Tammy Albarrán is Vice President, Chief Deputy General Counsel and Deputy Corporate Secretary at Uber. In this role, she manages Uber’s regional teams worldwide, government and regulatory investigations team, and oversees CLO operations.
Tammy received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Berkeley and her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining Uber in 2018, Tammy was a Partner at Covington & Burling LLP. While at Covington, she conducted the investigation and co-authored the report with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that included concrete recommendations addressing workplace culture issues at Uber.
In her free time, you will find Tammy exercising, walking her dog, or cheering for her three kids at various sporting events.
Lisa Banks Leadership Coach and Entrepreneur, Co-Founder
Optify Coaching
Lisa Banks is a leadership coach, facilitator, and mindfulness teacher committed to resilient leadership. She is a founding partner of Optify, a woman-owned coaching solutions provider that combines professional coaching and a state-of-the-art technology platform to enable transformational leadership development at every level of the organization. Working across many industries including global manufacturing and retail, law, technology, education, healthcare, financial services, and hospitality, Lisa and Optify’s team are developing the next generation of leaders who will shape the future of work, organizations, and the world.
Lisa comes to leadership coaching from a diverse career as a corporate attorney, general counsel for an investment management company, entrepreneur, and nonprofit CEO. With more than 15 years in executive leadership roles, she learned first-hand that commitment to personal growth as a leader makes all the difference. Whether shaping strategy, stewarding financial stability, or driving outstanding outcomes, one's ability to inspire teams, ignite action, and meet challenges head on is critical for success. Lisa brings this perspective to her work.
Lisa earned her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and Bachelor’s degrees in International Relations and Communications from the University of Virginia. She is a certified Leadership Coach and Facilitator through Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership and holds PCC accreditation with the International Coaching Federation. She is a mentor coach and a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher. Lisa is a frequent presenter on leadership topics and co-author of “Meetings Matter. Make them Better.
Elizabeth Abbene Coleman is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Litigation, Global Competition, Government Investigations & Special Matters, IP at Uber Technologies, Inc.
Elizabeth leads the team handling Uber’s complex commercial litigation, which includes some of the company’s most significant matters involving novel legal issues across all of Uber's product lines. The global competition team handles all aspects of antitrust and competition matters, including antitrust litigation, mergers & acquisitions, agency proceedings, compliance, and counseling. The GRIL team oversees government investigations and inquiries on behalf of Uber. Finally, Elizabeth also oversees the legal team responsible for the protection of Uber’s technologies and brands, including patent, trademark, and copyright procurement, licensing, and litigation.
Prior to joining Uber in 2019, Elizabeth was a partner at Jenner & Block LLP. She is a member of the Global Advisory Board for the Women in Law Empowerment Forum and the Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Kalisha Crawford Director of Marketing & Business Development
Ropers Majeski PC
As the Director of Marketing & Business Development at Ropers Majeski, a national full-service law firm, Kalisha is responsible for firm wide marketing, business development, communications, and client engagement efforts. She started her career as a litigator in New York, where she practiced for several years handling class action and multi-district litigation. She made the transition to legal marketing and hasn’t looked back.
Kalisha helps firms create and execute strategic marketing and business development initiatives nationally and internationally. She has built and led teams in several law firms and legal services companies, where she helps attorneys to implement bespoke personal business and marketing plans, supports and enables firm wide cross-selling efforts, and offers creative solutions to firm challenges and opportunities. She has extensive experience identifying and strengthening the synergies among key firm operations, finance, IT, and attorney development functions to further firm goals and strengthen capabilities and communications.
A passionate supporter of voter engagement, Kalisha currently serves on the Board of Cook Out the Vote, a non-profit organization that connects communities to protect and strengthen voting as an institution and to make democracy delicious. She lives in Los Angeles with her two beloved German Shepherds.
Diane Darling
Professional Networking Strategist; Speaker, Instructor & Coach
Diane Darling Professional Networking Strategist; Speaker, Instructor & Coach
To overcome her fear of public speaking, Diane Darling took acting and stand-up comedy classes. That out-of-the-box and strategic mindset have been a contributing factor to her success. She was even the commencement speaker at MIT Charm School (yes, there is such a thing).
McGraw-Hill commissioned her to write the definitive book on networking called The Networking Survival Guide, which was published in April 2003 and went into a 2nd printing just 90 days after the book hit the shelves. Her books are collectively in 9 languages.
She was the 15,418th subscriber on LinkedIn – now there are 700 million.
