including one to take place on September 21, 2019. Judge Orozco has chaired or co-chaired the Young Women and Young Men Leadership Conferences at the Court. She is currently a member of the Court’s Fairness and Access Committee and presides over the Downey Teen Court. Judge Orozco completed a term as a member of the Judicial Council’s Court Interpreters Advisory Panel. She is a member of the Board of the California Judges’ Association, a member of the California Latino Judges’ Association, and co-chair of the Judicial Appointments Support Committee of the California Latino Judges’ Association.

Before taking the bench, Judge Orozco spent much of her legal career as a trial lawyer and business litigator, specializing in complex commercial and business litigation. Judge Orozco began her career in government service, first at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., then at the Office of the Federal Public Defender. Thereafter, she spent over 20 years in private practice, most recently with the international law firm of Jones Day.

Throughout her career, Judge Orozco has devoted substantial time to community and professional activities. Judge Orozco was a Commissioner to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission and a member of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Judicial Screening Committee for selection of United States District Judges and the U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California. Judge Orozco was an officer and president of the Federal Bar Association – Los Angeles chapter, and served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Public Welfare Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. Judge Orozco is a Trustee of the Mexican American Bar Foundation.

HON. YOLANDA OROZCO

Joel Richlin is the Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, & Chief Litigation Counsel of Prime Healthcare, which is one of the nation’s largest health systems and operates 45 hospitals in 14 states. In this role, Mr. Richlin is Prime Healthcare’s head of litigation and directly supervises litigation related to commercial disputes, private payor disputes, general liability, and government agencies (including investigations and administrativehearings). Prime Healthcare’s litigation matters include disputes in 14 states proceeding in state court, federal court, administrative tribunals, and numerous arbitral tribunals. Mr. Richlin also advises senior management on key strategic initiatives outside of litigation such as major acquisitions and other matters of significantimpact on business operations.

Prior to joining Prime Healthcare, Mr. Richlin was a healthcare trial and appellate lawyer at Foley & Lardner where he was a Senior Counsel in the Litigation Department. Before joining Foley & Lardner, Mr. Richlin served as a judicial law clerk for nearly five years at the U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. Mr. Richlin completed clerkships for the Honorable Suzanne H. Segal, U.S. Magistrate Judge, the Honorable Fernando M. Olguin, U.S. District Judge (then U.S. Magistrate Judge), and the Honorable Alan M. Ahart, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge.

Outside of his trial and appellate practice, Mr. Richlin is an Adjunct Profession of Law who teaches written and oral advocacy at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, and mentors students pursuing judicial clerkships.

JOEL RICHLIN

Leslie Cunningham is the Executive Director of California LAW, the new non-profit designed as thefoundational structure to provide a pipeline for diverse students from high school through community colleges, four-year institutions and law schools into law or law-related careers.

Before joining California LAW, Cunningham served as the Managing Consultant for LJC Management Group since 2004, handling project management, strategic planning and marketing campaigns for corporate, non-profit and faith-based organizations.

Cunningham served on the Coalition Board of The Greenlining Institute from 2006-2008, collaborating with the leadership to challenge the lack of diversity in corporate management, philanthropy and board membership, connecting the faith-based community to corporate donors through their annual Economic Summit.

Cunningham is the past President of the Mount St. Mary’s University African American Alumnae Network, and a former Board Member of the Riverside African American Historical Society. Cunningham is member of the National Coro Alumni Network, the flagship organization communicating public policy impact andinvolvement statewide and nationally, and was the first African American Vice President of the W3CCommunity Alliance for the City of Riverside.

Cunningham received her BA in Social Science with Political Science emphasis from Mount St. Mary’sUniversity in 1990. She was the founder and first President of the Pre-Law Union of Students in 1990 and served as the Assistant Director of the PACE Program at West Los Angeles College in 1990. In 1991, she was selected as a Coro Foundation Public Affairs Fellow, graduating in 1992.

Cunningham was born in California and grew up abroad in Nigeria, Germany and Japan, and speaks four languages.

