Women in Law & Leadership Summit: West

Shahzia M. Rahman is the Head of Corporate Legal at Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ), the S&P 500 financial technology company behind Square, Cash App, Afterpay, and TIDAL. In her role, she advises executives and the board of directors on corporate governance, securities law, capital markets, and strategic initiatives. She also works closely with cross-functional leadership to navigate the regulatory and governance considerations that accompany the growing use of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies across the business. Beyond advising on AI governance, she actively experiments with AI-driven tools to reimagine how legal work gets done.

Rahman brings more than two decades of experience spanning leading law firm and senior in-house roles in the technology sector. Her work centers on guiding organizations through periods of strategic transformation on a global scale while building resilient, high-performing teams.

She has also served as an adjunct professor at University of California Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), where she taught a practical skills course on representing startup companies.

Sue Bunnell is a legal leader at a global Fortune 50 company, and rounds out her days with career therapy and teaching. She leverages 20+years of experience in technology, IP, security/privacy, and regulatory compliance when counseling executives in Wells Fargo’s Chief Administrative Office related to its global operations, including incident management, physical security, and safety issues worldwide.

Ms. Bunnell is an outspoken advocate for professional development, and runs career advancement programming inside and outside Wells Fargo, including as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, and past stints as President/Chair of LWT: Advancing Women in Leadership and Director on the Board of the Professional BusinessWomen of California. She is a frequent host on podcasts encouraging women to stretch and grow in their careers, and enjoys speaking and facilitating presentations and workshops on effective self-advocacy and negotiation skills.

Gauri Manglik is Vice President, Head of Legal, Privacy, and AI Governance at GoFundMe, where she leads the company’s global legal function, including privacy and AI governance. With nearly two decades of broad legal experience—including corporate, commercial, regulatory, and product counseling—Gauri is a strategic business partner known for her pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach.

At GoFundMe, Gauri oversees legal risk management, negotiates complex commercial agreements, and drives enterprise-wide privacy and AI Governance programs. Gauri is recognized for her cross-functional leadership and ability to build scalable legal frameworks that enable innovation while safeguarding trust and transparency. Her work is grounded in a strong commitment to integrity, accountability, and empowering teams to navigate complexity with confidence.

Allison Lisbonne Amadia is a senior legal, compliance, and risk executive with more than 30 years of experience operating at the intersection of strategy, execution, and governance across technology, financial services, and professional services organizations. Known as a highly effective strategic operator, Allison partners with executive leadership teams to translate business objectives into scalable, resilient operating models—using legal, risk, and compliance functions as drivers of growth rather than constraints.

Throughout her career, Allison has intentionally pivoted across roles and industries— including academia, entrepreneurship, solo and fractional General Counsel roles, and C‑suite leadership—building a rare ability to see the business from multiple vantage points. Her distinguishing strength lies in developing business‑minded teams: leaders who understand not only the law and regulation, but also the commercial, cultural, and operational realities of the organizations they serve.

Most recently, Allison served as Chief Legal & Risk Officer and Corporate Secretary at Edelman Financial Engines, the nation’s largest independent registered investment advisor. As a core member of the executive leadership team, she led numerous areas critical to the success of the company including enterprise Legal, Compliance, Risk, Cybersecurity, Regulatory Affairs, Internal Audit, and Investigations. In this role, Allison helped shape enterprise strategy, modernized risk and governance frameworks, strengthened operational resilience, and partnered with management to navigate high‑stakes business events. She also architected and implemented an enterprise‑wide AI governance framework aligned with innovation, regulatory expectations, and business strategy.

Previously, Allison served as Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Titan Global Capital Management and as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Personal Capital Corporation, guiding the company through its high‑visibility unicorn acquisition by Empower Retirement. Following the acquisition, she was appointed to the Board and served as Head of Human Resources in addition to her original responsibilities and her role was central in partnering with leadership on integration, governance, and strategic initiatives.

Earlier executive roles include General Counsel and SVP of HR at Handle Financial and EVP, General Counsel at Extreme Networks, where she led global legal operations and the acquisition and integration of a peer‑size competitor that doubled the company’s scale in six months. Across these roles, Allison consistently focused on building teams that operate with commercial judgment, accountability, and a deep understanding of business priorities.