Her travels include all seven continents and approximately 60 countries. She has lived in the Philippines, Thailand, Colorado, Indiana, Washington DC, Alabama and now in Boston, MA. She is a member of the Chief Executive’s Club of Boston, is the past president for the Association for Talent Development in Boston, and a founding member of 20/20 Women on Board.
Her hobbies include traveling, watching football, reading, knitting, learning new technologies, attempting to play tennis, and camping in Maine.
A legal industry pioneer, Jan Anne Dubin is CEO and Founder of Jan Anne Dubin Consulting. Jan is an award-winning consultant with over 35 years of experience leading, innovating, and serving as a change-agent and connector.
Celebrating more than 10 years of delivering value and results to more, JADC assists organizations and individuals to better serve client needs by focusing on developing long-term relationships, strategic communications, revenue generation and by building brand, profile, and visibility. Jan serves as an executive coach, providing strategic guidance and counsel to organizations and individuals by assisting them to achieve breakthroughs. Jan has coached hundreds of lawyers, law students, and marketing professionals, including corporate law department and law firm leadership as well as high-potential individuals. Jan is a career-long champion of diversity and inclusion and is passionate about her work in this area.
She serves as a strategic business partner to the Association of Corporate Counsel and has worked with ACC to create an executive coaching program and career development workshops. She is a partner to Seyfarth Shaw’s The Belonging Project having created a three-part series for them on Empowered Resilience: Tools for Thriving in 2021. She is also an advisor and business partner to the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute and provided instrumental assistance to create and deliver its forum on Women’s Transformative Leadership: Empowerment by Improving Participation and Representation.
Jan served as the Chief Growth Officer of LifeXT, LLC (lifecrosstraining.com), where she was responsible for new client engagements by educating organizations on LifeXT’s wellbeing tools and resources. Prior to starting JADC, she served as the first North American Business Development Director for Baker & McKenzie LLP and as the Director of Client Relations for DLA Piper US LLP and its legacy firms, where she held various senior management and leadership roles for more than 17 years.
Selected by StreetWise, Inc., as one of 20 recipients of its 2019 Inspiring Chicagoan award, Jan was also selected by Chicago Business Journal as one of its 2018 Women of Influence. Jan was inducted in 2017 as a Fellow into the College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) and in 2016 into the Legal Marketing Association Midwest Chapter’s Hall of Fame. She has been recognized by Today’s Chicago Woman magazine as one of 100 Women Making a Difference and has received the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award.
In 1994 Jan was recruited by former First Lady Michelle Obama (then executive director of Public Allies Chicago) to join its board of directors; Jan later became its board chair and today serves on the emeritus board. In 2020, Jan was recruited to serve on the i.c. Stars Chicago board and has been active in the Anti-Defamation League’s Women of Achievement annual dinner committee, having previously chaired the fundraising event for 27 years.
A 1994 M.B.A. graduate of The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, she holds a B.S. degree from the University of Kansas, William Allen White School of Journalism. Jan lives in Chicago with her fiancé David Abrams and Shetland sheep dog Quinn.
Paula T. Edgar, Esq. is CEO of PGE Consulting Group LLC, a firm that provides training and education solutions at the intersection of professional development and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Paula is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and facilitator, conducting live and virtual presentations for clients across industries. Paula develops customized programming and her areas of diversity expertise include unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, and allyship. Her professional development skill set includes personal branding, relationship building, and mentor/sponsor best practices.
Paula is active in numerous organizations, including the New York City Bar Board and past President of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA). Paula is also a 2015 Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) Fellow, a Ellis L. Phillips Foundation Trustee, and on the Executive Committee of the Deerfield Academy Alumni Association.
Paula practiced law for the New York City Commission on Human Rights and her experiences also include several leadership roles focused on talent development and inclusion.
Paula has been featured in publications including the New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Essence Magazine, Shondaland, and Business Insider.
Paula received the Ruth Whitehead Whaley Service Award from the Association of Black Women Attorneys (ABWA), the Network Journal Magazine’s “40 Under Forty”, the Ms. JD “Woman of Inspiration”, and the A Better Chance “Rising Star” award.
Paula received her B.A. in Anthropology from California State University, Fullerton, and her J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law. Connect with Paula on paulaedgar.com , Linkedin, and Twitter (@PaulaEdgar).
Susi Fish Partner (UK and European Patent Attorney)
Boult Wade Tennant LLP
Susi has been working in the IP profession for over 21 years, and is a Chartered UK Patent Attorney and a European Patent Attorney with a Mechanical Engineering background.