LESLIE CUNNINGHAM

Susan Chun is Executive Vice President at Paramount Pictures, where she oversees business and legal affairs for the studio’s worldwide distribution of feature films and episodic content. In her role, Susan serves as the senior legal advisor to the distribution business and manages both domestic and international teams. She is passionate about her work and enjoys a multi-faceted practice, which ranges from complex and innovative deal-making to collaboration on strategies that optimally navigate today’s rapidly evolving media landscape. Prior to joining Paramount, Susan was in private practice for over a decade as a business litigator. Susan received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law and a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley.

SUSAN CHUN

Mary Ellen Connerty is the Director of Diversity and Engagement at O’Melveny & Myers and is a member of the Firm’s Business Management Team. She is based in New York and is responsible for developing and implementing the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy and initiating and implementing talent development programs. She is also responsible for the firm’s attorney staffing program.

Prior to joining the Firm, Mary Ellen was with Mercer Consulting holding a number of human resource, learning, talent management and diversity leadership positions including Global Leader of Talent Development and Diversity. She also spent three year as a Mercer human capital consultant advising global clients on talent strategy and supporting programs and technology with a particular focus on leadership development andsuccession planning. Prior to Mercer, Mary Ellen held human resource positions at Chase and ITT.

Mary Ellen received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Sociology, summa cum laude, from Fordham University and her J.D. from Rutgers University. She is designated a Senior Professional in Human Resource (SHRM-SPC) by the Society of Human Resource Management. She is a member of the New Jersey State Bar. Mary Ellen was elected to the YWCA-New York City Academy of Women Leaders in 2011.

MARY ELLEN CONNERTY

A veteran entertainment industry showrunner and executive and twice-patented tech entrepreneur, DMAdesigns and executes transformative gameplans for companies in media, tech, government, education and more. Over the past 20 years, she has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more, authored two entertainment books that are taught in media programs nationwide, and championed inclusion across multiple industries, including her current role as Director of Walt Disney Television’s Creative TalentDevelopment & Inclusion team. She is a graduate, with distinction, of Stanford University and is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and American Mensa. You can connect with DMA online on all platforms as @planetdma.

DMA

HON. DEAN H. HANSELL

The Hon. Dean H. Hansell currently serves as a Family Law judge with Los Angeles County Superior Court at the Central Civil West Courthouse. Prior to being appointed to the bench in 2016 by former Governor Jerry Brown, Judge Hansel was a litigation partner at Hogan Lovells, specializing in complex litigation and class actions in the consumer protection, insurance and reinsurance, labor and employment, privacy, environmental and government regulatory fields. He was a former Assistant Illinois Attorney General forEnvironmental Control and a prosecutor with the Federal Trade Commission.

Judge Hansell has a long history of civil and community service including as Chair of the Los Angeles County Citizens Oversight Commission on the Sheriff ’s Department Working Group and on the boards of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Police Foundation, California Bar Foundation, Los Angeles City College Foundation, Denison University, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. He is a past chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s _______ section and served as a member of Los Angeles Lawyer’s editorial board.

He was also a co-founder and president of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD/LA), served as Los Angeles Police Commissioner, as Commissioner of the Los Angeles Fire andPolice Pension Board and the cable television commission (the Board of Information TechnologyCommissioners of Los Angeles).

Among the many awards he has received are the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Distinguished Service Medal, GLAAD’s inaugural Founders Award, LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles’ Co-President’s Award, Denison University’s Alumni Citation, the Liberty Hill Foundation’s Humanitarian Award and the Asian PacificAmerican Legal Center’s (now Asian Americans Advancing Justice) Pro Bono Award.

Hon. Carlos R. Moreno (Ret.) joins JAMS after a distinguished 25-year career on the judiciary, including ten years on the California Supreme Court. During his tenure, Justice Moreno authored over 140 majority opinions on a wide range of precedent setting cases, including significant opinions implicating LGBT rights, arbitration, and insurance policy coverage. Previously, he served fifteen years as a trial judge in state and federal courts presiding over hundreds of trials overing the full spectrum of criminal and civil litigation. Most recently, JusticeMoreno served as United States Ambassador to Belize where he made great strides in advancing citizen security within Belize and the region, focusing on citizen protection, economic development, and governance.

