Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership: Washington DC

Marissa Comart is Assistant General Counsel, Employment at Brooklyn-based Etsy, Inc., where she supports a hybrid workforce across the United States and internationally for Etsy.com and the Company’s House of Brands, including London-based clothing resale marketplace Depop, Chicago-based music gear resale company Reverb, and Elo7, the “Etsy of Brazil.”  As a trusted legal partner, Marissa helps ensure that Etsy is compliant with employment laws across jurisdictions as the Company leads the way in providing employees with the support and flexibility they need — both personally and professionally. Marissa is also a co-lead of the “Parents at Etsy” Employee Resource Group. Marissa graduated from New York University School of Law. Prior to joining Etsy, Marissa worked as a law firm associate and a law clerk for a federal judge in New York.

Aryeh Fishman serves as Associate General Counsel, Regulatory Legal Affairs, for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the trade association representing U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Aryeh is an energy industry professional with experience engaging with policymakers and advising organizational decision-makers on regulatory, public policy, and legislative issues. Before coming to EEI, Aryeh practiced law representing both energy and telecommunications companies.

Director of Privacy at Atlassian who is IAPP certified in U.S. and European cyber security and data privacy law.

Lusanna Ro is a Vice President and East Region Chief Counsel for the Americas’ Design and Consulting Services Group of AECOM, a publicly traded global infrastructure consulting firm. She is based in AECOM’s Glen Allen, Virginia office and provides legal guidance to the U.S. East Region and Latin America on complex projects for public and private clients in the transportation, buildings, water and environment sectors. She leads a team of attorneys and legal professionals in the US, Mexico and Peru. Ms. Ro is a current co-chair of the ACC National Capital Region’s Corporate Scholars and past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Colorado.

Arianna Scavetti is a Complex Commercial Litigation partner in Weil’s Washington, D.C. office.  Arianna represents corporate clients in a wide range and at all phases of commercial litigation. She regularly defends clients in the consumer products space against allegations of consumer fraud and deception and advises clients on ESG claims and marketing. Arianna is also an emerging leader in the sports industry, particularly in the areas of player safety, compensation, and well-being. She currently serves as co-head for the D.C. office’s Women@Weil affinity group, which focuses on mentoring, networking, recruiting, retention, and advancing women attorneys across Weil.

Tanya Salgado is a Partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group at White and Williams. Tanya provides timely and effective counseling to her clients on all aspects of employment law compliance under federal and state law, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the ADA, the FMLA, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and wage and hour laws. She provides training and client seminars on crucial updates to employment laws so that her clients stay current on these important compliance requirements. Her litigation practice includes defending clients in federal and state courts in cases involving allegations of violations of the employment discrimination laws.

Ms. Bembry practices in the areas of insurance, international disputes, and litigation.

Ms. Bembry represents London Market Insurers on a number of significant insurance litigation issues, including asbestos and environmental claims.  On behalf of London Market Insurers, Ms. Bembry tried an environmental coverage case in New Jersey state court, obtaining a substantial reduction to the insured’s claim.  Ms. Bembry provides strategic counseling to insurers and reinsurers on a variety of coverage issues.

In addition to her insurance practice, Ms. Bembry represents foreign and domestic institutions in complex international commercial disputes.  She has litigated cases involving claims of negligence, fraud, and breach of contract, and counseled clients on a variety of complex issues, including on matters relating to OFAC’s sanctions programs and the enforcement of foreign money judgments.

Ms. Bembry litigates cases in both state and federal court, at the trial and appellate levels.  She has managed multiple large-scale, cross border document productions, tackling multifaceted e-discovery issues.  In 2012 and 2013 she served on the DC Bar’s E-Discovery Committee, which meets regularly to discuss current issues in e-discovery.

Mervin A. Bourne, Jr., is a career attorney and former federal prosecutor. He is currently an Associate General Counsel on the Security Legal team of Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook. Mervin oversees the legal matters of Meta’s Law Enforcement Response Team and issues related to the Stored Communications Act (SCA). He served in the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for 13 years, most recently as Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit where he was responsible for the Central Services, Witness Security, and Victim Advocacy sections of the nation’s largest United States Attorney’s Office (USAO). Mervin tried over 75 cases in D.C courts, and argued several times before the D.C. Court of Appeals, serving with distinction in the Appellate, Domestic Violence, Felony Major Crimes, Sex Offense, Cyber Crime, Fraud & Public Corruption, and Violent Crime & Narcotics Trafficking Sections of the Office. In 2018, Mervin was selected by the U.S. Attorney for the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands to head the Disaster Recovery Fraud Task Force in the disastrous wake of hurricanes Irma and Maria. There, Mervin led Homeland Security and FBI investigations into multi-million dollar FEMA fraud, healthcare fraud and other white-collar crimes.

