The Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership [Virtual Summit]: San Francisco

Scarlett Freeman is a Sr. Attorney in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management and Litigation & Business Disputes practices, in the San Francisco office of Epstein Becker Green.

Ms. Freeman:

Represents employers on a broad array of matters, such as compensation, restrictive covenants, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing, and other employment-related disputes, and has appeared in federal and state courts and in arbitrations and mediations before FINRA, JAMS, and AAA

Advises employers in all facets of the employment relationship, from pre-employment considerations and hiring to terminations and post-employment restrictions

Counsels clients on practices and procedures, such as employee handbooks and stand-alone policies, and avoiding disputes over matters stemming from employee discipline, reductions in force, leaves of absences, and accommodation requests

Prepares and advises on employment, consulting, separation, and non-compete agreements

Represents clients in commercial litigation, business disputes, and breach of contract matters

Represents plan sponsors and fiduciaries in the defense of claims brought under ERISA, including breach of fiduciary duty and denial of benefits

Assists clients with the complexity of issues involving electronically stored information (ESI) and e-discovery obligations and best practices in the course of litigations and internal investigations

Assists with domestic and international internal investigations related to complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, and other inappropriate behavior

While at law school, Ms. Freeman was a Research Editor for the St. John’s Journal of International & Comparative Law and the New York International Law Review. She also served as an intern for the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; a legal and government affairs intern at a not-for-profit organization that provides in-home nursing care; and a legal intern at a global financial institution.

Ms. Freeman was a 2005 Fulbright Fellow to Ethiopia in affiliation with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University.

Jennifer Estremera, a founder and Deputy Managing Partner of RJLF, is a trial lawyer with over a decade of experience in high-exposure commercial and intellectual property cases in federal and state courts across the country. Recently, Jennifer played a key role securing a $236 million jury willful infringement verdict for Densify against VMware following a nine-day patent trial in the District of Delaware in a case involving complex virtualization technology. Benchmark Litigation has recognized Jennifer as a “Future Star.”

Gretchen A. Ramos is Global Co-Chair of the Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice and focuses her practice on privacy, cybersecurity, and information management. Gretchen is a creative problem-solver with a long track record of success in commercial disputes, and she never loses sight of the simple fact that she works in a service industry. Clients appreciate not only her legal skills, but also her direct, no-nonsense approach to client service, including her bullet-pointed emails, snapshot executive summaries, and creativity in finding ways to streamline communications for in-house counsel with dozens of other projects—and little time—on their hands.

Gretchen’s clients come from diverse industries, including technology (SaaS), health care and life sciences, consumer products, manufacturing, academic institutions, and non-profits. She provides clients with practical business advice on compliance with state and federal U.S. laws, GDPR, CCPA, APEC, and other global privacy laws in relation to their external and internal privacy and security procedures, product and app development, and advertising practices. Gretchen also regularly drafts and negotiates contracts concerning data-related vendors, assists clients in assessing privacy risks in corporate transactions, and provides guidance on and conducts privacy and security assessments. She has managed dozens of data breaches, and helps clients prepare for and immediately respond to security incidents and breaches.

Gretchen works closely with her clients to manage data and leverage its value in ways to meet compliance obligations as well as deliver value to the business and instill consumer trust. Her experience working with various industries allows her to quickly assess options and risks, and guide clients, including numerous genomic data companies, in resolving complicated privacy issues.

Gretchen has litigated, mediated, and arbitrated commercial disputes, including class actions, at state and federal courts nationwide, and has tried numerous cases to verdict. Her wide-ranging litigation background allows her to advise clients on the litigation risks they face in determining how to handle data privacy issues. In addition to providing compliance advice, Gretchen defends companies facing FTC and other regulatory investigations, and individual and class action claims involving privacy, information security, and consumer protection.

Nicole Kelsey joined Amyris, the innovative bioscience company, as General Counsel and Secretary, in August 2017. In her second public company General Counsel role, Ms. Kelsey is a seasoned, multi-lingual executive with international expertise in strategy, M&A, complex commercial transactions and financings, U.S. securities laws, and multi-jurisdictional corporate governance standards. She brings her expertise to bear for both Fortune 500 and disruptive technology companies.