Earlier in her career, Allison founded Amadia Pritchard LLP, serving for over a decade as a trusted advisor and outsourced General Counsel to technology companies, following prior roles at Morrison & Foerster, Novell, VeriFone, Seagate Software, and as a federal judicial clerk. Allison also taught a technology licensing course at Santa Clara Law School as an adjunct professor for several years. Widely respected for her integrity, clarity, and ability to lead through disruption, Allison has been recognized as one of the 10 Most Disruptive Women Leaders to Watch (2023) and among the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology (2021). She brings a distinctive, experience‑driven perspective on leadership, resilience, and career pivots—grounded in the belief that the most durable impact comes from building business‑aligned teams that enable organizations to move faster, smarter, and with confidence.

Khadeeja is a seasoned legal counsel with over a decade of international experience. Currently, as Associate General Counsel (Director), Technology Transactions at Rivian Automotive, she specializes in complex technology & strategic partnership agreements and provides legal counsel across business teams. Her expertise spans diverse sectors, from startups to publicly traded companies, encompassing roles in commercial & technology transactions, intellectual property, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures & various product launches. Holding a master’s in law (Intellectual Property and Technology Law), Khadeeja has been honored as one of 100 inspiring women by Rising Beyond the Ceiling, highlighting her dedication to professional excellence and community upliftment.

Linda Nyberg is a Senior Product Counsel at Google and an experienced technology lawyer specializing in artificial intelligence. At Google, she provides strategic advice on generative AI product launches in Google Cloud and model serving infrastructure, navigating complex legal and regulatory issues related to data governance, ethics, copyright, and privacy. She collaborates closely with cross-functional legal and product teams and is passionate about the responsible and ethical use of AI to drive innovation and transformation across industries.

Bhakti Shivarekar is a technology attorney and data privacy leader with nearly two decades of experience navigating the intersection of commercial law, privacy, and AI governance. She currently serves as Assistant General Counsel at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where she leads high-stakes commercial transactions and drives revenue growth across North American telecommunications markets. Over the course of her career, she has held senior legal roles at Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, and Just Global, building privacy programs, closing complex deals, and advising C-suite executives across global markets. She holds the Fellow of Information Privacy designation, the IAPP’s highest honor, as well as certifications in European and US privacy law, privacy management, and AI governance. Admitted to the California and New York bars, she is a sought-after voice on privacy, AI governance, and the evolving role of in-house counsel in technology-driven organizations. She has an LLB from ILS Law College, Pune, LLM in corporate law from the University of Pune, and LLM in IP, Commerce, and Technology law from the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law.

Renee J. Scatena is a seasoned in-house legal leader with 20+ years of experience

transforming commercial transactions teams and processes at major multinational

companies across diverse industries. The expertise encompasses leading the people,

processes, and tools used in contracting, as well as legal advice on complex transactions,

IT agreements, manufacturing and supply chain risk mitigation strategies, process

innovation, and leadership in legal operations deploying AI and contract lifecycle

management systems.

Known for her collaborative and dynamic leadership style, Renee currently leads a

global team of 34 attorneys and contract professionals at Gilead Sciences, where she is

responsible for overseeing 12,000+ contracts annually, launching AI tools, managing talent,

and integrating contracts for acquisitions. Prior to joining Gilead, Renee was Vice President

of Global Contracts at Sensata Technologies. At Sensata, Renee established a contract

center of excellence, designed CLM systems, managed global teams, and provided legal

counsel on commercial and government transactions with international technology

companies. From 2005-2021, Renee was in-house at Intel Corporation. As Associate

General Counsel and an IP Attorney, she led large teams negotiating contracts with over $20

billion in annual spending, While at Intel, she designed, implemented, and led the contract

specialist and legal internship programs, and handled intellectual property transactions.

Early in her career, Renee served as Director of Contracts at Honeywell in an aerospace

business, where she directed a high-volume international contracts team, partnered with

HR to build a world-class contracts organization, negotiated commercial and government

contracts, and designed end-to-end contract management processes.

Renee lives in San Francisco and is registered in house counsel in California, licensed

in Arizona. She is a graduate of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in Phoenix, Arizona,

a graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.A. in Communication, and holds a Certificate

in Contract Management from George Washington University, in partnership with ESI

International.

