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

Sarah is a trial lawyer with significant experience trying cases from inception to trial throughout the state of Texas. Sarah routinely represents clients in a wide array of litigation matters, including labor & employment, trucking & transportation, products liability, personal injury, premises liability, oil & gas, construction, warranty & DTPA, and insurance defense. Based on her extensive representation of Fortune 500 Companies, Sarah is highly sought after to provide clients with general risk assessment. In conjunction with providing clients with risk assessments, she is often hired to draft and revise corporate policies and procedures, employee handbooks, and safety protocols.

In addition to maintaining an active practice, Sarah spends her free time volunteering at the Tuttle School at Briarwood. Sarah also sits on the board of several institutions, including Texas Children’s Hospital Genetics Board and The DDX3X Foundation.

Aparna Dave is Senior Counsel in the Houston office of Wells Fargo. She supports the company’s Enterprise Marketing division, and her clients rely on her substantial experience in a wide range of advertising law matters. The division covers brand, social media, sponsorships, marketing promotions and campaigns and related contract matters. Her practice focuses on advising clients on legal issues ranging from trademark, copyright, sweepstakes and contests, privacy and publicity rights, false advertising and deceptive practices and developing policies and procedures in these areas. She has also helped her clients develop social media strategies and policies and establish and maintain a strong presence on blogs and other social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Aparna conducts ongoing client training on social media and intellectual property matters. She is recognized by her colleagues as a leading attorney in social media issues and is regularly asked to speak on a variety of subjects at the intersection of social media and the law. Aparna previously provided legal support to Wells Fargo’s home equity marketing and customer management teams, advising on various marketing, servicing and consumer protection issues. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Aparna worked as an associate with McGlinchey Stafford in Houston practicing civil defense litigation.  Aparna is a 2002 graduate of South Texas College of Law in Houston and enjoys traveling, watching football and running.

Brooke Geren McNabb has served as lead lawyer in numerous commercial and personal injury matters and has first-chaired multiple trials resulting in favorable jury and bench verdicts. She represents plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters, including breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and other tort claims.  She also represents defendants in serious personal injury cases. Ms. McNabb’s practice has focused on big-stakes commercial cases for energy companies and complex disputes in the real estate sector.

Ms. McNabb received her law degree with honors from The University of Texas School of Law in 2004, where she was an Associate Editor on the Texas Law Review, Order of the Coif, and a member of the mock trial team. She graduated with honors from the Plan II Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin in 2000, served as President of the Orange Jackets, the oldest honorary service organization at The University of Texas, and was Phi Beta Kappa and a member of Mortar Board. Ms. McNabb serves as the General Counsel for Communities in Schools Houston and also represents Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council. She is a past president of the Houston Association of Women Attorneys, an organization devoted to promoting women and the interests of women in Houston’s legal community.

Hillary Holmes is a partner in the global law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Co-Chair of the firm’s Capital Markets practice group.  Hillary advises public and private corporations, private equity firms and investment banks on long-term and strategic capital raising.  She regularly counsels companies on disclosure and reporting obligations under federal securities laws, corporate governance and ESG issues. She frequently advises boards of directors, special committees, and financial advisors in transactions involving conflicts of interest or unique complexities. 

Hillary has been recognized as top of her field. She is the only woman and the youngest lawyer to be recognized by the premier legal review organization Chambers USA in the category that covers capital raising in the energy industry, receiving ranking in the highest level, as well as in the categories covering national oil and gas transactions and Texas corporate transactions.  She has also been recognized by the National Law Journal as a Finance, Banking and Capital Markets Trailblazer, a Most Effective Dealmaker by Texas Lawyer, a Woman Who Means Business by the Houston Business Journal, as well as by Who’s Who, the Legal 500, the Houston Bar Association, the Greater Houston Women’s Partnership, and the National Association of Women Attorneys, among others. 

Hillary regularly writes and speaks on topics relating to the capital markets, developments in securities regulation, ESG issues and the state of the energy industry, and she is Co-Editor of the academic blog the Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance Monitor.