A Wall Street-trained lawyer with over 25 years of experience in global growth-oriented companies, Ms. Kelsey impacts strategic change by building operations and growing product sales in new geographies; steering her companies through complex commercial and securities litigation and investigations; managing regulatory landscapes for new product lines across distinct geographies; developing an international IP strategy for diverse R&D capacities; establishing best corporate governance practices for the Board and executive management; and establishing global compliance programs. Awarded the 2019 Female Executive of the Year Award from Databird Business Journal in March 2020, Ms. Kelsey’s leadership style is distinguished by her ability to build, develop, and inspire best-in-class teams to excellence. Half French-Algerian and a champion of diversity, she spearheaded the first diversity and inclusion initiative at Amyris in early 2019. Ms. Kelsey actively mentors both women and men; and as a member of the board of Amyris’s women’s group, fostered the launch of her company’s first mentoring program for women, by women, in the summer of 2020. Ms. Kelsey speaks on DEI, mentoring, and other leadership topics throughout the legal and technology communities in the U.S. and abroad.

Prior to joining Amyris, Ms. Kelsey was General Counsel and Secretary to Criteo, a leader in the ad/marketing technology industry with headquarters in Paris and offices in 30 cities across the globe, for over three years. Before her GC role at Criteo, Ms. Kelsey was the senior securities lawyer for Medtronic, the head M&A lawyer for CIT Group Inc., the general counsel of a private art financing fund, and the US securities and M&A lawyer for international conglomerate Vivendi. Ms. Kelsey first practiced with the firms of White & Case and Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, in New York and Paris.

Avidly interested in the arts, and an entrepreneur in her own right, Ms. Kelsey founded and operated an art gallery out of her NYC home from 2001 – 2005. A strong believer in an executive leader’s obligation to give back to the community, she served on the boards of several non-profit arts organizations from 2004 – 2014. In April 2019, she continued her commitment to pro bono work by joining the board of directors of A Window Between Worlds, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization that provides art therapy training and resources to community outreach programs assisting women and children survivors of violence, and serves as the Chair of its Nomination and Governance Committee. And in August 2020, she joined the Board of Trustees, and was appointed the Secretary, of Wrestle Like A Girl, whose mission is to empower girls and women through the sport of wrestling to become leaders in life.

A Fulbright scholar, Ms. Kelsey has a J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and a B.A. from The Ohio State University, and is admitted to practice law in both New York and Minnesota. Ms. Kelsey speaks four languages and is currently studying Japanese, and is rearing her daughter as a bi-lingual international citizen. A native of California and a passionate surfer, Ms. Kelsey enjoys the rich intersection of the arts community and outdoor activities that living in San Francisco offers her family.

A North Carolina native and avid music lover, Jasmine is a passionate attorney with a strong background in music business and the law.  After passing the bar, Jasmine worked as a solo attorney and focused on counseling artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and investors in bringing traditional media to digital platforms.  She has since pivoted into negotiating commercial agreements for technology companies.  She is now Commercial Counsel at Asana, Inc. the leading work management SaaS provider.

Jasmine is a graduate of the UC Hastings College of the Law and holds a degree in Music Business from New York University.

Audrey is a Strategic Customer Engagements Deal Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud-computing platform.  Audrey structures and negotiates digital transformation partnership deals which offer over 200 fully featured services from AWS’s global data centers to customers to enable them to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate at a faster clip.

Prior to AWS, Audrey inked partnerships to pave the launches of numerous products at Alphabet Inc. (formerly Google Inc.), including artificial intelligence/machine learning solutions at Google Cloud, moonshot technologies (e.g. smart eyewear, internet balloons, self-driving cars, home robotics systems) at Google X, and gigabit internet connectivity at Google Fiber.  Audrey formerly managed Apple’s Global Business Operations partnerships focused on product design and manufacturing partners and commodity and testing partners for iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iMac, and iPod.  Her first foray into partnerships was through scoping and implementing enterprise digital transformations on behalf of IBM’s Global Business Services consulting arm.  Audrey holds a Master in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.     

Kirsten C. Jackson is a commercial litigator and primarily focuses her practice on insurance matters. She has significant experience with a variety of business and contractual disputes, as well as insurance litigation involving commercial general liability, directors and officers liability, cyber liability, professional liability and life insurance. Kirsten’s practice also includes captive insurance and reinsurance. She is regularly recognized as a Southern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers and was named as a “Top 40 under 40” Lawyer by the National Bar Association.