Ali is a partner in the firm’s Financial Services Litigation Department. Ali’s practice focuses on financial services litigation, complex commercial cases and trust and estate disputes. She successfully advocates for her clients at all stages of litigation including taking and defending depositions, drafting and arguing dispositive motions, navigating complex e-discovery issues, handling high-stakes settlement negotiations, and preparing for and taking matters to trial, as well as post-trial work if necessary. Ali has defended numerous class actions and multi-district litigation, involving all phases of class action litigation including e-discovery, class certification and class settlement. Ali has litigated numerous cases which triggered application of Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Ali also recently successfully defended against a challenge to her client’s $18 million estate plan – which persisted up until the literal eve of trial. That defense included defending against three separate lawsuits and two appeals and resulted in a $500,000+ award of fees and costs back to the client.
Ali has additional experience assisting clients in trust and estate litigation matters involving undue influence allegations, accounting disputes, life estate valuations, inter-family disputes over distribution of assets, special trustee’s fiduciary duties in administering family trust worth over $100 million, trustee’s fiduciary duties under Hawaii law in administering family trust worth over $30 million with properties in Hawaii and California. Additionally, Ali has significant pro bono experience litigating asylum and prisoner rights’ cases.
Ali served as a law clerk to the Honorable William Alsup of the U.S. District Court of Northern District of California.

Rike Connelly is the managing partner of the McGuireWoods Seattle office and co-leader of the firm’s Business Litigation Practice Group. Rike helps businesses navigate commercial disputes of every scale, tailoring strategy to align legal outcomes with broader business objectives and the most efficient path to resolution.

Rike represents clients in a wide array of commercial matters in state and federal courts, with distinct experience in Washington State and within the Ninth Circuit. She has particular experience with large Multidistrict Litigation and class action matters, including antitrust and Lanham Act cases, among others. Rike brings a sophisticated approach to discovery, deploying advanced e‑discovery tools, including custom multimodel continuous active learning systems and other artificial intelligence solutions, to drive down review costs while maintaining defensibility and rigor.

Beyond her commercial practice, Rike maintains an active pro bono docket, assisting individuals in immigration proceedings and supporting systemic civil rights litigation. She also serves as an editor of the annual Court Rules Annotated (Washington), covering the Superior and General Court Rules of Washington State.

Bailey Langner is a skilled litigator with a focus on defending tech companies, product manufacturers, and energy sector clients in product liability and personal injury cases. She litigates in state and federal court, including multi-district litigation (MDLs) and coordinated state proceedings, and represents clients in related government investigations. Bailey has significant trial, deposition, and case management experience and has helped secure important victories for clients at all stages of litigation. Bailey recently completed a secondment at a San Francisco-based tech company and gained insight into the issues companies face.

In addition to her legal practice, Bailey is active in the community.  She mentors students through the Leadership Council for Legal Diversity and previously served as a trustee on her local school board.  She has a robust pro bono practice, including assisting students obtain and renew their DACA status.

Bailey received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she co-founded a clinical program helping underserved populations access public benefits and worked as a teaching assistant in the first-year legal writing program.

Jennifer Jeffers is a partner at Allen Matkins in San Francisco, where she focuses on land use and natural resources law for residential, healthcare, renewable energy, industrial, and mixed-use development across California. She guides private, nonprofit, and public sector clients through every phase of project development — from acquisition and due diligence through CEQA/NEPA compliance, entitlement, permitting, and construction — with a proven track record on high-profile projects including large-scale residential developments and renewable energy projects, healthcare facilities, and corporate campuses. She also brings deep fluency in state housing legislation and local referenda, helping clients stay ahead of regulatory shifts.

Jennifer’s particular strength lies in complex natural resources matters — endangered species, wetlands, and aquatic resources under the federal Clean Water Act, ESA, CESA, and California Fish and Game Code — with direct experience managing permitting before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Coastal Commission, and State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards. Her technical grounding is exceptional: she holds a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, an M.S. in environmental science from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. with honors in environmental biology from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Prior to practicing law, Jennifer spent years as Director of Conservation International’s Regional Marine Strategies program, implementing biodiversity conservation practices for governments worldwide. She is a two-time recipient of Bisnow Northern California’s Commercial Real Estate Power Women Award (2024, 2025).

