Speaker Biographies

Mavara Agha ’16 Mavara Agha is a 3L at Harvard Law School. She received her BA in Economics and International Studies, and minored in Political Science from Northwestern University. She then worked on former Governor of Illinois Pat Quinn’s Policy Team focusing on issues related to workforce development, sustainability, and social innovation. At HLS, Mavara served as captain of the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court team and traveled to Vienna and Hong Kong for competitions where she received Honorable Mentions for her written and oral advocacy skills.

She has also been involved in the Harvard Human Rights Law Journal, as Managing Editor and in her last year at HLS, Mavara also served as Student Body Vice President. She spent her summers at the King and Spalding in Atlanta and at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City. Following graduation, Mavara plans to return to Sullivan & Cromwell and hopes to participate in internationally focused work.

Barbara M. Angus ’86 Barbara M. Angus ’86 serves as the Chief Tax Counsel for the Committee on Ways and Means of the United States House of Representatives. Before being appointed to that role by Chairman Kevin Brady in February 2016, she was a principal with Ernst & Young, where she was leader of strategic international tax policy services.

Earlier, Ms. Angus served as International Tax Counsel for the US Department of the Treasury from 2001 – 2005 and as Business Tax Counsel for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation from 1995 – 1998. Her private sector experience includes having founded and operated a consulting firm that represented multinational clients on tax legislative and regulatory matters. She also was a principal in the Federal Tax Policy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She began her career with Kirkland & Ellis where she became a partner.

In addition to her Harvard Law School education, Barbara received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and has an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Heather Artinian ’18 Heather Artinian is a 1L who graduated from Georgetown University last year with a BA in Government and a minor in Justice and Peace Studies. At HLS, Heather is a student attorney at Harvard Defenders, a member of the Women’s Law Association, and plays intramural sports. She also works on the Intimate Partner Violence Triage Study led by Professor Greiner, a project seeking to answer the question: how legal service providers should triage clients to different levels of service when resources are constrained? Additionally, Heather helps organize events for section 2.This summer, she will be interning in the criminal division at the Eastern District of Virginia, US Attorney’s Office.

Sareta Ashraph LL.M. ’01 Since May 2012, Sareta Ashraph has been the Chief Analyst on the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, investigating and reporting on violations of international law in the context of ongoing events in Syria. Immediately prior to this, she occupied the same position on the United Nations’ International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, examining violations of international law by the pro-Qadhafi forces, the anti-Qadhafi armed groups and NATO. In 2010 and 2011, she was based in the Hague as the Legal Adviser to the Office of the Public Counsel for the Defense (OPCD) in the International Criminal Court, working on the Kenya and Central African Republic cases. In 2009, she worked as a Legal Consultant to the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, also known as the Goldstone Inquiry, and was part of the team that conducted investigations and drafted the final Report.

From 2004 – 2009, Ms. Ashraph was based in Freetown, Sierra Leone where she was Co-Counsel on the Defense team representing Issa Sesay (the former interim Leader of the Revolutionary United Front) before the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Since 2013, Ms. Ashraph has been ranked by Chambers and Partners (UK edition) as a Notable Practitioner in the field of international criminal law. She is a member of Garden Court Chambers in London, one of the UK’s leading human rights chambers. She completed her LLM at Harvard Law School in 2001, where she was also a Wasserstein Fellow in the fall of 2015.

Bradford A. Berenson ’91 Brad Berenson is Vice President and Senior Counsel for Litigation and Legal Policy at the General Electric Company. In this role, he has responsibility at the corporate level for litigation, government and internal investigations, compliance, and legal policy worldwide.

Prior to joining GE, Mr. Berenson was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C. Mr. Berenson’s practice at Sidley focused on criminal and civil litigation, investigations and regulatory matters in a broad variety of subject areas, including healthcare, insider trading, the environment, international commercial disputes, fraud, False Claims Act investigations, constitutional law, public corruption, tax, insurance, and FCPA.

Mr. Berenson served as Associate Counsel to the President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. In that role, he worked on judicial selection, congressional oversight and investigations, and policy initiatives and litigation arising from the attacks of September 11, including the USA Patriot Act, military commissions, detainee and anti-terrorism litigation, presidential action against terrorism financing, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Berenson graduated summa cum laude with a degree in History from Yale and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating from Law School, he clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court.

F. Paul Bland, Jr. ’86 F. Paul Bland is Executive Director of Public Justice, a national public interest law firm with 15 attorneys and a staff of nearly 30. He oversees its docket of consumer, environmental and civil rights cases, as well as its communications work and its development and administration departments. As a litigator, he has argued and won more than 30 reported cases, including victories in six of the US Courts of Appeal and at least one decision in the high courts of nine different states. He has been counsel for consumers in cases that have collectively won injunctive and monetary relief exceeding $1 billion.

He was the 2006 Recipient of the National Consumer Law Center’s Vern Countryman Award, which “honors the accomplishments of an exceptional consumer attorney who, through the practice of consumer law, has contributed significantly to the well-being of vulnerable consumers.” He was also the recipient of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition’s 2013 “Legal Champion” Award, and the 2010 Maryland Legal Aid Bureau’s “Champion of Justice” Award.