Susi works across a range of technologies, with a focus on aerospace related matters and biomedical engineering. As well as prosecuting patent applications before the UKIPO and EPO, she has also had significant successes in opposition and appeal work before the EPO.
In addition to her patent practice, Susi enjoys leading her firm’s European Patent Validations Group, which handles the grant stage of European patent applications before the EPO and the subsequent patent validation procedure before national Patent Offices throughout Europe. She is also actively involved in working out how the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court will change practices in European patent prosecution and beyond.
Susi is an active supporter of the pan-profession initiative “IP Inclusive” in the UK. IP Inclusive works to make the IP community in the UK more inclusive, diverse, open and fair. She currently serves as co-chair for the Women in IP (IP Inclusive) group. Susi also sits on the Diversity and Inclusion and Women in IP committees of the Intellectual Property Owners Association and has recently joined the Women in IP committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). Susi was delighted to be named as one of only 20 Diversity Champions by WIPR in 2021.
Sarah Harris is the General Counsel of Armanino, responsible for all legal and risk management matters for the dynamic, fast growing accounting and consulting firm headquartered in San Ramon, CA, including mergers and acquisitions.
Gretchen Harris Sperry is a litigation partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson in Chicago and chairs its Appellate and Critical Motions Practice. She began her legal career as a judicial clerk to Justice Mary Jane Theis and Justice Maureen Connors on the Illinois Appellate Court. This background has made her a deft strategist and a uniquely valuable member of trial teams, providing clients with strategic risk assessments, long-term litigation plans, and trial support from an appellate perspective, in matters involving constitutional litigation, complex commercial litigation, and high-exposure catastrophic injury cases. Gretchen is also actively involved in the legal community as a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Character & Fitness, a member of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers Executive Board, a Past President of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association, and a member of the Board of Governors of Loyola Law School. She is a contributing author and commentator on high-profile cases for various media outlets, including Bloomberg Law, Law360, and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and was recently named a “Notable Gen-X Leader in Law” by Crain’s Chicago Business. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
With over 30 years of experience in a variety of leadership, board and advisory roles at public, private and family-owned organizations(G2 through G5), Sara Hays is an accomplished business leader and strategic business partner to C-suite and senior executives, board members and families in the commercial real estate, finance, hospitality, manufacturing and seniors housing industries.
Sara began her career practicing commercial real estate law at Coffield Ungaretti & Harris (now Nixon Peabody) advising developers, health care organizations, lenders, borrowers, landlords and tenants on real property and business acquisitions and dispositions, land use, leasing, secured lending and workouts. In 1994, Sara joined Hyatt Hotels, a global hospitality company, initially as Development Counsel, structuring and negotiating management, venture, development, franchise and finance agreements to expand the Hyatt brand nationally, and ultimately serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel and a member of Hyatt’s Managing Committee responsible for managing the legal risks associated with Hyatt’s world-wide operations, transactions and owned assets. Between 2005 and 2011, Sara served as Managing Director, Operations and General Counsel, corporate secretary and a member of the Executive and Investment Committees of Wrightwood Capital LLC (now part of Ares Management LLC), a commercial real estate finance and investment company with loan and investment originations of over $5.4 billion. Joining Wrightwood Capital as it was being recapitalized, she managed the company’s non-financial operations and participated in formulating and implementing corporate strategy and structuring and executing the Company’s investments and capital initiatives to raise both debt and equity on and off-balance sheet. Through SLH Advisors, Sara currently offers project management and consulting services to companies, boards and families on corporate governance matters, operating and capital strategies and complex or transformational transactions, often involving leadership transitions, succession planning and real property interests.