Hillary demonstrates a strong commitment to providing free legal services to those who cannot otherwise afford to access them, particularly abused women and immigrant girls, and serves on the board of directors of several local nonprofits, including Houston Volunteer Lawyers and Harrison’s Heroes.

Hillary received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Duke University. Hillary is a native Houstonian who loves to run marathons and watch Avengers movies  with her two active young sons and one lovable pug.

Jennifer N. Jones is Managing Counsel in the Labor and Employment group at Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (“TMNA”). Jennifer is responsible for providing legal advice and counsel to TMNA Headquarters HR Operations – Product Support Division.  She is also responsible for supporting Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi’s (“TMMMS”) HR Operations. Jennifer also assists with labor relations matters across all of Toyota’s North American Manufacturing Facilities and is the internal subject matter expert on trade secret protection and related confidentiality issues.

Prior to joining Toyota in 2016, Jennifer worked as a labor and employment attorney with Hunton & Williams, LLP and later as Counsel with FordHarrison, LLP, providing advice and representation to employers regarding labor and employment law matters, including discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, harassment, worker’s compensation, wage and hour disputes, and union avoidance. 

Jennifer earned a BA in Criminal Justice from Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, TX) and received her juris doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law (Dallas, TX).  

During undergrad, she became a member of Alpha Phi Sigma – the National Criminal Justice Honor Society, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. While in law school, she served on the executive board of SMU’s Black Law Student’s Association.

Jennifer has been recognized as a 2014 Lawyers of Color Hot List Honoree, and in 2015, she was named by the National Black Lawyers Association as one of the Top 40 attorneys Under 40. In 2018, she was selected as a finalist in the D CEO Corporate Counsel Awards, and in 2019, was selected to participate in the Dallas Bar Association’s WE LEAD Program, a program about Women Empowered to Lead in the Legal Profession.

Her favorite quote is: “To whom much is given, much is required.”

Kyle Lewis is Senior Counsel on the Safety & Insurance Legal team at Uber Technologies, Inc. He oversees a team of in-house attorneys who work closely with outside counsel to defend the company in Northeast U.S. claims litigation matters, which present a host of novel and first-impression legal issues. Before joining Uber, Kyle was an Associate at an insurance defense law firm in Chicago where he defended a range of corporate defendants in a variety of tort liability litigation. He received his B.A. in International Studies and Communications from Saint Louis University, and his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a Member in Good Standing of the Illinois State Bar.

In his free time, Kyle enjoys exploring Chicago with his wife or taking weekend trips to mountain towns to go hiking.

Victoria Lazar is Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Counsel and Secretary for TechnipFMC (NYSE: FTI, Paris: FTI), where she is responsible for all aspects of legal and compliance matters.  TechnipFMC is one of the world’s leading energy companies, generating approximately $13b in revenue in 2019. 

She was most recently Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the Bristow Group, the world’s largest industrial aviation company, where she was responsible for legal, compliance and risk management, leading Bristow through a successful emergence from Ch 11 restructuring and merger with Era Group to consolidate the industry.

Before joining Bristow, Victoria held various executive roles at General Electric, including general counsel of GE Oil & Gas – Drilling, Production and Surface and executive counsel for M&A at General Electric Corporate. She also held various executive and legal roles at Electronic Data Systems Corporation, including Legal Manager and Counsel – Corporate Acquisitions & Finance. She began her legal career at BakerBotts, specializing in capital markets, global commerce and M&A transactions.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Government from Cornell University and a doctor of jurisprudence degree from The Law School at the University of Chicago. She is on the Board and incoming President – Houston of the Texas General Counsel Forum.  She also holds leadership positions in several organizations dedicated to the professional advancement of women including 2020WomenOnBoards and The Fourth Floor.

