The 2nd Annual Women in Law & Leadership Summit: Boston

Janine Dascenzo is Senior Executive, General Counsel of Current by GE, with responsibility for legal affairs, compliance and government relations.  Janine joined Current after serving as Senior Executive, General Counsel for GE Lighting from 2011-2016.

Prior to her most recent general counsel roles, Janine was GE’s Associate General Counsel, acting as senior strategic advisor to Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Brackett Denniston, from 2005 to 2011.  Janine joined the corporate headquarters team after serving as General Counsel of GE Fanuc Automation, Inc. from 2003 – 2005, and as Litigation Counsel for GE Aviation from 1998-2003.  

Janine joined GE from the Squire Sanders & Dempsey law firm in Columbus Ohio, where she practiced commercial litigation.   She graduated from the University of Cincinnati and received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1993.  

Janine served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI).  She was also named to the American Bar Association President’s Council, a group of chief legal officers from large companies advising the ABA on policy and direction.

Leslie Pearlson serves as Senior Litigation and IP counsel at LogMeIn, a cloud based software company. Ms. Pearlson oversees all company litigations, including numerous patent disputes, as well as manages LogMeIn’s patent and trademark portfolios.  Prior to working at LogMeIn, Ms. Pearlson was a patent litigator at Wilmerhale.  In addition, Ms. Pearlson has an active pro bono practice supporting the Women’s Bar Foundation’s Family Law Project, providing free legal services to survivors of domestic violence.  

Cheryl Pinarchick is a partner in the firm's Boston office and a founding Co-Chair of the Pay Equity Practice Group. She represents employers in all areas of employment law.

Cheryl has extensive trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States. She has successfully defended employment lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, employment discrimination, sexual and other forms of harassment, wage and hour violations, retaliation and other related claims. She has also successfully prosecuted trade secret and non-competition agreements in numerous jurisdictions.

Cheryl counsels employers on compliance with the law in areas such as pay equity, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, reductions in force, FMLA and leave laws, sexual harassment, and wage & hour matters, including issues related to employee classification. Cheryl also assists employers in their liability prevention efforts by conducting employee training, preparing handbooks and implementing policies, as well as conducting wage and hour and pay equity audits.

With the patchwork of emerging state and local pay equity laws, Cheryl has been dedicating significant time to the legal issues surrounding pay equality, state pay equity legislation and litigation and pay equity compliance audits.  She is a frequent presenter on pay equity both locally and nationally.

Polly Grunfeld Sack joined GateHouse Media as its chief legal officer in May 2006 after 14 years with sports, media and entertainment company IMG. From 2001 until joining GateHouse, she served as IMG’s Senior Vice President and Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. 

In addition to earning her law degree from Stanford Law School, Polly also has degrees in math and civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has her certification as a professional engineer. She is a board member of several animal rescue groups across the country.

Mandy Petrillo joined the Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management legal team in February 2008.  In her capacity as Counsel, Petrillo is responsible for drafting and negotiating a variety of agreements, including sponsorship, consulting and event agreements for the Red Sox, Fenway Sports Management (FSM) and New England Sports Network (NESN).  In her capacity as Director of Legal Operations, Petrillo oversees all legal operations for the companies in the Fenway Sports Group portfolio, including the Boston Red Sox, NESN, FSM and the Liverpool Football Club (of the English Premier League).  In addition to her transactional responsibilities, Petrillo’s day-to-day duties include managing the contract database, developing corporate policies, assisting with intellectual property matters and managing the company’s internal legal function.

A native of Foxboro, MA, Petrillo earned her BA from Arizona State University in 1999.  She received her JD from Suffolk University Law School in 2006 and is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.  Petrillo is a member of the Sports Lawyers Association and currently resides in Beverly with her husband and two children.  

Kimberly A. Mottley is a partner in Proskauer’s Litigation Department. She practices exclusively in the area of complex intellectual property disputes, with a primary focus on patent and trademark infringement matters. Kim has counseled her clients through all phases of litigation, including case preparation and strategy, obtaining temporary restraining orders, discovery, Markman hearings, settlement negotiations and alternative dispute resolution, trial and appeals before the Federal Circuit.

Kim’s patent litigation clients span a broad range of technology industries, including cases involving RFID, telecommunications, smartphones, tablets, live chat, automotive pistons, high-density plasma cutting torches, semiconductor manufacturing technology, voice-assisted automobile navigation systems, immunology, dermatological lasers, nanotechnology, and financial and business method processes. Kim has helped her retail industry clients to protect and enforce their most valued trademark assets. She also is active in Proskauer's pro bono efforts.

Kim was recently named by Benchmark Litigation to their 2016 Under 40 Hot List – an accolade which honors highly qualified, exceptional partners aged 40 or younger. In 2014, Kim was named one of The National Law Journal’s Boston Rising Stars, which recognizes Boston’s 40 most promising lawyers under the age of 40 who are considered innovators with strong leadership qualities. Kim has also been recognized by Massachusetts Super Lawyers Magazine as a "Rising Star" and as among the "Top Women Attorneys in Massachusetts" for the past three years.