Justice Moreno is a first-generation Mexican-American and fluent Spanish speaker. He was the third Latino to serve on the Supreme Court of California. Justice Moreno has been honored with numerous accolades for his work on and off the Bench, recognizing his commitment to equality and justice, his pioneeringaccomplishments as a Mexican-American, and his work in child advocacy. He has served on numerouscommunity-based organization boards.

HON. CARLOS R. MORENO

Michael J. Nuñez, Senior Partner & Diversity Committee Member, Murchison & Cumming LLP’s Las Vegas office, brings a unique background to his practice, being both an experienced trial lawyer and experienced appellate lawyer.

Mr. Nuñez is Co-Chair of the firm’s Foodborne Illnesses practice group and is the senior trial attorney in the firm’s Las Vegas office. Mr. Nuñez is also a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee. He has representeddefendants in wrongful death and severe injury; transportation and trucking; assault and battery claims;product liability and transportation claims; physicians and lawyers in malpractice claims; real estate malpractice claims; wage and hour claims; and has defended entities in lawsuits arising out of construction accidents, water rights issues and premises liability exposures.

Mr. Nuñez handles general and professional liability, hospitality, HOA, D&O, breaches of fiduciary duties, corporate litigation, contract disputes, and transactional, and employment related matters including wrongful termination claims and Title VII and state unlawful discrimination claims. Mr. Nunez has handled trucking and common carrier matters and has extensive experience in rental car and charter bus line litigation. In addition, he represents insurers in insurance coverage matters and bad faith/declaratory relief litigation.

Mr. Nuñez has successfully argued dozens of cases before the California Court of Appeals and the United States Appellate Court for the Ninth Circuit as well as received published opinions from the Nevada Supreme Court. Mr. Nuñez has also represented foreign companies in transactional and litigated matters. He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Nuñez is a founding member and is on the Board of Directors of Las Vegas Defense Lawyers (“LVDL”) which is the “defense bar” for Southern Nevada. LVDL offers CLE classes to members of the Nevada Bar,promotes civility and fairness in the judicial systems of Nevada and advocates and lobbies for legislative change, amendments and clarification before the State Assembly of Nevada on issues pertaining to the Defense Bar and Legal Profession.

Mr. Nuñez was recently acknowledged in the American Bar Association’s publication, Reasonable Expectations: Interpreting Insurance Policies in Common Law Jurisdictions, for assisting with the Nevada chapter.

MICHAEL J. NUNEZ

KIMBERLY A. MCKELVEY

Kim McKelvey serves as the Director of Strategic Focus and Director of Inclusiveness and Diversity for Kutak Rock. As the Director of Strategic Focus, Kim works with the firm’s leadership to maintain Kutak Rock’s culture and values to position the firm for continued and long-term success. She serves as a convener and facilitator to Kutak Rock’s attorneys, whether in one-on-one conversations or in working groups, departments, national practice groups or committees. In her role as Director of Inclusiveness and Diversity, Kim coordinates the extensive work of the National Inclusiveness and Diversity Committee and Forum. The Committee focuses on targeted and strategic diversity and inclusiveness goals designed to continuously support and improve the firm’s diverse and inclusive environment. The Forum, open to every person in the firm, is comprised of small groups generated by individual interest; each Forum Group develops activities specific to the interests and goals of the Group members. Together, the Committee and Forum encompass a national effort of hundreds of attorneys and staff members to manifest a value that Kutak Rock has held dear since its inception: creating a truly inclusive work environment for people of all backgrounds and experiences and broadening the depth of experience and opinion to benefit the firm’s workplaces, clients and communities.

