The Women in Law & Leadership Summit: Seattle

Paige Pratter is a Senior Attorney with Microsoft’s Office of Legal Compliance Investigations team.  In that role, she oversees and conducts internal investigations in the U.S. and around the world, and serves as a trusted advisor to business leaders on anticorruption and other high risk compliance matters.  Prior to joining Microsoft, Paige was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, where she prosecuted financial crimes, as well as firearms and violent crimes.  Previously, Paige was an associate with the Perkins Coie Seattle office’s White Collar and Investigations Group and with Covington & Burling in the Washington, D.C.  Paige graduated from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, after which she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  Paige serves on the Board of Trustees for the Baldwin School, and is actively involved in a prisoner re-entry program for former gang members.  Paige lives in Seattle with her husband and two children, a dog, a tortoise, two chickens and a duck.

Jessica Nguyen is the General Counsel of PayScale, a Seattle, Washington based technology company that provides and collects compensation data to help employees and employers make informed compensation decisions.  PayScale’s products enable organizations to take a transparent and data-driven approach to their compensation strategy and pay their employees fairly and equitably.  PayScale prides itself on being a thought leader on pay equity issues.  

Jessica built from the ground up a legal team and processes at PayScale.  Prior to PayScale, Jessica supported the growth, scalability, and risk mitigation of other organizations, including the Office 365 engineering teams at Microsoft, Avalara during its early stages, and was an attorney at Pacific Northwest law firms.  Jessica was also recognized as one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Honorees.  

Britt Bachtel-Browning is currently Senior Counsel at Avista Corporation. She is a corporate Attorney licensed to practice law in Washington, Oregon, and the District of Columbia (Alaska pending). 12 years of in-house legal experience with a recent focus in the utility industry. She has worked with complex transactions, negotiating contracts and solid intellectual property expertise. 

In her current role as Senior Counsel she provides legal counsel and training for a wide variety of business segments within the company including advice in regulatory/compliance matters, human resources/employment, intellectual property, privacy, mergers and acquisitions, and negotiation of complex business transactions. Ensure that the financial, contractual, regulatory, insurance and business interests of the company are served and appropriate compliance activities are in place. 

She has a recent focus on intellectual property strategy, data governance/privacy issues, policy drafting and new business initiatives such as solar, battery storage, electric vehicle charging and other renewable energy opportunities. Provide key support in building and implementing new and progressive products and services. Britt is part of a cross-functional "innovation work group" team focused capturing employee ideas for new products, services, or processes and guiding the idea through the analysis stages to implementation/development. She also has a key leadership role in creating a "Smart City" collaboration, including entity formation, governance and membership structure in learning all parts of the business and providing legal and business advice as part of a team.

Her experience includes roles as General Counsel of Portland Energy Conservative, IP Counsel at Waggener Edstrom and Assistant Attorney General for the Oregon Department of Justice. She has earned a B.A. in English and Political Science from Weber State University and a J.D. with a focus in IP and International Law from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Vanessa Power is Managing Partner of the firm’s Seattle office. Vanessa is a litigator whose practice emphasizes complex business litigation. She defends companies in trial and on appeal in disputes involving commercial contracts, intellectual property, and class actions.

Vanessa has handled cases in federal and state courts and arbitrations across the country, including Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Florida, and New Jersey. Vanessa works with public companies and privately-held businesses in a number of industries including technology, financial services, manufacturing, and retail services.

Before joining Stoel Rives, Vanessa was an associate at Dorsey & Whitney LLP (2000-2003); an analyst with Washington State Senate Committee Services (1999-2000); and a clerk (for Commissioners) at the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division 1 (1998).  Before law school, Vanessa was a Teach for America corps member in Oakland, California (1993-1996).

Jill Yamagiwa is currently Corporate Counsel for Symphony Talent, a company headquartered in New York which provides talent acquisition technology solutions and services. Previously, she spent several years at Microsoft supporting the tax and subsidiary groups, Xbox Live, and Office, and was also Senior Counsel for Blue Nile.  She is a graduate of Seattle University School of Law and lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.

Jennifer joined Fortive in June 2016 as VP, Chief Compliance Officer. Her responsibilities include strategic planning and execution of Compliance department goals and objectives, risk management, internal investigations, and compliance program development.

Previously, Jennifer was the VP, Risk & Compliance at Mead Johnson Nutrition, a global manufacturer of infant nutrition products.  Prior to that, Jennifer was at General Electric (GE Healthcare and GE Capital) for a combined 10+ years in a variety of senior Legal and Compliance roles. She has expertise in Compliance and Commercial law, Legal Operations and department management, and project management and process improvement.  Prior to GE, Jennifer worked at Dell Inc., and at two Texas law firms.

Jennifer earned a BA, cum laude, from Tufts University and a JD from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

She is licensed to practice law in both Texas and Illinois, with an in-house license in Washington.

Jennifer, her husband, and their two sons recently relocated to Washington. 

