Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership: Seattle

Sebastian Kurian is a Senior Counsel at Google providing legal support for data center site selection, acquisition, development, and operations across the US. Additionally, he focuses on power procurement, energy infrastructure development and energy public policy for Google’s global data centers. This includes clean energy power purchase and finance agreements across 4 continents for Google, one of the largest corporate offtakers of renewables in the world.

 Before joining Google, Sebastian was the first utilities lawyer for Amazon Web Services, where he was responsible for supporting Amazon’s data center energy infrastructure and supply needs across the globe, including its initial renewable energy power purchase agreements. Earlier in his career, he was the Assistant General Counsel of Clark Construction, one of the oldest and largest building and civil construction firms in the US.

Sebastian holds a JD from the University of Maryland with honors and BA from the University of Pennsylvania with honors. He completed Yale’s Financing and Deploying Clean Energy Certificate Program.  In 2021, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) named him a Rising Star. Sebastian has held a TS/SCI level security clearance.

 Sebastian lives outside of Seattle, WA with his wife, son and two dogs. He enjoys fitness, hiking, traveling; watching European soccer, MLB, NBA; and rooting for his hometown Baltimore Ravens.

Anna is an experienced trial attorney who has advocated on behalf of individuals and businesses in both civil and criminal cases.  Anna has handled a wide range of complex civil litigation matters for plaintiffs and defendants, involving employment discrimination and retaliation issues, allegations of computer and complex fraud, false claims act cases, commercial contract and business disputes, and litigation in the securities and financial industries. She has led and conducted workplace investigations on a variety of topics for both public- and private-sector employers involving individuals at all levels.

Before joining McNaul Ebel in 2021, Anna practiced at Calfo Eakes LLP in Seattle, and Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C. in New Orleans.  She entered private practice after five years representing clients as a trial attorney at the Orleans Public Defenders, where she was lead counsel in numerous jury and bench trials and was also part of the Special Litigation Division. Anna received her JD from Harvard Law School and graduated summa cum laude from The Ohio State University.  She is a member of the CJA Panel for the Western District of Washington. 

Kristina Silja Bennard is an Associate General Counsel at Avalara, a Seattle-based tech company that helps businesses of all sizes with automated, cloud-based solutions for tax compliance. She has over 20 years of experience both as an in-house attorney, including at Boeing and Expedia, and in private practice in Seattle and Washington, D.C. She also teaches Enterprise Legal Systems at Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics. Kristina graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and with distinction from Stanford University. Originally from Oregon, Seattle has been home for 17 years. 

Binh Nguyen is a Director and Associate General Counsel at Nordstrom, Inc. Binh has over a decade of in-house experience in Banking where she managed legal and business teams handling litigation and regulatory compliance.  At Nordstrom, she manages a compliance team and supports commercial transactions, financial services, and marketing/advertising.

In her free time, she serves on the board of the Washington Initiative for Diversity, a non-profit organization that provides tools and resources to legal employers to create a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace.  She mentors law students and young attorneys through the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington’s (VABAW) and randomly meet with anyone who wants to chat about the legal profession or food.

Outside of the legal profession, Binh serves on the board of Kandelia (Formerly the Vietnamese Friendship Association), a local non-profit that provides programing to ensure equity in education and career readiness for immigrant and refugee youths. 

Latrice Lee is Senior Corporate Counsel, Labor and Employment for Alaska Airlines. In this role, she is responsible for providing advice and counsel to business leaders, managing labor negotiations, labor arbitrations, litigation, investigations, and outside counsel. Prior to joining Alaska Airlines, Latrice was an employment attorney for both Microsoft and Lowe’s Companies. Her private practice experience was at Polsinelli PC, in Kansas City, MO, where she handled wage and hour class actions and individual suits regarding discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, disability accommodation and compliance matters. 

She received her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina. She is the Executive Vice President for the Junior League of Seattle as well as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

Sherry L. Talton is a Principal in the Seattle, Washington, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She advises and represents employers in every stage of disputes, from risk management to trial and appeal.

Ms. Talton has a broad base of litigation, trial, and appellate experience in numerous state and federal courts across the nation. She has assisted employers to protect their trade secrets, combat wrongful competition, comply with wage and hour laws, enforce arbitration agreements and other employment contract provisions, and implement best recruiting, hiring, and termination practices.