Kirsten is actively engaged in promoting diversity in the legal profession. She is the Diversity Subcommittee Co-Chair for the American Bar Association’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Section, and was previously on the board of the California Minority Counsel Program’s Annual Business Conference.

Kirsten frequently speaks on various issues with presentations including “Data Privacy Class Actions: Navigating Latest Legal Theories, Leveraging Defense Strategies, Evaluating Insurance Coverage,” at the Strafford Seminar; “Coverage Across Borders: International Insurance Claims,” at the ABA Women in Insurance Conference; “Interactive Leadership, Career Development and Networking,” at the California Minority Counsel Program Annual Business Conference; and “Cyber Insurance 101: Coverage Issues Related to Cyber Attacks and Cyber Insurance,” at the ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar.

Sue Bunnell is a pragmatic and results-focused legal leader for a global Fortune 50 company, and rounds out her days with non-profit work and career therapy. She leverages 20+years of experience in technology, IP, security/privacy, and regulatory compliance when counseling leaders in the Wells Fargo Chief Administrative Office related to operations such as incident management, properties, physical security, and safety issues. Ms. Bunnell is also an outspoken advocate for professional development, and serves as the President and Chair of the board of LWT: Advancing Women in Leadership (www.LWTleadership.org) as well as a Director at Large on the Board of the Professional BusinessWomen of California (www.pbwc.org). She enjoys speaking and facilitating workshops in the Bay Area on effective self-advocacy through resume creation, interview skills, social media presentation, and career negotiations. 

Jinzy Zhu is the Lead Counsel for M&A Integrations at PayPal. Ms. Zhu has extensive experience in M&A transaction life cycle including due diligence and integration of the acquired business. She has worked in the United Kingdom, China and India in previous roles.  Ms. Zhu is a graduate of MIT, the University of Oxford and the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Laura McAdams is Senior Counsel at Uber Technologies, Inc. She is based in San Francisco and oversees high exposure matters for the Safety and Insurance Litigation team. Prior to joining Uber two years ago, she was a partner in the Complex Litigation Practice at the Los Angeles office of a national firm.

Heather is a Managing Director in EY Law’s Legal Managed Services practice, where she is focused on helping corporate legal departments transform the way they practice law and deliver value to the enterprise. She has 15 years of experience in the legal services sector, including legal operations, litigation technology, commercial contracting, contracts intelligence in transactions and regulatory contexts, legal talent strategy, and the design and implementation of legal department operating models.

Prior to joining EY, Heather was Vice President and general manager of the North American Technology practice for a leading global ALSP, where she served as a strategic advisor to in-house legal department leaders on legal staffing operating models, contract lifecycle optimization, and digital transformation of the provision of legal support to the business.

As a highly experienced labor relations and employment law attorney, Heather Sager counsels clients through a myriad of labor issues from class actions, to unfair competition litigation, to wrongful termination, harassment and discrimination. Her extensive knowledge of California’s complicated statutory and regulatory requirements for employers from startups to the Fortune 500 is well regarded by technology, retail and finance clients.

During her career, Heather has focused on management-side representation in single-plaintiff, multi-plaintiff and collective and class action litigation before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. She has also handled union organizing campaigns and negotiated collective bargaining agreements demonstrating her skills in traditional labor law. Her experience litigating complex wage and hour claims and conducting wage and hour audits make her a top choice among clients grappling nationally with FLSA and on the West Coast with the California Labor Code and California Equal Pay Act.

Heather regularly advises clients on employee classification and independent contractor issues and helps defend against unfair competition and trade secret misappropriation. She also is active in #MeToo counseling and training for employers, regularly conducting investigations into allegations of sexual harassment.

Michelle has built an impressive track-record practicing in trademark, copyright, patent, unfair competition/false advertising, anti-counterfeiting/anti-piracy, internet, and fashion and wearable technology law.

Michelle’s clients span a broad range of industries including fashion and retail, food and beverage, computer software and hardware, educational services, financial and consulting services, pharmaceutical, and media and entertainment. Michelle is distinguished not only by the victories she has achieved for her clients but also for the wider influence and interest her cases have generated. She represents clients in state and federal courts, at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and before the International Trade Commission. She has also successfully obtained preliminary injunctions and ex parte seizure orders on behalf of her clients, and works closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and law enforcement in coordinated anti-counterfeiting efforts. She has argued and won numerous federal and state court appeals, including the Second Circuit’s seminal famous marks case of ITC Ltd v. Punchgini, Inc. Michelle has also successfully represented numerous companies in connection with design patent disputes in industries ranging from consumer products to industrial products.