JUAN C. HERNANDEZ

Juan Hernandez is an associate in the Investment Management practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office. His area of practice concentrates on the rules and regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Mr. Hernandez received his law degree from the New York University School of Law in 2018, where he was an AnBryce Scholar and served as a staff editor of the NYU Journal of Law & Business. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2013. Mr. Hernandez is admitted to practice law in California.

Juan is a graduate of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s High School Mentoring Program, having started in the program in 2007 as a student at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.

MARGOT JACKSON-BERMUDEZ

Margot Jackson-Bermudez is a Director in our In-House Practice Group, based out of our Los Angeles andOrange County offices. She specializes in placing attorneys at all levels within corporate legal departmentsnationwide, with a focus on diversity recruiting. When partnering with clients, Margot aims to identifyopportunities where we can assist our clients in satisfying their business needs that exist within or beyond an organization’s legal department.

A native New Yorker, Margot relocated to Southern California 15 years ago. She loves to hike and to simply enjoy the Southern Californian climate. When she’s not working, Margot spends her free time cooking and traveling. She lives in Orange County with her husband Robert and three large, rambunctious dogs.

CHANNING D. JOHNSON

Channing Johnson focuses his practice on corporate and securities matters, with a concentration in the media, technology, entertainment and hospitality sectors.

Channing represents public and private companies in a variety of industries, including music, film andtelevision production and distribution, animation, manufacturing, retail (clothing, food and beverage), internet commerce, software and investment banking.

Channing has extensive experience advising entertainment and media clients. His entertainment and media clients are involved with all modes of distribution (broadcast, cable, broadband, theatrical and internet), and seek legal advice in connection with the issuance of securities, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture and financing agreements, production agreements, distribution agreements, affiliate carriage agreements, publishing and co-publishing agreements, production deals, endorsements, co-branding and sponsorship deals, and talent contracts. Channing has significant experience representing superstar recording artists in worldwide touring agreements, including handling all legal matters relating to one of the largest international tours ever produced. He also regularly represents successful independent film and television production companies, musicpublishers, and record companies with respect to their day-to-day legal needs, financings and strategicacquisitions.

HON. MARGUERITE D. DOWNING

Judge Marguerite D. Downing presides over a juvenile dependency calendar. Prior to her judicial appointment, Judge Downing worked as a Deputy Public Defender for over 18 years with the Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender

Long involved with the ABA, Judge Downing is the immediate past Chair of the Commission on Youth and Risk and is their liaison to the Commission on Disability Rights (CDR). She has also served as aCommissioner for CDR. She serves as the Chair of the Judicial Council of the California Association of Black Lawyers (CABL). Judge Downing is a member of the executive boards of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association and the Association of African American California Judicial Officers. Judge Downing is acurrent advisor to the Criminal Law Section Executive Committee, having previously chaired the committee. She serves as the Hospitality Chair for both CABL and Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (BWL).

Judge Downing lectures on various topics including juvenile justice, dependency law and courtroom civility issues in such faraway places as Dubai, Bangkok, Beijing, Guam, Huddersfield, Saipan and Washington, D.C. In her spare time, she crafts, reads and marks off locations in her worn book of “1000 Places to See Before You Die.”

HON. RUPA SEARIGHT GOSWAMI

Hon. Rupa Searight Goswami - the first South Asian woman on the bench in the state of California -- was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. in 2013. Born in India, Rupa grew up in rural Ohio and Florida. Prior to joining the bench, she served as a federal prosecutor at the United States Attorney’s Office where she earned the prestigious Director’s Award. As an AUSA, she prosecuted cyber fraud, environmental crimes, child sex tourism, and crimes involving endangered species. Prior to becoming a federal prosecutor, Judge Goswami clerked for Justice Nora M. Manella, then a United States District Judge and for Terence T. Evans of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She was also a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Agraduate of the University of Chicago, Rupa holds both an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Booth School of Business and a JD from UCLA School of Law. She has sat by designation on the California Court of Appeal. Currently, she teaches at USC’s Gould Law School and is a member of Governor Newsom’s Judicial Selection Advisory Committee.

