Featured Speakers

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M. V. Lee Badgett is the research director at the Williams Institute. She is also the director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration and associate professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago (1982) and a PhD in economics from UC Berkeley (1990). Her book, Money, Myths, and Change: The Economic Lives of Lesbians and Gay Men (University of Chicago Press) presents her ground-breaking work on sexual orientation discrimination and family policy. She’s currently working on a new book asking whether same-sex marriage will change marriage or change GLB people, drawing on the U.S. and European experiences with same-sex marriage.

 

Camiel Becker is a graduate of Tulane Law School in New Orleans and holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology from the University of Montana-Missoula. As a U.S. Fulbright scholar, he conducted post-graduate research on gangs and street children in El Salvador. He has studied and/or worked in Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Spain, and Mexico. Prior to opening his own law office, Mr. Becker worked with three immigration law firms in the San Francisco Bay Area where he practiced in all areas of immigration law. He has litigated numerous cases before Immigration Courts and has successfully argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He serves as an asylum law mentor for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Right's Asylum Program and has represented many LGBT immigrants.

Spencer Bergstedt received his B.A., cum laude from the University of Washington (1985) and his J.D. from the University of Washington (1988).   He is the owner of North Sound Law, PS, where his practice focuses on estate planning, probate, guardianship, bankruptcy and small businesses.  He is the author of Translegalities: A Legal Guide for Transgendered People and Their Families as well as numerous articles on legal issues affecting LGBT people.  He is a nationally recognized speaker and is a frequent presenter at both local and national conferences.  Amongst other organizations, Mr. Bergstedt is a co-founder and board member of the Transgender Law & Policy Institute (TLPI) and also serves on the Legal Committee of the World Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

 

Flor Bermudez is currently dedicated full time to Lambda Legal's Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project, addressing the needs of LGBTQ adolescents and adults involved with the foster care, juvenile justice and homeless systems.  Prior to joining Lambda Legal, Flor served as the founding Executive Director /Staff Attorney of Esperanza del Barrio where she worked to advance the rights of Latina immigrants and as a Skadden Fellow at the Urban Justice Center, where she brought affirmative litigation to improve housing conditions.  After graduating from Rutgers Law School in 2000, Flor clerked for former Justice Gary Stein of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

 

Eric Berndt is the supervising attorney for NIJC's National Asylum Partnership on Sexual Minorities.  Eric provides legal representation for LGBTQ asylum seekers and HIV-positive non-citizens and coordinates advocacy, outreach, and impact litigation on issues affecting these groups.  Prior to joining NIJC, Eric worked in New York for the founders of Immigration Equality, where he handled general immigration matters with a focus on LGBTQ and HIV issues.  Eric is a graduate of New York University School of Law and the College of the University of Chicago.  He is licensed in New York.

Garry Bevel is a Staff Attorney for the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s Opening Doors for LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care project. Prior to that, he was a Staff Attorney for the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program and Assistant State Attorney in Miami. He is also on the Board of YES Institute, a non-profit in Miami whose mission is to prevent suicide and ensure the healthy development of all youth through powerful communication and education on gender and orientation. Garry received a B.A. from Florida State University and J.D. from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Law.

 

Jeremy Bishop is a Special Assistant to Secretary Hilda L. Solis, in the Office of Public Engagement at the US Department of Labor. Jeremy’s primary responsibilities are engagement with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT), the disability community, people and families affected by HIV / AIDS, and also issues dealing with pensions and retirement. Previously, Jeremy was Executive Director of Pride At Work, AFL-CIO, the constituency group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers in the organized labor movement. During his tenure at Pride At Work, Jeremy negotiated union contracts to includes issues of importance to the LGBT community, including non-discrimination clauses, domestic partner benefits, transgender health benefits, and inclusive pension packages. Before Pride At Work, Jeremy was Chapter Services Manager for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). He assisted PFLAG’s 500+ chapter network with technical issues and traveled extensively around the country to perform trainings on LGBT issues. A native North Carolinian, Jeremy received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Religion at Wake Forest University in 2000. In 2007, Jeremy participated in the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives In State and Local Government program.

 

Michelle Blain is a senior transactional attorney with Accenture LLP, where she specializes in structuring and negotiating large information technology, systems integration, and consulting contracts with state and local governmental entities.  She is a 1994 graduate of Harvard Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona (Russian and Soviet Studies, Humanities, and Psychology).  She is active in a variety of other community and pro bono activities, including children’s rights and women’s advocacy.

 

Adam Bonin is a member of the law firm of Cozen O'Connor in Philadelphia, where he extensively represents clients in campaign finance, election law and lobbying compliance matters and has been a leader in efforts on behalf of the rights of online speakers. In March 2006, he achieved a major victory before the Federal Election Commission on behalf of major political bloggers, helping secure significant new rights for speakers on the Internet to engage in online political speech and advocacy. His practice today focuses on the representation of a variety of candidates, political entities and corporate entities on federal, state and municipal campaign finance, election law and regulatory compliance matters, including the regulation of lobbying activities.  Adam also serves as chairman of the board of directors of Netroots Nation, which hosts an annual conference and regional events on the intersection between the online and political worlds.

Brian V. Breheny is the Deputy Director for Legal and Regulatory Policy in the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He has held this position since December 2007. From July 2003 until assuming his current position, Mr. Breheny served as the Chief of the SEC’s Office of Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Breheny also participates as a member of a group of current and former securities regulators, attorneys and other professionals that developed and presents an advanced securities course at Howard University School of Law and Florida International University College of Law and, prior to that, he served for five years as an adjunct securities law faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Breheny continues to lecture at the Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining the SEC, Mr. Breheny worked for seven years as an Associate at Clifford Chance US LLP in its New York and London offices. While at Clifford Chance, he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance matters and he also served for four years on the firm’s Personnel Committee. Mr. Breheny also worked for four years as a Certified Public Accountant with KPMG LLP in its New York office before law school. Mr. Breheny is a member of the advisory board and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fair Chance, a Washington, DC based capacity building not-for-profit corporation; a member of the St. John’s University Board of Governors; and a founding member of Law Preview LLC, a law school education company, and LawBooksForLess.com, LLC, an internet commerce company. Mr. Breheny received a juris doctorate degree, cum laude, from St. John’s University School of Law and a bachelor of science degree from St. John’s University’s Peter J. Tobin School of Business Administration.

 

Kylar W. Broadus is a professor, attorney, and activist from Missouri. He is an associate professor of business law at Lincoln University of Missouri, a historically black college where he served as interim chair of the business department from 2007 to 2008. Kylar has maintained a general practice of law in Columbia, Missouri since 1997. Formerly, State Legislative Manager and Counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group. Currently, he is board chair for the National Black Justice Coalition. He is on the ABA Committee-Section for Individual Rights and Responsibilities. He has served on the board of director of the National Stonewall Democrats since 1998, and served as the interim secretary from January to May 2001. He served three terms on the City of Columbia’s Human Rights Commission and two terms on the board of the statewide GLBT advocacy group, PROMO: For the Personal Rights of Missourians with the last year being as Vice-President. Broadus is a founding board member of a national think tank, The Transgender Law and Policy Institute.

Anthony M. Brown, Esq.  currently works for the law firm of Albert W. Chianese & Associates heading their Nontraditional Family and Estates Law division serving unmarried individuals, couples and families in Manhattan and on Long Island.  Anthony is the Executive Director of The Wedding Party and has been a Board member since its inception in 1999.   The Wedding Party is a non-profit educational organization that educates the public about marriage and its importance to all citizens through outreach programs and strategic media placement.  Anthony is the founder of TimeForFamilies.com, a web environment dedicated to assisting gay and lesbian couples create their own families. Anthony has worked as a law guardian at The Children’s Law Center, representing the legal needs of children in Brooklyn Family Court.  Anthony also worked as a legal intern for Lambda Legal in the summer of 2002.  While there he helped to prepare briefing for the landmark case of Lawrence v. Texas and his research was quoted specifically in Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's concurring opinion.  Anthony graduated from Brooklyn Law School, where he served as research assistant to Nan Hunter, the founder of The Gay and Lesbian Project at the ACLU.  Anthony is a member of The Family Law Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association.

Randy A. Bullard is a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Miami. He has advised multinational clients in connection with cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, securities, and finance transactions throughout Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. He has represented numerous European global corporations in connection with establishing and developing their U.S. presence as well as managing their Latin American operations. He also has significant experience representing public and private issuers and underwriters in equity and debt offerings and exchange listings. Randy's recent capital markets work has focused on international cross-border mergers and acquisitions across a broad range of sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, media, entertainment, energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and luxury goods. Randy is also a member of the Regional Boards for the Latin American, Caribbean and European Practices at Greenberg Traurig.

 

Joan M. Burda is a solo practitioner in Lakewood, OH. Joan is the author of the award winning, Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples (ABA 2004) and Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Clients: A Lawyer's Guide (ABA 2008) as well as numerous articles on LGBT estate planning. Joan is an Adjunct Professor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law where she teaches Sexual Orientation and the Law. She also teaches in the Legal Studies Program at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. In addition to her teaching and writing activities, Joan speaks on LGBT issues around the country. She received her B.L.S. from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, CA. Joan and her partner, Betsy Ashley (also a lawyer) live in Lakewood, OH.

 

Marla R. Butler is a partner in the New York office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., where she practices in the area of patent infringement litigation. She is an experienced trial attorney, with first and second chair responsibility in complex business litigation and patent litigation matters before state and federal courts and in mediations and arbitrations. Ms. Butler is chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee and is on the board of directors of Lambda Legal. She has presented at various conferences, including those sponsored by Law Seminars International and by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

O. Kim Byrd is a native of Florida and currently resides in Palm Harbor, Florida. Kim received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida and his Juris Doctorate from New York Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey and Florida. In 2001, Kim established Byrd Legal Counsel, PA, as a general practice law firm that strives to meet the legal needs of Tampa Bay’s LGBT community. Kim practices primarily in the areas of traditional and alternative family law, estate planning, and criminal defense. He is a member of the Central Florida Gay and Lesbian Law Association, a cooperating attorney with NCLR and Lambda Legal and a volunteer lawyer with Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.

 

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Patricia Cain is the Inez Mabie Distinguished Professor of Law at Santa Clara Law. Before joining the SCU faculty in 2007, she served as Vice Provost and Aliber Family Chair in Law at the University of Iowa. She was a member of the faculty the University of Texas for 17 years before moving to the University of Iowa College of Law in 1991. A member of the American Law Institute and prior board member of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, she is a former President of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) and is currently serving as Treasurer of SALT. She is a frequent lecturer on tax planning for same sex couples and is an elected fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. She has published numerous articles on tax planning for same sex couples and is the author of several books, including Rainbow Rights: The Role of Lawyers and Courts In the Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Movement (Westview Press 2000); and Sexuality Law, 2nd edition (with Arthur S. Leonard) (Carolina Academic Press 2009). She received her A.B. degree from Vassar College and her J.D. degree from the University of Georgia.

J. Robert Carr is the Executive Director of the National Bar Association. Mr. Carr, an attorney and human resources professional, is the Chief Professional & Business Development Officer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in Alexandria, VA. Carr formerly served as SHRM’s Chief Human Resource & Strategic Planning Officer. He also led SHRM’s diversity initiative and served SHRM as its chief ethics officer. Prior to joining SHRM, Carr was principal of Carr & Associates, LLC, a law firm specializing in a broad spectrum of employment issues, including employee relations/EEO, executive compensation, mediation and arbitration, and diversity management. From 1996 to 2002, Carr was with AARP where he served as director of the Human Resources Group. While at AARP, he was the association’s chief human resource officer responsible for strategic oversight of all employee programs and strategies. Serving in that function, Carr was strategic lead for all major organizational development activities, human resource management, diversity management and several volunteer programs. Prior to joining AARP, Carr was senior director of human resources and strategic planning for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (1991-1996). He has also directed the human resources function for Howard University (1988- 1991) and Howard University Hospital and also served the university as its associate general counsel (1985-1988). Carr has also served in government, first as deputy counsel to the Ethics Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and later as deputy counsel in the Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor. Earlier in his career, Carr was engaged in the private practice of law as a litigation associate with the Atlanta, Georgia based law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy. Bob received a B.A. in economics from Morehouse College, a J.D. from Columbia University Law School and a LLM from Georgetown University Law Center. Carr is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of the United States of America.

 

Rachel Paine Caufield is an Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at Drake.  Rachel joined the Politics Department in the fall of 2001. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at The George Washington University and her B.A. in Mathematics and Political Science from Hood College in Frederick, MD. Her teaching and research interests focus on American political institutions, including judicial politics, legislative politics, and the American presidency as well as inter-branch relationships and empirical research methods. She has served as a Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She also currently serves as the research and program consultant to the Hunter Center for Judicial Selection at the American Judicature Society and principal organizer for an effort to educate citizens about issues and processes related to the 2008 Iowa Caucuses.

 

Natalie Chin is a staff attorney at Lambda Legal. She is actively involved in Lambda Legal's full range of casework, with an emphasis on LGBT and HIV aging issues. Previously, she worked for MFY Legal Services in New York, where she was a staff attorney representing individuals with mental health disabilities and the elderly. She previously was an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the NYC Law Department where she litigated cases in state and federal court. Prior to law school, Natalie worked as a journalist in California and Johannesburg, South Africa, where she wrote about issues that affected poor and low-income women of color.

 

Hon. JG (Gary) Cohen was President of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges from 2005 to 2008. Previously, he served as President of the BC Provincial Court Judges Association and as a member of the Judicial Council of British Columbia, both in 2006. Judge Cohen is a founding member (and former Vice President) of the Bar Benevolent Association and a founding member (and first President) of the Gay/Lesbian Law Students' Association at the University of British Columbia. Judge Cohen is also an accomplished author (Desk Order Divorce, an Annotated Guide and a member of the editorial board of C.L.E.'s Family Law Practice Manual).

Marcy Cox  is the President-Elect of NALP and the Assistant Dean for Career Development at the University of Miami School of Law.  Marcy received her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. She has eight years of litigation practice experience in Los Angeles and Miami, and joined the CDO staff in the summer of 1997.

 

D

 

Lisa J. Damon is the managing partner in the Boston office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, where she represents management in the area of labor and employment law. Ms. Damon also serves on the firm's Executive Committee.  Her practice has a particular emphasis on litigation of claims of sex, race and age discrimination and harassment, in the context of class actions, multiple-plaintiff claims and single-plaintiff actions.  Ms. Damon’s practice is also dedicated to consulting with clients on avoiding such litigation, through improved management policies and practices, positive employee relations, training and diversity assessment. She advises companies nationwide on issues of diversity and conducts privileged and non-privileged audits and assessments of the workplace. Ms. Damon also works with management to devise and refine diversity programs, helping companies limit class action liability and achieve diversity objectives.

 

Jon W. Davidson is Legal Director at Lambda Legal, the largest and oldest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV. Based in the organization’s Western Regional Office, he is responsible for strategically guiding Lambda Legal’s legal work and supervising the organization’s attorneys, Legal Help Desk specialists, and legal assistants in all five of Lambda Legal’s offices. He has worked on LGBT and HIV-related legal matters for over 25 years. In his more than 15 years at Lambda Legal, Davidson has been counsel in cases that have won lesbians and gay men the freedom to marry; protected domestic partner benefits against attack; championed the rights of LGBT students; secured asylum for LGBT people persecuted in their home countries; and put an end to HIV-related discrimination in employment, insurance and public accommodations. Davidson also has helped reform antigay practices of the Los Angeles Police Department and was the co-drafter of AB 205, California's comprehensive Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act.