Complementing her litigation work, Michelle’s practice also includes counseling and opinions, trademark and trade dress prosecution, devising cost-effective brand protection programs, negotiating licenses, IP acquisitions, and cobranding agreements on behalf of clients, and counseling clients on the use of social media and other online platforms to market and sell their goods and services.

Aurora Kaiser is Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Litigation and Employment, at Upwork, where she thrives on partnering with the business to enable Upwork to achieve its goals and live its values. She leads an awesome team that supports HR and G&A, sales, product, and marketing in all things employment, as well as handling the entire lifecycle of disputes – from helping out our customer support teams tresolve issues early, to duking it out in litigation, and myriad related issues – like collections, enterprise risk management, insurance and IP matters, like patent, trademark and domain protection. Aurora and team are honored to support Upwork’s HR, global contingent workforce, and diversity, inclusion and belonging teams, who in turn support approximately 2000 workers in over 800 cities around the world. Aurora holds a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law. She began her legal career in the Employment and Labor Group of Morrison & Foerster, where her practice was split between advising, litigation, and mergers & acquisitions work. In that role and since, she has drawn on her experience before law school as an HR and operations manager to provide practical, business-friendly advice. In her spare time, she takes advantage of the beautiful outdoors in Northern California with her doberman pinschers, Roscoe and Penny, and dotes endlessly on her saltwater fish and coral. 

Malte serves as global head overseeing the safety of late-stage development and marketed medicines for Genentech, a member of the Roche group. Over the last 17 years he has held a broad range of positions at Roche and Genentech including medical affairs, pipeline strategy and clinical development. While mostly he was US based, he did lead the China based Roche development team as Site Head in Shanghai from 2016 – 2018.

Before his time with Roche and Genentech, Malte worked for more than 10 years as an internist and HIV specialist in Berlin and Chicago in direct patients care.

In addition Malte is passionate about diversity & inclusion, empowering teams and exploring new ways of working. 

Sabiha Chunawala is VP & Deputy General Counsel at Contentful Inc., the global leader in omnichannel content platforms. Sabiha serves as global legal advisor to the Go-to-Market (“GTM”) organizations consisting of Sales, Customer Experience, Partnerships, and Marketing and manages a global team of legal professionals focused on commercial transactions and is also responsible for Contentful’s trademark portfolio. She also leads development of foundational global policies for Contentful and is a member of Contentful’s Inclusion & Diversity Committee. Prior to Contentful, Sabiha held leadership positions at Juniper Networks, Inc. and Portal Software, Inc., later acquired by Oracle Corporation.

Outside of work, Sabiha serves as a mentor for students in the Santa Clara University School of Law: Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, Tech JD program, and ChIPs chapter. She also serves as Library Commissioner for the Town of Los Gatos Library and serves on the Board for OPEN Silicon Valley, a global network of entrepreneurs, investors and professionals that provides a platform to network, collaborate, and mentor each other in developing businesses and the laying the foundation of entrepreneurship in various fields and Iqra Fund, an NGO that establishes high quality self-sustaining school systems in the remote, mountainous regions of northern Pakistan.

Meena Polich has worked in tech since 1997 and has practiced law since 2004. Her legal and business experience spans product and commercial counseling on hardware, software, and most recently, SaaS, across inbound and outbound direct and channel relationships, ranging from local to global and Fortune 100 companies as well as advising on go-to-market, compliance, and operations.

Meena has always been committed to cultural diversity, inclusion, and education through various opportunities, including ERG involvement at Cisco, service on GitHub’s Inclusion Advisory Council and as a founding member of the Adacats, GitHub’s ERG champions of and for people of marginalized gender identities in tech, and finally co-founding Intercom’s Inter-AZNs ERG.

Meena holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from UC Davis and a JD, specializing in international law, from Santa Clara University. 

Sara Quinto-Seibert is Senior Regulatory Counsel at Affirm, Inc.  She works cross-functionally with various business teams by providing legal advice on U.S. and Canadian consumer protection regulations for the development of new, innovative and honest financial products for consumers.  Prior to joining Affirm, Sara was Assistant General Counsel at Solar Mosaic, Inc.  During her time at Mosaic, Sara provided legal and business advice to build out Mosaic’s solar loan and home improvement loan products.  She also assisted in strengthening Mosaic’s operations and servicing functions. 