Sara currently serves as an independent director and chair of the Nominating & Governance Committees for two family-owned private companies: ECI US Holdings, a multi-family developer/operator with properties throughout the Southeast; and Draper & Kramer, a vertically integrated property and financial services company where she chaired the search committee which identified its current CEO. Sara served for over 14 years as an independent director of Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOG), a global manufacturer of value-added glass products, services and technologies used in the architectural and large-scale optical industries worldwide, serving on all board committees and chairing the Nominating and Governance Committee and a successful CEO search during her tenure before retiring in January, 2020. She is the Past Chair of the Law Board at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and a Past President of the Chicago Finance Exchange where she helped establish an initiative to educate and connect its member female financial leaders with boardroom opportunities. Sara holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, a JD from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and a BA in History from Carleton College where she previously served as a Trustee and Alumni Council President. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, American College of Corporate Directors, Private Directors Association, Chicago Finance Exchange, Lambda Alpha (Ely Chapter) and the Kellogg Executive Women’s Network
Mary Inman, a partner in Constantine Cannon’s London, England and San Francisco, California offices, heads the firm’s International Whistleblower practice. She specializes in representing whistleblowers worldwide under the US and Canadian whistleblower reward programs, including the SEC, CFTC, IRS, DOT and FinCEN programs as well as Canada’s OSC and OTIP programs. Mary’s efforts to export the US whistleblower programs to the UK were featured in the New York Times and her successful representation of three healthcare whistleblowers was featured in theNew Yorker. Mary represents renowned SEC whistleblower Tyler Shultzwho exposed the infamous Silicon Valley blood testing start-up Theranos, and regularlyspeakson lessons to be learned from this scandal. Mary is a regular commentator on whistleblower matters for the Financial Times, BBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Financial News.
Mandie Kelel has been a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Nevada since 2005, where she works with individuals, couples and families in private practice. During her time as a therapist, she has held many different positions. Mandie has been contracted with the North Las Vegas Police Department since 2010 (working with officers, dispatchers, support staff and family members), where she uses her training in CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) with officer involved shootings. In 2013, Ms. Kelel became an AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) Intern Supervisor and a Supervisor Mentor. Helping new therapists and supervisors grow to their fullest potential is extremely important for Mandie as she is a big advocate for accessibility to quality mental health providers.
Ms. Kelel’s true passion lies in women and leadership roles, which is what led her to become a certified facilitator in Brene’ Brown’s Dare to Lead Program in 2020. Over the last two years, Mandie has run Dare to Lead groups with school leadership teams, school counselors, mental health professionals, Caesar’s Entertainment Casino Marketing teams and the Clark County’s Office of Emergency Management team. Mandie has also helped individuals find their voices through “rumbling with vulnerability” and "living into our values,” which has helped many find their path to becoming stronger and more daring leaders.
Mandie has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno and a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Mandie has been married for 15 years to a very supportive husband and has two wonderful children.
Fabiana Lacerca-Allen is the Senior Vice President of Compliance at Aimmune Therapeutics, a Nestle Health Science corporation, a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for potentially life-threatening food allergies. Practicing law and compliance for more than 30 years, Lacerca-Allen's passion as a compliance leader stems from values instilled in her at an early age and have helped to shape her career path as a global thought leader in law and compliance. In addition to leading the compliance team at Aimmune, Lacerca-Allen serves as a member of the Board of Directors and an audit Committee member at Shield Therapeutics plc.
Shermin Lakha is the Managing Attorney & CEO of LVLUP Legal, a boutique female-owned virtual law firm dedicated to empowering underrepresented startups, businesses, entrepreneurs, and content creators to "level up" and make smart legal decisions. She successfully made the leap for the corporate world into entrepreneurship to launch her own law firm before the age of 30. Shermin decided to start LVLUP Legal so she could work with like-minded individuals who were striving to make their dreams come true.
Shermin Lakha started LVLUP Legal with the goal to modernize the legal field by creating an open level of communication and providing flat fee pricing. What sets her apart is her philosophy is to build long-term relationships with her client’s as a trusted legal advisor, and become an integral part of building their success. Unlike most law firms, Shermin used social media platforms to market and build the firm's client base. Since launching her practice, she has worked with a variety of clients ranging from digital companies, tech startups, restaurants, beauty and fashion brands, artists, event planners, content creators, and marketing companies.
Shermin is a proud female founder who is on a mission to break traditional stereotypes on what it means to be a successful woman. One of the goals in starting LVLUP Legal was to encourage female attorneys, legal professionals, and law students to have a balance in between their careers and lifestyle, follow their passions, and embrace their individuality.
Laura Leopard is founder and CEO of Leopard Solutions, the largest and most accurate law firm data platform serving the legal industry with actionable intelligence and insights on over 4,200 law firms worldwide and 7,000 US corporate legal departments.
Leopard Solutions’ business intelligence programs and curated reports offer current and historical data and include diversity information to offer dependable measurement and tools to aid firms in hiring diverse candidates. The new Leopard Business Intelligence Suite forges a new path for the legal industry using AI and probability to enable firms to assess future risk.
Laura has spearheaded Leopard Solutions’ growth and development over the company’s 18-year history and continues to push the envelope designing new systems and data points for its expanding client base.