Chester W. Day is Associate Litigation Counsel at Google Inc. in Mountain View, California. Prior to joining Google, Chester was an associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in the IP litigation practice of the Silicon Valley Office. Chester's practice focuses primarily on patent litigation, especially in the areas of software, hardware and internet technologies and intellectual property licensing.
Mr. Day received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2005, and he received a B.A. and B.S. from Stanford University. His professional affiliations include Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom and the Asian American Bar Association.

Todd Dickinson is the Executive Director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), and the former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. From 1981 to 1990, he served as counsel to Chevron Corporation, focusing on domestic and international intellectual property matters. In 1990, he was hired as Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology at Sun Company, Inc., a post he would hold until 1995, when he left to join the law firm of Dechert Price & Rhoads. After leaving the USPTO, Dickinson joined Howrey Simon Arnold & White, becoming co-chair of its intellectual property practice. He then joined General Electric as Vice President & Chief Intellectual Property Counsel. Atty. Dickinson earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Allegheny College in 1974 and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1977. He is a member of the Bars of Pennsylvania, California, and Illinois, and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Laura E. Duffy was sworn in as the Presidentially-appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of California on June 2, 2010. The Southern District of California encompasses San Diego and Imperial Counties, and has approximately 3.1 million residents. The U.S. Attorney’s Office enforces all violations of federal law occurring in the Southern District of California. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also defends the United States in all civil lawsuits and collects debts owed to the United States. Ms. Duffy joined the United States Department of Justice in 1993. From 1993 to 1997, she was assigned at Justice Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C., first to the Criminal Division Money Laundering Section and later to the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section. In 1997, Ms. Duffy became an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California. Prior to being sworn in as U.S. Attorney, she was a Deputy Chief in the General Crimes Section of the office. From 1997-2008, Ms. Duffy worked in the Narcotics Enforcement Section as an Assistant United States Attorney where she prosecuted Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) cases targeting large-scale drug trafficking organizations operating internationally and/or in multi-jurisdictions throughout the United States. Her most notable cases involved successful prosecutions against members of the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO), a notorious drug trafficking cartel controlling the Tijuana, Baja California Norte corridor believed to be responsible for importing thousands of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States and murdering hundreds of people. Ms. Duffy is the recipient of many prominent Department Of Justice awards, including the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, which she received in 2008 for her work on the Arellano-Felix drug cartel cases. Ms. Duffy received her undergraduate degree in 1988 from Iowa State University and her law degree in 1993 from the Creighton University School of Law. Ms. Duffy is married and has one son.

 

E

 

Professor William N. Eskridge, Jr. is the John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School. His primary legal academic interest has been statutory interpretation. Together with Professor Philip Frickey, he developed an innovative casebook on Legislation. In 1990-95, Professor Eskridge represented a gay couple suing for recognition of their same-sex marriage. Since then, he has published a field-establishing casebook, three monographs, and dozens of law review articles articulating a legal and political framework for proper state treatment of sexual and gender minorities. The historical materials in the book on Gaylaw formed the basis for an amicus brief he drafted for the Cato Institute and for much of the Court's (and the dissenting opinion's) analysis in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which invalidated consensual sodomy laws. His most recent book is Gay Marriage: For Better or For Worse? (with Darren Spedale). Professor Eskridge received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Davidson College, his masters in History from Harvard, and his J.D. from Yale.

 

F

 

Paul G. Feinman was elected a Justice of the NYS Supreme Court in November 2007; he has presided in the Civil Term of that court in Manhattan since January 2004 when he was designated an Acting Justice. Justice Feinman began his judicial career as a Judge of the Civil Court of NYC, elected from lower Manhattan in 1996 and 2006. In addition to the Civil Court, Justice Feinman has been assigned at times to the Criminal Court of NYC (1997-99; 2001). Immediately before his election to the bench, Justice Feinman served for 7 1/2 years as Principal Court Attorney to a NYS Justice in the Appellate Division, First Department, as well as the Civil and Criminal Trial Terms. Before joining the court system, Justice Feinman was a Staff Attorney with the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division in Manhattan and with the Nassau County Legal Aid Society's Appeals Bureau. He is a 1985 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was a co-founder of the Gay and Lesbian Law Students Association and a 1981 graduate of Columbia College, where he was a President of what was then known as Gay People at Columbia. Among many professional associations and activities, he currently serves President of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges and Secretary of the Judicial Section of the New York State Bar Association. He is a former President of the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Greater New York ("LeGaL").

 

Praveen Fernandes is an Associate Director of Programs at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS).  Before joining ACS, Praveen counseled clients at Patton Boggs LLP on regulatory, legislative, and public policy matters with a focus on health care and Food and Drug Administration issues.  Prior to his time at Patton Boggs, Praveen served as a lobbyist and legislative lawyer for the Human Rights Campaign, where he worked on judicial nominations, relationship recognition, appropriations, and HIV/AIDS issues. He also practiced food and drug law in the Washington office of Ropes & Gray LLP.  Praveen's additional policy experience includes stints on the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (a White House bioethics committee) and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources (since renamed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee) under Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).  Praveen graduated with honors from Brown University in 1994. He earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) School of Law in 1998 and his Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) School of Public Health in 1999.

 

Kate Fletcher is the President of the National LGBT Bar Association Board of Directors.  She is a solo practitioner in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs practicing in the areas of Tax and Estate Planning with an emphasis on estate planning for same-sex couples.  She graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law with a J.D. and an LL.M. in Taxation.  Ms. Fletcher began her career with the LGBT Bar as a Law Student Division representative, where she coordinated the most successful writing competition in the organization's history.  Ms. Fletcher is also a pilot with a major US Airline.

Elke Flores-Suber is a Senior Attorney with Microsoft Corporation’s Legal and Corporate Affairs (LCA) Department. Elke’s practice focuses on technology, new media, intellectual property (IP), and international law issues. She is counsel for the Windows Live business, supporting the Windows Live Messenger and Social Networking teams, and other products. Prior to supporting Windows Live, Elke worked as the copyright attorney for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Business and Microsoft Research. She is a member of Microsoft’s LCA Diversity Team, and serves as Chair of the LCA Diversity Team Pipeline Committee. Prior to joining Microsoft, Elke was counsel for CIGNA Corporation in their Business and Technology Law group. She was also in private practice with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP and Anderson Kill & Olick, PC. After law school, Elke clerked for Honorable Justin M. Johnson of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the Honorable Gary L. Lancaster of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of PA. Elke is originally from Brooklyn, New York. Elke holds a B.S. from Slippery Rock University. She received her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she served as an editor on the Journal of Law & Commerce, a legal writing teaching assistant, and as a brief writer for the Moot Court Board. Elke was also a Council on Legal Educational Opportunities fellow during law school. She is a member of the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, and serves on the board of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyer Association, and the advisory board of ALI-ABA

 

Pedro Forment is a partner in the Miami office of Jackson Lewis and prior to joining our firm was a partner for ten years with a national labor and employment firm and formerly an attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor.  Pedro represents employers throughout the United States and is a frequent lecturer on employment and workplace safety and health issues.  Pedro has significant class action experience in multiple jurisdictions and practices before federal and state courts as well as administrative agencies throughout the United States.

 

Stacey Friedman is a partner in the litigation group at Sullivan Cromwell, and is the partner in charge of assigning for our junior associates.  She is also an advisor in Sullivan Cromwell’s LGBT Network, and has been a hiring partner for the firm.  Her practice focuses on commercial litigation, including complex securities, class action, derivative, antitrust and employment litigation.  Ms. Friedman has represented clients in federal and state litigation, before arbitration panels, in civil and criminal investigations and in proceedings involving the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation and the European Commission. Ms. Friedman is a member of S&C’s Diversity Committee. In 2009 she gave the welcome remarks at the Lavender Law closing party.

 

Phyllis Frye grew up in Texas as the all-American boy – an Eagle Scout and commander of her high school ROTC class. But when she came out as transgender in 1972, Frye lost her military career and her first marriage ended. She transitioned from male to female in 1976. As a result, she was dismissed from her job as an engineer. The next year, to fight depression and ensure a future income, she went back to school to study business administration and law at the University of Houston’s Law Center and College of Business. As a student, Frye successfully lobbied every elected official in Houston to get rid of the city ordinance against crossdressing that made her subject to arrest on a daily basis. In 1979 and again in 1981, 1983 and 1985, Frye, then out as transgender, was elected as a delegate to the Texas Democratic Convention. She was instrumental in encouraging the Texas Democratic Party to adopt a GLBT-rights supportive plank in its official platform in 1983. Frye is the founder and former executive director of the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy Inc. She also founded the Transgender Law Conference. In 1995, Frye began the "Phyllabuster" e-mail network that keeps thousands of activists around the world informed about related legal and political issues related to transgender people, as well as lesbian, gay and bisexual issues. In 2009, Texas A&M University named its annual Advocacy Award after Phyllis.  Frye remains a practicing attorney in Houston, where she lives with Trish, her legal spouse of over 30 years.

 

Ted Furman is a Vice President in the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Patent Department managing a global team handling GSK’s Consumer Healthcare, Dermatology, and Ophthalmology patent matters.   Ted is co-chair of GSK Legal’s Diversity and Inclusion Steering Team which includes members from around the world. Also, for the past 6 years Ted has served as Executive Sponsor for GSK’s Philadelphia-area LGBT Employee Network.

 

G

 

José Gabilondo is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor of Law at the Florida International University College of Law. Born in Santiago de Cuba, Dean Gabilondo joined the College of Law after working in financial market regulation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the World Bank. Dean Gabilondo teaches contracts, tax, and corporate finance. His scholarship focuses on debt markets and (separately) heterosexual subject formation in law and has appeared in the Journal of Corporation Law, Wake Forest Law Review, Seton Hall Law Review, Maryland Journal of Business & Technology Law. and the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender, and Society, among others. He has presented his research at the Universities of Chicago, Buffalo, Maryland, DePaul, Emory, Georgetown, Kent (UK), and Wake Forest, and American University. He has also been a featured speaker at meetings of the American Society for International Law, the American Association of Law Schools, the Latin American Law and Economics Association, the Georgetown University Conference on Socio-Economics, Law and Society, LatCrit, and the Latin American Studies Association. Growing out of his research on heterosexuality, he has taught in court-ordered diversity training for judges, lawyers, and other judicial staff in the Florida courts. He comments regularly in the Spanish-language media on financial and economic matters.

Joseph T. Gasper received his BA in 1998 in Comparative Literature from the Pennsylvania State University.  Following college, Joe served two years in the United States Peace Corps, teaching English to high school students in Poland.  Afterwards, Joe studied for a year at the Friedrich Schiller Universitat in Jena, Germany before returning to the US to begin graduate studies at Howard University.  Joe graduated in 2006 with a JD and MA in Philosophy from Howard University.  While in law school, Joe was both a member and later an editor of the Howard Law Journal.  Throughout his second year, he interned with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network--an experience that culminated in a 2005 student note published in the Howard Law Journal.  Joe was also active in the school's OUTLAW group and helped found its American Constitution Society (ACS) student chapter.  In his last year, he served as one of five Dean's Fellows responsible for teaching legal citation and basic legal writing principles to a section of first-year law students.  Originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joe currently lives in New York and has worked as an associate with Clifford Chance US LLP in the firm's litigation department.  He joined the LGBT Bar in 2003 as a law student and began serving on the board in 2008 and chairs the board's law student division subcommittee.

 

Pooja Gehi, Staff Attorney, Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

 

Jason S. Gibson is an associate with Holland & Knight LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He practices in the area of transactional real estate law - focusing on retail, office, and industrial leasing. Jason has been a member of the LGBT Bar since 2006. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Law after attending Harvard College for undergraduate studies in Economics.

 

Jeffrey G. Gibson is a civil litigator in San Francisco and a partner with the law firm of Goldstein, Gellman, Melbostad, Gibson and Harris. A graduate of the University of Texas and Pepperdine Law School, he has served on the national board of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and was an originating board member of the Bay Area AIDS Legal Referral Panel. He organized programs on gay/lesbian children and youth for the Second World Congress on Children in San Francisco. From 1993-2000, he chaired the ABA's IRR committee on the rights of lesbians and gay men, and has served since 2000 on the Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children.

Alison Gill is a Public Policy Associate for GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.  GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established in 1990, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes to creating a more vibrant and diverse community.

 

Professor Shannon Gilreath is University Fellow and Professor for the Interdisciplinary Study of Law and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wake Forest University, in North Carolina. He is a leading scholar on issues of equality, sexual minorities, and constitutional interpretation. He is the author of Sexual Politics: The Gay Person in America Today (2006), and an innovative casebook, Sexual Identity Law in Context: Cases and Materials, published by Thomson-West (2007), designed to put the law concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people into a social context, as well as numerous journal articles. His most recent book is Gay Lives/Straight Laws: Realizing Gay Liberation (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press).

Thomas M. Glassic, Majority Counsel, Committee on Financial Services. Mr. Glassic joined the Financial Services Committee Staff in June 2007 and concentrates primarily on insurance issues. Prior to joining the committee, Mr. Glassic spent ten years in private practice devoting the majority of his time working on insurance/reinsurance litigation and counseling matters. Mr. Glassic has an A.B. from the College of William & Mary and J.D. from George Washington University.

 

Adam B. Gottlieb is a Litigation Associate with Fried Frank.  Mr. Gottlieb received his JD in 2005 from the Georgetown University Law Center.  His practice areas include litigation, commercial litigation, securities and shareholder litigation, securities enforcement and regulation, white-collar criminal defense and pro-bono.

Jamison Green is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of transgender education, theory, and policy. He has provided transgender awareness training and consulting for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the California State Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the San Francisco Police Academy, and corporations such as IBM, BP Oil, Genentech, Capital One Bank, Macy’s, and Kaiser Permanente. Jamison has also consulted with representatives of the governments of Canada, Australia, France, and Great Britain. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Law at a British university.

 

Professor Julie Greenberg is Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson Law School, and is an internationally recognized expert on the legal issues relating to gender, sex, sexual identity and sexual orientation. Her path-breaking work on gender identity has been cited by a number of state and federal courts, as well as courts in other countries. Her work has been quoted in hundreds of books and articles and she has been invited to speak at dozens of national and international conferences on the subject. She joined the Thomas Jefferson faculty in 1990 and was the Associate Dean for Faculty Development from 2003-2005.

Gary J. Greener is the Associate Dean for Career Services at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and the National LGBT Bar Association’s Representative to the ABA’s AIDS Coordinating Committee. He received his B.A. from Brigham Young University, his J.D. from Southwestern Law School, and his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining Southwestern, he was the hiring partner at Breidenbach, Buckley, Huchting, Halm & Hamblet in Los Angeles, where he practiced toxic tort law, land use, and employment law. In the past, he has served on the Board of Directors of the HIV and AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA), he has chaired the GLBT Committee of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), has served on the State Bar of California Committee on Sexual Orientation Discrimination, and has served on the Board of Directors for Art Share Los Angeles.