As an experienced counselor and litigator, Stephanie Gaston’s practice is focused on resolving labor and employment matters for private employers, public entities and nonprofits. She also represents school districts, and governmental entities. Stephanie regularly defends companies facing discrimination, harassment, retaliation, class actions, and other claims under federal, state, and local laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII, ADA, FMLA, USERRA, and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. She advises and counsels employers on minimizing the risks of litigation, developing employment policies, and drafting and enforcing employment and severance agreements, including those with non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure provisions.

Stephanie represents clients in administrative agency investigations, and regularly conducts training courses for employees, supervisors and managers on various employment issues including discrimination and sexual harassment, leave issues under the FMLA, ADA and workers’ compensation regulations, and wage issues under the FLSA.

She also represents business clients in the area of commercial litigation and has particular experience defending complex business litigation and arbitration matters, such as general contract, indemnity disputes, Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, Jones Act, deceptive trade practice, fraud, fiduciary duty, maritime and tortious interference claims.

Pamela Brylski is a director at Blackrock and leads the institutional client business in the Southeast region. Prior to Blackrock, she was a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley. Previously she served as a vice president in the investment management division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs & Co, Pamela practiced as a corporate attorney in New York with global law firms representing private equity firms, hedge funds and international corporations in a variety of domestic and international transactions. She also worked as a transaction advisor for the global private equity firm, The Carlyle Group in Washington, DC. Pamela also served as a White House Intern. Pamela is actively engaged in the community serving a number of philanthropic and educational organizations including serving as a national board member for the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, national board member and the founder and chair of the South Florida chapter for the Womens Association of Venture and Equity (WAVE), global board member of the Hedge Fund Association, term member for the Council on Foreign Relations and national council member of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She is an alumni of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) career program. Pamela has been recognized as an honoree of the 40 under 40 by the South Florida Business Journal, an InvestmentNews Rising Star and both a Power 50 C-Suite and one of the Most Influential African Americans in Business by the National Diversity Council. She obtained a B.A. in Humanities Honours (Pre-Medicine) from The University of Texas at Austin and her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.

Samantha-Anne Horwitch Nadolny, Associate General Counsel for Select Water Solutions in Houston, Texas, is an accomplished, driven and business-savvy professional, experienced corporate lawyer, compliance professional and Human Resources leader with a demonstrated history in the multiple industries. Her background shows a consistent record of excellence in organizational leadership, corporate advisory, litigation and contract management, policy and process creation and implementation, team building and motivation, and corporate training. Samantha-Anne provides expertise in all aspects of corporate legal guidance, strategic business support, domestic and international regulatory compliance, and risk mitigation across relevant industries and sectors. She adapts quickly to evolving legislation and changes in the law, and educates colleagues and clients as a recognized subject matter expert. With extensive experience in public and private corporations, Samantha-Anne possesses instinctive business acumen and an understanding of how to protect and support a company, it’s mission, and it’s employees.  Prior to joining Select Energy in 2020, Samantha Anne served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance and Human Resources Officer for Citelum US-Groupe EDF, and Corporate Counsel for Sterling Construction Company, Inc.

Noah F. Webster has served as Chief Legal & Compliance Officer for Zix Corp. since June 2018.  He has been advised and supported throughout his career by a diverse network of colleagues and is eager to share his experiences. 

Prior to Zix, Mr. Webster worked for eight years at BlackBerry, where he covered various legal areas including privacy, anticorruption legal compliance, M&A, and patent litigation. Mr. Webster worked for Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, where he represented and advised clients in patent litigations, trademark infringement and general intellectual property matters. Mr. Webster earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and clerked with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and the High Court of American Samoa. He began his career serving as a U.S. Army Engineer Officer. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, where he earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. He also holds certification as a Leading Professional in Ethics & Compliance.

Susan L. Bickley has over 30 years of civil trial and appellate experience in employment litigation for private and public employers, litigation involving commercial and business disputes, trade secret litigation, and the defense of claims against professionals. She represents a diverse range of clients including publicly held corporations, smaller companies, and start-ups, as well as public entities and their officials.

In addition, Susan taught “Trial Advocacy” as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center from 2006 to 2010.