Alfred Fraijo Jr. is a partner in the Real Estate, Land Use and Natural Resources practice group in the firm’s San Francisco and Los Angeles office. He is Team Leader of the firm’s Latin America Practice Group, a globalinitiative to provide specialized legal representation to Hispanic/Latino-owned companies and companies focused on the U.S. Latino market.

Alfred grows his expertise on cutting edge real estate transactions for public, private and nonprofit developers and multi-national corporations in the United States and abroad.

Alfred has significant experience in obtaining and negotiating land use entitlements for complex housing and mixed use development projects throughout California, including advising clients with innovative, urban renewal projects in the inner-city and other sectors with emerging markets. His expertise extends to complex project permitting and financing of affordable housing projects and mixed income housing developments. His real estate and land use expertise extends to master planning projects, green energy facilities development and permitting campuses for educational institutions and universities.

Alfred advises public and private sector clients on state and federal land use and environmental laws,including the Subdivision Map Act, California Community Redevelopment Law (including associateddissolution legislation and successor statutes), California Environmental Quality Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, CERCLA, RCRA, California Superfund Law and thePolanco Redevelopment Act. Alfred also has significant experience in working closely with clients andconsultants on due diligence review of land use issues, which includes local zoning ordinances, general plans, redevelopment agency plans, and related land use restrictions..

ALFRED FRAIJO JR.

Norma Nava Franklin is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Garcia Hernandez Sawhney, LLP. Her practice specializes in complex litigation and representing the firm’s education and municipal clients. Norma has vast experience handling a variety of litigation matters, including unfair business practices, commercial real estate, and contract litigation. She successfully defended a public utility against a $3 million breach of contract action by subcontractor; she served as an integral part of trial team representing two Plaintiffs and Cross-Defendants in a sexual assault jury trial against a wealthy foreign business man; She obtained a $2.1 million jury verdict for her real estate franchisee client against a national real estate company and its CEO.

Apart from her litigation work, Ms. Nava is passionate about civil rights. She worked as a legal fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project and is Vice President of For People of Color, Inc., an organization that provides free law school admissions consulting services to thousands of potential law school students. Ms. Nava worked as a legal clerk in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California and is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. She is also fluent in Spanish.

NORMA NAVA FRANKLIN

John S. Gibson is one of the leading commercial, technology, and antitrust litigators in the nation. A highlydecorated veteran of litigation battles and rescue missions, he has won celebrated trials and cases around the country for high-tech, international, and Fortune 500 companies as well as healthcare companies, professional sports teams, and pro bono clients seeking social justice. A master theme-builder and communicator, John emerged victorious as lead trial counsel in: the “trial of the decade” in Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Clippers, litigation attempting to stop the launch of 4G devices and cellular networks, class action challenges tohealthcare and manufacturing clients’ business models, litigation brought by a putative class of a Fortune 10 client’s thousands of domestic distributors/retailers seeking $2 billion in damages, and antitrust litigation over global patent-licensing practices and terms for essential technologies. He is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Litigation & Trial Department and serves on the firm’s Management Board, as co-chair of the Diversity Council, and as chair of the 3D Printing Digital Transformation and the Antitrust & Technology Working Groups. In naming John one of The Best Lawyers in America, the editors described him as “very talented” and “effective and dedicated.” In addition to being a successful courtroom advocate, John won the Burton Award for being one of the “finest law firm writers of 2019.”

A former software engineer who did coursework in organic chemistry, physics, and biology at Harvard, he also partners with clients to help them create—and protect themselves within—digital transformation ecosystems, including 3D printing.

John is rated AV Preeminent 5.0 out of 5.0 by Martindale-Hubbell. This is Martindale’s top rating, reflecting practice “at the highest level of professional excellence.”* John is also a fellow in The Litigation Counsel of America honorary society for trial lawyers. He is listed as one of The Best Lawyers in America (2013-2020 edi-tions). He was selected as one of the Savoy 2018 Most Influential Black Lawyers. And in 2019, John washonored as the “Attorney of the Year” by the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association.