 

Sharra E. Greer is the Policy Director for the Children’s Law Center.  She joined Children's Law Center as its first policy director in 2008. Sharra brings extensive policy experience with her to this new position as she developed the policy department at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). In addition to creating and supervising that policy department, she supervised the group’s successful legal services and impact litigation efforts. Sharra began her legal services work while at Rutgers Law School, when she worked at Camden Regional Legal Services. After law school, She was an associate with the firm of Weissman & Mintz, specializing in plaintiffs’ side employment discrimination and labor law. Sharra left Weissman & Mintz to serve as a staff attorney with the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP). There, Ms. Greer worked on cases before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and represented plaintiffs’ in two class actions through NVLSP’s Agent Orange Resource Center. Recently, Sharra helped design and create Lawyers Serving Warriors, a program which provides pro bono legal services for returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Sharra graduated with honors from Rutgers in 1994 and received her BA from the University of Washington.

 

Neil Grungras is the founder and executive director of ORAM, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration.  A refugee and immigration advocate with over twenty years of experience in the public and private sectors, Neil Grungras has worked extensively on behalf of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. Before founding ORAM, Mr. Grungras was director for Europe&the Middle East at HIAS, a leading US-based refugee and migration organization.  He had previously directed the U.S. Department of State Overseas Processing Entity (“OPE”) for Iranian refugees in Vienna, Austria.  There, he managed the processing of thousands of refugees from case inception to arrival in the U.S. Mr. Grungras has served as a refugee law adviser to several NGOs, has lectured and taught extensively on the topic at leading law schools, and co-founded a law school clinic assisting refugees and asylum seekers.

 

Debra E. Guston is a partner in the law firm of Guston & Guston, L.L.P., Glen Rock, NJ.  She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, holds a M.A. from Emerson College and received her J.D. from Cardozo School of Law.  Deb represents a broad spectrum of clients in family matters; adoptions; estate planning, litigation and administration; non-profit business administration; real estate and chancery litigation. Her general practice has been built with a focus on serving the special needs of NJ’s GLBT community.  She is a Trustee of ACLU-NJ, a member of the NJSBA’s Family Law Executive Committee and a past Chair of the NJSBA GLBT Rights Section and a Past President of LeGaL.  Author of a portion of the Family Court Rules in LexisNexis’ New Jersey Court Rules Annotated 2008-2009 (including sections on adoption).  She is a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Bar Association’s newly formed Family Law Institute. Deb is also a Certified Association Executive and works with non-profit organizations with Total Management Solutions, an accredited association management firm.

 

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Solange Bitol Hansen joined Public Campaign in the summer of 2005 as the National Programs Director responsible for co-managing state campaigns and strengthening Public Campaigns work with campaign finance reform allies across the country. Solange has a wealth of experience with progressive organizations and political organizing and has worked on “both sides of the aisle” on Capitol Hill.
Prior to joining Public Campaign, Solange was a Senior Legislative Advocate for the Service Employees International Union focusing on federal legislation and policy affecting immigrant workers and their families. Prior to working at SEIU, Solange served as legislative counsel to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, legislative counsel for the national American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on first amendment/free speech issues and was Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.  A member of the California State Bar, Solange is a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law.  In May, 2007 Solange was elected to serve a two-year term to her local town council – after a successful petition drive to be placed on the ballot, she received the most votes of all candidates running.  

 

Malcolm 'Skip' Harsch is a solo practitioner in the Chicago land area focusing on family law. He is a native of Illinois. Malcolm received his bachelor of science from the University of Iowa and his JD from DePaul University College of law. While at DePaul, Malcolm began his LGBT legal crusade as a summer inter for lambda Legal. He is now a sitting board member of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, along with a number of other positions within the Chicago Bar Association.

 

Vivek K. Hatti is a seasoned and experienced legal professional with over 10 years of extensive experience in complex litigation cases before federal and state courts. As a Senior Manager—Legal Services Outsourcing at CPA Global, Vivek works with corporations and law firms to create, manage and deliver cost-effective solutions in large litigation matters and in day-to-day support of the legal needs of in-house legal departments. Vivek coordinates client transitions from current legal resources to on-shore and/or off-shore legal teams and receives and responds to client inquiries regarding legal outsourcing. He also supervises the delivery and assures the quality of legal products to corporations and law firms, including legal memoranda, contract revisions, and document reviews. With respect to the latter, Vivek’s experience includes the oversight of entire projects from initial planning, analyzing staffing requirements, developing document review rules and guidelines, supervising review and quality control, supervising privilege review and production of privilege logs, and fact development through the preparation of custodian and factual memoranda. Prior to joining CPA Global, Vivek litigated complex commercial, financial, and products liability cases before state and federal courts at the law firms of Spriggs & Hollingsworth and Arter & Hadden. These cases involved breach of savings and loans capitalization and accounting agreements, breach of contracts for the storage of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, complex pharmaceutical and medical device products liability cases, and other litigation involving creditor/debtor, asset recovery, securities, federal claims, toxic and environmental torts, and directors’ and officers’ liability. Vivek’s experience includes arguing motions, pretrial hearings, preparing fact and expert witnesses, preparing cross-examination, preparing pleadings in all stages of litigation, drafting and responding to dispositive and discovery motions, and negotiating and drafting settlement agreements.

Sherman Helenese earned a B.A. in Government from Colby College, an M.A. in Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern Maine, a J.D. from the University of Utah, and an M.B.A. from Seattle Pacific University. After law school he worked as a litigation associate of the firm VanCott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy in Salt Lake City. Thereafter, he joined Washington Mutual’s (WAMU) Technology Transaction department in Seattle, WA. At WAMU he successfully negotiated corporate contracts with strategic suppliers. Contract types included: professional services agreements, statements of work, software license and hardware agreements, non-disclosure agreements, offshore/outsourcing agreements, and service level agreements. He currently works at Microsoft Corporation where he provides a full range of programmatic and special project support for Microsoft Volume Licensing programs. From 2008-2010 he served as a board member of the LGBT Bar Association of Washington and he currently severs on Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs Diversity Outreach Committee.

 

John T. Hendricks is a civil litigator with his own full service business-oriented firm, the Law Offices of John T. Hendricks, in San Francisco, California. Mr. Hendricks’ practice focuses on advising, counseling, and defending management in employment litigation, including Fortune 500 companies, health care, and public entity clients, in State and Federal courts throughout California. He also regularly handles commercial and construction litigation, and provides general legal counseling for businesses. The National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) conferred Mr. Hendricks the NITA Advocate designation in 2007. Mr. Hendricks actively supports various community and professional organizations, including the AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP), the American Inns of Court, the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He contributed to the groundbreaking Report of the BASF Equality Subcommittee on LGBT Issues published in 2007. Mr. Hendricks also has served in various director and leadership capacities in several of these organizations and was president of the National LGBT Bar Foundation in 2009-2010. He currently is a member of the National LGBT Bar Association Board of Directors, serving on its Executive Committee as the ABA Delegate. Mr. Hendricks earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he received the John L. Brennan Award for trial advocacy.

 

Frederick Hertz graduated from Boalt Hall in 1981, clerked with the Minnesota Supreme Court, and subsequently received a Master's Degree in Urban Geography from the University of California, Berkeley.  Mr. Hertz currently practices real estate and non-traditional family law in Oakland, California, focusing on the formation of property co-ownership agreements and the resolution of property and financial disputes between families, spouses and domestic partners, business partners, friends, and unmarried couples, both same-sex and opposite-sex.  He provides both transaction and negotiation counsel and also serves as a mediator and arbitrator in these areas.  Mr. Hertz writes and speaks nationally on the laws affecting unmarried couples, both straight and gay.  He is the author of Legal Affairs: Essential Advice for Same-Sex Couples  (Owl Books 1998) and co-author of two Nolo Press books: A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples and Living Together: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples, and the 2009 Nolo Press book Making it Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnerships & Civil Unions.      Mr. Hertz has appeared as a panelist for California Continuing Education, Rutter Group, California State Bar, and Bar Association of San Francisco programs.  He has also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation, and is often quoted in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Advocate, and other national publications.

 

Professor Elizabeth L. Hillman is a professor of law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.  A scholar of U.S. military justice, American legal history, and gender and sexuality in the military, she previously taught history at the Air Force Academy and at Yale University before joining the law faculty at Rutgers University-Camden. She teaches constitutional law, military law, legal history, and trusts and estates at Hastings, where she also directs the California Constitutional Literacy Initiative. Her recent work focuses on the legality and history of American bombing and sexual violence in the armed forces.

 

Lousene Hoppe is an associate attorney in Fredrikson & Byron’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense, Commercial Litigation, and Health Care Fraud & Compliance Groups. She recently graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where she sat on the leadership board of OUTLaws, the law school's advocacy group for GLBT rights. Since moving to Minneapolis, she has joined the LGBT Bar's regional affiliate organization, the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association. Her current pro bono work focuses on providing criminal defense services to underserved minorities and advocating for fair and equal access to the criminal justice system for the hearing impaired.

 

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Travis Jackson is an Associate with Jones Day.  He concentrates his practice in health care and tax-exempt organizations law. His practice covers all aspects of the state and federal regulation of the health care industry as well as tax and corporate planning for tax-exempt organizations. Travis has served as counsel to hospitals in mergers and acquisitions involving for-profit and tax-exempt organizations, negotiated asset purchase agreements, structured joint venture relationships among health care providers, and coordinated due diligence reviews of health care organizations. He has also represented hospitals and health systems in physician contracting matters, such as employment agreements, hospital-based physician agreements, and medical director agreements, and assisted health care providers with fraud and abuse and Stark Law compliance. Travis has assisted clients with the formation of tax-exempt organizations, compliance with community benefit standards, the development of charity care policies, the implementation of best practices for corporate governance, and compliance with state and federal tax laws governing the activities of tax-exempt organizations.

 

Courtney Joslin is an Acting Professor at UC Davis School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at UC Davis, she served as an attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), where she litigated cases on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families. Professor Joslin is a co-author (with Shannon Price Minter) of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Family Law (West). She is chair of the ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Professor Joslin's areas of interest include family and relationship recognition, particularly focusing on same-sex and nonmarital couples. She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her law degree from Harvard Law School, where she was an executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

 

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Elaine Kaplan was appointed General Counsel at the United States Office of Personnel Management on March 17, 2009.  Kaplan began her legal career in the Solicitor's Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, first in the Employee Benefits Division, and later in the Division of Special Appellate and Supreme Court litigation. Most recently, she served as Senior Deputy General Counsel for the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the interests of more than 150,000 federal employees nationwide. In this position and during her initial tenure with NTEU from 1984 to 1998, she litigated and supervised the litigation of cases at all levels of the federal court system.  In 1998, Kaplan was appointed by President Bill Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency whose mission is to protect the merit-based civil service by, among other things, investigating and prosecuting complaints alleging the commission of prohibited personnel practices, including whistleblower reprisal. After completing a successful five-year term at OSC in 2003, she became "of counsel" to Bernabei and Katz, a nationally recognized plaintiff's side employment law and civil rights firm. Kaplan re-joined NTEU in 2004.  Kaplan has appeared frequently at national and international conferences to speak on issues related to the merit-based civil service and on whistleblower protection; she has authored several articles on these and related subjects. Since 2004, she has been a member of the adjunct faculty of American University's School of Public Administration, teaching graduate-level classes covering legal issues that arise in the context of public administration, with an emphasis on constitutional law. She also served on President Barack Obama's transition team as an agency review team leader in the Government Operations Group.  A native of Brooklyn, New York, Kaplan earned a J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University in 1979. She received a bachelor's degree in history from the State University of New York in Binghamton in 1976.  

 

Joyce Kauffman specializes in family law, co-parent adoption, and mediation, with an emphasis on legal issues affecting lesbian and gay families. Joyce has written extensively on these issues and is a frequent speaker at seminars, conferences, and in community settings; she is the former co-chair of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association and former chair of MLGBA's Family Law Section. Her legal accomplishments include obtaining a court order placing two lesbian mothers on a birth certificate without benefit of adoption where one of the women was the egg donor and her partner gave birth; more recently, she has successfully petitioned the court to allow several three-parent adoptions for lesbian and gay families. Joyce is the recipient of the Gwen Bloomingdale Pioneer Spirit Award, from the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association, 2007; the Fisher Davenport Award, from the Family Pride Coalition (now Family Equality Council) and COLAGE, 2004; and the Barney Frank Award, from Massachusetts School of Law, 2003.  She is a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.  Joyce was selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of Massachusetts’ Ten Lawyers of the Year in 2009.

D'Arcy Kemnitz is the Executive Director of the National LGBT Bar Association and has more than 20 years experience working in the nonprofit arena and the social justice movement. In her present position as Executive Director of the LGBT Bar, she organizes the only national, annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) law student Career Fair and Continuing Legal Education Conference.  The National Association for Law Placement presented the Career Fair with its prestigious 2008 Award of Distinction for Diversity. Additionally, Ms. Kemnitz orchestrates collaboration between over 25 affiliated local, state and regional voluntary LGBT bar associations and dozens of LGBT law student associations. The LGBT Bar features eight formal LGBT diversity liaisons to various entities within the American Bar Association, including a position in the House of Delegates. Ms. Kemnitz has spoken at numerous law schools and bar associations across the country and has published in the University of Baltimore Journal of Environmental Law, MCCA’s Diversity & the Bar Magazine, various ABA publications and, most recently, the GP/Solo Magazine on LGBT issues. She has appeared in the media presenting issues of LGBT diversity in the profession at ABC News, The Advocate Magazine, and Time Magazine, among others. Before leading the NLGLA, Ms. Kemnitz was the Executive Director of the Wildlife Advocacy Project and a staff attorney at the Center for Food Safety. Ms. Kemnitz is a distinguished graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Hamline University School of Law.

                         

Andrea Khoury, JD is the director of the ABA Youth at Risk Bar-Youth Empowerment Project focusing on adolescents access to attorneys, childrens right to counsel, and youth involvement in court hearings. Among other topics, she provides numerous trainings across the country on adolescent permanency, the role of the childs representative, involving youth in dependency proceedings, and representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. She co-authored the ABA publication, Opening Doors for LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care: A Guide for Lawyers and Judges.

Judge Steven Kirkland serves as Judge in the 215th Civil District Court in Harris County Texas. He was elected to this current bench in November of 2008. He came to Houston from west Texas in order to attend Rice University. After graduating from Rice in 1982, he worked as a paralegal at Texaco in order to put himself through the University of Houston Law School. In 1990 Judge Kirkland began his career as an attorney litigating environmental, bankruptcy and other complex cases for that company, which he continued for eight years until he left to represent citizens committed to cleaning up air quality in Houston. From 2001 through 2008, Judge Kirkland served as a Judge in Houston Municipal Courts. During his tenure, he created the Houston Homeless Recovery Court, which works in conjunction with the Houston Coalition for the Homeless. In recognition of this achievement, Judge Kirkland was awarded the 2006 Government Friend of the Homeless by Coalition for the Homeless of Houston and Harris County. Off the bench, Judge Kirkland is active in affordable housing, historic preservation, and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender rights issues. His real estate projects have been recognized with awards by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance and others.