Early in his career, after clerking for the Hon. Renee Jones Weeks in NJ Superior Court, Essex County, Mervin was sworn in as a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, where he oversaw investigations and litigated over a thousand child abuse and neglect cases in Newark, NJ and its surrounding cities. It was this experience that opened Mervin’s eyes to the fact that his life was a calling to help as many people as possible evolve to be the best versions of themselves possible, no matter their life’s circumstances. While practicing law, Mervin wrote his first book, A Single Mother’s Guide to Raising a Son, in response to a phenomenon that saw as high as 80% of American boys in many communities being raised without a father. He also produced an award-winning documentary, The Raising of the Son, which examined the impact of the absence and presence of fathers on society from the perspective of mothers and wives, sons and fathers, politicians, judges, professional athletes and the business community. Mervin’s forthcoming book, Sharpening Swords, is a daily meditation and personal growth guide for men en route to self-actualization and unlocking their life’s purpose. Mervin is also passionate about screen-writing and after writing his first screenplay, was selected to participate in the prestigious 2023 Rocaberti Writers Retreat in Dordogne, France in July.

Mervin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Morgan State University on a full four-year academic merit scholarship and was also a wide receiver for the Morgan State Bears football team. Mervin earned his Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, where he was a Seymour B. Jacobs Trial Advocacy Scholar. In 2022, Mervin was appointed to the Morgan State University Foundation Board of Directors. He has served as an instructor at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop since 2022.

Eugenia (Jeannie) Hernandez is Vice President and Associate General Counsel for the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Privacy at Sodexo, Inc.  In this role, she leads the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Privacy for the company in the United States and Canada.  Since joining Sodexo in 2016, Jeannie has partnered with the Regional Leadership Team to promote a corporate culture that fosters ethical and compliant behaviors including trainings, policy review, annual certification programs, and risk assessments.  Prior to joining Sodexo, Jeannie served in legal positions of increasing responsibility.  Most recently, Jeannie provided legal support to Daymon Worldwide as their General Counsel and Pitney Bowes as Assistant General Counsel.

Jeannie holds a B.A. in History, Spanish from Oberlin College.  Jeannie graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law with a JD in Law.

Tony R. Johnson serves as Assistant General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Bank of America, where he supports consumer, small business, and large commercial banking. In his current role, Tony supports fraud and claims for credit products.

Tony joined Bank of America in 2022 after serving as senior counsel at a regional bank where he provided legal guidance for middle market and large commercial banking. He has an extensive expertise in banking and finance law. Tony has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Blacks by the NAACP. He’s also been recognized for his work and community engagement by the Southern Black Law Students Association and 100 Black Men of America.

Tony’s scholarly interest and achievements afforded him the coveted opportunity to be the Louis H. Pollak Fellow at the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the nation’s first and foremost civil and human rights law firm, founded by Thurgood Marshall in 1940. During his fellowship, Tony worked on active school desegregation cases and federal voting rights legislation.

Tony graduated magna cum laude from Howard University and earned his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he served as a research assistant to Professor Jacqueline Fox. Tony graduated law school with honors and membership in the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court and the prestigious Order of Barristers. He began his law career working in chambers for the Honorable Richard M. Gergel, United States District Court Judge for the District of South Carolina. Tony is married to the love of his life, Cynthia Turner-Johnson, and they reside in historic Old Town- Alexandria, Virginia.

Chimdi (Nwosu) Ginsburg Tuffs represents various employers and entities in complex litigation including employer, professional and executive liability claims, premises liability, trucking liability and product liability matters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York federal and state courts. She draws on her vast courtroom experience as a former prosecutor in Philadelphia, and as a former felony sexual assault and domestic violence prosecutor in New York City, to develop an expertise in investigating and defending negligent security claims in the sexual assault context. She has tried many cases, both civil and criminal, to jury verdict and has experience in presenting before a grand jury. She prides herself on her aggressive, yet pragmatic, approach to litigation.