In law school, Ms. Talton was an associate editor for The Review of Litigation. In graduate school, Ms. Talton taught undergraduate writing courses and served as student director of the Northwestern State University of Louisiana Writing Center. As an undergraduate, Ms. Talton was a member of the 1993 National CEDA Collegiate Debate Championship Team.

Kristin’s practice focuses exclusively on intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, and trade dress cases. She has extensive experience handling all phases of litigation, from obtaining favorable results in early motion practice, to efficient management of cases through discovery, claim construction, summary judgment and trial. She has a national trial practice, litigating in federal district courts around the country, and has argued at the Federal Circuit. Kristin is the chair of the Litigation practice group and has served in the past as the firm’s managing partner.

Kristin’s knowledge of patent damages is well respected in the industry. In addition to being a regular presenter on the topic, she is the current chair of the Damages Subcommittee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Patent Litigation Committee. In patent cases, Kristin’s strategy is to collaborate with damages experts early in the case to develop effective and compelling theories of patent damages to present to juries and judges, as well as encourage early pre-trial settlements.

Kristin is also committed to increasing diversity within the firm and the profession at large. In addition to mentoring and encouraging other female attorneys, she has helped coordinate the firm’s partnership and support of AIPLA’s Women in IP Law Committee.

Kristin joined Klarquist in 1999 as a lateral associate and became partner in 2004.

Jolene Marshall is Smartsheet’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary. She is responsible for aligning the company’s risk management approach and leads the company’s legal, privacy, compliance, and procurement functions. Jolene has over 17 years of experience working in and leading legal teams. Prior to joining Smartsheet, she served as senior corporate counsel at SAP Concur and corporate counsel and secretary at WhitePages, Inc. Jolene holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington and a JD from the University of Washington School of Law. In her free time, she enjoys travel, skiing, gardening, and reading to her kids.  

Megan Fouty is the General Counsel and CHRO at Glowforge, Inc., a Seattle-based technology start-up that designs and produces 3D laser printers.  Megan oversees the Legal, HR, customer support organization, recruiting, and the facilities team at Glowforge. Megan joined Glowforge’s executive team during a period of rapid growth. Megan came from heading up the legal team at Convoy, Inc. another Seattle-based technology start up. In addition to her day job, Megan founded and runs Diversity University, a company that provides diversity, equity, and inclusion tools such as trainings, project management, or assists in investigations for companies, law firms, and organizations. Megan’s background includes both law firm and in-house experience with previous senior legal positions at Moss Adams, one of the country’s largest public accounting firms and Expeditors International, a Fortune 500 international logistics company.  Megan serves on the board of directors for Providence Pediatric Hospice of Seattle. Recently she was awarded thetop ten 30 somethings by ACC national,  received the “Legal MVP Award” by SimpleLegal, she was listed in Marquis 2022 Who’s Who in America, was featured on the International “The Counsel” Podcast, and was recognized  by  Women, Influence and Power in Law for Championing Diversity in-house and for Innovative Leadership.  She has spoken around the country on a wide range of topics and is seen as a prominent leader in the legal community. She recently published her bookThe Art of Networking, providing women, underrepresented individuals, and anyone looking for career progression or to grow a more robust network with tangible tools and advice to do so.

Heather Stutz joined Starbucks as Corporate Counsel, Intellectual Property in April, 2019.  In that role, Heather manages the Starbucks trademark portfolio for a large part of the Asia Pacific region, and she advises on a wide range of general intellectual property issues.  Prior to joining Starbucks, Heather spent nearly five years as an associate at the Milwaukee-based law firm of Quarles & Brady, where she specialized in the prosecution and enforcement of domestic and international trademark and copyright matters.  Heather earned her law degree from Marquette University, and her Bachelor of Arts and MBA degrees from the University of Wisconsin.  Before law school, she served as a patent and trademark paralegal at two other well-respected Milwaukee-based law firms.

