Speaker Bios
P.J. Himelfarb is a key partner in Weil’s Public Company Advisory Group, a practice credited with defining the field of corporate governance. She advises U.S. public companies and U.S.‑listed foreign private issuers on SEC disclosure, restatements and internal control issues, Sarbanes-Oxley implementation and corporate governance matters. Her practice also includes the SEC aspects of merger and acquisition and securities transactions. In addition, she works closely with partners in Weil’s Securities Litigation practice on securities litigation matters, including internal and external reviews and investigations. Prior to joining Weil, Ms. Himelfarb was Special Counsel in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission. She also served as Special Counsel in the Division’s Office of Mergers & Acquisitions. Ms. Himelfarb was a primary drafter of some of the SEC’s most significant corporate finance initiatives during her tenure and also was a key contributor in crafting Regulation M-A. Ms. Himelfarb was recently named “Best in Corporate Governance” at Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas 2019 Women in Business Law Awards.
Olivia Fines, Esq. is a Federal government contracts (govcon) attorney for Parsons Corporation based out of Centreville, Virginia. Olivia received her BA in Political Science from Virginia Tech, and graduated from the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia in 2008, with a specialization in International Business Law. Before joining Parsons, Olivia was General Counsel for a small govcon, Golden Key Group, LLC and a larger govcon, PRO-telligent, LLC a Tetra Tech Company. From 2008-2011, she also served as an adjunct law professor at the law schools of Ludwig Maximillian Universitat of Munich, Germany, and University of Augsburg in Augsburg Germany. Olivia is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion initiatives. She and her passion project partner have launched www.privilegeandprejudice.com to undertake the privilege projects – a program designed to promote awareness and education on racism in America, and what you can do about it!
Dr. Emelyne Calimoutou is a legal counsel and a gender specialist at the World Bank working on legal reforms aiming at empowering women and adolescent girls, improving access to quality maternal and child health services and family planning, and reducing gender inequality to positively impact the Sahel region’s demographic dividend. She received her Ph.D. in law from Montpellier University in France, her LL.M in International Legal Studies from the Washington College of Law, American University and her M.B.A from H.E.C Paris. She is currently an MPH candidate at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University.
Through her work experience at the World Bank, she developed an expertise on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) programming. In this capacity, she conducted legal research on of the legal frameworks across beneficiaries’ countries of the Sahel Women’s Empowerment Demographic Dividend regional project (SWEDD) in three areas (i) continued schooling of girls, including in the case of pregnancy (ii) age of marriage and (iii) female genital mutilation (FGM). She prepared materials and facilitated with clients and partners, a constructive peer-to-peer consultation between parliamentarians, lawyers and judges from the seven project countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger). She expanded the World Bank legal research agenda on harmful traditional practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation. She is the lead author of two Compendia on International and National Frameworks on Child Marriage Laws and Female Genital Laws that she has presented in several international conferences. She recently presented the results of her research on child marriage laws at the African Summit on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Child Marriage (CM) in Dakar with distinguished panelists, including both Ministers of Justice from the Gambia and Senegal.
Emelyne is passionate about early childhood development and she is the Founder of Happy Childhood, a parent and educator’s resource for joyful learning experiences aiming at creating a safe and inclusive environment to empowering children and help them to express their full potential.
Johnine P. Barnes has wide-ranging experience in litigating and defending administrative claims of harassment; retaliation and discrimination on the basis of age, race, sex and disability; wrongful discharge and breach of contract issues; and client compliance with the American with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and other federal and state statutes governing employment. Johnine has counseled and represented companies, government agencies and associations on labor law issues, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as analogous state statutes, collective bargaining, grievance arbitration and National Labor Relations Board proceedings. In addition to her labor and employment practice, Johnine's practice also includes business litigation matters. She has experience handling non-compete agreements disputes, contract disputes, trade secret matters, international disputes, white collar crimes claims, property interest disputes and legislative matters.
Simone E. Ross is a seasoned litigator who skillfully manages complex criminal and internal investigations and civil litigation for corporate and individual clients in various industries. Ms. Ross has represented clients in parallel criminal and civil proceedings conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal and state agencies, and in congressional investigations. She also has represented clients in litigation matters involving business torts, civil fraud, product liability, and employment disputes.
