The Employment Law Summit: Los Angeles

Julie Isen is Senior Corporate Counsel for Apria Healthcare LLC, under the Owens & Minor umbrella. She works in employment law and litigation and sometimes dips her toes into the managed care contracting world. In her day-to-day, she is the first point of contact for HR when potential issues arise, handles pre-litigation claims, and manages claims and outside counsel when lawsuits are filed. Prior to Apria, she was in-house counsel handling litigation and employment law for Freedom Forever, a residential solar company. She spent 9 years as a litigator in private practice before going in-house.

Myrto Koimtzoglou is currently a  Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo Asset management. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Myrto spent the bulk of her career in London serving as an Assistant general counsel and deputy head of compliance over at JP Morgan Asset management and UBS Wealth Management respectively. Myrto started her career as a junior litigator at Bank of Piraeus and then moved to M&As as junior counsel at ABN Amro Bank. Myrto is a Solicitor of England & Wales ,a Greek Lawyer and a registered foreign attorney with California bar. An International Funds and Investment Management Compliance Lawyer, In-house advisor for investment funds and investment solutions for institutional clients, she specifically focuses on advising the structuring and distributing regulated and unregulated funds (and fund of funds) on a cross border basis globally. Myrto earned her law degree from Aristotle University of Greece ad her Maters in Banking law (LLM) from London School of economics and political science. Myrto is also a certified UK Compliance officer and currently serves as a board member on 2 nonprofit organizations in San Francisco.

Francis Lam currently serves as Vice President & Deputy General Counsel at OC Sports & Entertainment, LLC (OCSE) where he plays a pivotal role in setting and steering legal strategies for OCSE and its affiliates, including the Anaheim Ducks Hockey Club, San Diego Gulls Hockey Club, The Rinks Foundation, and Anaheim Arena Management. In his role, Francis oversees litigation and regulatory response as well as legal affairs for the organization’s employment, labor, security, guest relations, safety, and risk management functions.

Francis began his legal career at Sidley Austin. He has since held in-house positions with Lyft, Disney, and Bird Rides, accumulating invaluable insights into the legal intricacies of diverse industries ranging from technology to transportation to sports and entertainment.

Christine Kurek is an attorney and entrepreneur. She has significant experience in employment law and knowledge of human resources based upon her work with tech, major media and entertainment entities such as Verily, Yahoo!, Paramount Pictures, and Activision Blizzard. She also is the founder of Christine Kurek Design, where she created and launched a unique brand ofwomen’s sleepwear. She recently was named Large Private Company Corporate Counsel of the Year in 2023 by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Ms. Kurek is a member of the Board of Directors of Alexandria House, as well as the California
Employment Law Council.
Employment Counsel:
Ms. Kurek has uniquely served as the first in-house employment counsel at Verily, Activision Blizzard and Yahoo!. At Activision Blizzard, a $65B video game company comprised of approximately 10,000 global employees, Ms. Kurek advised on executive compensation issues (including review and preparation of materials for the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors). She also provided strategic counsel to executives, managers, and human resources staff in North America regarding all aspects of employment law, such as wage and hour compliance; employee relations and disciplinary actions; investigations; affirmative action; immigration; employee benefits (including FMLA and other leave laws), anti-discrimination/harassment, and enforcement and viability of restrictive covenants. Ms. Kurek also managed employment litigation, including wage and hour class actions and governmental investigations. Ms. Kurek had similar responsibilities at Yahoo!, for up to 10,000 employees and 1,000 contingent workers across the U.S., and internationally, as needed. She currently leads all aspects of employment law globally at Verily, which is a privately-held company comprised of approximately 1,500 employees.
General litigation:
Ms. Kurek began her legal career as a law clerk to a federal court judge, the Honorable Jerry Buchmeyer of the Northern District of Texas. She then joined the law firm of Covington & Burling as an associate in their Washington, D.C. office, where she focused on both general litigation and employment law matters.
Entrepreneur:
Ms. Kurek started her own women’s sleepwear company in Los Angeles, with products featured in major media outlets, such as In Style, Women’s Wear Daily, The New York Daily News (“Top 10” for Breast Cancer Awareness Month”), and People.com’s Celebrity Baby Blog. She leveraged her experience working in retail as a youth to develop both online retail and wholesale channels for the brand. As the founder and sole owner, Ms. Kurek was responsible for all aspects of the business, including design, development, manufacturing, production, legal, finance, sales, marketing, public relations, and
customer service.
Education:
Ms. Kurek graduated from Stanford University with an A.B. in Political Science with an Emphasis in Public
Policy in 1991. She earned a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1996, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board, the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, and the La Raza Law Student Association. While at UC Berkeley School of Law, she also was a research assistant to Professor Frank Newman at the United Nations Sub-Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. She was born and reared in Los Angeles.
Public Service:
Over the years, Ms. Kurek has demonstrated a commitment to public service. In Washington, D.C., Ms. Kurek worked both in government and as a pro bono staff attorney at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program. In Silicon Valley, she successfully assisted with fundraising efforts for non-profit agencies by sponsoring their applications for grants from the Yahoo! Employee Foundation. At Verily, she helped create a diversity accelerator program with Am Law 100 firms for legal interns, and supports women in the Los Angeles community through her participation in the XX Fund (a giving circle committed to lasting social change). As an undergraduate at Stanford, Ms. Kurek also spent a semester volunteering part-time
at a homeless shelter in San Jose.
Corporate Governance and Professional Affiliations:
Current Board Member and Past President of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, California Employment Law Council (CELC) Current Board Member, Alexandria House Boardroom Bound Boardology Institute Governance Graduate Member, American Employment Law Council (AELC)
State Bars of California and Washington, D.C.