 

Hon. Rives Kistler joined the Oregon Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in August 2003, after serving four years as a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals.  Justice Kistler graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1981.  After graduation, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Charles Clark, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and for the Honorable Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States.  On completing his clerkships, Justice Kistler went into private practice as an attorney for Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, Oregon. He later served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Oregon Department of Justice, representing the state in civil and criminal appeals before the state and federal courts. He was appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals in 1999 and to the Oregon Supreme Court in 2003.

Susan Klooz was Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Legal Administration and External Relations, at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in Bentonville, Arkansas until her retirement in April 2010. Susan joined Wal-Mart in October 1998 as an in-house trial attorney handling employment litigation matters in federal courts throughout the U.S. In 2001, Susan became responsible for a team of attorneys managing Wal-Mart’s employment litigation and became primarily responsible for managing the Dukes v. Wal-Mart gender class action. In 2004, Susan was promoted to Vice President and General Counsel of the Legal Department’s Employment Practices Division and was responsible for legal advice on employment compliance, workforce strategies and employment practices. Susan was promoted to Senior Vice President in December 2007 and was responsible for Legal Department Administration and for the team of attorneys responsible for advising on sustainability, corporate affairs and government relations. Susan also was responsible for legal advice related to external relationships with NGOs, government officials, the Company’s advisory councils, and other third parties. Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Susan practiced for 9 years with the Michigan law firm of Plunkett & Cooney, PC, in its Detroit, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids offices. Her practice was largely focused on employment and civil rights litigation although she also handled both professional and medical malpractice defense matters. She also provided advice to major employers on employment matters.

 

Tamara E. Kolz is a solo practitioner with offices in Wayland, Wakefield and Needham, Massachusetts. She is also currently a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School where she oversees the Estate Planning Clinic for the Health, Disability & Estate Planning Practice Group located at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain. Previously, Ms. Kolz was a partner in the Private Wealth Services Section of the Boston office of Holland & Knight, LLP, where she practiced for 15 years. Ms. Kolz represents a wide range of clients in the areas of estate and gift planning, including simple will planning, complex trust planning, special needs planning and tax planning. In advising her clients, the goal of minimizing taxes is balanced with carrying out the wishes and philosophies of her clients in transmitting assets. Ms. Kolz also assists clients in estate and trust administration, as well as prenuptial and cohabitation agreements. She has particular expertise in providing comprehensive advice and legal services to same-sex couples and clients with nontraditional families. Ms. Kolz is a frequent speaker before local professional and civic groups and on local radio and cable television regarding estate planning, property settlement agreements and legal issues facing same-sex couples. She is a member of the American Bar Association (Real Property, Probate and Tax and Family Law Sections), the Massachusetts Bar Association (Probate and Taxation Sections) and the Boston Bar Association (Trusts and Estates and Tax Sections). She is also a past member of the American Bar Association Section of Family Law's Working Group on Same-Sex Marriages and Non-Marital Unions. In addition to establishing a local reputation by speaking at the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the Boston Probate Forum, the Boston Estate Planning Council and various private companies and organizations, Ms. Kolz's expertise in the areas of same-sex estate planning and related family law issues has also gained her a national reputation. She has been quoted in national magazines on matters related to same-sex estate planning, same-sex legal issues and non-traditional family gifting. She has also spoken extensively on such issues nationally, including at the American Bar Association's annual conference, the American Institute of CPAs annual estate planning conference, the Estate Planning Council of Cleveland’s national speaker event as their keynote speaker, the National LGBT Bar Association's Lavender Law conference, and on the R Family vacation cruise hosted by Rosie O'Donnell and Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell. Ms. Kolz received her B.S. from Northeastern University summa cum laude in 1990, where she graduated first in her class. She earned her J.D. degree cum laude in 1993 from Harvard Law School and an L.L.M. in taxation from Boston University School of Law in 2002. Ms. Kolz was recognized as a Massachusetts Rising Star Super Lawyer in 2006 and 2007 by Boston Magazine .

 

Craig Konnoth is the National LGBT Bar Association Law Student Division outgoing Co-Chair. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and an M.Phil. from Cambridge University in the History of Political Thought. Craig has worked with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the ACLU-LGBT Project on various assignments and has clerked for both organizations. At Yale, Craig has worked as an Activism co-chair for OutLaws, and as a student supervisor of the LGBT Litigation Group. His research and writing centers on the early gay rights movement and international human rights law.

Rachel E. Kramer is an associate with Foley & Lardner LLP. She is a member of the firm's Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice. Previously, Ms. Kramer was a commercial litigator at Thelen LLP and Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP. Ms. Kramer focuses on complex commercial litigation, including commercial disputes in the areas of real estate, securities, technology, trade secrets, trademarks, health care, and employee non-competition agreements, among others. She represents clients at the administrative, trial, and appellate levels in the New York State and Federal Courts, as well as before the American Arbitration Association and other arbitration and mediation tribunals. Ms. Kramer received her J.D. with honors from The George Washington University Law School (2005), where she served as a senior articles editor for the Public Contract Law Journal. She earned her A.B. in psychology, cum laude, from Harvard University (1999). She is admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Frederick J. Krebs is President of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) in Washington, D.C. ACC is the largest bar association that serves in-house lawyers in the world, with nearly 25,000 members working in more than 10,000 companies and non-profits in more than 70 countries. As President of the association, Fred ensures that the international association serves as the ‘voice of the in-house bar,’ and provides practical resources and extensive networking opportunities for its in-house counsel members. Fred began his legal career in 1975 with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the Assistant General Counsel, and later as Manager of the Labor and Human Resources Policy Department, overseeing all policy development and lobbying on labor and human resources issues. He joined ACC as the Executive Director in 1991, and brought with him a wealth of experience from his roles as an association executive, an in-house attorney and a lawyer in private practice with the law firm of Stephens & Krebs, where he specialized in corporate and trade association law. Fred is often called upon to speak and write on in-house practice management, ethics and diversity issues; frequently provides insight and commentary for media inquiries in the U.S., Canada and Europe; and is the author of Corporate Lobbying: Federal and State Regulation and Associations and Lobbying Regulation. He serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School, is on the Corporate Directors Institute Advisory Board for the National Association of Corporate Directors, and is a member of the American Bar Association and American Society of Association Executives. Fred received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Allegheny College and is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University Law School, where he was a member of Law Review. He also attended the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. Fred is admitted to practice in Ohio, Virginia, the District of Columbia and before various federal courts.

 

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David Lat is the founding editor of Above the Law, an award-winning blog about law firms and the legal profession that receives 10 million pageviews per month. He founded Underneath Their Robes, a blog about federal judges, and served as editor of Wonkette, the widely read politics blog. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the New York Observer, Portfolio, New York magazine, and Washingtonian magazine. Before entering the media world, David worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, in New York; and a law clerk to the Honorable Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. David graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School.

 

Mark King Leban, Circuit Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, Domestic Violence Division.  B.A. Boston University (1969) (Cum Laude); J.D. University of Miami School of Law (1972).  Assistant Public Defender, Appellate Division (1972-1976). Private practitioner, Law Offices of Mark King Leban P.A. (1976-1995).    Lecturer, Domestic Violence in Same Sex Cases, National Lesbian and Gay Lawyers’ Association Conference, October, 1996 (New Orleans, La.); Lecturer, Gender and Sexual Orientation Bias in Jury Selection, presented to the 1999 Summer Conference of New York Judges, Rye, New York, July, 1999;  American Civil Liberties Union, Miami Chapter, Stanley Milledge Award (December 8, 1995). Past President, Current Board of Directors member of the International Association of Lesbian & Gay Judges.

James G. Leipold is the Executive Director of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), a position he has held since 2004. Prior to joining NALP, he worked at the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for five and a half years as the assistant director for education and prelaw programs. Prior to joining LSAC in 1998, he was the director of admission at Temple University School of Law, where he was also an instructor in legal writing and research. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University and Temple University School of Law. He has also worked as a legal writing instructor in the paralegal program at the Community College of Philadelphia, as an undergraduate admission officer at the University of Vermont, and as a high school English teacher in both Michigan and Alaska. He speaks and writes frequently on trends in legal employment for recent law school graduates.

 

M. Dru Levasseur is the Transgender Rights Attorney for Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV. Levasseur focuses his work on impact litigation, advocacy and community education to advance the civil rights of transgender people nationwide. Before joining Lambda Legal, Levasseur was staff attorney for Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, where he advocated for transgender equal rights through test-case litigation, public policy efforts, community organizing and public education. In 2007, he co-founded the Jim Collins Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to fund gender-confirming surgeries. Levasseur received his bachelor's degree magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, and his law degree from Western New England College School of Law.

 

Jennifer L. Levi is one of our nation’s leading experts on transgender legal issues. During the ten years Jennifer has been with GLAD, she was lead counsel in a number of precedent setting cases establishing basic rights for transgender people. These cases include: Doe v. Yunits, in which Jennifer represented a transgender student denied the right to attend school because of the clothing she wore; Rosa v. Park West Bank, which established key protections for transgender people under federal law; Beger v. DMA, which resulted in a reversal of Division of Medical Assistance’s refusal to cover breast surgery for a transgender woman, among many others. Jennifer was also co-counsel in the case of Goodridge v. Dep’t Public Health which established the right of same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts. Jennifer is a Professor of Law at Western New England College. She serves on the Legal Committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and is a founding member of both the Transgender Law & Policy Institute and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.  Jennifer is a graduate of Wellesley College (1985) and the University of Chicago Law School (1992). She has also taught law at the Chicago-Kent Law School and is a former law clerk for Judge Michael Boudin at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

 

Beth Littrell is a Staff Attorney in the Southern Regional Office of Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV. Before joining Lambda Legal in 2007, Littrell was involved in numerous constitutional cases involving LGBTQ and students' rights first as an attorney and later the Associate Legal Director for the ACLU of Georgia. She helped to strike down a Georgia law which made it a crime for unmarried persons to engage in intimate relations (In re J.M.), won an appeal that forced the state to return a lesbian mother's children (In re S.C. and E.C.), won relief for students subject to a racially applied, overly vague "antigang" dress code (Tillman v. Gwinnett Co. Sch. Dist.) and successfully fought to secure the right for students to form a Gay Straight Alliance in White County, Georgia (P.R.I.D.E. v. White Co. School Dist.). Most recently, she was the lead attorney in Langbehn v. Jackson Memorial Hospital, which, though unsuccesful in creating a duty for doctors to allow patients' same-sex partners and healthcare surrogates access to visit them while hospitalized, led to President Obama's directive to the Department of Health and Human Services to draft rules that would require such access same nationally.

 

Jack Lord is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm's Labor and Employment Practice. He has been certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in Labor and Employment Law. Mr. Lord has tried commercial and employment litigation cases ranging from breach of contract, disability and national-origin discrimination claims to pregnancy and FMLA claims. He works with private and public employers in matters involving employment law litigation, labor issues and employer-related immigration compliance. Mr. Lord regularly defends entities that operate "public accommodations" against claims under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He also has represented companies in numerous administrative proceedings and in FINRA arbitration proceedings. Mr. Lord has successfully filed and argued motions for summary judgment in state and federal courts around the country. He has briefed and argued before several appellate courts, including the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeal and the Arizona Court of Appeal. Mr. Lord has negotiated labor contracts and defended employers in arbitration. Mr. Lord litigates and advises on trade secret, non-compete and other restrictive covenants and is also a member of Foley's Trade Secret/Noncompete Task Force. He speaks regularly before groups of employers and attorneys. In addition to his professional practice, Mr. Lord is very involved in community activities. His list of civic activities includes serving as a board of trustees member of the Orange County Legal Aid Society; board member of Orlando Shakespeare Theater; past president of the board of directors for the Hope and Help Center of Central Florida, an AIDS resource network; past president of the nominating board of the City of Orlando; and Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children. He is also currently co-chair of Foley's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affinity Group. Mr. Lord received his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1994 and his undergraduate degree in 1990 from the University of Florida, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

 

Morgan Lynn is a Supervising Attorney and Manager of the LGBTQ Program at WEAVE in Washington, DC.  There, Ms. Lynn represents LGBTQ survivors in Civil Protection Order cases and related family law and immigration matters. Ms. Lynn also does outreach and education on LGBTQ domestic violence in the DC area and nationally and served on the advisory committee for the American Bar Association's Legal Assistance and Education for LGBT Victims of Domestic Violence Project. Morgan helped found the Rainbow Response Coalition (a DC Coalition to address LGBTQ intimate partner violence) served as Vice President of the Board of Women in the Life Association .

 

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Laura Maechtlen is the most recent Past President of the LGBT Bar Board of Directors.  She joined the LGBT Bar Board of Directors as the affiliate representative for Sacramento Lawyers for the Equality of Gays and Lesbians in 2004. She has assumed responsibilities as the Membership Chair and most recently the President-Elect. Laura graduated from the Boston University School of Law after attending the University of Colorado at Boulder for undergraduate studies in Music and Political Science. She works at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in labor and employment litigation in their San Francisco, California offices.

Robert T. Maldonado is a partner at Cooper & Dunham LLP. Mr. Maldonado specializes in intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, copyright, false advertising and unfair competition matters in federal court. He also has experience with obtaining United States utility and design patents, primarily in the mechanical, material and process arts. He also is skilled in obtaining trademark and copyright protection. He has negotiated and drafted major intellectual property licensing agreements, in areas such as consumer products, as well as pharmaceuticals. He has extensive litigation experience at both the trial court and appellate court levels, as well as before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. He also has experience drafting opinion letters regarding patent validity and infringement, as well as trademark clearance, validity and infringement opinions.

Michael Manthei is a partner in the Boston office of Holland & Knight LLP. He represents clients exclusively in the Healthcare & Life Sciences industries. Mr. Manthei represents clients primarily in healthcare fraud, abuse and compliance matters, in privacy matters, and in other healthcare regulatory matters. He routinely represents clients before state and federal regulatory and law enforcement authorities including the Department of Justice, United States Attorneys offices, State Attorneys General offices, the Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services. He is a frequent speaker and is a co-author of the PLI Corporate Compliance Help Book that was published in fall '08.

 

Paul S. Marchegiani is an entertainment attorney at NBC Universal in Los Angeles, where he drafts and negotiates high level talent, licensing, digital media, and brand integration contracts for Universal Media Studios and the NBC, USA, SyFy, and Oxygen television networks. Prior to moving to LA, Paul worked as a litigation associate in the San Francisco offices of Morrison & Foerster and Orrick, where he focused on securities, white collar, IP, antitrust, contract, and civil rights litigation (including co-authoring an international law amicus brief for the successful 2008 In re Marriage Cases in the California Supreme Court). Paul holds a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), and both a B.A. in History and a B.Mus. in Voice & Opera from Northwestern University. In addition to practicing entertainment law, Paul enjoys public speaking, and is a frequent musical theatre performer in the Los Angeles area.