Lindsay Burke co-chairs Covington’s Employment Practice Group and regularly advises U.S., international, and multinational employers on employee management and culture issues and international HR compliance. She is a key member of the firm’s Institutional Culture and Social Responsibility practice, working together with white collar colleagues to conduct culture assessments, internal investigations of executive misconduct, and civil rights and racial equity audits and assessments. Lindsay has been at the forefront of the changing workplace issues impacting employers in the U.S. in the last decade, including #MeToo, Covid-19, and the renewed focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She frequently advises employers in relation to their processes and procedures for investigating complaints of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation and advises executive teams and board members on culture risk and the assessment and lawful implementation of DEI programs.

Whether successfully leading clients through high-stakes trials or negotiating advantageous resolutions where billions of dollars hang in the balance, Rachel Adcox is a standout amongst antitrust practitioners.

Rachel’s teams have proven uniquely adept at managing not only high-risk civil litigation but concurrent civil and criminal actions at both the state and federal levels. At every step, Rachel is able to present a full range of legal solutions for her clients, taking a proactive, business-minded approach that generates superior outcomes. As lead counsel on multiple major litigations for Fortune 100 companies, her clients routinely rely on her skill, judgment, and “clear, reasoned, and confident” advice. Her peers and clients likewise describe her as “an outstanding litigator,” and “the best of the best.”

As a result, Rachel has garnered numerous accolades for her work, including being recognized by Chambers USA as an Antitrust Litigation Specialist, by Legal 500 as a Leading Lawyer in Antitrust Civil Litigation/Class Action Defense, and by the National Law Journal as a Litigation Trailblazer. She has also been repeatedly short-listed for Lawyer of the Year, Litigator of the Year, and Matter of the Year by Global Competition Review, and was named to Global Competition Review’s prestigious list of Women in Antitrust in 2021.

Behind the scenes, Rachel is also a trusted confidential adviser and advocate on cartel and compliance matters before U.S. and international enforcers. Prior to joining Axinn, she was a Trial Attorney at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Yaphett K. Powell is a corporate and entertainment deal lawyer and executive. He has over 22 years of experience representing privately- and publicly-held domestic and foreign companies, institutions, and individuals in complex corporate and business transactions and related regulations, including licensing, distribution, acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, and related financing and capital raises, with recent emphasis on international and cross-border deals in the entertainment, sports, media, and content streaming technology sectors. As a senior attorney and strategic advisor, he focuses on closing complex deals, leading high-performing legal teams, and protecting his clients’ interests. His strengths include advancing global businesses, negotiating and structuring multimillion-dollar deals, and building strong business relationships.

Since 2018, Mr. Powell has also served as an Adjunct Law Professor at the top 20-ranked University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law where he teaches International Business Transactions, covering the legal principles and practices involved in private business transactions and movement of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and technology across the boundaries of different nation-states. Since 2022, he has also served on the Advisory Board for the USC Center for Transnational Law & Business (CTLB), which promotes world-class policy analysis, research, and educational opportunities in international business, law, and policy and serves USC, the State of California, the nation, and the world.

Formerly an Assistant United States Attorney, Kenya has 20 years of experience in high-stakes trials and investigations, including more than a decade as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
In that role, she represented the United States as lead counsel in 35 jury trials, 15 bench trials, and several evidentiary hearings involving complicated issues of first impression. She and her team prevailed in convicting a trafficker of adult sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, in one of the first federal trials of its kind in D.C. She also handled more than 100 grand jury investigations and defended 13 verdicts before the D.C. Court of Appeals. Kenya also served as co-chair of the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force, a group of nearly 75 senior federal and local law enforcement officials, government agency leaders, and NGO executives, working to increase the prosecution of traffickers, provide comprehensive services to victims, and coordinate anti-trafficking efforts in the D.C. area.

At Boies Schiller Flexner, Kenya focuses on investigations and compliance work, particularly ESG-related issues such as ensuring the integrity of supply chains and labor practices. She also works with BSF attorneys on sex trafficking and sexual assault cases.

Kenya is an adjunct professor at American University where she teaches a course on the laws and policies surrounding domestic violence.