Nyree is Vice President and Senior Counsel with Amex Bank of Canada. She has a broad range ofexperience in many areas of commercial law with particular expertise inintellectual property, technology, privacy and advertising law. Nyree alsoprovides legal as well as strategic advice on social media policies andinitiatives. Nyree practiced as a technology lawyer with Herbert Smith, aleading international law firm, in London, England from 1998 - 2005.  Nyree joined TELUS on her return to Canada in2005 as part of the legal team that supports TELUS’ consumer solutionsportfolio across Canada. In January 2011, Nyree joined the General Counsel'sOffice of Amex Bank of Canada where she advises the Merchant Services lineof business in Canada and advises on efforts in Canada and internationally tosupport digital capabilities for American Express. Nyree holds an honours degree in Geography and French from the University of Guelph and a CPE/LPC (Distinction)from the College of Law, London.  She isadmitted as a solicitor in England and Wales (2000) and obtained an LL.M. in Computer and Communications Law from the University of London (2002).  Nyree was admitted to the Ontario Bar in2008.

Erin Johnston is a litigation partner in the Washington D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Erin has represented several Fortune 500 companies and household names—including Boeing, Honeywell, Hershey, and Facebook—helping them to resolve complex business disputes in state and federal courts across the country. She has successfully handled antitrust matters, class actions, securities and accounting fraud cases, contract disputes, bankruptcy-related disputes, government investigations, and appeals. In each instance, she is trusted to take ownership of her clients’ cases, no matter how complicated, sensitive, or high profile they may be.

Erin earned her law degree from the NYU School of Law and her B.A. cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles. In law school, Erin interned with both the Innocence Project and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She has continued that civic commitment at Kirkland, receiving the firm’s Pro Bono Service Award multiple times. Erin also holds several leadership roles within the firm, including as Chair of the Women’s Leadership Initiative in the D.C. office, for which she was profiled in Washington Lawyer Magazine.

Carla M. Moynihan is a partner in Sherin and Lodgen’s Real Estate Department and Chair of the firm’s Women’s Initiative. Her practice focuses on the disposition, acquisition, leasing, development, and financing of commercial real estate for over 20 years. Carla represents institutions, developers, retailers, individual investors, hospitals, medical professionals, hotels, state agencies, municipalities, and lenders in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, including negotiating and drafting letters of intent; term sheets for financing; purchase and sale agreements; land disposition agreements; development agreements; building and ground/air rights leases for multi-family, hotel, retail, office or industrial landlords or tenants; and CMBS/CRE loan documents.

A significant amount of her practice is also devoted to representing clients throughout the permitting and public approval process at the federal, state, and local levels on land use and zoning issues under the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act, Chapter 91, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and numerous local boards, including the City of Boston Board of Appeal, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and various architectural/landmark commissions.

Carla is a frequent author and lecturer on land use development and real estate transactional matters, an adjunct faculty member at the Boston University School of Law, and a former adjunct faculty member at the New England School of Law.

Yalonda specializes in complex tort and product liability litigation.

Yalonda currently serves as national counsel in product liability litigation for two publically traded companies and advises with respect to potential commercial and product liability litigation relating to various products, including biologic therapies and assay development. Yalonda also has expertise in alternative billing models, budgeting, and efficient case management of complex cases. She has represented clients in state and federal courts and appeared pro hac in many states.  She is a member of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the United States District Court, and United States Court of Appeals for the First, Second and Third Circuit.  Yalonda is a member of bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Yalonda also served on a number of Mintz Levin’s internal committees, including the firm’s Hiring Committee and its Diversity Committee. She is also director of Mintz Levin’s pro bono initiative in conjunction with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

K. Nicole Clouse, PhD, focuses her practice on patent infringement litigation on behalf of pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device clients. Her cases have involved monoclonal antibody biologics, small molecule drugs, vaccines, therapeutic regimens and biologics manufacturing.

Nicole also has extensive transactional IP experience on behalf of life sciences clients, including the preparation, prosecution and strategic management of complex international patent portfolios; patent-related opinion work, such as freedom to operate, patentability, invalidity, non-infringement and litigation avoidance analyses; interpretation and enforcement of licensing and research collaboration agreements; and development and implementation of IP strategy in the context of large corporate divestitures.

While in law school, Nicole was a member of the BU Law Intellectual Property Law Society. She is also a published author in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Nicole earned her doctoral and master’s degrees in molecular biology and her bachelor’s degree in biological chemistry. Combined with her legal knowledge, Nicole’s deep technical knowledge allows her to simultaneously consider both legal and scientific issues when evaluating problems and formulating strategy, and to make highly complex scientific concepts accessible and clear to the layperson. 

General Counsel and executive with significant high-tech experience. Focused on commercial contracts, intellectual property, information technology, licensing and strategic initiatives. Key accomplishments include: establishing a global legal function; drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements and, working closely and effectively with sales and support organizations to facilitate revenue generation and growth. Proven achievement in entrepreneurial settings. Recognized for strong analytical skills and practical business judgment. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with internal business clients, customers and partners.