Before going in house in 2017, Sara was an Associate at Severson & Werson.  While at Severson, Sara represented and provided legal advice to various financial institutions.  In 2016, Sara served as second chair for a jury trial and obtained a full defense verdict for a big financial institution. 

Sara received her J.D. from U.C. Hastings College of the Law and B.A. from U.C. Berkeley.  Sara is also a San Francisco native.

Demetria Vong-Spillan is an Associate General Counsel at Bank of America, working there since 2000 supporting the global equipment leasing company. Her substantive areas of practice have encompassed renewable energy tax equity partnerships and other financings, leveraged leases and other secured lending, cross border transactions, large scale portfolio acquisitions and sales, project finance, municipal finance, joint venture partnerships, and film and affordable housing tax credits.

Ms. Vong-Spillan graduated from the University of Michigan in 1988 with an individualized concentration in International Economics, French and Chinese. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in December 1991 and clerked for the Hon. Gerald M. Smith at the Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri from 1992 through 1993. Prior to working for Bank of America, Ms. Vong-Spillan was an associate at Latham & Watkins and at Chapman and Cutler in Chicago.

Ms. Vong-Spillan has served as a Commissioner on the City of South San Francisco Housing Authority since 2017. She also has served on the Board of Directors of the Justice & Diversity Center of the San Francisco Bar Association since 2019. She is a member of the the Asian American Bar Association of the Bay Area and volunteers with Girl Scouts. Ms. Vong-Spillan and her husband have raised a child in Bay Area, now attending college, and provide remote caregiving for an older relative.

Tyng Loh is an Assistant General Counsel at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, where she has advised on legal and regulatory matters across the biotechnology product portfolio and across the lifecycle, including international clinical research, manufacturing, quality, trade compliance and sanctions, cybersecurity, as well as US commercial sales and marketing,  Prior to joining Genentech, Tyng practiced in private international law firms in Washington D.C. and Tokyo, where she focused on healthcare regulatory and litigation matters and corporate and securities issues in the life sciences space.  She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, cum laude, and received her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University. 

Tamara’s legal experience is anchored in labor and employment advice, counseling and litigation for employers.  She started her career at a mid-sized defense firm in San Francisco.  At Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. she spent 15 years in the Labor & Employment Practice Group, advising managers and HR on both day to day performance oversight as well as big picture policy and strategy issues, and managing employment litigation.  Since 2017, Tamara’s practice has focused on managing employment litigation. Tamara is a seasoned litigator and tough negotiator, known and respected for her pragmatic, collaborative, results-oriented style and strong writing skills.

A significant portion of Tamara’s work at Kaiser is devoted to the Legal Department’s Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Program.  As the Department’s Strategic Leader for Equity Inclusion and Diversity, since 2011 Tamara has developed and led the Department EI&D Committee, working tirelessly to promote the Program mission, “to strategically drive the integration of equity, inclusion and diversity into every aspect of our work resulting in a positive and enduring impact on our workforce/department, the legal profession and the communities we serve.”  The positive, measurable, undeniable and enduring impact of this work on her colleagues, the community and the pipeline of future diverse lawyers drives Tamara’s passion for this aspect of her career.

Tamara is a Bay Area native and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford Law School.  Tamara’s passion for equity spills over into her non-work life.  She serves on the board of a local non-profit that provides respite and support services to children and families.  Tamara, along with her adult daughters, host a variety of events for youth and women of color, including empowerment seminars and distribution of essential toiletries and accessories to homeless women.

Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, I emigrated to the US in 2001 to attend college in New York. I worked in the real estate industry for about six years before deciding to move to Southern California to embark on my journey to become an attorney. During my first year of law school, it was apparent that being a litigator was my destiny. I practiced defense litigation upon graduating from law school, focusing on employment defense and complex litigation. After about 10 years of firm life, I decided to make another huge leap – I packed up my family, house, pets and car, and drove up the coast to join Flynn Restaurant Group in San Francisco.  As the company’s in-house employment counsel, I continue to litigate and counsel internal business partners on a wide array of employment matters across 33 states. I am an attorney, boy-mom, pet owner, and self-proclaimed family chef.

G. Michelle Ferreira is Co-Managing Shareholder of the San Francisco Office and Co-Managing Shareholder of the Silicon Valley Office and counsels individuals, partnerships, estates and corporations in tax disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and state and local tax agencies, including the California Franchise Tax Board, the State Board of Equalization, the Employment Development Department and county assessment appeals boards.