 

Hon. Larnzell Martin, Jr. has been an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland since December 1990.  His service as a member of the Maryland Judiciary began as a member of the District Court of Maryland in May of 1988.  He has had numerous judicial assignments including service as Chair of Maryland Judiciary's Committee on Family Law, two stints as Coordinating Judge of his court's Family Division and membership on the Maryland Judiciary Technology Oversight Board.  Over the last four years, one-fourth to one-third of his assignment has concerned youth in foster care whose biological parents have had their legal rights terminated or termination of the rights has become the permanency plan.  Judge Martin is a member of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges and the Board of Directors of Free State Legal Project, Inc. which will have as part of its focus providing LGBTQ youth access to legal services.

Daniel Mateo is a partner in Reed Smith’s Commercial Litigation Group, with responsibility for handling a wide range of complex commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts around the country. He also has substantial experience arbitrating commercial disputes, which includes the enforcement of arbitral agreements and awards. In addition, Dan has considerable experience managing the complete electronic discovery process, in the context of both litigation and arbitration. During his years of practice, Dan has developed particular experience representing clients in the life-sciences industry that have been faced with commercial and contractual litigation, product liability matters, and toxic-exposure cases. As a result, Dan has a wealth of knowledge regarding both the business and litigation issues that today’s dynamic life sciences and pharmaceutical companies are apt to encounter. His experience is cross-disciplinary and extends to the transactional, regulatory and intellectual property issues that are essential to understanding the specialized needs of life sciences companies confronted with complex litigation. Dan is familiar with many of the issues associated with the life cycle of prescription and over-the-counter products manufactured by both branded and generic pharmaceutical companies, including pre-clinical and clinical development, NDA and ANDA regulatory approval, successful launch and commercialization, and product licensing, supply, collaboration and promotion. In addition to his specialized life sciences experience, Dan has defended a number of personal injury and wrongful death actions arising out of allegations of workplace chemical exposure or allegedly defective consumer products, swimming pools and heavy equipment/machinery.

 

Tina Matsuoka is the executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), which represents the interests of over 40,000 attorneys, judges, law professors and law students and 63 affiliated local bar associations. Before joining NAPABA, Tina practiced law as assistant counsel to the Massachusetts Senate, as an associate at Murtha Cullina LLP, and as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. She also taught disability law and legal writing as an adjunct faculty member at the New England School of Law. Tina’s first law school internship was with Lambda Legal in the summer of 1999.

 

Professor Diane H. Mazur is a Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, a former Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, and a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.  She teaches courses in evidence, constitutional law, professional responsibility, and civil-military relations, and her research focuses on the constitutional and cultural relationship of the military to civilian society.  She is the author of a forthcoming book from Oxford University Press, "A More Perfect Military: How the Constitution Can Make Our Military Stronger" (November 2010) and two reports related to the current Pentagon Working Group on repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (April 2010, Memo for the Pentagon Working Group; July 2009, Secretary of Defense Authority to Implement "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"), available at palmcenter.org.  Professor Mazur is a former aircraft and munitions maintenance officer in the United States Air Force.

 

William D. McColl, Esq., the Political Director of AIDS Action, has worked on HIV/AIDS, alcohol and other drug treatment, and criminal justice reform issues for nearly 15 years.  He was Director of Government Relations at Drug Policy Alliance and an Executive Director of NAADAC: The Association for Addiction Professionals.  A former Missile Combat Crew Member in the Air Force, he became a Captain in the Reserve.  He holds a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law, a masters in International Relations from Troy State University and bachelors in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

 

Sharon McGowan is an Attorney in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. She is also a member of DOJ Pride and the Civil Rights Division's GLBT Working Group. Prior to joining DOJ, Sharon was a Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project. While at the ACLU, Sharon was lead counsel in Schroer v. Billington (D.D.C.), which produced a landmark ruling that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination also protects individuals who are undertaking / have undertaken a gender transition. She is the author of several articles, including most recently, Working With Clients to Develop Compatible Visions of What It Means to "Win" a Case: Reflections on Schroer v. Billington, which appeared in Volume 45 of the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review (2010). She is also a co-author of the ACLU publication, The Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexual and Transgender People (4th ed., 2004). Sharon clerked for the Hon. Norman H. Stahl on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the Hon. Ginger Berrigan on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Harvard Law School.

 

Mary Meeks is a commercial litigator with Carlton Fields, P.A., in its Orlando, Florida office, practicing primarily employment law as well as intellectual property law, and is an Adjunct Professor at Barry University School of Law. Mary serves on the Boards of the Florida ACLU Legal Panel, the Metropolitan Business Association of Central Florida (LGBT Chamber of Commerce), and Equality Florida’s Central Florida Steering Committee; is the leader of OneOrlando.org (a social justice coalition); writes a monthly column for Watermark (Florida’s LGBT magazine); and is Co-Executive Producer (with her partner Vicki) of two award-winning documentaries on LGBT issues.

 

Hilary Meyer is the Fair Courts Project Manager at Lambda Legal, where she advocates for a fair and impartial judiciary through public education campaigns, speaking engagements, and coalition work. Prior to joining Lambda Legal in 2006, Meyer was an associate at Reitman Parsonnet, and a summer associate at the Dwyer Law Firm, representing employees and unions in New Jersey. Meyer earned her J.D. from Rutgers Law School Newark and graduated magna cum laude from Colgate University. Meyer also completed a summer fellowship at the Human Rights Campaign, tracking and analyzing state and federal legislation of relevance to the LGBT community.

Christina Miller is the District Courts and Community Prosecutions Chief for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

 

Ritchie Miller is a Manager in the Washington, DC, office of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP’s Analytic & Forensic Technology practice. He is experienced in both electronic discovery, having focused on the preservation, collection, processing, review, and production of data related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, trade embargo, securities violations, litigation, environmental investigations, internal investigations, mergers & acquisitions, and financial asset tracing. Additionally, Ritchie serves on the Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index Advisory Council, as well as on the host committee for the Lambda Legal in DC annual event.

 

Richard Milstein has been practicing law for over thirty-five years and has had a long career of protecting the civil rights of others. Specializing in fiduciary litigation and family law, he has dedicated himselfto representing the GLBT community, alternative families, children, and the vulnerable adult, including the elderly. He has handled very complex and high profile guardianship and probate matters. In 2007, Mr. Milstein was appointed guardian ad litem to Anna Nicole Smith's five-month old baby, Dannielynn, in the highly-publicized case regarding Ms. Smith's burial. Mr. Milstein is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law which named him Outstanding Alumnus in 1999. A frequent lecturer and writer, Mr. Milstein is a Board Certified Elder Law attorney. He is listed in Florida Trend's Legal Elite, South Florida Business Journal's Best of the Bar, Florida's Super Lawyers, Who's Who for Lawyers in America, and other prestigious legal rating guides. Mr. Milstein is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations including: the 2007 Spirit of Liberty Award by People for the American Way Foundation; the 2007 William Reece Smith, Jr. Public Service Award from Stetson University College of Law; the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award by the Florida Supreme Court in 1996; the 1997 John Minor Wisdom Professionalism Award; the Miami Herald Humanitarian Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2005, the Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Award in 1987 and 1997. In his honor  and in recognition of his work, The Dade County Bar Association established an award designated the "Richard C. Milstein Award of Excellence.”

 

Shannon Minter is the Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the nation's leading advocacy organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Shannon was lead counsel for same-sex couples in the California marriage equality case and is currently lead attorney in the Prop 8 legal challenge. Additionally, he has litigated many other impact cases throughout the country. Shannon serves on the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and on the boards of Equality California and the Transgender Law & Policy Institute.  Shannon received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1993.

 

John Mitchell is a partner at Williams Mullen where he focuses his practice on corporate and securities law and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Mitchell represents publicly traded companies in complying with SEC regulations, as well as Nasdaq and stock exchange listing and disclosure requirements. He also advises their management and boards of directors on their fiduciary obligations and corporate governance issues. In connection with this representation, he counsels clients on investor relations, executive compensation, dealings with auditors, underwriters and financial advisors, and corporate ethics and insider trading compliance.

 

Joey Mogul is a partner with the People's Law Office and Director of the Civil Rights Clinic at DePaul University College of Law. Mogul represents individuals and groups in criminal and civil cases who have experienced police misconduct, including several victims in the Chicago Police torture cases, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and individuals engaged in political expression. Mogul has also represented Bernina Mata, a Latina lesbian sentenced to death in Illinois, and published “The Dykier, the Butcher, the Better: the State’s Use of Homophobia and Sexism to Execute Women in the United States.”

Robert Moossy is a federal prosecutor and director of the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. His unit is comprised of the most experienced human trafficking prosecutors in the United States. The unit prosecutes significant slavery and human trafficking crimes, advises investigators and other prosecutors to make trafficking prosecutions and investigations more effective and efficient, and develops and implements national prosecution policies and program initiatives related to slavery and human trafficking. Previously, Mr. Moossy was a deputy chief of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, where he and the lawyers on his team prosecuted federal civil rights crimes across the country, including misconduct by law enforcement officials, hate crimes, and human trafficking. Mr. Moossy was a member of the prosecution team in U.S. v. Kil Soo Lee, the largest human trafficking prosecution ever brought by the Justice Department, and has participated in numerous sex and labor trafficking investigations and prosecutions. Mr. Moossy is originally from Texas and attended Rice University and the University of Houston School of Law.

Michael E. Morris practices with the Morris Legal Group in Orlando, FL. He received his J.D. from Loyola Law School in 1994. His bar memberships and affiliations include the Florida Bar; Florida Bar Juvenile Rules Committee (2002-2004); Florida Bar Prepaid Legal Services Committee (2005-2008); Florida Bar Family Law Section Committees on Adoption and Non-Traditional Families (2002-2004), CLE Committee (2004-2005), Legislation Committee (2005-2007); Orange County Bar Association (Family Law Committee); 2005 & 2009 State High School Mock Trial Competitions, Volunteer Judge; Orlando PFLAG (Parents & Friends of Gays and Lesbians), Past Board Member; Central Florida Gay & Lesbian Law Association (Media Contact, Past Secretary); Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association; Central Florida Family Law Inns of Court 2006-Present.

 

Professor Joseph Morrissey joined Stetson¹s tenure-track faculty in fall 2006 after serving as a visiting assistant professor since 2004. He began practicing corporate and securities law at Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago, and later ran Mayer, Brown¹s office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, formerly a part of Soviet Central Asia. While in Uzbekistan, Professor Morrissey was a founding member and director of the local American Chamber of Commerce, which focused on local law reform issues. Professor Morrissey was then based in Geneva and Moscow, where he co-managed a Russian asset portfolio for UniFund, a Geneva-based investment company. After returning from Europe, he practiced corporate law with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. In the summer of 2001, Professor Morrissey began his full-time academic career at Chicago-Kent College of Law as a visiting assistant professor of law. Professor Morrissey¹s areas of academic interest include corporate, securities and international private law.

 

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Gregory R. Nevins is the Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in the Southern Regional Office of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. In addition to his caseload in the ten-state region, he is Lambda Legal s point person on employment law matters. He litigated to successful resolution both a sexual orientation discrimination suit in South Carolina and an HIV discrimination suit in Georgia. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

 

Matt Nosanchuk joined the Civil Rights Division in July as a Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General. He brings extensive experience as a civil rights attorney from his time in Congress, as well as work in the non-profit and private sectors. Among his primary duties, Matt helps to oversee the Division's Criminal Section and the Division’s pursuit of key policy priorities, including the implementation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.  He represents the Division in many capacities, including working with LGBT community and with Congress.  He returns to the Justice Department after serving in the Office of Policy Development under Attorney General Janet Reno during the Clinton Administration.  Matt also has worked on the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Staff under then Ranking Member John Conyers; at Third Way, where he established and directed the organization’s Gay Equality Initiative; and, most recently, in the Senate as Counsel to Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, where he covered judiciary and civil rights matters.  During the 2008 presidential election campaign, Matt was a leader of the LGBT policy committee on the Obama campaign and worked on the Obama for America campaign staff as State Research Director in Florida and Regional LGBT Outreach Director in South Florida.  Matt received his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford, where he was a Truman Scholar and Senior Note Editor of the Stanford Law Review.  He clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago for Judge Walter J. Cummings and was a Skadden Fellow at the ACLU of Illinois, where Matt served as staff attorney on the organization’s AIDS and Civil Liberties Project.

 

Chris Nugent is the Director of Law School Advocacy and Outreach at Equal Justice Works in Washington, D.C.. Prior to his recent tenure with Equal Justice Works, Mr. Nugent was Senior Pro Bono Counsel for seven years with the Community Services Team of Holland & Knight LLP in Washington, D.C. His responsibilities included developing cutting-edge immigration-related pro-bono projects and trainings for firm offices and undertaking complex domestic and international casework involving immigration and public policy including for GBLTI asylum-seekers and refugees in the United States and abroad. Mr. Nugent has over two decades of experience in immigration law and policy including his previous experience as a Director of the ABA Commission on Immigration Policy, Practice and Pro Bono; Executive Director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (Florence, Arizona) serving immigration detainees; and an National Association for Public Interest Law Equal Justice Fellow working with Mexican and Guatemalan indigenous farmworkers in California in community development projects. Mr. Nugent has represented and advocated for numerous GLBTI clients since 1994 at all Court levels and including testimony before Congress and has written and lectured extensively about GLBTI policy and practice issues. Mr. Nugent's zealous advocacy has garnered both precedent-setting client victories and commendations including but not limited to the Daniel Levy Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Immigration Law, Sponsored by LexisNexis and Matthew Bender, 2004; Pro Bono Award, American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2005; Harmony Award from the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C., 2005; and the Pro Bono Publico Award, Legal Aid Society of New York, 2007. Mr. Nugent holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law.  

 

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Kelly Olmstead is a Minneapolis-based litigator with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., focusing in the areas of intellectual property, family law, and juvenile protection. She is co-chair of the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association and has served on that organization's board of directors since 2002. She also sits on the Minnesota State Bar Association General Assembly and the Ramsey County Bar Association Board of Directors. Kelly graduated from William Mitchell College of Law, where she maintains an active volunteer presence. She is active in a variety of other community and pro bono service pursuits, including domestic violence and juvenile protection casework.

 

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Barry Parsons is Counsel with the Washington, D.C. office of Crowell & Moring LLP.  He represents companies in tort (including products liability, business torts, and privacy issues), class action, consumer fraud, and complex commercial litigation matters.  He has also represented clients in a number of antitrust and insurance law cases and counseled clients on e-discovery and document retention issues.  He has served on his firm’s Diversity, Recruiting, Summer Associate, and Associate Committees.  Barry chairs the National LGBT Bar Association’s Diversity Committee.  Prior to becoming a member of the Board of Directors, he served the Association as a member of the Diversity and Governance Committees.  Barry has also been active on LGBT issues within the legal community including litigating several LGBT civil rights cases, serving as a panelist at the first Minority Corporate Counsel Association Annual Meeting to address inclusion of LGBT attorneys in law firm diversity efforts, and being a long-time member of Whitman Walker Clinic’s Legal Services Operating Committee.  Barry received his J.D. with distinction from George Mason University School of Law.  He also holds a M.B.A. from American University and a B.S. in Economics from King’s College.  Barry and his partner have three children.