She began her career as an actress in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, and moved to New York to pursue greater opportunities. Laura keeps her hand in the “acting game,” performing with yet another successful entrepreneurial venture, Gotham Radio Theatre, which she founded in 2010.
Law360 recently featured Laura discussing the future of legal data. As the article notes, in 2002, Laura created a tool to track legal job candidate data. Nearly 20 years later, Leopard Solutions, a women business enterprise, is one of the leading online databases that tracks law firms, legal professionals and attorney job hiring data.
Leopard Solutions is the most in-depth and accurate law firm data platform offering actionable intelligence and insights for the legal industry. Established in 2002, Leopard Solutions delivers current, high-quality, cost-effective attorney, and law firm research solutions.
Updated semi-weekly, it has grown into the most recognized and most trusted legal data provider in the United States among law firms, corporate legal departments, law schools, and legal placement professionals.
Eileen M. Letts is a premier attorney whose practice of over 40 years includes dozens of jury trials and over 100 bench trials, often for Fortune 500 companies and iconic government entities in product liability, complex tort, commercial disputes, and police misconduct.
She is the Chief Administrative Partner, Chairperson of the Litigation Department and on the Management Committee at Zuber Lawler, a nationally renowned law firm with offices in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Silicon Valley. She has a national reputation for her diversity and inclusion work, particularly with women in law.
Ms. Letts sits on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF). She served as Co-Chair of the ABA President’s 360 Commission on which she was responsible for the implementation of Diversity & Inclusion Goals and with former ABA President, Paulette Brown, co-authored “Left Out and Left Behind: The Hurdles, Hassles, and Heartaches of Achieving Long-Term Legal Careers for Women of Color,” (June 22, 2020). Ms. Letts was also awarded the Margaret Brent Award in 2018 in recognition of her support and mentorship of aspiring women lawyers.
Moreover, Ms. Letts has shared her expertise and insight at several women-focused events such as the 2021 World Forum for Women in the Law, the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals Annual Conference (2020), Northern California Black Women Lawyers (2020), Forum of Executive Women’s Leadership Symposium (2020), American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession (2018), and many more over the years.
Laura Maechtlen National Chair of the Labor and Employment Department
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Laura Maechtlen is the National Chair of the Labor and Employment Department at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Her practice is focused on employment litigation and includes the defense of class, collective and multi-plaintiff actions. Laura also has experience litigating against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) in systemic actions, both at the early charge stage and in large-scale EEOC pattern-and-practice litigation.
Laura is a national leader on issues related to diversity and inclusion in the legal industry, and has held a variety of leadership positions through which she has advocated for systemic improvement in the legal industry in the areas of diversity and inclusion. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the California Minority Counsel Program. She is a previous Latina Commissioner for the Hispanic National Bar Association, President of the National LGBT Bar Association, Chair of the CA Minority Counsel Program, and Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD).
Laura speaks and publishes regularly on a variety of employment law and litigation topics, and issues regarding diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, and has been quoted on those topics by the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Reuters, The Recorder, Vogue, The Daily Journal, the Insurance Journal, CIO.com, Employment Law 360, and others. She has also served as a contributing editor to multiple editions of The Fair Labor Standards Act (ABA) and The Developing Labor Law (BNA).
Stefanie Marrone Bio Stefanie Marrone advises law firms of all sizes, professional service firms, B2B companies, professional associations and individuals with brand building and revenue generating strategies and tactics in marketing, business development, social media and communications. She also serves as outsourced chief marketing officer/marketing department for law firms.
Stefanie provides the full range of law firm marketing and business development support, and has a particular focus on advising firms and their employees on how to effectively utilize social media platforms for relationship building, revenue generation and branding. She creates development and social media training programs and helps professionals of all levels build their brands and businesses.
Over her nearly 20-year legal marketing career, Stefanie has worked at and with a broad range of big law, mid-size and small firms, which has given her a valuable perspective of the legal industry. They include Sullivan & Cromwell, Paul, Weiss, Tarter Krinsky & Drogin, Proskauer, McKee Nelson, Mayer Brown and Morrison & Foerster.
Stefanie is a frequent published author (Law360, the New York Law Journal, the Mid-Market Report, Law.com, JD Supra) and her blog the Social Media Butterfly. She also is an active public speaker (the New York City Bar, the Legal Marketing Association, Ark Group, Association of Legal Administrators, Perrin Conferences, Fordham University School of Law, Columbia University and American University Washington College of Law). Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow her latest writing on JD Supra as well as her blog The Social Media Butterfly.