Ana Nicacio is a Senior Attorney at Microsoft Corporation, working at the Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Group and primarily responsible for providing legal support to the Azure Media Services business. Ana also supports the Microsoft Dynamics 365 business with acquisitions, integrations, and strategic licensing and alliances. At Microsoft, Ana is also heavily involved with Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. Prior to Microsoft, Ana worked as in-house counsel at Sage Software, KinderCare Education, and InFocus Corporation. Ana started her legal career in São Paulo, Brazil, and worked as an associate at Mattos Filho Advogados, where she focused on intellectual property transactions, foreign investments, and advised international clients on all aspects of doing business in Brazil. Ana has worked and lived in three continents, being educated in the civil law and common law systems and licensed to practice law in the United States and in Brazil. Passionate about empowering women and girls, Ana also serves on the Board of a Seattle non-profit that promotes STEM education and careers for girls.

Dana is Associate General Counsel for SanMar Corporation, the premier supplier of wholesale imprintable apparel and accessories. She holds an LL.M. in Taxation from University of Washington School of Law and provides legal counsel and training on contracting, licensing, technology and information governance, labor and employment issues, manufacturing, ethics and regulatory compliance, local and international tax issues, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy and more. She also serve as President and Advocacy Liaison for the Washington State Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, the largest global bar association of in-house counsel.

Kathy L. Feldman is a shareholder and member of the firm’s Labor and Employment Department. For over 30 years, she has focused her practice on employment law, helping clients navigate issues ranging from employment agreement negotiation to breach of contract litigation. She has been named a “Best Lawyer in America” every year since 2012 and titled one of “Washington’s Most Amazing Attorneys” in Labor and Employment Law by CEO Magazine.

Katie Rowen is the Vice President, Labor & Employment and Litigation for Fortive Corporation where she leads global L&E and general litigation. Prior to joining Fortive, Katie served as the lead L&E lawyer for Raytheon Missile Systems and then as the deputy head of ethics and compliance for Raytheon Company.  Prior to moving in-house, she was in private practice at a number of firms primarily handling general litigation.

Aryn Gruneisen is the Export Counsel for nLIGHT, Inc., a laser manufacturing company in Vancouver, WA. Previously, she worked as an export compliance consultant and as an export compliance specialist at Raytheon. She received her JD from the University of Arizona in 2012, and is licensed to practice in both Washington and Pennsylvania.

Martha Phelps has nearly two decades of experience counseling global technology, retail, and media businesses. Her practice emphasizes content, services, and technology transactions, with a focus on consumer-facing businesses—including retail, publishing, music, movies, software, and games. Martha also advises on a host of licensing, consumer law, antitrust, and intellectual property matters, and has expertise in creative and practical risk management and problem solving as well as legal simplification and process improvements. She has an extensive background working within e-commerce, having previously served as senior legal director, Digital & eCommerce, for Best Buy and as counsel for Amazon.com, Inc.’s Books and Publishing businesses and its Global Operations and Kindle Content teams. Prior to practicing law, Martha was an editor of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Ed. (1993), and related reference works. 

Martha also serves on the Board of Directors for AdoptAClassroom.org, an educational nonprofit connecting donors with public, private, and charter school classrooms needing funding in the U.S., and she has volunteered for her local Smith College Clubs for 25 years to help fund scholarships for needy students. 

Molly Eckman's practice is concentrated in insurance coverage and defense.

Molly counsels and represents foreign and domestic insurers in a wide variety of coverage matters, including first-party flood, fire, life insurance, business interruption, and personal property claims, as well as third-party asbestos, assault and battery, products liability, construction defect, and environmental contamination claims. She is well-versed in claims handling guidelines and bad faith laws, and has successfully defended insurers against alleged violations of the same. In addition, Molly defends against premises liability, employment discrimination, breach of contract, consumer class action, and legal malpractice claims. Molly handles coverage and defense litigation at both the trial court and appellate court levels.

Molly is committed to pro bono service and has assisted multiple clients seeking asylum in the United States. Along with the firm’s Seattle office, she received the 2005 Amicus Award from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, due to the branch's ongoing pro bono efforts on behalf of immigration and asylum clients.

Molly earned her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from the University of San Diego in 2001. She earned her law degree, with honors, from the University of Washington School of Law in 2004, where she was associate editor-in-chief of the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal, and an extern for the Honorable Barbara J. Rothenstein.

Mindy is a marketing corporate counsel at T-Mobile USA, Inc. where she counsels business stakeholders across diverse areas of expertise to help drive innovation and mitigate risk in strategic partnerships, marketing campaigns, and product development.  Previously, Mindy was a principal at Riddell Williams, n/k/a Fox Rothschild, where she practiced commercial litigation with an emphasis in environmental law.  Mindy served as a law clerk to Justice Charles Johnson at the Washington State Supreme Court, and graduated from Seattle University School of Law in 2007.

Jeanie Gong is Corporate Counsel at ExtraHop Networks, a real-time wire data analytics company, where she focuses on privacy, intellectual property, and software licensing. Previously, Jeanie was Corporate Counsel at Blue Nile and an associate at Hintze Law. Jeanie has earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law. 