While in law school, she was a research editor for the Houston Law Review, and selected for membership in the Order of the Coif. At the University of Texas at Austin, she was selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and designated a College Scholar based on academic achievement.

In 2010 and 2011, Susan received the President’s Award from the Houston Bar Association. Active in the community, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the UH Law Foundation, the Houston Bar Foundation, and the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science. She previously served on the State Bar Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct Committee and the State Bar Annual Meeting Committee.

Susan holds a number of leadership positions within Blank Rome. In addition to leading the labor & employment practice in Houston, she serves on Blank Rome’s Executive Committee, Chair Nominating Committee, Pro Bono Committee, Compensation Committee, Recruiting Committee, and Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and is the current Office Chair for Blank Rome’s Houston Office. She previously served as a member of the Firm’s Strategic Plan Committee and Strategic Plan Implementation Committee, the Firm’s Nominating Committee, and is a past Chair of the Blank Rome Women’s Forum.

Supreet is the Director of Google Cloud Strategic Partnerships Legal team. Supreet leads a team focusing on strategic alliance, innovation, and partnership deals for Google Cloud.  

Prior to working at Google, Supreet was counsel at Symantec where she focused on product counseling and strategic partnership deals.  She earned her JD from George Washington University Law School and Bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley.

Supreet is a board member of the San Carlos Educational Foundation, an organization focused on supporting public schools in San Carlos, CA. She is also a founding member of the Bay Area chapter of Chief, an organization specifically designed for senior women leaders to strengthen their leadership journey, cross-pollinate ideas across industries, and effect change from the top-down. In her free time, Supreet enjoys traveling, baking and watching food competition shows with her two sons.

Linda connects people, ideas and organizations and thrives in an environment that offers intellectual challenges and opportunities. She is able to discover, develop and present new ideas and concepts to help organizations grow.  Linda has been incorporating diversity and inclusion concepts and strategies throughout her life as she specializes in strategic fundraising, community relations, business development, program development and board relations.

The importance of diversity stems back to her family heritage. Her parents, U.S. born of Japanese ancestry, were incarcerated during World War II after Pearl Harbor. Despite being placed in an internment camp, Linda’s father enlisted in the all Japanese American U.S. Army regimental combat team.  Her mother was able to leave the internment camp when a Jewish family in Cleveland, Ohio sponsored her. This exclusion experienced by her parents has influenced her and made diversity/inclusion an important pillar for Linda throughout her life.

An advocate for small businesses and entrepreneurship, Linda strategically led the Asian Chamber providing member opportunities to grow their businesses or make connections working with diverse communities, at the Houston Technology Center, she provided funding opportunities and developed community partnerships to assist entrepreneurs. 

In her current role as LiftFund Vice President of Community Engagement and Development, Linda builds awareness of LiftFund’s presence and identifies sources of funding for its services and programs. With headquarters in San Antonio, Houston was established in 1998 and has impacted more than 4000 small businesses with more than $54 million by providing access to capital and resources when traditional sources are not available. More than 41% of its loans are in the African American community, 36% in the Hispanic community and 43% are women-owned businesses. 

Linda serves on the boards Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, TSU business advisory council, NAACP-Houston economic development committee, BEAMW (Business Ecosystem Alliance for Minorities and Women), Houston Livestock Show & RodeoÔÉî membership and international committees, and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Texas Advisory Council. Linda has been the recipient of the Smart Financial Foundation Community Impact Award, MED Week Minority Business Advocate of the Year, Houston Woman Magazine Top 50 Women of Influence, Texas Diversity Council Diversity First recipient, and DMars Top 25 Women of Houston. An alumni of United Way Project Blueprint, Leadership Houston (past chair), Center for Houston’s Future, Leadership America and Center for Asian Pacific American Women. Her mottos are “people support what they help create”, “anything is possible” and “one person can make an impact”. 

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.     