Tina Martini
Partner and Global Head Trademark Prosecution and Controversy Practice
Tina Martini Partner and Global Head Trademark Prosecution and Controversy Practice
McDermott Will & Emery
As Global Head of McDermott’s Trademark Prosecution and Controversy Practice, Christina (Tina) L. Martini focuses her practice on domestic and international trademark and copyright law, as well as domain name, Internet, social media, advertising, unfair competition and entertainment law. Tina has extensive experience in counseling, prosecution, enforcement, due diligence and licensing matters. She successfully assists clients in protecting their intellectual property rights through litigation and other means, including the courts and uniform dispute resolution procedures.
Tina’s experience reaches across a wide variety of business sectors, including the pharmaceutical/life sciences sector, food and beverage industry, housewares, apparel, energy, agriculture, consulting, restaurant, franchising, advertising, real estate and financial services.
Tina advises clients in the areas of brand development and management. She works closely with clients from the beginning stages of product development and provides strategic advice in searching and filing for brand names domestically and internationally. She creates global filing strategies to maximize clients’ protection of their valuable brands in a streamlined, cost-effective way, and manages the global registration, maintenance, enforcement, licensing and disposition of those rights.
Tina also advises clients regarding website domain name, social media and online advertising strategy and enforcement. She creates and implements intellectual property policies and process plans which are specifically tailored to meet clients’ legal and business needs.
In addition, Tina has extensive experience in negotiating and drafting a wide variety of agreements which address various intellectual property rights. She has also been instrumental in numerous litigation successes in federal and state courts, and in domain name proceedings before various administrative organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization.
In addition to her trademark group leadership role, Tina also sits on the firm’s Racial and Ethnic Diversity Committee and Gender Diversity Committee. She also previously served as the firm’s Co-National Hiring Partner.
Prior to joining the Firm, Tina was a partner at an AmLaw 100 global firm where she practiced for nearly 25 years. She held a number of key leadership roles, including serving as the firm’s National Hiring Partner-Associate Recruiting, sitting on the firm’s Executive and Policy Committees, serving as chair of the Chicago Intellectual Property Practice and serving on its Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee, among other roles.
Thought Leadership, Press and Community Tina is the co-host of the WGN Radio show Legal Face-Off, one of the nation’s premier legal programs. She is also the host and producer of the weekly legal podcast Paradigm Shift, where she explores the business context, which drives both the legal profession and business landscape. Tina is a frequent speaker and author on a myriad of topics impacting both the legal and business landscapes. For nearly 10 years, Tina is also a regular columnist for the Chicago Lawyer magazine which features her column “Inside Out” which explores the business of law from the in-house and private practice perspectives.
Tina is a multimedia journalist, legal commentator and podcast host and has contributed to many media outlets, including Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, WGN Radio, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Corporate Counsel magazine, Law360, National Law Journal, Inside Counsel magazine, Little PINK Book, Chicago Lawyer magazine, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and World Trademark Review. Tina frequently speaks on myriad topics, including business of law issues and trends impacting both the legal and business landscapes.
Recognitions
Tina has received numerous accolades during her professional career. In 2021, Tina was named the “Trademark Lawyer of the Year – Americas” as part of Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Awards and was additionally named a “Top Woman Lawyer in Leadership” by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.
Tina was also named among Crain’s Chicago Business 2020 Notable Women in Law, a prestigious honor that recognizes women in the Chicago community who not only serve as role models in their workplace, but also have contributed to their communities through personal and philanthropic activities. In 2017, Crain’s Chicago Business named Tina as one of Chicago’s Most Influential Minority Lawyers and in 2018 as one of Chicago’s Notable Minority Lawyers.
Community
Tina is committed to making a positive difference in the careers and lives of others. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Better Government Association and the University of Illinois Campus Alumni Advisory Board. She has also served as a board member of the Chicago Committee – Advancing Minority Attorneys/Transforming the Legal Profession and is on the Executive Board of Directors and Co-Founder of Hispanic Majority, an organization committed to supporting the next generation of Latino leadership. She is a member of the Chicago Committee on Women’s Initiatives in Law. Her extensive pro bono work has included co-chairing the International Trademark Association’s Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition for the Midwest region.