Jessie Kennedy is director, corporate counsel with the marketing and communications legal team at Starbucks. She advises her business partners on a range of marketing issues, from claim substantiation to gift cards and loyalty programs. She is responsible for reviewing advertising materials, and also negotiates product placement agreements and other marketing contracts.Prior to joining Starbucks, Jessie was on the AdLaw team at Microsoft Corporation.She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University.

In her employment litigation and counseling practice, Kirsten defends clients against wrongful and constructive discharge claims, discrimination, harassment and hostile work environment allegations, and wage and hour violations, both in court and in front of the Washington Human Rights Commission and EEOC. She also advises employers on compliance with federal and state employment laws, and she has drafted many employment handbooks, personnel policies and separation and release agreements. Kirsten also advises federal contractors on OFCCP compliance and assists employers during OFCCP audits and in preparing and implementing Affirmative Action Programs.

Kirsten has written articles and advice materials in a variety of employment law and human resources publications, and she speaks locally and nationally on topics including FLSA, ADA and FMLA issues and compliance.

Hillery Nye is general counsel at Zipwhip, Inc., a Seattle based technology startup.  Hillery also serves as an adjunct professor of Privacy and Technology at Seattle University College of Law.  Prior to joining Zipwhip, Hillery was an intellectual property and transactional attorney in private practice, representing institutional clients (Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile, Paramount Pictures), startups, innovators and inventors.

Joanna Monroe is an accomplished compliance expert, lawyer and senior leader with 20 years of experience in a publicly traded staffing company with 500,000 w-2 employees, and $2.7 billion in annual revenues.  Responsible for establishing and implementing strategic company-wide compliance and enterprise risk management initiatives in a diverse, fast paced environment.  Joanna drives business transformation with a balanced legal, operations and financial approach to working with boards of directors, C-suite leaders and cross-functional teams.  She consistently inspires stakeholders to action while directing results-focused, collaborative teams that achieve high-performance business results.

Shannon has been practicing law in the Puget Sound area for more than 10 yrs. with a wide variety of practice area experience. Shannon graduated from the UW undergrad with honors and attended University of Oregon Law School where she graduated with distinctions. Directly out of law school Shannon worked as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for King County, after which she worked in small to midsized law firms focused on civil litigation. In 2010 Shannon moved in-house in the aviation industry and is currently Corporate Counsel for Panasonic Avionics Corp. Shannon spends her free time with her two young kids, working in the non-profit sector, teaching scuba and traveling.

Stephanie McCleery is a litigation partner in the Portland, Oregon office of K&L Gates LLP. Stephanie focuses her practice on complex commercial disputes and internal investigations, including intellectual property (patent and trade secrets), class actions, products liability, business contract disputes, and employment matters.  Stephanie has extensive experience in all aspects of litigation in both state and federal court — while she frequently counsels corporate clients on strategies to avoid litigation, she is also happy to take cases to trial.

She has represented a broad range of clients, including law firms, private equity firms, public utilities, consumer goods manufacturers, and technology companies (from start-ups to public companies).

Prior to K&L Gates, Stephanie was corporate counsel for T-Mobile USA, Inc. and spent several years as an associate at Davis Polk in Menlo Park, California.  Before college and law school, she wrote for television.

Lisa Schaures guides businesses, social ventures and nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest through everyday general counsel matters, quandaries and major life cycle events. In more than 10 years of practice, she has helped clients through starting up, governance structuring, purchases, mergers, conversions, conflicts of interests, acquiring tax exempt status, complex tax concerns, deferred compensation strategies, contract negotiations and expansion growing pains.  

Lisa’s leadership and work with different practice areas allows her to pull together the right team to bring major transactions and negotiations over the finish line with a focus on her client’s important goals and relationships. As an everyday partner with growing businesses and nonprofits, she handles contract, governance, conflict of interest, tax, expansion and other general counsel matters effectively and with sensitivity to each client’s uniqueness.

Laura A. Mitchell is a Principal in the Denver, Colorado, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She represents management exclusively in all areas of employment law, focusing on affirmative action and government contractor compliance.

Ms. Mitchell is a Principal in the firm’s Affirmative Action and OFCCP Defense practice group, representing government and non-government contractors in Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) matters, preparing for and defending OFCCP audits, and counseling employers on issues stemming from OFCCP regulations. Ms. Mitchell personally oversees the development of hundreds of AAPs each year and is intimately involved in the defense of numerous OFCCP audits.  Ms. Mitchell also spends significant time counseling clients in connection with conducting pay equity analyses.

Ms. Mitchell is also on the leadership team for the firm’s Government Contractor Industry Group and a member of the firm’s Pay Equity Resource Group.

Ms. Mitchell is an editor and principle contributor of The Affirmative Action Law Advisor blog and frequently presents on pay equity, affirmative action compliance, OFCCP enforcement trends, and government contractor obligations.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Ms. Mitchell counseled management as an in house attorney with a national telecommunications company.