Sundi Bonfiglio is Associate General Counsel, Labor & Employment and Corporate Affairs and Assistant Secretary for Panasonic Avionics Corporation.  With over 16 years’ experience providing in-house counseling to global technology companies, she currently advises Panasonic Avionics and leads the legal teams that support labor & employment, litigation, legal operations, international expansion and corporate governance.

An imaginative legal strategist with a passion for people, Sundi is repeatedly selected by corporate leaders to navigate delicate personnel matters with sensitivity and courage, and tackle challenging projects that require creative problem-solving, diplomatic collaboration, and tactical savvy. With her theatre background and easygoing charm, she is as comfortable pitching plans in the boardroom as cracking jokes in the breakroom. She excels in environments that value curiosity, authenticity, and diversity of thought.

Prior to her in-house experience, Sundi spent several years practicing labor and employment law at firms in Washington DC, and is proud to call herself a “Double Hoo” of the University of Virginia, where she received both her B.A., Psychology with High Distinction, and her Juris Doctorate.

Kevin currently serves as Associate General Counsel, Patents for Meta, where he has pioneered new ways to increase patent submissions from underrepresented inventor groups at Meta. He also counsels on legal issues related to the development of augmented and virtual reality products, including the Meta Quest line of VR products. Kevin currently resides in Southern California. His hobbies include golf and teaching his four-year-old son how to surf.

Karen Rindner has 20+ years of experience as in-house counsel, specializing in labor and employment law.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cornell University and received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Karen is currently Senior Employment Counsel for Warner Bros., where she engages with corporate clients in the Consumer Products, DC Entertainment and Studio Facilities groups regarding compensation, benefits, employee relations and litigations matters. She is also managing from a legal perspective the implementation of WarnerMedia’s Production Diversity Policy, which is aimed at building a worldwide culture of true belonging. Karen participated on the team tasked with creating and releasing the industry’s first annual Diversity & Inclusion Report.

Prior to her work at Warner Bros., Karen was General Counsel of Fidelis Cybersecurity in Bethesda, Maryland, a worldwide cybersecurity company. She previously held in-house counsel positions at large public companies and private and not for profit companies including Neustar, Sunrise Senior Living, National Geographic, and PBS. 

Shruti Arora is Counsel within the Alphabet Regulatory Response, Investigations and Strategy (ARRIS) group at Google. She is responsible for addressing matters that are high-risk, high profile and involve regulatory scrutiny, for example enforcement actions, internal investigations, shareholder litigation, data incidents and insider risk, as well as proactive strategic projects to mitigate other emerging risks relating to the workforce across all of Alphabet globally. In the decade prior to joining Google, Shruti was a trial attorney in the UK and represented the UK government in a number of high-profile public inquiries. She has a Masters degree from the University of Oxford and is dual qualified (UK and California). 

Deborah Butera is General Counsel & Secretary of Global Infrastructure Solutions Inc. (GISI), a multinational provider of construction management, engineering and consulting, and sustainability and impact services. Founded in 2016 by leading construction industry professionals, GISI facilitates ownership transition for high quality firms, allowing them to take advantage of our experience, access to capital, and industry expertise. Through the dedicated efforts of our 14,000 employees, GISI generates annual revenue of approximately $13 billion and enjoys project backlog of more than $22 billion.

Prior to GISI, Ms. Butera was Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary at The Kleinfelder Group, Inc., a multinational engineering and consulting firm, for five years and Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded multinational defense engineering, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure security solutions provider, for five years. Ms. Butera spent seven years as a law firm partner in private practice in Atlanta, where she served as Chair of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Construction Law Section and served on the Board of the Atlanta Bar Association. Ms. Butera was recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as General Counsel of the Year in 2015. She is admitted to the Bars of Ohio and Georgia and registered in-house counsel in California.

Rogers Joseph O’Donnell shareholder Dennis Huie represents and advises employers in connection with wage and hour claims in addition to a wide range of other employment and labor issues impacting his clients and the industries they serve including hospitality, retail and service. He defends employers against lawsuits filed by single and multiple plaintiffs as well as in class actions and other types of representative actions including actions filed under the Private Attorney General Act of 2004. Mr. Huie represents employers in state and federal court and before administrative agencies, such as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and the Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Civil Rights Department (fka Department of Fair Employment and Housing). He speaks on these issues at conferences for attorneys, business owners, human resource professionals and risk managers.