 

Michelle A. Peak is a Senior Labor Attorney with American Airlines in Fort Worth, TX where she has worked for over 9 years. Prior to joining American, Ms. Peak was a manager in labor relations with Union Pacific Railroad and a Deputy County Attorney in Omaha, NE. Her practice at American includes all aspects of U.S. labor relations law, with a particular focus on labor law matters in the airline industry arising under the Railway Labor Act. Michelle regularly oversees a variety of litigation matters in state and federal court, as well as arbitration matters arising under the various collective bargaining agreements on the American and American Eagle properties. Michelle also provides counsel and training to management on all types of personnel and labor relations matters. Ms. Peak received her law degree from Creighton University (Omaha, NE.) in 1994. She is a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association. Ms. Peak has lectured at various professional education seminars, including most recently, the National Employment Law Council. Her current professional and community affiliations include: Lambda Legal (Board of Directors), Corporate Counsel Women of Color (Advisory Board Member), Texas Minority Counsel Program (Steering Committee), Attorneys Serving the Community (Member).

 

Samuel Pearson-Moore is a third-year law student at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). He holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Women Studies from Augsburg College. Sam is currently working as a law clerk at the National Treasury Employees Union, Office of General Counsel, and last summer as a clerk at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Pro Se Unit. Sam is currently the Law Student Co-Chair for the National LGBT Bar Association, a Senior Note & Comment Editor for the American University International Law Review, and a member of the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition Team. Before attending law school, Sam served in the United States Army Reserves for eight years, which included a deployment to Iraq in 2003, and worked as an Office & Program Manager of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.

 

Jenny Pizer is Senior Counsel and Marriage Project Director for Lambda Legal, the nation’s premiere legal advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement. Based in Los Angeles, Pizer litigates cases and engages in public policy advocacy to advance family equality for same-sex couples and their children, and to end sexual orientation discrimination in health care, employment, education and housing. Pizer served as co-counsel in the litigation that won marriage equality for same-sex couples in California in 2008, and later confirmed that the 18,000 such couples who married there before Proposition 8’s passage remain validly married, and she has litigated many similar cases seeking marriage and other protections for lesbian and gay couples and their families in the West. Pizer co-drafted AB 205, California’s broad “Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003,” as well as later bills to clarify and expand the rights of registered domestic partners in California, and has assisted lawmakers in many states and federally with similar issues. She also represented Guadalupe Benitez against physicians who refused her a common infertility treatment because she is a lesbian, based on their antigay religious beliefs. The case resulted in a precedent-setting, unanimous California Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that religious beliefs do not excuse sexual orientation discrimination against patients, as well as the first published decision nationally affirming the right of patients to enforce state nondiscrimination laws against physicians without preemption by federal law. Pizer is a frequent advocate for LGBT family equality in academic and public settings and to the media. A graduate of NYU School of Law and Harvard/Radcliffe College, Pizer has served as an adjunct professor at USC Law School, Loyola Law School and Whittier Law School.   

 

Jason Plowman is an associate at Littler Mendelson, P.C. in Milwaukee where he represents and counsels employers on the full spectrum of labor and employment laws.  Jason also serves on the board of directors for the Friends of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Cream City Foundation and the Miami University LGBT Alumni Association.  A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Jason completed his undergraduate studies in political science at Miami University.  He then worked a number of years as a flight attendant for a major commercial airline before graduating from Washington University School of Law in 2008.

 

Professor Nancy D. Polikoff is Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law and the author of Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families Under the Law (Beacon Press 2008). She has been working on lesbian and gay family law issues for more than 30 years. She helped develop the legal theories in support of second-parent adoption and visitation rights for legally unrecognized parents, and was successful counsel in In re M.M.D., the 1995 case that established joint adoption for lesbian and gay couples in the District of Columbia, and Boswell v. Boswell, the 1998 Maryland case overturning restrictions on a gay noncustodial father=s visitation rights.  Nancy Polikoff blogs at www.beyondstraightandgaymarriage.blogspot.com and www.bilerico.com/contributors/nancy_polikoff/

 

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Robert Raben is the founder and President of The Raben Group, LLC a public affairs firm providing clients with a range of services including policy development, direct lobbying, coalition building, grasstops campaigns, political counsel and strategic communications. Mr. Raben began his legislative career as Counsel to Congressman Barney Frank, where his responsibilities included all matters relating to the judiciary committee and civil rights. Soon Mr. Raben was asked to join the staff of the judiciary committee itself, initially as Democratic Counsel for the Subcommittee on the Constitution and later the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. In 1999, Mr. Raben was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and shortly thereafter was nominated to be Assistant Attorney General. After a unanimous confirmation hearing, Mr. Raben oversaw Attorney General Janet Reno’s legislative initiatives and handled congressional oversight of the department. Mr. Raben serves on the boards of the Hispanic Bar Foundation and The Victory Fund. He is a past adjunct faculty member of Georgetown Law School and a past President of the Hispanic Bar Association of DC. Mr. Raben is a graduate of both Wharton College and New York University Law School.

Alan G. Randolph, J.P. Morgan’s Private Wealth Management.

 

Veta Richardson is the Executive Director of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). MCCA was founded in 1997 to advocate for the expanded hiring, retention, and promotion of minority attorneys in corporate law departments and the law firms that serve them. MCCA accomplishes its mission through the collection and dissemination of information about diversity in the legal profession.

 

Andrea Ritchie is a civil rights attorney who has engaged in extensive research, writing, speaking and advocacy on physical and sexual violence by law enforcement agents against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the US and Canada over the past decade. In 2009 she served as the Director of the Sex Workers Project, a unique legal and social services agency working with individuals who engage – or are profiled as engaging - in sex work, regardless of whether they do so by choice, circumstance, or coercion. She is currently the coordinator of Streetwise & Safe, a leadership development project for LGBT youth of color with experience of policing and criminalization in the context of "quality of life" policing and the policing of sex work. She is also co-counsel in Tikkun v. City of New York, et al., and Mavilia v. City of New York, et al., civil rights actions challenging unconstitutional and overly invasive searches of transgender people by New York City Police officers. Ritchie served as an expert consultant, lead researcher and coauthor for Amnesty International’s 2005 report Stonewalled: Police Abuse and Misconduct Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in the United States. She also coordinated the development of the INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence Organizer’s Toolkit on Law Enforcement Violence Against Women of Color and Transgender People of Color, and drafted its unique “Know Your Rights” flyer. Ritchie is a co-author of Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, to be published by Beacon Press in 2011, and Policing Gender, Policing Sex, Policing Race, forthcoming from South End Press in 2011. Ms. Ritchie is a proud graduate of the Howard University School of Law and served as law clerk to the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
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Melissa A. Romig, Employment Attorney, American Airlines.

 

Brad Evan Rosen is an associate in the New York office of Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart, Oliver & Hedges, and a Lecturer in Computer Science at Yale University. He received his B.S and M.S. from Yale University in 2004, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2008. While at Harvard, Brad was a 3-year board member of Lambda, serving as a 1L Representative, Communications Director and Treasurer. He also served on the Dean's Committee for Solomon Amendment Amelioration, and helped launch HLS Lambda's GALLA (now HaLLA) Conference. He spearheaded the release of a unified statement from a coalition of law school LGBT groups following the Supreme Court's deicison in Rumsfeld v. FAIR.

Judge Judy Rubenstein was elected to the bench in Miami-Dade County in August 2004 and re-elected without opposition in 2010. A graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, Judge Rubenstein also holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Education from UM. She has been a resident of South Florida since 1971, moving to Miami from the Bronx, New York. She currently is assigned full time to the Domestic Violence Division of the County Court, where she hears both criminal and civil domestic violence cases. Judge Rubenstein is the presiding judge in the Domestic Violence Division Mental Health Court, where defendants are given an opportunity to receive treatment and rehabilitation for their mental illnesses instead of incarceration. She also serves on the Judges= Advisory Board for the Center for Therapeutic Jurisprudence Center at the University of Miami and is also South Florida=s District representative to the State-Wide Conference of County Court Judges.

Paul S. Ryan joined the Campaign Legal Center in October 2004. He has specialized in campaign finance, ethics, and election law for more nearly a decade and is former Political Reform Project Director at the Center for Governmental Studies (1999-2004) in Los Angeles. Mr. Ryan directs the Campaign Legal Center's Federal Election Commission (FEC) Program and regularly represents the Campaign Legal Center before the Commission. Mr. Ryan also litigates campaign finance issues before federal and state courts throughout the United States and has published extensively on the subject of election law. His recent publications include Wisconsin Right to Life and the Resurrection of Furgatch , 19 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 130 (2008), 527s in 2008: The Past, Present and Future From A Legislative Perspective , 45 Harv. J. on Legis. 471 (2008). Mr. Ryan has testified as an expert on election law before numerous legislative bodies and government ethics agencies, including the Federal Election Commission, the California State Legislature, the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the New York City Council, the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. Mr. Ryan has also spoken on the topics of campaign finance and ethics laws at conferences around the nation, has appeared as a campaign finance law expert on news programs of CNN, NBC , C-SPAN and other media outlets, and has been quoted by The New York Times , Los Angeles Times , The Washington Post , Roll Call and other news publications.                    

 

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Cathy Sakimura is a staff attorney and the coordinator of the Family Protection Project at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The Family Protection Project works to increase access to family law services for low-income LGBT parent families, with a focus on improving services to families of color. Cathy started the Family Protection Project as an Equal Justice Works Fellow in 2006. Prior to law school, Cathy worked in youth organizing on issues of homophobia, transphobia, and racism in schools, as well as providing services to children of LGBT parents.

 

Rob Salem is a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law.  Professor Salem teaches clinical courses designed to prepare students for the practice of law and to critically analyze the legal system.  Professor Salem’s students handle a variety of matters under his supervision, including cases involving civil rights, domestic relations, domestic violence, consumer protection, political asylum, and legislative and policy projects.  He has published articles regarding gay rights and education issues in the Cleveland State Law Review, Louisiana Law Review and Albany Law Review.  He directs the Safe School Project at the University of Toledo College of Law, which provides training and other resources to students, educators and parents to combat peer harassment.   Professor Salem is active in the community and serves on several non-profit boards and advisory panels, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Ohio American Civil Liberties Union, Equal Justice Works, the Ohio Drug Assistance Program and Planned Parenthood and Equality Toledo.

Kara Schickowski is committed to serving the community and ensuring equality for all individuals. While earning her undergraduate degree in Criminology at the University of Miami, she worked as the Project Coordinator of the UM Law School’s public interest resource center, placing law students in fellowships in high-need communities. While earning her J.D. from Nova Southeastern University in South Florida, Kara volunteered her time at Legal Aid Service of Broward County where she now serves as the Staff Attorney for the Broward Human Rights Initiative (BHRI) and the HIV Law Project. Through BHRI and Broward County’s anti-discrimination ordinance, she represents clients who may have been discriminated against in employment, housing, or accommodations based on their sexual orientation and/or gender expression/identity. Kara works closely with local, state and national GLBT activists and organizations, and is always looking to expand her network of contacts to further efforts to ensure equality for all.

 

Jeff Schimelfenig is the Washington DC based National Director of Project Management for Kelly Law Registry, a business unit of Kelly Services. He consults law firms and corporate general counsel clients on e-discovery project management and staffing alternatives for data intensive litigation and government investigations. Previously, Jeff was a general practice sole practitioner for over 15 years in Northeastern Pennsylvania with focus on small business and individual clients. He also had numerous years of business experience owning and managing small businesses. He is a graduate of the American University Washington College of Law and of the University of Scranton. He is an active member of the Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia Bars. Jeff is a member of GAYLAW in Washington DC, including a past Board member.

Elizabeth F. Schwartz is an AV Rated attorney, whose practice emphasizes representation of the LGBT community in family formation (adoption, insemination, surrogacy), estate planning and probate matters as well as dissolutions, and she lectures locally and nationally about the importance of gay couples protecting their loved ones through estate planning and contract. Also a certified family mediator and a member of the Collaborative Family Law Institute, Elizabeth a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. She has served as pro-bono counsel in several cases seeking to overturn Florida’s uniquely bigoted 1977 ban forbidding gays and lesbians from adopting children. For her years of service, Elizabeth was honored with the 2005 Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Community Award, the 2007 Dade County Bar Association Sookie Williams Award, the 2007 Aqua Foundation for Women Leadership Award, and the 2008 “Valuing Our Families” Community Award, presented by Sunserve in recognition of outstanding service to the GLBT Families. Elizabeth also received the 2010 Women Worth Knowing Award from the City of Miami Beach Commission for Women. Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Miami.

 

George J. Silver was elected to Civil Court bench in November 2004   Prior to his election to the bench, he was a partner in the firm of Silver & Santo, LLP specializing in personal injury litigation, commercial litigation, maritime law, guardianship and real estate law.  He obtained a B.S. in Accounting and Management from New York University, a law degree from Hofstra University School of Law and was conferred a Masters of Business Administration from New York University Stern Graduate School of Business.  He is involved in many community-based and Bar Associations including the NAACP, Daytop Village Foundation, the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Judges and the Jewish Lawyers Guild.   In addition, Judge Silver has lectured at Continuing Legal Education Programs for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, the Brooklyn Bar Association and Safe Horizons.  Judge Silver was recently elected President of the Board of Judges, the judicial association of all elected Civil Court Judges in the City of New York.

 

William S. Singer, a partner in Singer & Fedun, LLC in Belle Mead, New Jersey, has been in the private practice of law for 39 years. His practice concentrates on the creation and protection of non-traditional families.  He has guided hundreds of same-sex clients through adoptions and creation of documents to protect their families.   Bill is the founder of the LGBT Family Law Institute and a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council (NFLAC) of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.  Bill also serves as counselor to numerous non-profit organizations, including the National LGBT Bar Association for which he has been counsel since its inception. Bill received a degree in history with distinction from Rutgers College where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar.  He received his Juris Doctorate degree from the Columbia University School of Law.

 

Terra Slavin is the lead staff attorney and project manager of the Domestic Violence Legal Advocacy Project at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. She is responsible for overseeing the delivery of comprehensive legal services for LGBT survivors of domestic violence. She has provided trainings to hundreds of attorneys and advocates across the country. Attorney Slavin served on the advisory board of the American Bar Association's Legal Assistance and Education for LGBT Victims of Domestic Violence Project. Slavin chairs the LGBT DV Issues Committees of the L.A. City Domestic Violence Taskforce and Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Council.

 

Hon. Michael Sonberg is an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, sitting in the Criminal Term in New York County (Manhattan), and a Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York. He was first appointed to the bench in 1991.  He is a past president of the International Association of Lesbian & Gay Judges and has served as president of New York's Association of Lesbian & Gay Judges since 1996.  Among other activities, he was secretary of the New York City Bar Association and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section and of the State Bar's House of Delegates.  He is also Vice President of the Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus. Prior to his appointment, he was a corporate/commercial litigator in Manhattan for twenty years.  He received his B.A., cum laude, from Queens College, City University of New York, in 1968 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1971.