The American Bar Foundation, member
American Bar Association, member
Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, member
Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, member
Chicago Bar Association, member
Illinois State Bar Association, member
International Trademark Association, member
Better Government Association, Board of Directors, 2012 to 2017
Chicago Committee – Advancing Minority Attorneys/Transforming the Legal Profession, Board of Directors, 2008 to 2015
Hispanic Majority, Co-Founder and Executive Board of Directors
University of Illinois Campus Alumni Advisory Board, 2011 to 2017
Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, Board of Managers, 2008 to 2010
Chicago Committee on Women’s Initiatives in Law, member
Betsy A. Miller chairs Cohen Milstein’s’ Public Client practice, where she represents state attorneys general. Betsy has built a national reputation for deftly guiding some of the country’s highest profile government investigations and landmark settlements. She is also an advocate for change in the legal profession, a certified leadership coach, keynote speaker, author, and adjunct professor.
Betsy’s professional background includes positions in academia, local government, federal government, at Big Law defense firms and, for the past 13 years, at a preeminent plaintiff’s firm. This range of experiences augments Betsy’s ability to understand different perspectives and to shift the status quo.
Betsy is a 2021-2022 Wasserstein Fellow at Harvard Law School, a program that recognizes exemplary lawyers with distinguished careers in public service; and she is the 2021 recipient of The National Law Journal’s Visionary Award, which honors a member of the bar who has shown extraordinary creativity in bringing the legal industry together and supporting the professional development of attorneys across the country. She is active in numerous organizations, including as an Executive Committee member of the National Trial Lawyers, as Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum at the National Trial Lawyers Summit, and as a member of the ABA Women Rainmakers Committee.
Betsy graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, and she holds certificates in Leadership Coaching and Navigating Polarities from Georgetown University.
Until February of 2022 when she retired from law practice, Linda Myers was a corporate partner at international law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP where she served on the Firm’s global management committee from 2010 to 2020. One of the original members of the Firm’s Debt Finance Practice Group, Linda focused her practice on debt financing transactions for major private and public companies, private equity groups and commercial lending institutions. Linda’s clients included some of the world’s most sophisticated public and private companies such as Bristol Myers Squibb, Deere & Company, Six Flags, United Air Lines, Urban One, Vistra and Zebra Technologies. She also represented many leading private equity firms including Bain Capital, KKR and Madison Dearborn Partners and lenders such as Bain Capital Credit and PSP Investments.
As one of the world’s largest and most profitable law firms with revenues exceeding $4.5 billion, Kirkland relies on its 20-attorney Global Management Executive Committee to direct the business and affairs of the Firm. Linda served as a member from 2010 to 2020 during which time Kirkland grew from 1500 to over 2700 attorneys. During her tenure in management, the Firm also expanded from 10 to 15 locations with the opening of offices in Beijing, Boston, Dallas, Houston and Paris.
Linda is also dedicated to supporting diversity at Kirkland. She established the Diversity Integration Task Force, which determines policy and structural enhancements to execute the Firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Linda is also a founding member of Kirkland’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, the Firm's mentoring and professional development program for female attorneys. Additionally, she was a long-standing member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee which focuses on the recruitment, retention, and promotion of attorneys in a manner that promotes diversity at all levels within the Firm.
Sonya Olds Som is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles' Chicago office focusing on executive search and consulting services. She focuses on executing searches for general counsel, chief legal officer, and other senior leadership roles within corporate legal departments and law firms across industries and geographies, as well as on executing board searches, chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer searches, and providing diversity, equity, and inclusion advisory services.
Experience Sonya provides diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting to Heidrick & Struggles internally and to its corporate clients, helping to strengthen the organizations’ culture of DE&I by positioning it as an important component of the business.
Before joining Heidrick & Struggles, Sonya was a partner at another global executive search firm. For nearly a decade, she was integrally involved with various areas of recruiting within the legal field including advising organizations on their legal recruiting needs with emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Previously, Sonya served for a decade as a labor & employment and immigration attorney at the associate and partner levels at various local, regional, and national law firms.
Sonya is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Georgia (though she is currently in inactive status in both states). She is a member of the American Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago, National Bar Association, Cornell Black Lawyers Alumni Network (Midwest Chapter Co-Chair), Hispanic National Bar Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and Metropolitan Black Bar Association of New York.