Ms. Ross previously served as Managing Vice President of Ethics & Investigations at a top 10 financial institution, where she built and led that institution’s internal ethics and investigations department. Her responsibilities included oversight of the institution’s enterprise-wide Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, briefing federal regulators, auditors, senior executive leaders, and board committees on ethics, investigations, and other risk management matters, and leading and implementing responses to regulatory and audit matters.
Ms. Ross also previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, where she prosecuted criminal cases, and as an Assistant Counsel in the Office of Professional Responsibility, where she investigated prosecutorial misconduct allegations.
Crystal Evans is an Associate Counsel within NBCUniversal’s (NBCU) Regulatory Affairs Department where she primarily focuses on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory compliance for NBCU-owned television stations, its broadcast and cable networks, and digital platforms. Crystal advises on various regulatory obligations such as children’s programming, EEO reporting, sponsorship ID and advertising. She also assists in drafting legal guidance and conducting compliance trainings.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Crystal was a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and a law clerk for America’s Public Television Stations. While in law school, she held internships at the Internet Association, NPR, and in the Office of Chairman Wheeler at the FCC.
Crystal received her J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law in 2016 and currently resides in Northern Virginia.
About NBCUniversal:
NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses.
Susan’s clients depend on her in-depth industry knowledge and strategic insights. Her in-house experience informs her pragmatic, business-savvy counsel to health care industry clients. She regularly advises pharmaceutical services providers, managed care organizations, post-acute and long term care providers, and those who invest in the industry on the risks and potential benefits of strategic affiliations, complex service agreements, and due diligence in high profile transactions. She also provides counsel on government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and compliance and regulatory matters. She has particular insight into the challenges facing managed care organizations, specialty pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers. Susan is also part of Mintz’s leadership team.
Heather Souder Choi is is a corporate investigations and competition lawyer with over a decade of experience representing corporations and individuals in criminal and civil enforcement matters before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal and state enforcement agencies against allegations of mail and wire fraud, insider trading, bid-rigging, price fixing, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Anti-Kickback Act.
She has significant experience handling cross-border investigations for multinational corporations and involving foreign individuals, including companies with operations in Japan, India, Ecuador, Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh. In addition to representing clients facing government enforcement actions, Heather has significant antitrust litigation experience defending corporations in complex multi-district and multi-defendant class actions against allegations of price fixing, monopolization, and other anti-competitive activity. She represents clients across a broad range of industries including automotive, energy, diversified manufacturing, beverage distribution, and technology.
Ms. Choi also serves as Hiring Partner of the D.C. office.
Brooke D. Clarkson is a partner and litigation attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP. Ms. Clarkson’s practice focuses on representing public companies and their officers and directors, audit firms and their partners, and other entities and individuals in investigations and proceedings involving the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and other government and non-government agencies and in private litigation. Ms. Clarkson also has significant experience assisting boards of directors and their committees with internal investigations involving financial reporting and other conduct and counseling them on compliance with the federal securities laws and other applicable rules and regulations. Ms. Clarkson is a member of the firm’s Securities Enforcement & Litigation and Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practices.
Ms. Clarkson serves on the firm’s recruiting committee and is an active member in the firm’s pro bono efforts, representing individuals in Social Security Administration matters, including administrative law judge hearings, in connection with the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Clinic.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Clarkson was a trial preparation assistant in the Frauds Bureau of the District Attorney’s Office of New York County, New York.
Nnedinma (Nnedi) Ifudu Nweke counsels U.S. and non-U.S. clients on U.S. laws and policy affecting cross border transactions and international trade, including export control laws, economic sanctions and trade embargoes, antiboycott laws and regulations, anticorruption laws including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-money laundering laws.
Nnedi represents clients in international trade matters before several U.S. government departments and agencies, including the departments of Commerce, State and the Treasury. She has helped clients in various industries to effectively manage due diligence investigations in connection with investment fund formation, mergers, acquisitions and other transactions. Nnedi also advises clients on how to respond to U.S. government investigations, develop and implement compliance policies and procedures, prepare voluntary self-disclosures, and conduct internal reviews, audits and investigations.