JOHN S. GIBSON

Nerissa Coyle McGinn’s practice focuses on matters involving the convergence of advertising and promotions, emerging media, technology, privacy and intellectual property law. She has particular experience advising on matters involving the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU).

Nerissa works with many of the best-known brands in the country, including H&R Block and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and its confection brands. Embracing a business-minded approach, she helps clients develop new brand assets and assists them in promoting and advertising their brands and products.

Clients — including Turner Broadcasting and its programming properties, for which she handles trademark clearances for new shows, web properties, interstitials and sweepstakes — regularly turn to Nerissa fortrademark counselling services.

In the advertising and promotions facet of her practice, she works with clients on sweepstakes review, copy review, and promotion design and fulfillment, with an emphasis on internet and interactive advertising and promotions.

Her diverse roster of clients includes advertising agencies, large corporations, and professional sports teams including the New York Giants, the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Red Wings.

Nerissa also provides legal services for digital companies and app developers, handling a variety of IP matters and privacy policies and practices relating to websites and mobile applications.

As a thought leader in her industry, Nerissa frequently speaks at events and conferences. She also serves as the firm’s first Chief Diversity Partner and Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee, overseeing and revampingdiversity policies and initiatives.

NERISSA COYLE MCGINN

Sylvia F. James serves as Winston & Strawn’s Director of Diversity & Inclusion. In this role, Sylvia collaborates with key stakeholders to develop and implement the firm’s diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives; works with the talent management team to enhance the hiring, advancement, retention, and promotion of diverselawyers; serves as a liaison to clients and external organizations dedicated to fostering diversity in the legalprofession; conducts diversity training; and advises on internal and external diversity-related communications.

Prior to joining Winston, Sylvia served as the diversity lead for a national law firm. In addition, she practiced law as a labor and employment attorney for over a decade.

SYLVIA F. JAMES

Ann I. Park, Of Counsel in the Los Angeles office of Foley & Mansfield, has extensive experience in toxic tort defense, commercial business disputes, insurance coverage and environmental law matters. Ann concentrates her practice in defending complex, high-risk toxic tort, asbestos products liability and premises liability actions. She is skilled in the complex medical and scientific aspects of defending the firm’s clients in toxic tort lawsuits. Ann is experienced in all aspects of litigation, including pretrial discovery and work, expert preparation and cross-examination, trial, and the preparation of appeals. She has briefed and argued successful appeals in the California Court of Appeals.

A graduate of Harvard College and UCLA School of Law, Ann has a long history of involvement in thecommunity and working to increase diversity in the legal profession. She is a former President of the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and has served as Chair of its Diversity in the Profession Committee. Since 2007, she has served as the Coordinator of LACBA’s High School Mentoring Program, in which lawyers and judges visit local high schools to serve as mentors to students interested in entering the legal field. In 2009, she was awarded the State Bar of California’s Diversity Award and LACBA’s Patricia Phillips Outstanding Committee Service Award. She also was recognized with the Presidential Recognition Award by the State Bar of California in 2015.

Ann has served as Chair of the Steering Committee responsible for organizing the Diversity and Inclusion Conference.

ANN I. PARK

Nick is a member of Dentons’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice group. Nick represents a wide array of clients in complex business, employment, trade secret, ADA website accessibility, and class action litigation, with a particular emphasis in consumer and wage and hour class actions. He has extensive experience handling all aspects of the litigation, arbitration and appellate processes, with a strong track record of resolving matters through early-stage strategy and communication, negotiated settlement, mediation, trial and arbitration.

Nick further advises clients on day-to-day employment issues—including employment policies and procedures, compliance, non-compete agreements, terminations, and training -- designed to avoid litigation.

Nick is also a member of Dentons’ Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies practice, and serves as the outside in-house counsel to numerous emerging growth and technology startup companies across the United States and internationally. In this role, Nick advises founders, executives and investors on a range of issues, including business structure, strategy and growth, fundraising, employment, personnel, partnerships, strategic transactions and risk evaluation.