Education Cornell Law School, JD with Specialization in International Legal Affairs and Concentration in Business Law
Kalamazoo College, Bachelor's Degree in English (with Honors)
Awards Woman of Inspiration in the Legal Profession, Ms. JD, 2019
Presidential Award, Metropolitan Black Bar Association of New York, 2019
Executive of the Year, National Bar Association’s General Counsel Invitational, 2018
Ally of the Year, Hispanic National Bar Association, 2018
Lawyers of Color's Midwest Hotlist, 2014
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch, 2007
Philanthropy and Service An active alumna of Cornell Law School, Sonya is a member of the executive board of Cornell Law School, serves as Midwest Chapter co-chair of the Cornell Black Lawyers Alumni Network, and is an emeritus member of the President's Council of Cornell Women. Sonya is also a member of the Women in Law Empowerment Forum global advisory board.
Joy Heath Rush is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), an organization that serves the needs of nearly 25,000 legal technology professionals. As Chief Executive Officer, Joy oversees ILTA’s operations, a global network of volunteer leaders, and a professional staff of more than 25 employees.
Joy has spent virtually her entire career supporting lawyers and technologists in the practice of law, and she has deep familiarity with the complexities ILTA’s member organizations and business partners face in today’s changing marketplace. She has been in legal technology since 1981, including 28 years at global law firm Sidley Austin LLP and five years at software provider Litera, all in leadership roles. Joy also has a long history in peer networking groups associated with legal technology. She is a past President of the Board of ILTA, and she served two additional terms as a volunteer Board member. Joy enjoys and has had the opportunity to speak and write on a wide array of technology and leadership topics. Speaking engagements have included sessions at ILTACON, ABA Tech Show, Legal Tech NY, Legal Tech West Coast, ABA Law Practice Management, DRI, ALA, NALP, Australia LegalTech Fest, Lexpo, and ARMA, among others.
In 2019, Joy was named one of the Women in Legal Tech by the American Bar Association and Legal Technology Resource Center and was honored to receive the Monica Bay STEM Leadership Award. She has previously been named a Champion of Legal Tech by American Lawyer Media.
Joy’s professional philosophy is to do everything in her power to serve her constituents with intelligence, dedication, passion, and unmatched expertise, while providing a positive, fun and motivational environment for staff. She additionally loves racing, singing, and the Wizard of Oz.
Mary Shirley
Head of Culture of Integrity and Compliance Education
Mary Shirley Head of Culture of Integrity and Compliance Education
Fresenius Medical Care
Mary Shirley is a New Zealand qualified lawyer with extensive experience implementing, evaluating, and monitoring compliance programs for multi-national corporations. Currently global Head of Culture of Integrity and Compliance Education at Fresenius Medical Care in Boston, Mary has a large international footprint of experience, having held global ethics and compliance roles in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai. Mary also spent time working as an investigator for regulators in New Zealand in the areas of data privacy and anti trust.
For Mary, compliance is more than just a 9-5 job. She co-hosts the Great Women in Compliance podcast with Lisa Fine, co-hosts the Boston Compliance Professionals Networking Meet Ups with Matt Kelly, and contributes to thought leadership opportunities in the field regularly; including speaking at conferences, sitting on a number of advisory boards, writing articles and participating in interviews on ethics and compliance. She is also the co-author of book “Sending the Elevator Back Down: What we’ve Learned from Great Women in Compliance” (CCI Press, 2020)
Mary’s expertise, commitment to the advancement of women and dedication to coaching the next generation of compliance officers has been recognized in recent years as a finalist in three categories at the Women in Compliance Awards. She was also bestowed the honors of being named a Compliance Week Top Mind 2019 and Trust Across America 2020 Top Thought Leader in Trust.
Michon is a trial lawyer whose practice is focused on commercial litigation, employment law, and insurance bad faith. She also has experience litigating complex personal injury, wrongful death litigation, product liability, landlord-tenant, premises liability, and real estate matters. Michon has successfully tried numerous cases to verdict in federal district courts and state courts throughout Nevada and California.
While at Santa Clara Law School, she completed externships in Vietnam and Singapore. Following law school, Michon served as a law clerk at the Second Judicial District Court, State of Nevada. After her clerkship, she handled complex trials from cradle to grave at a premier plaintiffs’ personal injury firm in San Francisco.
Michon serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada, where she chairs the Women in Law Section. She previously served as the Chair of the Business Litigation, Property, and Education sections. She is also the California State Representative for the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel.
Michon teaches and presents legal training extensively. She directed a six-week training program for new lawyers and a law firm management program for the Association of Defense Counsel, a trial techniques class for the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, an Intensive Trial Advocacy Class at the University of San Francisco Law School, and a class for Dependency and Delinquency Lawyers through the Bar Association of San Francisco. She also regularly presents to attorneys and Judges through the McFetridge Inn of Court.