Her practice extends to drafting license applications, OFAC sanctions lists delisting petitions, advisory opinion requests and other submissions to relevant U.S. government agencies. Nnedi also develops and delivers training presentations on a variety of international trade control topics.
Alyssa Moore is a native Southern Californian who moved East to pursue her educational and professional goals. She graduated from Oakwood University in 2009, and matriculated at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law in Durham, NC. While at NCCU, Ms. Moore earned her Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration degrees simultaneously and graduated in 2013. After law school, Ms. Moore attended The Catholic University of America where she also obtained her LL.M (Masters of Law) in Financial Securities.
Presently, Ms. Moore is Corporate Counsel of Cummins, Inc. She was In-House Counsel for comScore, Inc. where she engages in the practice of Cross-Platform Media Data Measurement for the United States local and national television markets, Canadian media market, and Small Business media markets. She also assists with Data Privacy Rights issues and Non-Disclosure agreements.
Daphne Turpin Forbes is a trusted legal and business advisor at Microsoft with 20+ years of practice in the U.S. Public Sector and commercial industries. Her corporate experience spans in-house at companies like Microsoft, Discovery Communications, ACS State & Local Solutions (a Xerox Company), Lockheed Martin, Hyatt Hotels, and General Motors. She is well-regarded within the legal and business communities with recognitions as a top lawyer and corporate leader. At Microsoft, Daphne leads a team of attorneys and assumes lead legal responsibility for a segment of the company’s Global Commercial Field Group (“GCFG”) where she negotiates, serves as the escalation point on complex legal matters, and provides advice on a wide spectrum of complex enterprise-wide license deals; including cloud services, ethics, and privacy issues (to name a few), and she advises on all other matters unique to the U.S. Public Sector and Education verticals.
Daphne is a leader who is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equality. She has participated and collaborated with various organizations as a champion for diverse lawyers, legal professionals, and women, with an emphasis on women of color. In addition, Daphne is the U.S. Diversity & Inclusion (“D&I”) lead for GCFG and has served as a corporate leader in the company’s African American Employee Network. A former Human Resources professional, who claims civility and coaching as her superpowers, Daphne is effective at and enjoys leading people, projects, and process. In addition, she is visible, active, and involved in her community. Daphne has long-standing memberships in several community service organizations. She has served on various non-profit boards and advisory councils nationally and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She currently serves as a Commissioner of the Prince George’s County, Maryland, Liquor Board as its Chairwoman. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar and National Bar Associations.
Daphne is the recipient of various corporate awards for her D&I and client work. Most notably, she is the corporate recipient of the Microsoft MVP Circle of Excellence (Gold Club) Award, and the National Bar Association’s Clyde E. Bailey Corporate Leadership Award. Daphne is a graduate of Michigan State University, and the American University Washington College of Law.
Shawn M. Wright concentrates her practice in the area of white collar criminal litigation, with a specific focus on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and international anti-corruption laws; criminal antitrust; public corruption; and government contracts matters. She represents corporations, boards of directors, and corporate executives in a wide range of internal and government investigations, audits and risk assessments, parallel proceedings, and before enforcement agencies and bodies such as the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and other authorities.
Shawn’s practice includes internal compliance program development for the FCPA, including establishing workplace compliance policies and procedures, due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, third-party relationships, and other transactions. She also conducts internal investigations and provides counsel on violations of the Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”).
Additionally, she represents companies and nonprofit organizations and their boards of directors regarding corporate governance, compliance, and internal controls issues.
Shawn is a member of the Women President’s Organization – Greenbelt Chapter, which supports and promotes women-owned companies. She is also a tutor and mentor to diverse women law students. She is an enthusiastic football and basketball fan, both professional and collegiate.
Brenda Oliver joined the Firm in April 2011, having worked for 11 years with a large Am Law 100 firm.
Brenda provides advice and counsel to U.S. based and foreign employers to facilitate transfers of high level and special skilled employees to the United States.
She has been assisting clients in obtaining nonimmigrant visas, as well as immigrant visas and permanent residency based on employment and/or family sponsorship. She assists clients with preparation of and guidance in the process of nonimmigrant visa petitions, employment-based permanent residency petitions and labor certification applications.