Kelly Smith is a Partner at Allen Matkins in Orange County, practicing as a commercial litigator and construction lawyer. She represents developers, owners, and lenders in complex construction disputes — covering design and construction defects, project delays, and mechanics liens — while also providing strategic contract counseling to minimize risk and manage project close-out. Her construction experience spans infrastructure, commercial, hospitality, mixed-use, and residential projects, complemented by an active practice in high-stakes real estate, business, and employment disputes.

Kelly launched her career clerking for two federal judges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California and went on to serve as a prosecutor, building deep courtroom experience that includes multiple jury trials. She is an Associate Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America — an invitation-only honorary society — and a member of the National Association of Women in Construction. She has been recognized consecutively in The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch from 2022 through 2026 across commercial litigation, construction law, and construction litigation. She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Laura Bushnell is a partner in our Corporate, Finance and Investments practice who specializes in counseling management and Boards of Directors of private and public companies, particularly in the life sciences and technology sectors, on capital raising matters, strategic transactions and corporate governance.

Laura has represented issuers, investors and financial institutions in numerous capital-raising transactions, including venture capital and seed financings, crossover rounds, strategic investments, initial public offerings, follow-on and secondary offerings, recapitalizations and PIPE financings.

In addition, Laura frequently serves as primary outside counsel to emerging growth companies. In this capacity, she advises management on such matters as corporate governance, disclosure and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting obligations, employment and equity compensation, fiduciary duties, strategic transactions and acquisitions, commercial agreements, and compliance with securities laws.

She is a regular speaker on a range of transactional and governance topics.

She serves on the Board of Trustees of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County.  She is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Jack Baskin School of Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz.

Katharine (Trina) Falace is the Napa Valley Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group, Co‑Chair of the Firm’s Wine, Beer & Spirits Industry Law Group, and a Partner in Buchalter’s Napa Valley office. Trina is a trusted legal strategist and seasoned business litigator known for delivering practical, business-minded solutions in high-stakes disputes. With extensive trial experience, she represents clients across diverse industries in complex commercial, real estate, and land use matters.

Trina represents clients in the wine and agricultural sectors, advising wineries, vineyard managers, and agricultural businesses on disputes involving easements, boundaries, contracts, and land use regulations. Her deep understanding of the industry allows her to blend courtroom advocacy with proactive counsel, helping clients navigate legal challenges while preserving vital business relationships.

Beyond litigation, Trina regularly counsels clients on conflict prevention and risk management, offering clear, actionable guidance to avoid costly disputes. Her transactional work includes drafting and negotiating winemaker agreements, vineyard management contracts, grape purchase deals, compliance issues, and water-sharing arrangements.

Known for her collaborative style and clear communication, Trina is a respected advisor for businesses seeking clarity, confidence, and results in a complex legal landscape.

Trina maintains an active presence in the Napa community through her service in a variety of leadership roles.

Sarah Kelly-Kilgore is the Executive Partner of Holland & Knight’s Newport Beach office and a member of the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Her practice centers on high-stakes litigation and complex business disputes across a wide range of industries.

Ms. Kelly-Kilgore has extensive experience litigating matters involving fraud, business torts, defamation, contract disputes, federal agency enforcement actions, unfair competition, and corporate governance issues. She has served as lead counsel in numerous high-profile cases that have drawn significant national and international attention, including coverage in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.

In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Kelly-Kilgore regularly advises business clients on compliance and regulatory matters, as well as employment law issues, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.

Ashley L. Shively is a privacy and class action attorney in Holland & Knight’s San Francisco office. She also serves as the Data Strategy, Security & Privacy Practice Group Leader.

Ms. Shively counsels public and private companies on consumer protection and data privacy issues with respect to product development, sign-up and point-of-sale procedures, auto-renewals and subscription products, digital marketing, regulatory compliance, incident response, and state and federal enforcement. She regularly advises clients on operationalizing the requirements of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) and analogous state privacy statues and legislation. In addition, she counsels businesses on risk mitigation with respect to the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003, Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), state privacy and unfair and deceptive practices laws, and similar legal and regulatory requirements.

Ms. Shively focuses her robust litigation practice on the defense of financial institutions and businesses in consumer class and individual actions, as well as clients facing so-called mass arbitrations. She has extensive experience defending privacy, data breach, false advertising, unfair business practices, call recording and website wiretap claims, particularly under the VPPA, Federal Wiretap Act and similar state statues like CIPA.