Jason M. Knott, a litigator and employment lawyer with nearly two decades of experience, represents organizations and individuals in high-stakes civil and criminal disputes involving employment, insurance, and health care issues.
Drawing on his in-house experience, Jason also advises executives and companies on matters involving employment terminations, employment and severance agreements, Title VII, pay disputes, breaches of codes of conduct, and issues involving corporate culture.
Jason recently served as Chief People Officer for a rapidly-growing global technology company, where he provided executive leadership of the human resources function and partnered with other executives to enhance and expand the company’s global business operations while building, supporting, and retaining a team of leading professionals.

Kiran Mand is a legal and business executive leader with over 15 years of experience in providing strategic counsel and guidance to global organizations in various industries, such as finance, technology, media, travel, and retail. Her legal experience includes commercial transactions, strategic partnerships, data compliance, contract negotiation, legal process improvement, and team leadership.

Kiran Mand is currently the Assistant General Counsel at Capital One, where she previously supported the enterprise products and emerging payments teams, focusing on digital wallets and other innovative solutions. She now supports the Premium Products and Experiences team supporting the post-acquisition of a travel concierge business called Velocity Black. Her previous experience includes working as in house counsel at DoorDash, Disney, National Geographic, and Gap.

Kiran Mand’s mission is to enable and empower business growth and innovation, while protecting and advancing the interests and values of the company and her clients. In addition, Kiran Mand takes an active role in the diversity efforts in all her roles including but not limited to previously being co-chair of Disney Lawyers of Color, volunteering with the Mid Atlantic Innocence Project and mentoring young lawyers and law students to a variety of programs.

Ariane Mann is a trial and appellate lawyer who is driven by her passion to provide fair representation for inventors, creators, and innovators. She focuses on intellectual property litigation and counseling, including patent litigation, copyright, and trade secret disputes.

A former digital forensics analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, Ariane blends her analytical skills and technical background in computer science to offer clients unique perspectives into emerging technologies and strategic insights into cases to anticipate successful appellate review. She has experience before multiple forums, including district and appellate courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Ariane also has worked across a range of technologies—from mobile and robotics devices, telecommunications systems, software systems, and display devices to microscopes and tobacco-cessation devices.

Prior to joining RJLF, Ariane worked at three global law firms where she gained experience in all aspects of civil discovery, depositions, drafting motions and IPR petitions, as well as working closely with technical experts and reviewing source code. Ariane also clerked for the Honorable Kara F. Stoll of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Katherine Maddox Davis is a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

She represents corporate clients in high-stakes disputes with consumers, shareholders, and foreign governments. Her pro bono practice is focused on state and federal criminal defense. Katherine has been recognized by the 2023 and 2024 editions of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Appellate Practice.

Outside of court, she publishes and speaks on international jurisdictional disputes, often with human rights implications. Her analysis has been featured in law reviews and Lawfare, and she is a regular contributor to the ABA International Section’s Year in Review. She serves as vice chair for Rule of Law on the ABA International Courts and Judicial Affairs Committee.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Katherine clerked at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
She received her law degree, with honors, from Emory University School of Law. She was elected editor in chief of Emory International Law Review and received the W. Richard Smith Founder’s Award for Writing Excellence and the Robert Beynart Award for Professionalism and Ethics. As a law student, Katherine interned with then-Justice Harold Melton of the Georgia Supreme Court, with civil rights prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice, sex trafficking prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, and war crimes prosecutors at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Nakia Arrington assists clients by assessing, investigating, and resolving compliance issues across a variety of industries. Her practice covers environmental policy, pipeline safety, citizen suits pursuant to the Clean Water Act, hydroelectric power, compliance planning, incident response, internal investigations, and American Indian Law, as well as a broad range of civil litigation in federal and state courts. She also advises on environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG).

Nakia has recently advised clients navigating interactions with the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. DOJ), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

During law school, Nakia was accepted into the U.S. DOJ Attorney General’s Honors Program. Following graduation, she served as Assistant General Counsel at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Sensitive and Strategic Information Litigation Section, where she handled complex litigation involving the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act with a nexus to national security, technology, data, high-visibility activities, and an array of sensitive matters.

In 2021, Nakia retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as an Operations Officer.

Since joining Van Ness Feldman, Nakia’s Pro Bono practice has focused on representing underserved individuals.