She provides advice on I-9 compliance and assisting with company audits to ensure compliance with U.S. employment authorization practices.
Additional representations have included assisting clients with outbound visa matters, citizenship and naturalization issues, obtaining OCS exemptions, preparation for consular processing and general advice and counsel regarding immigration law.
Brenda works pro bono with the Polaris Project to assist trafficking victims to obtain T visas and adjustment of status.
Brenda speaks English and Spanish.
Tara Elliott is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office and a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice.
Ms. Elliott is a first-chair trial lawyer whose practice focuses on high-profile intellectual property proceedings and commercial litigation. Ms. Elliott has a unique combination of private practice and government experience that enables her to navigate clients' most complex legal issues. She has represented many of the world’s leading technology, retail, and manufacturing companies in infringement matters, corporate disputes, and appeals concerning patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and commercial contracts, among other issues. Ms. Elliott is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court.
Ms. Elliott currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation and the Federal Circuit Lawyers’ Advisory Council. She previously chaired the Third Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee by appointment of the Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She also served on the District of Delaware Merit Selection Panels for the US Magistrate Judge and Bankruptcy Judge vacancies.
Prior to joining Latham, she was appointed to serve as a Special Master in the US District Court for the District of Delaware to assist the court in resolving disputes in complex commercial matters. She clerked for Judge Gregory M. Sleet, then Chief Judge of the US District Court for the District of Delaware, and Judge Raymond C. Clevenger of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
She began her career at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where she was a computer engineer in the Directorate of Science and Technology and an analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence (now known as the Directorate of Analysis).
Ms. Elliott earned her bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she attended on both academic and athletic scholarships. She received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was senior editor on the Journal of Constitutional Law, and on the Moot Court Board and National Trial Team.
Ms. Elliott is a director of the Christiana Care Health System, where she serves on the Executive Committee, chairs the Governance Committee, and chairs the Info Tech & Cybersecurity Subcommittee. Ms. Elliott presently serves on Latham's Recruiting Committee.
Ms. Elliott is consistently recognized by leading legal publications as a top intellectual property litigation lawyer including The National Law Journal, IAM Patent 1000, and Managing Intellectual Property.
Through her previous experiences, Ms. Mand has acted as outside general counsel for a variety of associations and corporations. Her law firm experience includes representation in a variety of practice areas including corporate governance and drafting and advising on a variety of commercial agreements. She then started her own firm and represented start-up companies in technology, music, entertainment and sports.
Ms. Mand began her in house career at Gap, Inc., in San Francisco, representing Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy with their franchise ventures across the Globe. Ms. Mand then worked for 24 Hour Fitness in their transaction group before moving back to the DC area. Upon her return to DC, Ms. Mand sat as the first General Counsel for PLASTICS and then became the primary attorney assisting nearly 450 hotels, managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts.
Currently, Ms. Mand works at The Walt Disney Company and is the head attorney servicing National Geographic Expeditions and Adventures by Disney (Travel). She is the DC representative for Disney Lawyers of Color (DLOC) for the DC Chapter. A group created within the very large Disney legal team globally to support the diverse lawyers and offer a resource for something that is very important to Disney’s General Counsel, Alan Braverman.
Casiya Thaniel is a senior attorney at Microsoft providing legal support to clients responsible for enterprise customers in the $2 Billion - U.S. Financial Services Industry. Casiya negotiates complex cloud technology deals and assists the U.S. Commercial business team drive revenue by hosting technology events and speaking regularly on digital transformation, artificial intelligence, privacy, cyber security, and the importance of cloud literacy. In her prior role, she supported Xbox and PC products for large U.S. retailers, where she primarily focused on marketing, sales, and antitrust concerns.
Casiya holds a B.B.A. from Howard University, Master’s Certificate in Commercial Contract Management from George Washington University/ESI International and a J.D. from North Carolina Central University. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional-U.S. and an alum of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Casiya is on the board of trustees for the Holy Trinity Day School in Maryland and the Executive Committee of the National Bar Association – Commercial Law Section.
CARRIE VALIANT is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice in the Washington, DC office and co-chairs the firm's health care fraud group. She is also Chair of the firm's Diversity and Professional Development Committee.