Pam Rea is a member of the Law & Regulations team for Allstate Insurance. In her position as Counsel, Pam litigates claims for damages under commercial and automobile policies representing the company’s insureds. She also provides other legal services to the organization. She embraces Allstate’s focus on diversity and team building by seeking out opportunities to work with colleagues who want to sharpen their own skills, while also learning from these talented team members.

Prior to joining Allstate, Pam had her own law firm for more than a decade representing clients involved in business and contractual disputes, copyright infringement and trademark disputes; the misappropriation of proprietary data and trade secret theft; unfair competition and other commercial litigation. She also handled labor and employment matters, including restrictive covenants and workplace discrimination claims, risk prevention training, policy guidance, external investigations of allegations, and representation of employers before the EEOC or other governmental entities and through the litigation or arbitration process.

Beyond litigation, Pam Rea is experienced in handling cases at the appellate levels and has tried cases before arbitration panels and in administrative law matters.

Pam was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in May 1995 and has practiced throughout the State of Texas. She is also admitted to practice before the federal U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas.

Past firm affiliations include Delgado, Acosta, Braden & Jones LLP, and Beirne, Maynard & Parsons LLP. An honors graduate of the University of St. Thomas and South Texas College of Law, Pam is also a graduate of Leadership Houston Class XXIV and a member of the Texas Bar College.

Polly Fohn has argued to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Texas appellate courts and has been involved in appeals of some of the largest jury verdicts in Texas since graduating from Harvard Law School in 2008.

Named a “Rising Star” by Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Thomson Reuters, from 2013-2020, Polly has achieved victories for her clients even when the odds were stacked against them. For example:

Persuaded a court of appeals to stay execution on a multimillion dollar judgment pending appeal even through her client could not post a supersedeas bond.

Convinced a trial court to render a take-nothing judgment in the face of an adverse multimillion dollar jury verdict.

Obtained an emergency stay within hours of seeking relief from the court of appeals and ultimately went on to achieve mandamus relief for her client.

Successfully petitioned an en banc court of appeals to reverse a panel decision and render judgment for her client.

In addition to her work in the courts of appeals, Polly regularly collaborates with trial teams to obtain summary judgment, exclude or protect key expert witnesses, and draft and argue jury charges in high-stakes litigation.

Polly is also an active member of the legal community. She currently serves as chair of the Houston Bar Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association. She is also the programming co-chair of the ABA Appellate Practice Section and former Editor-in-Chief of The Houston Lawyer magazine. Polly is a regular speaker on recovery of attorneys’ fees, preservation of error and summary judgment practice at State Bar of Texas CLE programs.

Polly gives back to her community as a Young Leader of the United Way of Greater Houston. 

Christallyn McCloud Williams is Senior Corporate Counsel, Labor & Employment for MilliporeSigma, a global Life Sciences company.  She is a corporate generalist and has focused her practice for nearly the last 10 years on labor and employment and litigation management.  She also serves as a legal partner to the North America D&I office and cross-functional teams on corporate strategic DEI projects and programs.  She has recently led the re-launch of an employee resources group for Black employees, the Black Leadership Network, which she co-founded in 2012.

Jacqueline Canlas-LaFlam is Deputy General Counsel at Solar Mosaic, Inc.  She works cross-functionally with internal stakeholders to provide legal advice on consumer protection and regulatory issues in the consumer lending space.  She also manages regulatory inquiries, litigation, and other disputes for the company.  Prior to joining Solar Mosaic, Inc., Jacqueline was Counsel at Tesla, Inc. and Consumer Compliance Counsel at SolarCity Corporation, providing consumer regulatory advice and working on compliance initiatives.  Prior to officially going in house in 2016, Jacqueline spent four years on secondment to a large bank client, managing a litigation defense portfolio consisting of hundreds of consumer lawsuits.

Jacqueline received her Juris Doctorate from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Business-Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. 

Jacqueline lives in Oakland with her husband, toddler, and dog.

Cynthia Mabry concentrates her practice on capital markets, securities, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and general corporate matters. She represents public and private entities, investors and underwriters in capital markets and finance transactions, including offerings of equity and debt securities.