Nakia is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe.

Ash Masrani is an associate in our Tech//Digital practice. She specializes in strategic technology and commercial transactions across industry sectors, with a keen focus on strategic outsourcings and digital transformation initiatives.
Ash excels in guiding clients through the lifecycle of a transaction, from structuring deals and provider selection to negotiations, contract execution and post-contract management.

Her expertise lies in advising clients on strategic information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) transactions; software-as-a-service (SaaS) agreements; core systems implementations; software licensing and development arrangements; branding agreements, reseller agreements; and other related corporate and commercial transactions.

Raleigh currently works as a Corporate Assistant Deputy General Counsel at Comcast Corporation in Philadelphia, PA. There, she provides legal regulatory counsel on a variety of wireless communications matters before the Federal Communications Commission. Previously, Raleigh served as the Senior Legislative Counsel for Chairman Phil Mendelson at the DC City Council. There, she served as the resident legal expert on the legislative history of educational programs, functions, and activities of the departments, agencies, offices within the District of Columbia government. Raleigh has also proudly sat on the City Year Board for the last five years, exercising her advocacy in early action education for at-risk students. Raleigh received her Bachelor of Arts from Elon University, her Juris Doctor from Elon University School of Law, and her Master of Laws from Georgetown University Law Center. Raleigh is a third generation Washington, DC native and enjoys beating the crowds for a first look at the blooming Cherry Blossoms and rooting for all DC sports teams.

Ashley R. Lynam is the Chair of Montgomery McCracken. She is the first woman and youngest person to hold the highest leadership position in the firm’s 112-year history. Ashley also serves on the firm’s Management and Hiring Committees.
Ashley is a trusted advisor and entrepreneurial advocate for her clients ranging from family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies. She handles all aspects of litigation across the full range of corporate and contract disputes, as well as antitrust and trade secret counseling, personal injury disputes, executive compensation counseling and catastrophic event response.
Ashley graduated summa cum laude as a business major from Villanova University and cum laude from Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law, where she was an executive member of the Moot Court Board.

Tamara Sorokanich Grimm is a Partner in the Philadelphia office of O’Hagan Meyer. Tamara specializes in complex litigation matters with a focus on the areas of employment law, condominium/HOA disputes, Directors and Officers liability, commercial litigation and defense of professional malpractice and general liability litigation.

Tamara’s employment litigation practice focuses on the representation of employers against claims of discrimination and retaliation based on race, gender, age, disability, and religion, as well as cases concerning wrongful termination, wage and hour claims, medical leaves and whistle blower claims. Her practice includes the litigation of restrictive covenants in employment contracts, disputes over confidentiality agreements and the misappropriation of trade secrets, as well as the drafting of employment contracts, severance packages, employee handbooks and disciplinary policies.

In addition to her employment practice, Tamara also has substantial experience defending clients in premises, products, and automobile liability matters in state and federal courts throughout New York and Pennsylvania, as well as representing corporations and individuals in shareholder disputes, Directors and Officers Liability matters, and civil racketeering claims.

Prior to joining O’Hagan Meyer, Ms. Grimm was a Senior Associate at a Manhattan based defense firm specializing in complex medical malpractice and general liability litigation and brings with her vast experience in defending physicians and hospitals in complex medical malpractice cases, including birth and obstetrical injuries, cerebral/Erb’s Palsy, failure to diagnose, emergency room, medication and surgical errors, hospital and nursing home negligence, and wrongful death actions, as well as Mental Hygiene Law, Guardianship and Assisted Outpatient Treatment Proceedings.

Tamara has successfully drafted and argued summary judgment and post-trial motions at the trial and appellate level. On appeal, Ms. Grimm achieved reversal of the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motions for summary judgment in two noteworthy cases, often cited for their holdings. See Sanabria v. Aguero-Borges, 117 A.D.3d 1024 (2d Dept 2014) and Pou v. E&S Wholesale Meats, Inc. 68 A.D.3d 446 (1st Dept 2009).

Tamara has served as a law clerk intern to a New York State Supreme Court Justice, as well as a policy analyst in the New York City Mayor’s Office under the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations. As a policy analyst, Tamara monitored the performance of mayoral initiatives, prepared chapters of the Mayor’s Management Report and developed outcome-based indicators to monitor agency performance. She also assisted in the coordination and operation of the City’s relief efforts following the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Tamara has conducted a number of lectures for both clients and colleagues on various topics including: employment discrimination, compliance with Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the effects of social media on the law, stress management, overcoming poor witnesses and juror misconduct. She also lectures hospital staff on medical malpractice issues.