Ms. Valiant writes and lectures extensively on health law fraud topics and is a co-author of Legal Issues in Health Care Fraud and Abuse: Navigating the Uncertainties, 4th ed., published by the American Health Lawyers Association in June 2012. She has been included on Nightingale's Healthcare News'2004 and 2009 lists of Outstanding Healthcare Fraud and Compliance Lawyers, selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© (2006 to 2019) in the field of Health Care Law, named to the Washington DC Super Lawyers list (2007 to 2011, 2013 to 2019) in the area of Health Care, ranked by Chambers USA as one of America's leading Healthcare lawyers (2007 to 2019), and recommended by The Legal 500 United States(2016) in the Health Insurers and Healthcare: Service Providers categories. In 1997, the National Law Journal selected Ms. Valiant as one of "40 Health Care Lawyers Who Have Made Their Mark" in the area of white-collar crime.
Ms. Valiant founded and is President of the Health Care Industry Access Initiative, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action across the health care industry to improve access to health care coverage and services in the United States.
Mary is a partner in our antitrust, competition and trade group. Mary focuses her practice on representing clients before the FTC, the DOJ, and State Attorneys General on the antitrust aspects of M&A, joint ventures, distribution and intellectual property arrangements, and other competitive conduct. Before joining Freshfields, Mary served as an advisor to two FTC Chairs, providing counsel on antitrust investigations, enforcement actions, policy initiatives, public relations, and congressional strategies. Prior to her role in the Chairman’s office, Mary oversaw antitrust merger investigations as a lead attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. She received her JD from the University of Chicago Law School and her BA from the College of William & Mary. Mary is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Mariana Gomez-Vock is Associate General Counsel at the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). She is an experienced policy and legal adviser with subject matter expertise in global and domestic group capital standards for insurance, reinsurance, and identifying and analyzing emerging regulatory risk trends.
Brooke Ringel assists companies, associations, and coalitions across a wide range of industries to effectively navigate U.S. trade laws and policies.
Brooke represents U.S. industries in international trade remedies litigation against unfairly priced and subsidized foreign imports, particularly with respect to investigations and five-year sunset reviews before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and countervailing duty investigations before the U.S. Department of Commerce. She also advises clients on export controls, economic sanctions, and customs compliance matters. In the compliance area, Brooke has extensive experience assisting clients in classification and licensing, and in conducting global trade compliance audits, investigations, and due diligence reviews.
Brooke’s outstanding written and oral communication skills are further enhanced by her proven management abilities. She is appreciated by clients and colleagues alike for keeping multicountry trade cases, with complex and overlapping issues and significant amounts of economic data, moving in the right direction toward successful outcomes at multiple agencies. Her responsiveness, attention to client needs and knowledge of international trade law is manifest in her ability to provide an exemplary level of client service and advocacy. Brooke is committed to getting her clients what they need, when they need it.
Prior to joining Kelley Drye, Brooke served as associate vice president at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where she led the association’s work on global intellectual property advocacy and supported trade policy issues. Her work included advocating on behalf of the innovative biopharmaceutical industry with the U.S. and foreign governments, developing and executing strategic solutions to international intellectual property and trade challenges, building alliances with other stakeholders to achieve common objectives, and supporting the association’s members in their international policy engagement efforts.
In addition, Brooke served as a special assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia. In that capacity, she litigated a wide range of civil matters on behalf of the District, including employment law, contract law, agency action appeals, Freedom of Information Act litigation, statutory claims and torts.
Khelin Aiken practices in the area of US Food and Drug Administration regulatory and compliance law. She leverages her deep understanding of the US Food Drug & Cosmetic Act, US Public Health Service Act and their implementing regulations along with her prior experience at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help clients develop and achieve their strategic business objectives.
Khelin previously served as regulatory counsel at the FDA in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in both the Office of Regulatory Policy and in the Office of New Drugs with the Therapeutic Biologics and Biosimilars Staff.
Lauren Bell is a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Her practice focuses on government and internal investigations, white collar defense, and complex civil litigation.