Caldwell Camero is Associate General Counsel, Global Trademarks & IP for Fluke. She leads the trademark team providing support for the Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions segments of Fortive, a provider of essential technologies for connected workflow solutions. Caldwell also manages the patent work for the Fluke Health division, which includes Landauer (dosimetry), RaySafe (radiography), and Fluke Biomedical. Caldwell’s career has given her extensive IP experience across a variety of industries, including industrial technology and manufacturing, food, CPG, consumer electronics, retail, and home improvement.

Elida Moran is a Director, Legal Affairs for T-Mobile USA, Inc. In this role, Elida manages a small but might team that oversees the Frontline Sales practice supporting retail storefront operations and infrastructure, third party distribution for national retail, door to consumer, and emerging sales channels, and sales operations support for all sales channels and T-Mobile brands. Elida also oversees T-Mobile for Business (TFB) partner solutions distribution and TFB products line. Lastly, Elida supports operational compliance. Working for the Un-Carrier wireless company for over 20-years, Elida is well versed in multiple legal practice areas.

In addition to LBAW, Elida serves on numerous boards in order to promote both diversity and pro bono work within the Legal Community. Elida is a board member of the Association of Corporate Counsel of Washington (ACC-W), Legal Employers Advancing Diversity in Washington (LEAD-WA), and the Campaign for Equal Justice (CEJ). In addition, she serves on T-Mobile’s Pro Bono and Legal Intern Committees. Elida is an active member of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) and an HNBA Latina Commissioner.

Jackee Walker helps local governments navigate all aspects of the eminent domain process, inverse condemnation, regulatory takings, and the associated negotiation and valuation. Over the last decade, she has been involved in hundreds of public projects in the Pacific Northwest, large and small. Jackee takes a proactive approach, advising clients from the pre-project planning stage through to project completion, identifying and addressing issues and potential risks quickly, creatively, and effectively. She has extensive mediation experience and is known for resolving cases short of the courtroom. When litigation is unavoidable, she has successfully first-chaired multimillion-dollar cases in Washington courts. Jackee focuses on understanding her clients’ overall objectives, internal processes, and construction timelines. Her clients include local transit authorities, counties, cities, special districts, utility companies, and private property owners. She regularly works with outside experts, such as appraisers, engineers, architects, developers, land planners, relocation agents, title/escrow officers, and environmental consultants to assure the best possible outcome for her clients.

As Getty Images’ Chief People Officer, Lizanne helps the leadership team drive corporate culture and values, ensuring the company has a world-class human resources strategy to support growth and success, further strengthening Getty Images’ competitive advantage through commitment to culture, D&I and aligning human capital to company strategy. She has been with Getty Images for more than 17 years, previously serving as a VP, Corporate Counsel, and has been a consistent and fair voice for employees. Lizanne also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Hamlin Robinson School, a school that ignites the potential of elementary and middle-school students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. She is also proud mama to two kids who are her “why” for everything she does.

Aukjen is a seasoned trial lawyer who has tried multiple bench and jury trials to verdict in addition to acting as lead counsel in many arbitrations, including significant bet the company litigation.  She has deep experience in transportation and products liability law and has also tried a number of commercial cases.  Aukjen strongly supports diversity and pro bono efforts inside and outside her firm, including regularly mentoring lawyers from all backgrounds internally and acting as pro bono counsel on local matters for non-English speaking clients.  For the past four years, Aukjen has acted as co-trial counsel on a post-conviction death penalty matter in Louisiana in partnership with the Mwalimu Center for Justice in New Orleans.

Brie Coyle Jones is the co-leader of the tribal team, providing counsel to tribal governments and tribal enterprises on gaming, tax, liquor, cannabis, real estate, construction, and other economic development matters. Brie counsels tribes, tribal enterprises, and lenders in tribal-related financing projects for infrastructure improvements, gaming facilities, and resort properties. She understands the complex and unique intricacies of tribes’ unique sovereign status and jurisdictional issues associated with tribal lands. Brie also regularly advises non-tribal entities in their commercial transactions with tribes and tribal enterprises. Brie is a registered lobbyist in Washington State.

Brie also serves as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). As CDO, Brie provides thoughtful leadership to firm management to ensure that the firm stays at the forefront of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the legal profession and beyond. She collaborates with the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee to develop and advance DEI initiatives, including spearheading the firm’s billable-hour credit, women & minority business enterprise program, and establishing an annual diverse attorney retreat. Brie is a persuasive advocate, ensuring that diverse voices are heard and considered throughout the decision-making process. Brie currently serves on Miller Nash’s Executive Committee and is an active member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Brie is a descendant of the Quileute Nation.