Nick is fluent in French and conversational in Punjabi.

NICK S. PUJJI

Amy Quartarolo is counsel in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins, where she has practiced since 2002. She is also a member of the Litigation & Trial Department and the Insolvency Litigation Practice Group. Ms. Quartarolo represents both debtors and creditors in a range of bankruptcy-related and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Quartarolo regularly practices in both state and federal courts, and has argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Quartarolo serves on the firm’s Recruiting Committee and is a member of the EEO Review Board.

She is licensed to practice in the State of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Federal District Court for the Central District of California, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California and the Federal District Court for the Southern District of California.

Ms. Quartarolo is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Business Law Section of theCalifornia State Bar Association.

AMY QUARTAROLO

L. Song Richardson is the Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law with joint appointments in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and in the Department of Asian American Studies. She received her AB from Harvard College and her JD from Yale Law School. Her interdisciplinary research uses lessons from cognitive and social psychology to study decision-making and judgment in a variety of contexts. Her scholarship has been published by law journals at Harvard, Yale,Cornell, Duke and Northwestern, among others. Her article, “Police Efficiency and the Fourth Amendment” was selected as a “Must Read” by the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. Her co-edited book, The Constitution and the Future of Criminal Justice in America, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. She is a co-editor of Criminal Procedure, Cases and Materials published by West Academic Publishing. Currently, she is working on a book that examines the history of race in the U.S. and its implications for law and policy.

Dean Richardson’s legal career has included partnership at a boutique criminal law firm and work as a state and federal public defender in Seattle, Washington. She was also an Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Immediately upon graduation from law school, Dean Richardson was a Skadden Arps Public Interest Fellow with the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles and the Legal Aid Soci-ety’s Immigration Unit in Brooklyn, NY. A leading expert on implicit racial and gender bias, Richardson is frequently invited to speak to law firms, district attorney and public defender offices, police departments, universities, judges, bar associations, and private industry across the nation about the science of implicit bias and its influence on decisions, perceptions, and judgments. She also presents her work at academic symposia and non-academic legal conferences.

She has won numerous awards and recognitions, including the American Association of Law School’s Derrick Bell Award, which recognizes a faculty member’s extraordinary contributions to legal education throughmentoring, teaching, and scholarship. She was recently named one of the Top Women Lawyers in California by The Daily Journal, one of the 100 Most Influential business and opinion shapers in Orange County, and one of the two most influential Korean Americans in OC.

Dean Richardson is a member of the American Law Institute. She is also on the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools, an association whose goal is to uphold and advance excellence in legal education, including promoting the core values of excellence in teaching and scholarship, academic freedom, and diversity while seeking to improve the legal profession, to foster justice, and to serve local, national and international communities.

L. SONG RICHARDSON

Maria C. Rodriguez advises US and international corporations with regard to employment law compliance and mergers and acquisitions; and defends employment cases and class action litigation. She is a trusted advisor to clients helping them avoid or resolve disputes and protect resources through proactive and strategic planning. She is experienced working with clients in the sports, media and entertainment, technology, food andrestaurant, airline, transportation and distribution, health care and fashion industries.

MARIA C. RODRIGUEZ

Vernetta Walker is president and CEO of Walker & Associates Consulting, and senior advisor on diversity, inclusion, and equity (DI&E) at BoardSource. With more than two decades of experience as a nonprofit leader and consultant, Vernetta is passionate about helping organizations maximize their impact through exceptional leadership, intellectual engagement, and cultural competence. In addition to providing consulting and training, she is a frequent speaker on nonprofit leading practices, sector trends, and creating a culture of inclusion.

Vernetta has worked with hundreds of public charities, associations, and foundations across the country and globally. Her clients have included the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, YMCA of the USA, the National Aquarium, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Independent Sector, U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce, the Walt Disney Company, and Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Prior to founding Walker and Associates, Vernetta served as chief governance officer and vice president of programs for BoardSource, associate general counsel and director of consulting for the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, foundation advocacy counsel for the Alliance for Justice, and director of theAdministration of Justice Grants for the Florida Bar Foundation. She also practiced law for several years in Orlando, Florida.