Lauren has served as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Prior to that role, Lauren was a trial attorney in DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, where she prosecuted public corruption and fraud offenses, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Nick Tiger joined Capital One as in-house counsel in 2017 and practices in the areas of state and federal banking regulation and consumer protection. Nick recently served an active 2 year term appointment to Capital One’s Legal Diversity & Inclusion Executive Committee. He regularly works with executives across the industry to champion important inclusion initiatives, such as revising outside counsel engagement agreements to add clauses related to diversity and inclusion expectations. Recently, he has taken over as co-lead for Lavender Link Webinars, an in-house practice series organized by the National LGBT Bar Association that drives for interconnectivity and inclusion in the Legal profession.
In addition to being passionate about diversity in the legal field, he has also been widely recognized for his pro bono service where he has appeared in contested removal proceedings before the Board of Immigration Appeals. He was recently named a finalist for the 2019 Volunteer of the Year award for the Greater Washington DC metro area.
Nick is currently enrolled in Industrial-Organizational coursework and thinking about going for a Masters. He received his J.D. with an emphasis in International Law from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While in school, Nicholas clerked for both a Federal Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Missouri and an Administrative Court of Appeals Judge abroad in Guanajuato, Mexico. He also holds a B.A. from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. He can normally be found fixing up his cabin on top of Bull Run Mountain in the beautiful Blueridge of Virginia.
As Lionsgate’s Senior Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs and the Company’s lead employment counsel, Rahwa works closely with Lionsgate senior management, the Company’s Human Resources team, its various film & television productions, and employees at all levels to address the Company’s day-to-day employment needs, support its M&A and other strategic growth initiatives around the world, and ensure compliance with its commitment to a diverse, inclusive, and respectful work environment.
Rahwa provided employment legal support for Lionsgate’s May 2018 investment in and partnership with 3 Arts Entertainment, the first-ever collaboration between a major Hollywood studio and a leading talent management and production company. During the year she also helped facilitate the continuing integration of the Good Universe production and distribution company into Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group and is a key executive in the ongoing integration of Lionsgate and Starz following the biggest acquisition in the Company’s history.
She has also helped direct legal and employment matters related to Lionsgate’s recent launch of offices in Mumbai, India, Beijing, China, and Toronto, Canada, as the Company continues to globalize its operations. In addition, she provides legal support and employment counsel to Lionsgate’s numerous film & television productions, joint ventures and SVOD platforms.
As employment counsel, Rahwa has played a prominent role in developing and overseeing the implementation of practices and policies that create a safe, tolerant, diverse and inclusive work environment for Lionsgate employees.
A graduate of The University of Michigan—Ann Arbor with a B.A. degree in History in 2005 and a J.D. degree recipient from the University of Chicago Law School in 2009, Rahwa began her career as an employment litigator at the law firm of Baker McKenzie in Chicago. She joined Lionsgate in 2014.
Dimple Manghnani serves as Corporate Counsel for [solidcore], a national boutique fitness studio with over 60 locations across the US. Dimple joined [solidcore] in 2016, when it was operating only 10 studios in the DMV area, and since then, she has developed the company’s legal department and compliance programs from scratch.
As the point person for all legal and regulatory issues in the company, Dimple manages relationships with outside counsel, and is responsible for drafting and negotiating all internal and external contracts for the company, ranging from employment agreements, to corporate partnerships, to licensing agreements, to commercial real estate transactions.
In addition, Dimple counsels the C-suite on a wide-range of business and strategic priorities in order to reducing legal, financial, operational, and ethical risks as [solidcore] continues to grow.
Latoya Asia is VP, Global Head of Inclusion, Diversity & Belonging at Verisk Analytics, a leading data analytics and risk assessment firm. In her role, Ms. Asia focuses on enhancing an inclusive culture and greater diversity, and developing and executing initiatives, policies, programs, and training that create measurable impact.
Before joining Verisk, Ms. Asia served as Director, Associate General Counsel at E*TRADE Financial Corporation, providing day-to-day and strategic legal counsel on a range of employment and diversity & inclusion matters impacting the company. Ms. Asia also drove diversity & inclusion efforts within the company, advising senior leadership and employee resource groups and influencing actions that supported an inclusive work environment. Ms. Asia’s experience also includes service as a strategic human resources and labor relations business partner at a global petroleum additive manufacturing company, a teacher at a K-12 school in Niamey, Niger, and as a labor and employment attorney at an international law firm.