 

Paul M. Smith is a partner at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, DC, where he heads up the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court practice and is also active in media law and election law.  He is also Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Lambda Legal.  In 2003, he argued Lawrence v. Texas in the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has had 12 other Supreme Court arguments in his career.  This year the National Law Journal honored him as one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the past decade, and he just received the prestigious Thurgood Marshall Award from the Individual Rights & Responsibilities Section of the ABA.  Mr. Smith graduated from Amherst College and Yale Law School and clerked for Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

 

Andrew Sta. Ana, Esq. is a staff attorney with the Community Law Project at Sanctuary for Families. In 2007, Andrew was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship to confront domestic and intimate partner violence in New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities. Through Sanctuary for Families, Andrew worked to implement the LGBT Initiative, a program to secure to the rights of LGBT survivors of through a combination of outreach, education, policy advocacy, and direct legal services. He has trained hundreds of law students, attorneys, advocates and social workers on cultural competency for LGBT communities and survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence. He is a graduate of the CUNY School of Law.

 

Michelle Stecker is a faculty member at The College of New Jersey, where she teaches history, law, and women’s and gender studies courses. Michelle was transformed by the passage of the 2004 anti-marriage amendment in Ohio and, since that date, has devoted her energy to the LGBT civil rights movement, founding EqualityToledo, working for relationship recognition rights in Ohio, serving as the Northwest Ohio Safe Schools coordinator, and interning at Lambda Legal and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She holds a Ph.D. and J.D. from The University of Toledo, and is a member of the Ohio bar. Michelle earned a master of divinity degree and has served as an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA for over 20 years. She currently serves as an advisor to PRISM, The College of New Jersey’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender education and advocacy organization, and as an educator at the Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum in Ewing, New Jersey. Michelle is a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s board of directors.

 

Mattheus E. Stephens is a partner in the San Diego law firm Stock Stephens, LLP. Matt Specializes in general civil litigation and has handled a wide range of cases involving business disputes, employment issues, civil rights claims, intellectual property and real property disputes, and unregistered domestic partnership dissolutions. Matt recently won the groundbreaking Lorri Sulpizio v. San Diego Community College District case, paving the way for improved gender equity standards at the community college level in California and throughout the nation.

 

Therese M. Stewart has served as Chief Deputy City Attorney for the city of San Francisco Since 2002.  She oversees the City and County's civil litigation and represents San Francisco and its officials in key cases. From February 2004 through May 2008, Ms. Stewart headed a team of deputy city attorneys and private firm lawyers representing the city and county of San Francisco in the California marriage cases, which were litigated in the state trial and appellate courts.  She presented oral argument to the California Supreme Court on March 4, 2008, and the high court decision was issued on May 15, 2008 and held that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage unjustifiably discriminates against lesbians and gay men and denies them of fundamental liberty and autonomy privacy interests in entering into a state-sanctioned family relationship equal in dignity to other state-sanctioned family relationships. 

 

Kara Suffredini is the Director of Public Policy and Community Engagement at Family Equality Council, where she leads Family Equality Council’s advocacy and education efforts on issues ranging from family formation and recognition to education reform to nondiscrimination. Before joining Family Equality Council, Ms. Suffredini was the State Legislative Director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where she worked to draft and pass hundreds of pro-LGBT laws and policies across the U.S. An attorney with over a decade of LGBT legislative and policy experience, she was recognized by Harvard Law School in 2007 for her legislative advocacy on behalf of LGBT families with the Wasserstein Public Interest Fellowship. She is a former President of the National LGBT Bar Association and currently serves as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Ms. Suffredini is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Boston College Law School.

 

Mario Sullivan is an associate at the Law Offices of Peter Anthony Johnson, P.C. He counsels clients on a wide range of issues relating to real estate, evictions, business formation, and estate planning. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the Chicago Bar Association (CBA), the Illinois State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association (ABA). In addition, he is a member of the National LGBT Bar Association, the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago (LAGBAC), and the American Constitution Society (ACS). Mr. Sullivan serves as the LGBT Bar's National Representative to the ABA Young Lawyers Division (YLD), Committee Member for the ABA YLD Diversity Team, Board Member and Chair of the Program Committee for LAGBAC, Chair of the CBA Committee on the Legal Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men; and Board Member and Programming Committee Member of the ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter. Mr. Sullivan graduated from the Illinois State University in 2000 and obtained his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in 2005.

 

Christine Sun is Senior Counsel for the ACLU's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. She covers the Southeast Region. Christine's current cases include McMillen v. Itawamba County School District (challenging a Mississippi school district's cancellation of the prom to avoid allowing a lesbian student to bring a same-sex date and wear a tuxedo) and Cole v. Arkansas (challenging Arkansas's ban on gay couples and unmarried heterosexual couples from serving as foster or adoptive parents). During her time at the ACLU, she has had the privilege of being counsel on numerous cases involving the constitutional rights of LGBT students, including Paramo v. Kern High School District (challenging censorship of school newspaper articles about LGBT students), Nguon v. Wolf (challenging "outing" of lesbian student to her mother by her high school principal), and Gillman v. Holmes County School District (challenging censorship of LGBT-supportive t-shirts, stickers, and slogans). Prior to joining the ACLU, Christine clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York and practiced at Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton in New York and Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco.

 

Dr. Walter Sutton is an Associate General Counsel at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., where he is responsible for the development and coordination of diversity for the company’s Legal Department.  In his role, he focuses on continued diversity within the Legal Department and advancing diversity in the legal profession.  Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Walter provided legal support to Public Affairs and Federal Government Relations.  In that role, he supported Sr. Public Affairs managers who represent Wal-Mart before city, county and state government officials.  He also supported the Washington, D.C. office with its outreach to the Congressional Black Caucus, and other matters before members of Congress and Federal government agencies.  Walter began his career with Wal-Mart in May, 2005.  Prior to joining Wal-Mart, he practiced law for over 30 years in Dallas, Texas.  He served in the Clinton Administration in Washington, D.C. as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department Transportation.  Walter has been a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) since 1972, and a member of the National Bar Association (NBA) since 1975.  He served as NBA President for the 1987-1988 bar year, and currently serves as a member of the NBA Board of Governors and Chair of the Board of the National Bar Institute.  Walter also serves on the Board of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver and the ABA Diversity Center Board. Walter earned his BSBA from the University of Denver, his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan School of Law, and his Ph.D. in Management Science from the University of Texas at Dallas.

 

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Anne Tamar-Mattis is the founder and Executive Director of Advocates for Informed Choice, the first organization in the country focusing on legal advocacy for the civil and human rights of children born with intersex conditions.  She has served for many years as an organizer in the LGBTQI communities.  Ms. Tamar-Mattis is the former Director of the LYRIC Youth Talkline and former Program Director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.  She is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law and has returned to Boalt as a lecturer.  She is in demand as a speaker around the country on topics relating to legal and ethical issues affecting children with intersex conditions, including such venues as UCSF Children’s Hospital, Yale Law School, and the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society.  She and her partner, Dr. Suegee Tamar-Mattis, are the parents of two children.

 

Zuraya Tapia- Alfaro is the Executive Director of the Hispanic National Bar Association. As the HNBA’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Administrator, Ms. Tapia-Alfaro directs the day-to-day operations, supervise staff, and support the HNBA Board of Governors in the development and execution of programs and policies.  Prior to joining the HNBA, Zuraya was employed with NDN (formerly known as the New Democrat Network), a Washington D.C. based think tank. At NDN, she served as the Advocacy Director, working to articulate NDN’s agenda to Congress, primarily as it related to NDN’s Hispanic Strategy Center. Zuraya began her career in private law practice; obtained her J.D. in Mexico and subsequently earned the degree of Master of Laws at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Aaron Tax is the Legal Director for SLDN, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Prior to joining SLDN in 2006, Aaron spent three years working for the Department of the Army. During that time, he spent two years as a Presidential Management Fellow. During his Fellowship, he served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where he tried more than 25 cases and taught “John School.” He also practiced labor law with the U.S. Army V Corps, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Heidelberg, Germany. During his final year with the Army, Aaron wrote Final Agency Decisions in employment discrimination cases. Aaron earned his B.S. in Policy Analysis, with Honors and Distinction, from Cornell University in 1998. He earned his J.D., with Honors, from The George Washington University Law School in 2003. He is licensed in New York and Washington, DC.

 

Wayne A. Thomas Jr., Esq. is the creator of the GLBT Domestic Violence Attorney Program in Boston, MA, where he practices as the Managing Attorney. He primarily handles civil protection order cases and family law matters, provides advocacy to victims and witnesses in criminal matters and represents clients in discrimination cases. Thomas served on the advisory board of the American Bar Association's Legal Assistance and Education for LGBT Victims of Domestic Violence Project from 2007-2009. He has presented on LGBT domestic and sexual violence legal issues at national conferences and trainings on behalf of the ABA and the National LGBT Bar Association. He is a former co-chair of the GLBT Domestic Violence Coalition in Boston and currently is working on a committee addressing LGBT issues in a redrafting of the Violence Against Women Act. He is a graduate of the Northeastern University School of Law.

 

Scott Titshaw is an Assistant Professor at Mercer University School of Law.  Prior to joining the faculty at Mercer, Professor Titshaw practiced immigration and transactional law for twelve years with Arnall Golden Gregory LLP in Atlanta, where he and AGG won awards from both the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia and the ACLU of Georgia based on his pro bono work.  He has led the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia and the American Immigration Lawyers Associations Atlanta Chapter.  Professor Titshaw earned a B.A. from Georgetown University, a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law, and an LL.M. magna cum laude, from the Universitaet Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany.  After law school, Professor Titshaw clerked with U.S. District Court Judge Adrian Duplantier in New Orleans, and worked as a legal translator with Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht).  Professor Titshaw teaches a course on Sex, Identity and the Law at Mercer and his scholarship focuses on immigration, comparative law, and issues concerning sexual minorities.  His most recent publications are The Meaning of Marriage: Immigration Rules and Their Implications for Same-Sex Spouses in a World Without DOMA, 16 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 537 (2010) and a solicited article regarding the implications of DOMA on parent-child recognition under US immigration law, which will appear in the 2010 Symposium issue of the Florida Coastal Law Review.

Harper Jean Tobin is the Policy Counsel for the National Center for Transgender Equality. Harper Jean served as a staff attorney for the National Senior Citizens Law Center from 2007 to 2009. Her work for NSCLC’s Federal Rights Project included maintaining a listserv for hundreds of attorneys, providing training and technical assistance to public interest lawyers, and writing about court access issues for legal, policy and general audiences. She received degrees in law and social work from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She has served as an intern at several LGBT civil rights organizations, as well as the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. Her scholarly work includes the groundbreaking article Against the Surgical Requirement for Change of Legal Sex, and she has been published in periodicals such as The Nation, The American Prospect, and Roll Call. She received degrees in law and social work from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and a bachelor’s in sociology and English from Oberlin College.

 

Amy Todd-Gher joined NCLR as a Senior Staff Attorney in our San Francisco National Office after over nine years of practicing employment litigation, most recently as a Senior Associate with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in its California and New York offices. While there, Amy assisted NCLR as pro bono counsel in a California state court lawsuit seeking redress for sexual orientation discrimination in Alan Lessik and John Manzon-Santos v. East Bay Iceland, et. al. Throughout her career, Amy has been actively involved in pro bono work on behalf of the LGBT community, with a specific focus on advocating on behalf of transgender clients and LGBT youth. Amy has also represented a variety of clients in high-profile litigation matters, including representing Google and securing review before the California Supreme Court in a significant case for California employers entitled Brian Reid v. Google Inc.

 

Jaime Todd-Gher is the Legal Fellow for Global Advocacy with the Center for Reproductive Rights. She engages in human rights litigation and advocacy to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights before the United Nations and regional human rights bodies, and supports national-level advocacy strategies with partner organizations worldwide. Before joining the Center, Ms. Todd-Gher earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco and her LL.M. in international law, specializing in gender and international human rights, from American University, Washington College of Law. She has also practiced employment law with a prominent firm in San Francisco, California and served on the Executive Board of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. She currently sits on Board of Directors of the National LGBT Bar Association and serves as the Association's delegate to the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession.

Anne M. Tompkins was appointed by President Barack Obama and on April 23, 2010 and took the oath of office as United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In that capacity, she is responsible for overseeing all federal criminal and civil investigations and cases in the 32 westernmost counties of North Carolina in offices located in Asheville and Charlotte. Ms. Tompkins began her legal career in the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office in 1992. Over an eight year career as a state prosecutor, Ms. Tompkins prosecuted a wide variety of cases: drugs, violent crimes and property crimes. In 2000, Ms. Tompkins became an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District U.S. Attorney’s Office. She prosecuted white collar crimes, as well as violent crimes and narcotics cases. Ms. Tompkins served as the Deputy Criminal Chief for Violent Crimes and Narcotics. In 2004, Ms. Tompkins was detailed by the U.S. Justice Department to the Regime Crimes Liaison Office in Baghdad, Iraq, where she spent eight months assisting the Iraqi Special Tribunal investigate international humanitarian crimes committed by members of the regime of Saddam Hussein. Before returning to the office as United States Attorney in 2010, Ms. Tompkins was a partner in the Charlotte office of Alston & Bird, LLP and was a member of the firm’s Litigation and Trial Practice Group. Her practice focused on white collar criminal defense. Ms. Tompkins has been an Adjunct Professor at the Charlotte School of Law, teaching Criminal Procedure and White Collar Crime. Ms. Tompkins received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1984. She received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988. Ms. Tompkins received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1992.

Dan Torres is the program manager and attorney for Proyecto Poderoso|Project Powerful, a joint effort by California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. and the National Center for Lesbian Rights to improve legal services for low-income LGBT people in rural California. Before joining Proyecto Poderoso, Dan worked at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, organizing LGBT immigrants, conducting know your rights presentations, and providing technical assistance to legal services and pro bono attorneys handling cases in the federal courts of appeals. Dan represented clients as a staff attorney at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation in Sacramento, worked as a clinical instructor at the UC Davis School of Law Immigration Law Clinic, and served as a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Dan received his law degree from the University of California at Davis in 2002.

 

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is Counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, working on campaign finance reform and fair courts. Ms. Torres-Spelliscy earned her B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard. She earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School. She is author of Corporate Campaign Spending: Giving Shareholders A Voice (2010).  She is the co-author along with Ari Weisbard of What Albany Could Learn from New York City: A Model of Meaningful Campaign Finance Reform in Action, 1 ALBANY GOV’T L.R. 194 (2008); Electoral Competition and Low Contribution Limits (2009) with co-authors Kahlil Williams and Dr. Thomas Stratmann; and Improving Judicial Diversity (2008) with co-authors Monique Chase and Emma Greenman, which was republished by in WOMEN AND THE LAW (Thompson West Reuters 2009), as well as the author of Corporate Political Spending & Shareholders’ Rights: Why the U.S. Should Adopt the British Approach (forthcoming Routledge 2010). Ms. Torres-Spelliscy has been published in the New York Law Journal, Roll Call, The Hill, Business Week, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, The Root.com, Salon.com, CNN.com and the ABA Judges Journal. She has also been quoted by the media in the Associated Press, USA Today, Legal Times, The Economist, The National Journal, The National Law Journal, Sirius Radio and NPR. She provides constitutional and legislative guidance to lawmakers who are drafting bills. Before joining the Center, she worked as a corporate associate at the law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP and was a staff member of Senator Richard Durbin. Ms. Torres-Spelliscy has testified as an expert on campaign finance reform before the U.S. Congress, the New York Senate, the Maryland Senate and the New York City Counsel.  She has also submitted written testimony to multiple Congressional committees, and legislatures in Illinois, South Carolina, and New Jersey.