Priya joined Novartis in June 2009 as Executive Director and Associate General Counsel for the Novartis Institutes of Bio Medical Research, Inc. (“NIBR”) in Cambridge, MA. She is currently the Global Compliance Officer for NIBR in addition to her legal responsibilities. Prior to joining NIBR, Priya was a Senior Regulatory and Compliance Counsel at Baxter International Inc., in Deerfield, IL. At Baxter, Priya was a Senior FDA Regulatory and Compliance counsel managing the commercial operations for the Biologics division. Priya’s first in-house position was at Pfizer Inc., in New York followed by Medtronic Inc., California where she was responsible for clinical, research & development, regulatory and commercial compliance. Before joining in-house, Priya was associated with the firms of Reid & Riege and Cantor Colburn based in Hartford, CT where she practiced healthcare law. She received her undergraduate degree from Madras University majoring in Bio Chemistry and Chemistry and her JD and LLM degrees from St. Louis University School of Law.

Sarah A. Turano-Flores focuses her practice on land use permitting and real estate litigation, with a concentration in environmental and zoning permitting matters and title litigation, including right of way disputes, title registration and other Land and Superior Court litigation. Sarah has twenty-five years of experience litigating a wide range of land use, permitting and title claims on behalf of towns and private developers and individuals on Cape Cod and in Greater Boston.  She has served as Town Counsel and Special Counsel to various Massachusetts municipalities.  Sarah is an active member of Nutter’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee, setting firm-wide expectations for a diverse and inclusive culture, and serves as Chair of the firm’s Diversity Action Committee.  In 2015, Sarah coordinated the firm-wide process of developing and drafting Nutter’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan and, as Chair of the Diversity Action Committee, heads up the Committee charged with developing initiatives intended to further the goals and objectives of that Plan.  Sarah lives on Cape Cod in Orleans, Massachusetts with her husband of 25 years, Michael, and their three children.

Melissa counsels life sciences clients on a wide range of intellectual property issues, including patent portfolio strategy and life cycle management, licensing and monetization strategy, and the risks associated with third party intellectual property. She also performs due diligence investigations and advises clients on strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to mitigate risk and remedy issues related to intellectual property in the context of a range of transactions, including private financings and capital markets transactions, license agreements, collaborations, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to joining the firm, Melissa completed a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University. Her graduate work focused on examining signaling events involved during the patterning of tissues to generate complex organs and helped define specific roles for Notch signaling in both cardiogenesis and nephrogenesis.

Jessica Soto joined the litigation department as an associate in 2012 and is a member of the firm’s government enforcement practice group. Jessica represents clients at all stages of government examinations and investigations, internal investigations, and complex civil litigation. Her clients include domestic and international medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, health care providers, educational institutions, and financial services companies. She has experience with the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, state consumer protection statutes, and state fraud and conspiracy laws.

Jessica’s pro bono practice includes representing indigent defendants in federal criminal cases through the firm’s participation in the Criminal Justice Act program and representing human trafficking survivors in federal civil cases.  She has also represented non-profits organizations and individuals in voting rights litigation.

During law school, Jessica was an extern at the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, Domestic Violence Bureau and served as a research and teaching assistant for the Bureau Chief, Scott E. Kessler. Prior to attending law school, Jessica was a middle school teacher for three years.

Kristin A. Connarn focuses her practice on life sciences patent prosecution and patent portfolio development and management in the fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Kristin advises clients on intellectual property (IP) issues, develops and delivers training session for employees and managers, and counsels in-house patent team members regarding invention disclosures. She has experience with preparing patentability, invalidity and non-infringement legal opinions, landscape and freedom to operate studies, due diligence, prior art searches and coordinating in-house patent committee meetings.

Catherine Toppin is Senior Patent Counsel & Manager at General Electric.  Catherine has held several roles within GE’s IP group, most recently as a global team of patent attorneys and agents that provide IP support for multiple GE business units.  Her practice currently consists of IP strategy and counseling, portfolio development and commercial transaction drafting and negotiation.  Before joining GE, Ms. Toppin was an associate in the IP Group of a general practice firm in Boston, MA.  She also worked as a Patent Examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  She earned her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and her J.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore Francis King Carey School of Law.

Outside of work, Catherine speaks to underrepresented students and young professionals on the job and in her community.  She is an active Princeton alumna, and currently serves on the board of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni, and the Leadership Advisory Council of the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  She also serves on the boards of the Urban League of Southern CT, and Project S.T.E.P., a program that provides music education to underrepresented students in Boston.  Her accolades include the Award for Service to Princeton, the Urban League Woman of Power Award, The Network Journal’s 2017 40 Under Forty Achievers, and most recently, the National Bar Association’s 2017 Diversity in Tech Award.  In her spare time, Catherine enjoys salsa dancing and playing violin as principal second violinist in the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra. 

Claire currently works as Senior Legal Counsel at LogMeIn, a global cloud software company headquartered in Boston. She provides legal counsel and support for the company’s commercial sales and procurement transactions, human resources matters, and product development efforts.