Esther is a senior associate in the Insurance Recovery Group, focusing her practice on representing corporate, commercial, and residential policyholders in disputes with insurance companies. She works primarily with Commercial General Liability (CGL), Directors and Officers liability (D&O), Professional Errors and Omissions (E&O), and first-party property policies, providing coverage opinions, counseling, and dispute resolution. Esther serves well-known clients in the banking and financial institutions, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, retail, transportation and energy sectors, as well as religious institutions and small and medium sized businesses. In law school, Esther was a judicial intern to the Honorable Pamela K. Chen of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of New York.

Esther serves as co-chair of the Insurance Subcommittee of the Business Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. She also serves as the Associate Chair of the DEI Committee of the firm’s Philadelphia office.

Mr. Mago represents employers in a wide variety of litigation matters, including disability discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act; age discrimination claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; purported violations of the Family And Medical Leave Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, or 42 U.S.C. § 1983; and claims of sexual harassment, race, gender, or national origin discrimination arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or 1991, or 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Mr. Mago has significant experience in defending complex single plaintiff and class action cases on behalf of management nationwide. Mr. Mago also represents employers in state law claims of wrongful discharge, breach of employment contracts or covenants not to compete, defamation, tortious interference with contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Finally, Mr. Mago understands business operations and devotes a considerable portion of his practice to counseling and devising creative strategies to manage employment and business issues. Specifically, Mr. Mago counsels employers to avoid litigation by providing strategic advice and utilizing appropriate anti-discrimination and anti­harassment policies, discipline and termination policies, affirmative action compliance policies, employment contracts and employee handbooks.

Mr. Mago also represents a number of community associations in matters filed in Virginia’s federal and state courts. He devotes a considerable portion of his practice to the representation of POAs, HOAs & COAs in litigation addressed to covenant violations, governance issues, and equal housing issues, while also providing counsel to such clients regularly to help them navigate past trouble areas and thereby avert litigation. Representative clients in this practice area include Woodlake Community Association, Brandermill Community Association, King’s Charter, Wyndham, Lake Monticello, Lake Holiday, and Waterford House.

Eileen Geller is an experienced litigator who represents clients in labor and employment matters, professional liability claims, tort defense, and media law. She has extensive experience in commercial litigation and general liability defense as a seasoned litigator. Ms. Geller regularly litigates in federal and state courts in Virginia and is admitted to practice in the Eastern and Western Districts as well as the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Ms. Geller received her B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University. She earned her J.D. from the University of Richmond’s School of Law where she was a member of the McNeill Law Society, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Technology, and a member of the Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Moot Court Competition Team. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Geller worked as a television news producer, earning two regional Emmy Awards for her work at WWBT in Richmond, Virginia.

Ms. Geller actively volunteers in the legal field, representing indigent clients in family law matters and assisting non-profit organizations with legal disputes. In her free time, she serves as a past president and current Treasurer of the Richmond Audubon Society, an organization consisting of approximately 1,200 members in Central Virginia.

Scott Casher is the Chair of Operations and the Co-Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group at White and Williams LLP. A skilled litigator with over 25 years of experience, he represents a variety of business entities with respect to labor and employment matters, commercial matters, insurance coverage matters, and restrictive covenant and non-compete matters, in state, federal trial and appellate courts, at arbitrations and in mediations. While he has won many cases after motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, Scott is very successful at settling cases at an early stage in the litigation. Because Scott’s adversaries know that he will try a case, they often end up settling on terms favorable to Scott’s clients — offering cost savings and reduced business interruption.

Victoria Fuller is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group at White and Williams. Victoria has over 17 years of experience as a civil litigator, focusing on employment litigation and counseling, business litigation, insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. She regularly represents businesses, educational institutions, and non-profits before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, as well as in state and Federal Court. In addition, she counsels employers with respect to a variety of employment matters including hiring, termination (including RIFs), requests for accommodation, policies and procedures, and restrictive covenants.

Link to website bio for additional information if needed: https://www.whiteandwilliams.com/people-VictoriaFuller