Ms. Asia holds a J.D. from the College of William and Mary and a B.S. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, international travel, and cooking. She serves on the boards of several professional and civic organizations and is a mentor to many.
Maureen is an experienced litigator who co-chairs the firm’s Class Action Practice Group. Maureen devotes a very substantial amount of her practice to wage and hour issues, including preventive consultation, internal audits, government investigations, and defense of wage and hour litigation, almost all of which include class- or collective- action claims. Maureen's wage and hour litigation experience includes cases involving state and federal minimum wage and overtime violations, stemming from alleged off-the-clock work, deletion of hours, exemption misclassification and improperly-applied tip credits. She has counseled clients on these and other wage and hour issues, such as white-collar exemptions, tip pooling/sharing, break requirements, child-labor issues, payroll frequency and methods, salary deductions, and compensability of time. Maureen is a regular speaker and author on wage and hour compliance issues to human-resource professionals and in-house counsel.
Maureen also has extensive experience representing clients in discrimination charges before local, state and federal agencies, and significant experience defending employment discrimination cases in both state and federal courts -- from single plaintiff to multiple plaintiffs, and from early settlement to trial by jury. Maureen’s litigation experience also extends to claims brought under other state and federal employment laws (such as the FMLA), common law (such as negligence claims), and contract issues (such as restrictive covenants and employment agreements).
In addition to national Fortune 100 and 500 clients, Maureen has experience with assisting smaller, but growing, companies with the numerous employment-related issues that arise, including creating an employee handbook, providing advice and counsel regarding personnel actions and decisions, ensuring proper pay practices, and drafting restrictive covenants (such as non-competes).
Maureen is an AV Preeminent® rated attorney who has been recognized in the premier Chambers USA Guide, has been named as a Virginia Rising Star in employment law by the annual publication Virginia Super Lawyers, was awarded the Betty Southard Murphy Award in Labor Law, and was the honored recipient of an award, generally reserved for company employees, by a national client’s legal department for her responsiveness and legal experience. Maureen’s clients praise her for her ability to effectively communicate legal issues to non-legal audiences and provide legal advice that always focuses on practical business solutions.
Chandrika Vira is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Trial & Appellate and Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Groups. Chandrika represents clients in complex patent litigations in federal district courts, in contested proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and before the Federal Circuit on appeal.
Chandrika has litigated cases involving a broad range of technologies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnological arts, and electrical arts. Chandrika focuses her practice on litigating cases involving small-molecule pharmaceuticals under the Hatch-Waxman Act and biologics and biosimilars under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA).
In 2017 and 2018, Chandrika was named a "Rising Star" in Intellectual Property by Super Lawyers.
Prior to law school, Chandrika worked as a consultant for two technology companies where she advised companies on implementing technological solutions. While in law school at The George Washington University, Chandrika participated in the Law Students in Court Clinic where she had the opportunity to represent clients in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in the Criminal Division. Chandrika received her B.A. in molecular biology from Coe College.
Lesley Marlin is an experienced, senior in-house attorney with a specialty in labor and employment law. She works for Northrop Grumman as the lead labor and employment lawyer for the Company’s Defense Systems sector, which is one of the Company’s four operating units (with approximately 21,000 employees). She also supports the Company’s EEO/Compliance team. She provides day-to-day practical and strategic legal advice, develops or updates policies and procedures, responds to administrative charges and demand letters, handles government investigations, leads union negotiations, and conducts training. Ms. Marlin speaks frequently both internally and externally on various workplace issues, including labor and employment law topics, culture and psychological safety, diversity and inclusion, resilience, and career development. She recently participated in the Association of Corporate Counsel’s TED Masterclass program, and her talk was on the power of resilience. Beyond her professional engagements, Ms. Marlin is committed to giving back to her community. She serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing.
Laura Pitts is a ten year practicing attorney with a focus in trademark and intellectual property protection. She achieved the Counsel level at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, practicing from their Alexandria, Virginia office. Laura manages clients’ global trademark portfolios, executes domestic and international trademark filings and handles opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. She leads the Bar Association of the District of Columbia’s Trademark Group.