As Senior Counsel for 3D Print and Corporate Incubation for HP Inc., Kelly supports HP’s 3D, healthcare, start-up, and corporate incubation businesses. Kelly serves on HP Legal’s DE&I Leadership Team focusing on the law school outreach program and the diverse summer associate program. In addition to HP’s internal DE&I efforts, Kelly volunteers as a moot court judge and mentors both law students and new lawyers. Kelly is also a fellow in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Program, which aims to foster diverse leaders in the legal industry. Prior to joining HP, Kelly worked in private practice, and has prior expertise in start-ups, business strategy, and investment banking. In her free time, Kelly enjoys traveling with her family, listening to live music, and spending time at the Oregon coast.

Christine is the Vice President and General Counsel of Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc. (“BBII”), a subsidiary of London-based Balfour Beatty plc (LSE: BBY), a leading international infrastructure group that finances, develops, builds and maintains complex building programs focused on social and commercial buildings, power and utility systems, and transportation. Balfour Beatty US with combined revenues of over $4 billion, was ranked 17^th overall by Engineering News-Record as one of the “Top 400 Contractors in the United States” for 2020. 

 Christine has extensive experience in construction law, including the negotiation, mediation and arbitration of large and complex construction-related legal matters. Prior to joining Balfour Beatty, she was the head of Venable LLP’s Construction Law Group, based out of Venable’s Northern Virginia office. Christine obtained her JD from the George Mason University School of Law.

 Christine holds multiple bar admissions, is a Fellow and on the Board of Governors of the American College of Construction Lawyers. She also played an integral role in founding the Construction Industry Ethics & Compliance Initiative (“CIECI”), a non-profit association of U.S. construction industry participants dedicated to the promotion of integrity and ethical conduct in the construction industry and is the current CIECI Treasurer.

Meredith Thielbahr is the Managing Partner of two offices of Gordon & Rees, an AmLaw 100 firm.  She is licensed in multiple jurisdictions and handles a variety of complex commercial disputes on behalf of her corporate clients as outside litigation counsel.

Thielbahr is a subject matter expert in construction litigation and government contracts. She works closely with clients on internal False Claim Act (FCA) investigations, responding to and negotiating the parameters of Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs), and handling formal qui tam and government False Claims Act lawsuits.  She has litigated several whistleblower claims.  Thielbahr represents contractors in bid protests before the COFC and GAO, along with various state and local procuring agencies, and represents contractors in size and status protests before the Small Business Administration.

Thielbahr has significant experience interpreting contract and regulatory compliance. She is a mastermanager of ESI and large, complex discovery issues, working closely with third-party vendors and in-house counsel on discovery matters.

Specialties: Construction, Commercial and Civil Litigation, Products Liability, Government Contracts, Internal Investigations, False Claims, Transportation, Customs & Freight Forwarding, Administrative, ESI, Risk and Compliance.

Heather Wilde is currently ssistant General Counsel at Quest Software. She has nearly 20 years experience in IP and IT transactions, including at a top tier law firm and in-house at large multinational companies. Prior to Quest, she held Legal Counsel responsabilities at Eclipse, Senior Attorney at Microsoft, Associate at Darby & Darby and was a Law Clerk at Donovan & Yee, LLP. She earned her B.A. in Communications, PR and Media Studies from the University of Washington and her J.D. With a focus in IP from Fordham University School of Law.

Jie’s professional experience includes more than 10 years of academic research and more than 13 years of industrial research and development, spanning areas including medical devices, mobile health, signal/image processing, and wearable technology, among others. He published three book chapters and more than 70 peer-reviewed research articles, and served as an expert reviewer for more than a dozen scientific journals. He was the sole recipient of the 2019 Jan Jancin Award for intellectual property law jointly sponsored by AIPLA, AIPLEF, and ABA-IPL. He served on both the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and Mentorship Committee at Klarquist.