 

Julius Towers is a Senior Counsel (Intellectual Property) at Bristol-Myers Squibb, in New York City, NY. His practice includes all aspects of non-patent Intellectual Property, including trademarks, copyrights, anti-counterfeiting, and internet law. In addition, Julius is the senior co-chair of the BMS Law Department Diversity Committee and serves on the BMS GLBTA Affinity Group Leadership team. Prior to BMS, Julius was an associate in the Intellectual Property/Outsourcing Practice Group of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, in NYC. He is a graduate of Florida State University ('00) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School ('03), where he was the co-president of Penn Law Lambda, and currently serves on the Law School Alumni Society's Board of Managers. A member of the New York Bar, Julius is active in several organizations, including the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY), National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA).

 

John V. Treviño, Jr. is an in-house attorney in the Litigation Section at American Airlines, Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas. At American, John manages a wide variety of commercial litigation matters for the company. In addition, John is responsible for developing and implementing all global privacy and data protection initiatives for American. Prior to joining American, John practiced with the firm Beirne, Maynard and Parson, L.L.P. in Houston, Texas from 1999 to 2005. He was also law clerk to the Honorable Hilda G. Tagle, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, Brownsville Division 1998-1999. John is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Dallas Bar Association, Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, and the State Bar of California. John received his J. D. from the University of Texas in 1997. John also received his B.A. from the University of Texas in 1994. Prior to law school, John worked as a communications-computer systems manager and military training instructor in the U.S. Air Force.

 

David J. Tsai is an associate in Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP's San Francisco office and a member of the Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Tsai’s practice focuses on trade secret and patent litigation, with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals (Hatch-Waxman Act/ANDA), biotechnologies, the Internet, software, semiconductors, and medical devices. His legal experience also includes litigating in the areas of copyrights and trademarks, preparing and prosecuting U.S. electrical engineering patent applications, drafting patentability, freedom-to-operate and non-infringement opinions, as well as dealing with patent interference in the area of biotechnology. Mr. Tsai has written on Hatch-Waxman related issues and Internet software applications. Mr. Tsai currently serves on six boards, including the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association, and was named a “Rising Star” in intellectual property litigation by Super Lawyers in 2009 and 2010. He is also the Co-Chair of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), San Francisco's LGBT Bar Association, and of the ABA Section of Litigation's LGBT Litigator Committee. Mr. Tsai is a member of Townsend’s Diversity Committee and is committed to serving LGBT pro bono clients on behalf of the firm. He is the recipient of the Minority Bar Coalition’s Rising Star Award and the ABA Section of Litigation’s Outstanding Subcommittee Chair Award.

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Evelyn Ullah, BSN, MSW, is the Director of STD and HIV Prevention for the Broward County Health Department. Ms. Ullah holds a BS Degree in Nursing; a MSW in Social Work; and is a graduate of The Management Academy for Public Health at the University of North Carolina School Of Public Health. She has more than twenty-five years experience in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Her professional experience includes publishing articles in the areas of chemical dependency and social work. She is a Board Member of the National Minority AIDS Council; a member of the Coordinating Committee of the National Latino AIDS Agenda; NIH/OAR Latino advisory group member; Chair of the Community Advisory Board of UM Developmental Center for AIDS Research; Co-PI on Project SHARE; and served on the Institute of Medicine Liaison Panel for HIV Prevention Strategies in the U.S. Most recently she was the Executive Director of 25 Mitos/25 Realidades a PSA campaign that is being recognized nationally, and architect of “Test Miami” an initiative to routinize HIV testing in Miami and eliminating the stigma associated with testing. Ms Ullah is the recipient of many awards nationally, statewide and locally; Florida International University Paths of Public Health Award 2010 recipient; South Florida AIDS Network Visionary Leadership Award; ADAP Distinguished Service Award; Red Ribbon Excellence Award, Guiding Light Leadership; Robert Galante Community Service Award; United Foundation for AIDS Humanitarian Award; Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher for Support and Participation in the Crisis Response Team Initiative. Ms. Ullah’s driving force in HIV/AIDS began in 1982 while employed at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx; New York where she witnessed patients discriminated against due to their disease status. She had four family members that were infected with the disease and did not want them to experience the same lack of dignity from health care providers as she witnessed in the early 80’s.

 

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Denise Visconti, a shareholder at Littler Mendelson, handles a broad variety of employment litigation matters, most often stemming from claims arising under the California Labor Code and the Fair Labor Standards Act alleging overtime misclassification and other wage and hour violations.  She has extensive experience defending claims of employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.  A large portion of Ms. Visconti’s practice involves the defense of clients in class action litigation, representative actions, and “private attorney general” matters in both state and federal courts. Ms. Visconti also routinely advise employers on policies and procedures and fair employment practices.  She has developed a specialty practice focusing on issues relating to sexual orientation, same-sex benefits, domestic partnerships, and gender identity in the workplace.

 

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Deborah H. Wald is the founder and senior partner at the Wald Law Group.  Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Wald Law Group embraces the full diversity of families with practice areas that include Assisted Reproduction, Adoption, Family Contracts, & Parenting Law, Divorce, Dissolution & Contested Parentage Actions.  A teacher as well as a writer, Ms. Wald publishes regularly and speaks nationally on contemporary family law issues. She is a member of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers and Academy of California Family Formation Lawyers (ACAL); she on the Board of Directors of Our Family Coaltion, the Bay Area's largest LGBT family organization; and she is Chair of the National Family Law Advisory Council for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Tracey Wallace is a Labor and Employment Partner at Jackson Walker LLP. Ms. Wallace’s practice focuses on the defense and trial of complex cases in federal and state courts. Ms. Wallace represents a broad range of state, national, and international clients in the full spectrum of employment and discrimination related matters, including restrictive covenant claims, class and collective actions, EEOC, and other agency charges, lawsuits involving race, sex, age, religious, pregnancy and disability discrimination, unemployment compensation, workers' compensation and wrongful termination. Ms. Wallace has also drafted manuals and policies for companies, and trained employees. In addition, Ms. Wallace’s general litigation experience includes intellectual property, breach of contract, qui tam, products liability, and other business litigation matters as well as personal injury issues. Ms. Wallace’s recent representations include: Representation of an airline in pre-litigation discovery in an Intellectual Property matter, representation of a major lumber company in a restrictive covenant matter, representation of a multi-national beauty salon company in a personal injury/products liability matter, representation of a major Texas energy company in a personal injury lawsuit. After obtaining several favorable pretrial rulings, successfully settled case, representation of a major software company in a breach of contract action, and representation of a major airline in a Title VII, Section 1981 discrimination matter where she obtained summary judgment on 24 of 28 positions at issue. After ruling, she successfully negotiated settlement prior to trial. Ms. Wallace is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Dallas Bar Association, J.L. Turner Legal Association, American Bar Association, National Bar Association, Defense Resources Institute and National Employment Law Council. Ms. Wallace is a past Dallas Leadership Committee member for Lambda Legal, where she served as Chair of the Women’s Brunch. Ms. Wallace is currently a Liberty Circle member and a Federal Club member of the Human Rights Campaign. Ms. Wallace received her B.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She received her J.D. degree from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

 

Amy Williams is a managing attorney at Legal Services of Northern California's (LSNC) Health Rights Hotline. She specializes in health care and public benefits for low-income individuals. Amy started the LGBT Legal Clinic at the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center serving LGBT individuals and families with a wide variety of legal issues. Amy also supervises a legal clinic for homeless clients struggling with health, public benefits, and low level criminal offenses. Amy graduated from UC Davis School of Law in 2005.

 

Scott Willoughby is Senior Corporate Counsel at The Clorox Company in Oakland, California, where he represents the company on acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and financial transactions and advises Clorox and Burt's Bees international subsidiaries on all legal matters. He also directs the company's compliance and ethics program, including FCPA and global trade compliance. Scott also serves as Chief of Staff of the Clorox Pride employee resource group and helps ensure the company's perfect 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. Prior to Clorox, Scott was a corporate/securities associate in the San Francisco office of Latham & Watkins LLP for six years where he advised clients on M&A and financing transactions and SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Scott received his law and undergraduate degrees from the University of California-Berkeley. He currently lives in San Francisco.

 

Bridget J. Wilson is shareholder at Rosenstein, Wilson & Dean, PLC in San Diego, CA. She has been active in the battle against the US military's anti-gay LGBT policies since 1972. She is a graduate of Creighton University and the University Of San Diego School Of Law. Her practice includes military law and civil litigation. She is a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve. She is an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law where she has taught Military Justice.

Derek Windham, Associate General Counsel, Del Monte Foods Company.

Brian J. Winterfeldt is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is a member of the Intellectual Property group. Mr. Winterfeldt’s practice involves most aspects of intellectual property law, including domestic and international trademark counseling, clearance, prosecution, enforcement, and litigation, as well as trade dress and domain name issues. Mr. Winterfeldt assists clients with the creation of trademark and branding strategies and the development of programs to enforce and protect intellectual property rights. He represents clients seeking to protect against infringement of their copyrights, trademarks, and trade dress in the United States and internationally. Mr. Winterfeldt represents clients who are global leaders in their industries, including the retail and apparel, media, financial, consumer products, and Internet industries. Mr. Winterfeldt’s practice includes significant work in domain name law and new media counseling and enforcement, including assisting clients with the management of their domain name portfolios and securing domain names that incorporate clients' trademarks through the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and other similar processes for foreign domain names. Mr. Winterfeldt has also counseled clients on cutting edge issues such as social media and Web 2.0, including strategies for brand promotion and protection in these spaces. Mr. Winterfeldt has also written numerous articles on trademark law and has been selected for the past several years to serve as a reviewer for the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition by the International Trademark Association. Mr. Winterfeldt also serves as Co-Chair of Steptoe's GLBT Forum and as a member of Steptoe's Diversity Committee. Mr. Winterfeldt is a prominent and frequent speaker at industry events on topics including trademark issues and social media.

Tobias Barrington Wolff is a Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Professor Wolff writes and teaches in civil procedure and constitutional law. In the field of procedure, Wolff specializes in complex litigation and the conflict of laws. In the field of constitutional law, he has published articles and essays on topics ranging from free speech under the First Amendment and slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment to the rights of gay men and lesbians. He is co-author (with Linda Silberman and Allan Stein) of Civil Procedure: Theory and Practice (Aspen, 3d ed 2009) and his recently published articles include Federal Jurisdiction and Due Process in the Era of the Nationwide Class Action (University of Pennsylvania Law Review) and Expressive Association and the Ideal of the University in the Solomon Amendment Litigation (with Andrew Koppelman) (Social Philosophy & Policy). Wolff has served as counsel or counsel for amici curiae in many civil rights cases, including Strauss v. Horton (Cal. Sup. Ct.), challenging a ballot initiative seeking to deprive same-sex couples of the right to marry, and Cook v. Gates, 528 F.3d 42 (1st Cir. 2008), challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. He won the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course in 2009.

 

M. Andrew Woodmansee is Head of the Litigation Practice Group in Morrison & Foerster’s San Diego office. He represents plaintiffs and defendants in patent infringement matters in federal courts throughout the United States, including clients such as General Electric, DISH Network, Sandoz, Inc., Charter Communications, and Palm, Inc. He has tried numerous cases to verdict in federal court in both bench and jury trials, and he has represented clients in a number of appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, as well as the California Supreme Court. In addition to his intellectual property practice, Mr. Woodmansee also litigates cases involving First Amendment challenges, particularly with respect to the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. For example, he has served as trial and appellate counsel in Barnes-Wallace, et al. v. Boy Scouts of America, et al., 530 F.3d 776 (9th Cir. 2008). In that case, he won two summary judgment rulings in 2003 and 2004 on behalf of his clients, an agnostic couple and a lesbian couple, as well as their Scouting-age boys. The Court ruled that the City of San Diego's free leases of 18 acres in Balboa Park and one acre in Mission Bay Park to the Boy Scouts violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, as well as the No Aid and No Preference Clauses of the California Constitution. He also has represented clients in connection with challenges to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Currently, he serves as lead counsel for Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach in connection with the Air Force's efforts to discharge his client under DADT.

 

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Justin A. Xenitelis serves as Senior Counsel to Thor Equities, LLC, a commercial real estate owner, manager and developer of retail shopping centers and mixed-use buildings across the United States. His responsibilities include managing the company’s day-to-day legal affairs, including drafting and negotiating retail and office leases for its eleven million square feet of commercial space, and managing outside counsel. Justin received his J.D. from New York Law School in 2006, where he earned the Dean’s Award for Student Leadership for his contributions to the student community, including co-founding and serving as president of the Stonewall Law Student’s Association, founding an annual HIV/AIDS fundraiser (raising over $30,000 for research), and establishing his school’s inaugural participation in the NYC Pride March. While in law school, Justin interned in the LGBT Rights department at Human Rights Watch, working extensively on transgender rights. He has previously served on the LGBT Rights Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

 

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Fauzia Zaman-Malik is the Legal Lead of the Healthcare Client Services Group in North America. She is based in New York City, NY. Fauzia is also the National Co-Lead for the Accenture LGBT Global Network US Support Committee. Fauzia leads a team of lawyers who support Accenture in relation to the wide range of Healthcare transactions and compliance matters, as well as in relation to healthcare regulatory of outsourcing deals, acquisitions and other transactions. Other roles and responsibilities Fauzia has held while at Accenture include, serving as global offering counsel for Accenture Insurance Services, serving as counsel for Accenture India, helping set up Accenture Legal in India and providing transactional support in the Financial Services and Products operating groups. Fauzia started her legal career ReliaStar Financial Group (now ING Group USA), was an associate at Katten Muchin Zavis and, prior to joining Accenture, was an associate at DLA Piper. Fauzia graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law with a Juris Doctorate in 1997 and the University of Texas with a Bachelors of Art in Studio Art and Philosophy in 1994. Fauzia is fluent in Urdu, Hindi and English. In her spare time, Fauzia enjoys painting, running and traveling.

 

Hon. D. Zeke Zeidler was elected to the bench of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2004.  Prior to that, he served as a Superior Court Referee for over six years, presiding over cases that involve child abuse and neglect.  Judge Zeidler is very active on committees that create anti-bias curriculum for judicial officers and court staff throughout California, and teaches new judge orientation and juvenile law overview courses for judicial officers in California.  He is on the Board of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges, previously serving as treasurer.  Before taking the bench, Judge Zeidler's was as an attorney was representing abused and neglected children.  He has served as an officer in NLGLA and was the co-chair of NLGLA's law student arm.  In addition to his legal involvements, Judge Zeidler has been very active on education issues.  He was first elected to the Redondo Beach School Board in 1995, becoming only the tenth openly Gay or Lesbian school board member in the country, and he was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1999.  Judge Zeidler resides in Los Angeles with his husband, attorney Jay Kohorn.

 

 

Please click here to see a complete list of speakers and panelists from the 2009 Annual Career Fair and Conference in Brooklyn.

Please click here to see a complete list of speakers and panelists from the 2008 Annual Career Fair and Conference in San Francisco.

 

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