Cynthia also provides counsel on joint ventures, corporate governance and compliance matters.

Cynthia has represented clients in a broad range of industries, including the energy, food and beverage, biotechnology and financial services industries. She is particularly experienced with clients engaged in the energy industry, including oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, oilfield services and other related sectors.

Prior to practicing law, Cynthia worked as a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Houston.

Jennifer Tomsen focuses on litigation, including commercial and securities litigation in state and federal courts and securities arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and JAMS. She has defended broker-dealers in customer-member and member-member disputes, employment, and regulatory matters, and has represented clients in a wide variety of commercial disputes.

Trusted member of Shell’s senior extended legal leadership team, with business, transactional and litigation experience. Legal leader with extensive corporate legal experience across the full spectrum of substantive commercial areas, including high impact commercial and employment litigation and employment law, regulatory and internal investigations, significant transactional matters, including project development and research agreements and major capital contracting and global contracts and procurement. Proven people and project management skills, with a strong commercial mindset, outstanding cultural awareness and ability to quickly adapt to new situations and manage deep learning curves as needed to identify critical issues of focus and sharp decision-making. Extensive experience in business counseling and partnering, pragmatic business focused legal advisor, with substantial experience drafting and negotiating contracts. 

Work includes experience managing corporate governance issues, major deal transactional support, as well as litigation and claims management. Accomplishments evidenced by multiple and expansive roles, with increasing levels of responsibility and oversight of critical organizational risks and change management. Currently responsible for oversight of work supporting global supply chain for contracting and procurement for capital expenditures. Direct management responsibility of a team of 10, located in three countries, with additional functional accountability and indirect involvement for others working on major project delivery in other countries in which Shell operates. Lead attorney supporting Global Claims management and prevention initiative.
Thought leader and regular speaker on diversity and inclusion.
Trusted member of several business leadership teams.

Tavis Knighten is the Sr. Counsel leading Uber’s Safety & Insurance Litigation team for the U.S. Central Region and Canada. Tavis has been with Uber since June 2019. In his role as Sr. Counsel he leads a team of attorneys that are responsible for overseeing litigated tort matters within the region. In addition, Tavis is responsible for managing risks, mitigating exposures, and monitoring legal spend for the Central Region and Canada.

Prior to joining Uber, Tavis served as the Managing Attorney for The Hartford’s staff legal office for Georgia and Tennessee. There he led a team of nine staff attorneys and six support staff that were responsible for directly litigating general liability, auto liability, and workers compensation cases. Tavis has also served as Managing Attorney in Progressive’s staff legal office in Georgia where he led a team of eight staff attorneys and four support staff that were responsible for directly litigating personal and commercial auto matters in the state of Georgia. Tavis began his legal career by establishing and growing his own boutique insurance defense firm consisting of four attorneys and four support staff.

Some of Tavis’ key accomplishments include: taking more than 63 cases to trial; handling three appellate cases in the Georgia Court of Appeals, securing favorable results in each case; and successfully overturning a Georgia pattern jury instruction found to be inconsistent with applicable apportionment law (Clark v. Rush, 312 Ga. App. 333, 718 S.E.2d 555).

Throughout his legal career, Tavis has continually championed for, recruited, and led a diverse workforce. He has served as a speaker and presenter at various Georgia CLE courses. Tavis speaks Spanish fluently and he is learning Portuguese. Tavis currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, but has strong roots in Atlanta, Georgia. His interests include travel, DIY home projects, and outdoor concerts.