As a member of Polsinelli’s Technology Transactions & Data Privacy practice group, Cat Kozlowski (they/she) provides strategic and practical guidance to clients on handling their information and protecting their intellectual property. Cat navigates entities through their data privacy obligations under HIPAA, GDPR, and state laws and has extensive experience in greater operational and transactional matters in the digital health space. They have more than a decade of legal experience, both at firms and as an in-house legal consultant, with clients ranging from small roller derby retail companies to billion-dollar health systems. Cat serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s LGBTQ+ Resource Group and as a member of its Diversity Committee, and is a frequent speaker on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion issues for conferences and podcasts. Based out of the Pacific Northwest with their partner, two kids, and three cats, they are a member of the Washington, Oregon, and California bars.

Quisaira Almanzar Whitney, born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx, New York, is an Assistant General Counsel with Microsoft Corporation. She leads the legal team supporting the company’s commerce platform, and her team are the subject matter experts for Microsoft in the Fintech space and payments regulations. Some of her previous work experiences and achievements are:

• She spent 4 years at PayPal as Director, Legal Counsel; she headed up the legal group supporting consumer credit, small business lending, and payments regulations.
• She worked for 7 years at the Federal Trade Commission in the Consumer Protection Bureau; she supported the Divisions of Financial and Marketing Practices.
• She began her career as a litigator for 7 years at Paul, Hastings in Washington DC; she also served as a law clerk in the District Court for the District of Columbia.

In addition to her role at Microsoft, Quisaira serves as legal adviser to the Board of Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. She holds a BA from Cornell University, and a JD from New York University School of Law.

Duane Minley concentrates his practice on drafting and prosecuting patents for electrical, software, and mechanical inventions. In particular, Duane has experience with issues related to wireless communications including cellular technology, semiconductor devices, telecommunications, the Internet, 2D/3D imaging and processing, helicopters, computer memory devices, processors, nanotechnology, and quantum technology. Additionally, Duane focuses on obtaining patents in computer technologies including computer hardware, databases, networks, and operating systems, along with cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and software applications. He also has researched and prepared opinions. Duane has experience with medical devices, including DNA characterizing devices, bio-sensing devices, and the like. Duane also counsels start-up companies and universities. Prior to joining Cantor Colburn, he studied a variety of foreign weapon systems including missile and radar systems for the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) which is a component of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Heather started her career as a class action litigation defense attorney for financial institutions. Excited by the possibilities of tech, she then spent several years inhouse at fintech companies. In 2020, Heather rejoined her former colleagues to form and grow Scale LLP. At Scale, she built her own client base focused on advising fintech companies on compliance with lending, real estate, and consumer protection laws. She quickly realized that having ownership over her practice made her more productive and a better lawyer. Now, Scale is a team of 60 entrepreneurial and collaborative attorneys, building a fundamentally different law firm.

Scale’s remote first model enables Heather to live on the rural Olympic Peninsula, where she enjoys hiking, fishing, and sauna.

Kristen has more than twenty-five years of experience advising emerging growth, mid-market, and Fortune 500 companies on a wide range of commercial transactions, licensing matters, and complex contracts. Working in Big Law, in-house, and at her own boutique firm prior to joining Scale LLP, Kristen is sensitive to the demands on business and legal professionals. She appreciates the way Scale’s business model allows her to manage a practice that matches her priorities and develop deep relationships with clients. Outside of her corporate practice, Kristen provides pro bono legal services to refugees and serves as the director of a refugee-oriented non-profit. Kristen has four children and loves exploring the world with them.

Shannon Armstrong is an accomplished trial lawyer who defends high-stakes class actions and handles complex business disputes for clients across a variety of industries, including real estate, financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, technology and energy industries. Ms. Armstrong has tried cases in state and federal court and arbitration. She serves as lead trial counsel in significant contract disputes, class actions, closely held company disputes, securities claims, business competition claims and intellectual property disputes. She also advises clients on business-critical state regulatory issues, investigations and administrative proceedings.

Ms. Armstrong excels in developing and executing litigation strategy driven by business objectives in high-stakes disputes, as well as navigating challenging legal and factual issues in front of courts, arbitrators and administrative agencies. Clients rely on her insightful judgment, ability to understand and manage complexity, and skilled advocacy in facing their most significant business disputes.