As a former tax litigator for the Internal Revenue Service, Michelle brings unique experience to clients who have complex and sensitive tax and penalty disputes. Michelle represents clients before the IRS, and state and local tax agencies at the audit, collection, appeals and litigation stages.

Michelle has 18 reported decisions in the U.S. Tax Court on issues such as unreported income, family limited partnerships, civil and criminal tax fraud, penalty assessments, statutes of limitation assertions, valuation disputes, controversies involving valuation discounts for lack of control and lack of marketability, tax shelters, hobby losses, complex real estate transactions, tax structured transactions, and unsubstantiated business expenses.

Eva specifically provides brand protection legal guidance in the areas of data privacy, advertising and marketing, and trademark.

In the privacy space, Eva counsels clients around data collection, use, and transfer, as well as the development of appropriate internal and external-facing policies to govern such practices. For example, she monitors developing laws in the data privacy space such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, and works frequently with issues involving cross border data transfers and international data privacy law compliance as well as advising clients in the event of a data security breach.

As a member of the advertising team, Eva ensures that she understands the ins and outs of client brands and brand image. She reviews advertising materials and advises clients on federal and state laws, including unfair and deceptive trade practice regulations enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as FTC guidance related to green marketing, e-mail marketing, and telemarketing. Some of Eva’s notable experience is in the area of online gaming and lottery regulations. Eva also has experience drafting and reviewing promotion rules for contests and sweepstakes, as well as assisting clients with prize fulfillment and other aspects of client promotions.

Eva’s work in the intellectual property group includes policing, clearing, registering, and enforcing clients’ trademarks. She also handles various matters, including domain name issues and infringements.

Michelle Ruff graduated with her B.A. in Communications from Oakwood University, Huntsville, AL in 1996 and with a M.A. in Communications from Morehead State University, Morehead, KY in 1998. A 2001 graduate of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, Michelle  participated in the Immigration Clinic as a student; received an award for her public service work; and, was an active member of the Diversity Committee. After graduation, she begin her career working with Farmworker Legal Services in Michigan and proudly continued her non-profit service with Cobb County Legal Aid, a division of Atlanta Legal Aid and the Latin American Association before going into private practice. She is a member of the Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia Bar Associations. 

Michelle has put together training materials on cultural sensitivity for guardian ad litems and spoken on the impact of natural disasters on immigrants for young lawyers assisting Hurricane Katrina victims. 

Most importantly, Michelle has two adult children, who endured college, graduate and law school with her as a single mother. She is an avid fitness enthusiast who volunteers to teach a workout class to senior citizens in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives.   

Samantha is the Chief Legal Officer at Enjoy Technology Inc. Enjoy is the first mobile retail store available on-demand and delivers a product purchased on-line with a trained person to get you up and running within minutes for free. Enjoy works with premier technology companies like AT&T in the US, BT and EE in the UK, and Rogers in Canada, to bring their products directly to customers via the Smart Last Mile experience. In her role, Samantha manages a strong team of legal and compliance professionals to oversee the global legal and compliance functions, and focuses on strategic initiatives that move Enjoy forward while mitigating risks. In addition to her role at Enjoy, Samantha runs the San Francisco General Counsel’s (SFGC’s) legal network, helps build various in-house legal intern and extern programs, and collaborates with attorneys and key international business personnel to progress innovation within the legal and compliance space. Samantha also serves as a GC Coach  through Laddher Up, is an Advisory Board Member of Lex Lab, a legal innovation lab at UC Hastings, and has previously served as Corporate Governance Board Member for the Princess Project in California. Samanatha received a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education and Teaching from Texas Tech University, spending six years in classroom education and curriculum development before  attending  University of California, Hastings College of Law, receiving her J.D., with honors, in 2015. 

Alyson is a Corporate Counsel on the Global Employment Legal team at Google LLC in San Francisco, CA. She supports Google’s Employee Engagement, Search, Ads, and Geo organizations, providing guidance on the full scope of legal issues that accompany the employment relationship. Alyson also provides counsel on Google’s global diversity and inclusion efforts.

Prior to working at Google, Alyson was an Associate Attorney at Miller, Nash, Graham & Dunn LLP and Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle, WA, working on behalf of public and private employers in litigation before state and federal courts and providing guidance on a range of employment topics, including independent contractor status, minimum-wage compliance, covenants not to compete, employee terminations, and employment discrimination.