Natara is the General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Trace Midstream II, a Quantum Energy Partners portfolio company. Natara was the General Counsel of Trace Midstream I and the SVP, General Counsel of Intensity Midstream from 2019 to 2022 and both companies were successfully sold in 2022. From 2012 to 2019, she was the Assistant General Counsel of Oasis Petroleum (now Chord Energy) managing a diverse workload of transactional and other legal matters. Prior to going in house, Natara was an associate in the Energy Transactions & Project Finance group at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins where she represented Fortune 500 energy and oil and gas companies in matters involving upstream and midstream transactions, strategic investments and corporate and project financing and development. Natara began her career at Norton Rose Fulbright as an associate in the Corporate Department in 2005. Natara currently serves on the Tahirih Justice Center Advisory Committee and the Event Host Committee and was the 2022 Auction Committee Chair for the organization’s annual gala. She has also provided pro bono representation for the Tahirih Justice Center and for other various nonprofit organizations throughout her career. Natara earned her Juris Doctor degree from Duke University School of Law and has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in International Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from Stetson University.

Shemin is the former Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office of Andrews Kurth Kenyon, and she divides her time between the Washington and Houston offices.

She represents major energy companies, including natural gas and oil pipelines, energy marketing and trading companies, and midstream service providers, in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and has represented natural gas pipelines before the federal courts. Shemin has counseled clients in numerous rate, restructuring, tariff, certificate, complaint and enforcement matters in natural gas, oil and electric proceedings before the FERC, other agencies and federal courts. Shemin also works with clients seeking to construct natural gas storage and liquefied natural gas facilities. In addition, she has counseled energy companies on natural gas matters arising from bankruptcy and has experience in the antitrust area. She also has significant experience counseling clients on regulatory considerations in public offerings and M&A transactions.

Representative Experience

• Initial purchasers counsel in connection with $100 million Rule 144A private placement of senior notes of a limited liability company owned 50% by an affiliate of an NYSE-listed, midstream company and 50% by an affiliate of an NYSE-listed, power company
• Lead counsel for major interstate natural gas pipeline in litigated complaint, rate, certificate and tariff proceedings before FERC
• Lead counsel for midstream company regarding sale of jurisdictional pipeline before FERC
• Lead counsel for midstream company regarding ethane pipeline project
• Represented interstate natural gas pipeline in enforcement proceedings before FERC
• Lead counsel for integrated oil and gas company with respect to FERC audit and investigation
• Counsels corporate clients and underwriters regarding energy regulation

Monica White advises a full spectrum of financial institutions and companies on capital markets transactions at all stages of the business lifecycle. 

Ms. White advises investment banks, as well as public and private companies in the energy, technology, and healthcare industries, on capital markets transactions, including high yield and investment grade debt offerings, follow-on equity offerings, complex liability management transactions, and initial public offerings, including special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).

She also advises public companies on matters relating to corporate governance, Securities and Exchange Commission compliance, and stock exchange rules.

Ms. White guides clients using a commercial approach drawn from her significant experience with complex transactions. She excels at partnering with clients to develop creative strategies and solutions to navigate economic cycles and market uncertainty.

Ms. White actively supports diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives both within the firm and in the broader legal industry. She has served on the firm’s Recruiting Committee, actively engages with the Women Enriching Business committee, and frequently speaks at law schools and industry conferences.

Rishi Varma serves as General Counsel and oversees Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s legal department globally. Rishi and his team handle, among other things, HPE’s corporate governance, strategic acquisitions, divestitures and investments, litigation, intellectual property, commercial contracting, sales and supply chain issues, securities law compliance and disclosure, treasury and financing transactions, and certain other corporate transactions and restructurings, bankruptcy, credit and collections matters and employee compensation and retiree benefits. From 2013 – 2017, Rishi served as Deputy General Counsel overseeing HPE’s corporate, securities and M&A practice.

Before joining Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Rishi served as general counsel for two different publicly traded companies from 2005 to 2013 – TPC Group, Inc., a petrochemical company, and Trico Marine Services, Inc., a global subsea service provider. During his time at Trico, Rishi also served in additional management roles including chief operating officer and president. Prior to these companies, Rishi served as securities counsel and director of investor relations for EGL, Inc., a publicly traded global freight forwarder (2002 – 2005), and as a business associate in the New York office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, LP (1998 – 2002).

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and also graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. Rishi and his wife, Michelle, have three children.