Alonzo Barber is an Assistant General Counsel supporting Microsoft’s US Enterprise Commercial Sales Organization where he leads a team that is responsible for negotiating complex licensing and services transaction. Prior to this role, Alonzo worked in the Windows and Devices Group within Microsoft supporting the Internet of Things and Wearable Computer divisions advising on various legal issues including privacy, intellectual property and product liability matters. Before joining Microsoft in 2013, Alonzo held the position of Senior Counsel at Viacom/BET Networks in Washington, DC.
Upon receiving his commission in the Navy from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1997, Alonzo served seven years as an officer certified in all aspects of nuclear-powered submarines including five strategic patrols aboard the USS Florida (SSBN 728). He also worked as an Admissions Officer at the Naval Academy until his separation from the military in 2004. Alonzo earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and holds a Masters in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University.
Counsel, Director, Corporate Counsel and Senior Managing Attorney fluent in Arabic and French with exceptional interpersonal/ legal skills and judgment who is able to forge strong and successful business relationships across all business sectors. Qualified in data security and incidence response, GDPR, negotiating complex sales and technology transactions, ethics probes, public and regulatory filings.
Trina Fairley Barlow is a partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment and Government Contracts groups. She devotes a substantial portion of her practice to helping government contractors navigate and comply with the myriad laws, regulations, and Executive Orders which impact employers who are also government contractors. Trina’s experience includes advising federal contractors on the requirements of the Service Contract Act, as well as the Davis Bacon Act, and assisting clients with developing compliance strategies that reduce legal risks. In addition, Trina has defended and advised clients in False Claim Act (FCA) whistleblower retaliation cases and has led large internal investigations that frequently encompass a complex combination of labor and employment, government contracts, and ethics and compliance issues. In connection with such investigations and in other contexts, clients also frequently call upon Trina to assist them with developing compliant policies and internal practices that achieve business objectives while simultaneously reducing potential legal risks and exposure.
In addition to Trina’s work with government contractors, Trina routinely advises and represents a broad range of other organizations, including Fortune 100 companies, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, professional services firms, start-ups, joint ventures, and non-profit organizations on a range of labor and employment matters. Trina’s experience includes representing employers in litigation matters arising under Title VII, ADEA, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, USSERA, and Section 3730(h) of the FCA. Trina’s litigation work also includes regularly representing employers before administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, and countless other state and federal agencies. In the alternative dispute resolution context, Trina has litigated cases before JAMS and AAA and obtained numerous "take nothing" awards on behalf of employers.
Finally, Trina routinely provides comprehensive legal advice, guidance, and training to employers on issues ranging from hiring, discipline, and terminations, to wage and hour compliance and reductions-in-force. She advises employers on the implementation and enforcement of personnel policies, and regularly reviews and drafts various employment agreements to protect her clients' business and legal interests. As an experienced employment law attorney, Trina stays abreast of the latest employment law developments and is frequently invited to speak and write on emerging labor and employment law topics and trends.
Meredith French Reedy represents financial institutions and Farm Credit System banks in connection with the structuring and documenting of secured and unsecured lending transactions, including single-lender, club and syndicated credit facilities. She has experience in acquisition financing, real estate financing and asset-based lending.
Annemargaret Connolly is head of Weil’s Environmental practice, advising clients on a wide range of global environmental compliance and liability issues, most notably in the context of mergers & acquisitions, financing transactions, corporate restructurings, real estate transfers and capital markets, particularly risk disclosure. Recognized as an Environmental “Trailblazer,” Annemargaret has pioneered Wei’s Environmental practice and is sought after for her expertise in identifying and allocating environmental risks, educating clients on potential issues and developing strategies to mitigate the risks. She focuses on the development and implementation of environmental management systems to help understand and manage environmental risks. Ms. Connolly also works with both private equity firms as well as public companies on identifying ESG goals and objectives and eventually assisting with the development and implementation of their ESG policies. A significant portion of this work includes the evaluation of future risks, such as the physical and regulatory risks presented by climate change and efforts to mitigate and adapt to its impacts. Ms. Connolly is very active in the DC Community serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of DC Appleseed Foundation and as a member of the George Washington University Athletes Board of Advisors.