Vernetta is an adjunct lecturer at Columbia University, a faculty member for NeighborWorks America, and a certified cultural transformation consultant with the Barrett Values Centre. She also is author of theforthcoming Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Action Guide for Nonprofit Executives and Board Members(a BoardSource publication).

Vernetta received a Juris Doctor degree from the Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri, and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

VERNETTA WALKER

Jay Srinivasan is Co-Partner in Charge of the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where hepractices in the firm’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group with a focus on intellectual property and technology-related issues. Mr. Srinivasan represents a wide range of clients in the energy, entertainment, medical, and high tech industries in litigation, and also provides antitrust advice in the context of mergers/joint collaborations, government investigations, and proposed business practices. In addition to his antitrust practice, Mr. Srinivasan specializes in complex business litigation and class action defense.

Mr. Srinivasan is a co-editor of the current edition of the ABA’s Antitrust/Intellectual Property Handbook, and is the editor of the current edition of the Gibson Dunn’s Antitrust Handbook, which has long served as areference of first resort for in-house counsels regarding antitrust-related issues.

Mr. Srinivasan received his Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law, in 1995. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1991, after which he worked for a software company in Silicon Valley.

JAY P. SRINIVASAN

Nubia Valenzuela is from Chino, CA. She began her education at Chaffey Community College where shereceived an Associate of Science in Administration of Justice with a concentration in both Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Math and Science. She then transferred to Loyola Marymount University where she received my Bachelors of Art in Sociology with a Philosophy minor. She currently works in the University Honors Program at Loyola Marymount University as the Senior Administrative Coordinator. She plans to work full-time while working on her Master’s in Bioethics and her Law Degree. Her goal is to become a Prosecutor focusing on the gang problems in low socioeconomic communities. She is a graduate of California LAW’s Diversity Pipeline program.

NUBIA VALENZUELA

Steven Velkei is a trial lawyer who has served as lead trial counsel on matters totaling several billion dollars in potential exposure for the clients he represents. He prides himself on taking difficult cases and succeeding where others have failed. Steven concentrates on complex litigation matters and investigations and has litigated and/or tried cases across the country.

Steven has been recognized for his excellence by a variety of legal organizations including California Super Lawyers, Benchmark Litigation and Law Dragon. He has also been quoted in a number of periodicals(including LA Business Journal, Daily Law Journal and Law360) and has lectured extensively on government investigations and enforcement actions, trial technique and diversity within the legal profession.

Diversity in the workplace is important to Steven. Steven is a frequent lecturer across the country on diversity and, for three years, Steve spearheaded US diversity efforts as the chair of the US Diversity and InclusionCommittee for the world’s largest law firm. Steven is himself from a diverse background. He is LGBTQ. His mother is Latina, his father is an immigrant from Hungary and his husband is African American.

STEVEN VELKEI

Emily is an accomplished trial lawyer who defends employers in complex employment litigation, including California and FLSA wage and hour class and collective actions, California representative PAGA actions,employment discrimination class actions, and complex whistleblower matters. Her clients include majorretailers, financial services and life sciences companies, manufacturers and transportation providers. In addition to her litigation practice, Emily regularly counsels clients on employment-related matters, including harassment and discrimination investigations, “me too” issues, fair-pay compliance, employment contracts andnoncompetition agreements, and reductions-in-force. Emily helps employers develop forward-thinkingcompliance practices that reduce wage and hour disputes and help mitigate other employment-related risks while keeping her client’s business goals firmly in mind.

Emily serves as co-chair of the firm’s diversity & inclusion committee, and is a member of the firm’s national associates committee. She also is a regular speaker on labor and employment, and class action issues and is a contributing author to the firm’s Employment & Labor Perspectives blog. Emily is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of California, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, and the Superior, Appellate and Supreme Courts of California and Georgia.

EMILY BURKHARDT VICENTE