Alyson is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, where she was an Associate Editor-in-Chief of the International Law Journal and Alumni Coordinator for the Black Law Students Association. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Seattle University, where she was a Sullivan Leadership Scholar and Founder and President of Seattle U.’s NAACP College Chapter.

Alyson previously worked in the White House Office of Management and Administration and the U.S. General Services Administration during the Obama Administration. She enjoys indoor cycling, crime podcasts, and watching TV cooking competitions.

Shanti Ariker is SVP, General Counsel at Zendesk and has been  practicing for more than 20 years with experience working internationally with high-growth companies and working with board of directors and executive management, managing and building teams and negotiating complex agreements.  Previously Shanti was Deputy General Counsel at Twilio Inc. and also worked at Autodesk and Salesforce, including 3.5 years as General Counsel of Salesforce.org, the non-profit arm of Salesforce. 

Andrea Russi is an appellate attorney with experience in both state and federal court. She is Senior Counsel in the San Francisco office of Horvitz & Levy.  She previously served for more than four years as a senior appellate court attorney for the California Court of Appeal, First District working for Presiding Justice Ignazio Ruvolo (retired).

Andrea worked for eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California where she was a member of the criminal appeals section. As an AUSA, Andrea authored more than 40 appellate briefs and argued 20 cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She also reviewed and edited briefs drafted by other prosecutors and conducted monthly moot courts in preparation for oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit.  Andrea was also a trial lawyer handling a range of criminal cases from indictment through trial. 

Andrea spent six years at the University of California Berkeley School of Law where she was the Managing Director of two research and policy centers: the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute for Law & Social Policy and the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice.  She acted as a Lecturer in Residence at Berkeley Law where she taught criminal procedure and as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law where she taught appellate advocacy. 

Andrea was an associate at Latham & Watkins.  She clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable David R. Thompson and on the United States District Court for the Central District of California for the Honorable William D. Keller.

Andrea graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley.  She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.

Andrea is currently the co-chair of the Civic and Judicial Appointments Committee for the Queen’s Bench Bar Association with a mission of identifying and encouraging diversity in appointments to public office and the judiciary.  She is a 2020 Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.  Andrea is a also the vice president for service and grade level coordinator for the Teen and Parent Service Organization (TAPS) where she organizes and supervises volunteer service projects for high school students.

Rebecca Suarez is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s San Francisco Office and is a member of the firm’s Litigation Group. Rebecca has represented companies in complex commercial disputes in a number of different industries, including health care, education, retail, bankruptcy, and insurance. Rebecca has experience representing clients in litigation at all stages, from pre-litigation investigation and counseling through trial and appeal. 

Rebecca earned her J.D. from the University of Southern California. While in law school, Rebecca was a certified student intern with USC’s Post-Conviction Justice Project and was on the staff of the Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Rebecca graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in philosophy.

Leader of enterprise-wide Big Data strategy and governance; experienced in Healthcare Information Technology (Health IT); complex technology transactions, Big Data strategy, and IP attorney for one of the largest health care non-profits ($79 billion operating revenues); over 18 years experience in structuring and negotiating high dollar technology transactions, cloud services, AI, strategic innovation collaborations, licensing, professional and managed services, web-based, and outsourcing transactions. Negotiated upwards of one billion dollar IT deals, including domestic and international transactions. Advised on customer and supplier side of technology agreements for both in and out-bound transactions. Counseled clients ranging from Fortune 100, and early stage companies in IT, healthcare, software, web-based, e-commerce, automotive, manufacturing, insurance, energy, and banking and financial industries. Lead a Data Strategy Team of 12 attorneys and paralegals. Co-chair of the Enrichment and Development Subcommittee of the Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Sherry is Privacy Counsel at Twilio, a cloud communications platform. She advises the business on global privacy compliance, risk and remediation, and go-to-market strategy. Sherry also counsels and supports Twilio’s Commercial team and business partners on negotiations of data protection related provisions in marketing, partnership, and other complex commercial contracts.  Prior to joining Twilio, Sherry oversaw data protection and privacy compliance at GitHub during its acquisition by Microsoft. While at GitHub, Sherry served on the leadership team of the company’s queer employee resource group.

Sherry is a Bay Area native and earned her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law.