Mrs. Deonne Cunningham Nauls is Associate General Counsel at Symmetry Energy Solutions, LLC, where she is responsible for trading, marketing and asset management services related to natural gas and renewable energy. Most recently, Deonne was Lead Counsel of the Wholesale Legal Contracts team at Direct Energy. She notably led the Wholesale Legal Contracts team through the latest closing of the $3.6 billion sale of Direct Energy to NRG Energy, a Fortune 500 company. She has fourteen years of energy law, marketing and trading legal experience and has represented several companies as counsel such as Noble Energy, Repsol, Iberdrola, and the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) in Houston, Texas. 

Deonne’s practice includes energy matters, including commercial transactions related to marketing, physical and financial derivatives trading for natural gas, petroleum products and renewable energy, regulatory compliance, project development and various other matters. She holds her Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston Law Center and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston.

Paula Narcisse is Surface Production Systems Counsel for Schlumberger.  As Surface Production Systems Counsel, Paula manages legal upstream operational related matters for the Surface Production System’s business line globally. Specifically, Paula serves as a trusted legal advisor to key business stakeholders regarding various issues including, assisting in the development and implementation of strategic goals of the business line, minimizing risk of loss, meeting financial goals, forming strategic corporate relationships, managing key litigation matters, and identifying and mitigating legal risks. Surface Production Systems generates over $1billion in annual revenues. 

Prior to her role as Surface Production Systems Counsel, Paula served as (i) Senior Legal Counsel, North America Land and North America Offshore for Cameron Group, and (ii) General Counsel for Cameron’s Surface Systems Business Unit. 

Prior to joining Schlumberger, as a result of its acquisition of Cameron International Corporation, Paula worked at other companies including Select Energy Services, LLC, where she acted as Assistant General Counsel.  In that capacity, she primarily (i) created, developed and implemented the Contracts Management process, (ii) managed all joint venture transactions, (iii) advised clients on related legal matters regarding the North American shale play, (iv) acted as Interim Corporate Secretary, and (v) prepared and negotiated varies commercial agreements.     

Paula also worked at ConocoPhillips Company. At ConocoPhillips, Paula served as Senior Counsel. She managed all related legal work for the following North American downstream business units: Brand Management, Retail, Credit Card Enterprise, Real Estate, Procurement, Wholesale Marketing, and Aviation. In addition, Paula managed major capital projects including acting as lead counsel for many multimillion dollar business transactions.

Paula earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Xavier University of Louisiana.  She also completed the S. M. U. Law Program held at  Oxford University, University College, in Oxford, England. She enjoys spinning, reading and spending quality time with her family. 

Deanna Reitman has over 20 years of experience working in commodity markets and more than 18 years of senior management experience. Her background encompasses legal, regulatory and business experience in commodities, with a particular focus on energy. She has extensive global energy commodity legal and regulatory experience.

Deanna is a skilled communicator and team manager with a record of success in achieving complicated objectives. Her core competency is in legal and regulatory global commodity marketing and trading, in both physical and financial markets.

At DLA Piper, Deanna draws upon her experience as an in-house counsel for energy commodities marketing and trading firms to advise on the structuring of transactions and provide regulatory and commercial advice to energy clients.

Stacianne (Staci) Wilson represents and counsels clients regarding various commercial litigation matters. She represents clients in a variety of cases, including patent and trademark litigation, contractual disputes, construction litigation, real estate matters and disputes, and products liability litigation. Staci has represented clients in both state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings. She has been a member of trial teams who have obtained favorable jury verdicts in both state and federal court.

Staci is also a member of Bracewell’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Lisa is a trial attorney in the firm’s Houston office. Lisa routinely handles complex litigation for clients across a broad spectrum of legal areas, including oil & gas, trucking & transportation, residential and commercial construction, premises liability, products liability, professional liability, and personal injury. Lisa has an established track record of successfully representing her clients in state, federal and appellate courts and administrative bodies across Texas.

As a native of Naples, Italy, Lisa is fluent in Italian.