He has presented at more than 100 continuing legal education or professional conferences in more than 25 states; has testified in both houses of Congress, several state legislatures and administrative agencies; has been quoted in more than 100 periodicals throughout the country and has appeared in several radio and TV stories.

Mr. Bland has argued and won appeals where courts rejected claims that various federal laws preempted pro-consumer state laws as well as appeals where courts limited abuses of forced arbitration clauses. From 1989–1990, he served as the Chief Nominations Counsel, for the US Senate Judiciary Committee. Michelle H. Blauner ’86 Michelle H. Blauner ’86 is a Partner in Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP, a litigation boutique in Boston, Massachusetts that concentrates in complex civil actions, particularly class actions and derivative actions. With decades of experience litigating, trying, and winning multi-million dollar cases across the country, Ms. Blauner has been a leader in the field of plaintiff-side class action litigation. She specializes in representing individuals and businesses in class actions focusing on consumer fraud, business fraud, securities fraud and ERISA violations. Ms. Blauner also received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Cornell University in 1983.

Jacquelynne Bowman Jacquelynne J. Bowman became Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) Executive Director in August, 2011 and is responsible for the overall management and operations of GBLS. She initially started work at GBLS as a senior attorney and then Managing Attorney of the Family Law Unit. She left GBLS in 1991, to work at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute as the state support attorney for family and juvenile law matters. Ms. Bowman returned to GBLS in 1998, first as an Associate Director and then later became the Deputy Director.

She is a nationally recognized expert in family and juvenile law as well as in law practice management. She serves on the Access to Justice Commission of the SJC as well as several boards of nonprofit organizations.

Douglas L. Braunstein ’86 Doug Braunstein is Founder and Managing Partner of Hudson Executive Capital.

Mr. Braunstein has 29 years of industry experience, most recently serving as JPMorgan Chase & Company’s Chief Financial Officer until December 2012, as a member of the Company’s Operating Committee, and as Vice Chairman from 2013 – 2015.

Prior to that, Mr. Braunstein was Head of JPMorgan’s Americas Investment Banking and Global M&A departments from 2008 – 2010, Global Head of Industry Coverage and M&A from 2002 – 2007, and Global Head of M&A from 1997 – 2002. He also served as a member of JPMorgan’s Executive Committee and the Investment Bank Management Committee.

Mr. Braunstein has been an advisor to numerous boards and management teams in the planning, structuring and implementation of the full range of corporate finance solutions. He has worked on over $1 trillion in transactions.

He is a trustee of Cornell University, and serves as co-chair of the Finance Committee and is a member of the Investment Committee. He is a member of Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations Advisory Board and Advisory Council and a member of Cornell’s Johnson NYC Advisory Group. He also serves on Harvard Law School’s Dean's Advisory Board and has previously participated in the Traphagen Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series.

Mr. Braunstein is a member of the Economic Club of New York, a Board Member of the Foreign Policy Association, a member of the UJA of Greater New York’s Wall Street and Financial Services Division, and on the Board of Directors of the Gordon A. Rich Memorial Foundation.

He received his BS from Cornell University in 1983, and his JD from Harvard Law School in 1986.

Thomas J. Brennan ’01 Thomas J. Brennan is the Stanley S. Surrey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. His research focuses on applying finance and economics to analyze and inform tax policy, and on using empirical methods to investigate the effects of tax laws and the strategic behavior of taxpayers. He also studies how finance and economics can inform other areas of the law, such as regulations designed to limit risk.

Professor Brennan received an AB in Mathematics, summa cum laude, from Princeton University, an AM in Mathematics from Harvard University, a PhD in Mathematics from Harvard University, and a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He is admitted to the bar of the State of New York and practiced as a corporate tax attorney with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. He also worked as a strategist for the Capital Markets Strategies group at Goldman, Sachs. His prior academic appointments include the Justin W. D’Atri Visiting Professor of Law, Business and Society at Columbia Law School, Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law, and Visiting Scholar at the Sloan School at MIT, where he was part of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering.

Linda Cole ’96 Linda Cole ’96 is General Counsel to iZotope, Inc., a Cambridge-based, Emmy award-winning music software company, and Supervising Attorney of the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project, where she advises students on the provision of legal research services to entrepreneurs from Harvard and MIT as well as on coordination of overall programming. Linda has spent her career as both an entrepreneur--as a co-founder of RTE Group, Inc. (telecommunications & infrastructure strategy consulting) and CO Space, Inc. (data center facilities & related operations)--and in-house counsel to other venture-backed technology start-ups. Most recently, Ms. Cole served as General Counsel to Mobiquity, Inc., a global mobile services company with offices in the US, Europe, and India, where she built the legal department and, as an early employee and member of the management team, helped to drive record organic and acquisitional growth. Linda is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Susan Crawford Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center. She is the author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, co- author of The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance, and a contributor to Medium.com’s Backchannel. She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) and co-led the FCC transition team between the Bush and Obama administrations. She also served as a member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Advisory Council on Technology and Innovation and is now a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Broadband Task Force. Ms. Crawford was formerly a (Visiting) Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and a Professor at the University of Michigan Law School (2008-2010).

As an academic, she teaches courses about city uses of technology, Internet law, and communications law. She was a member of the board of directors of ICANN from 2005-2008 and is the founder of OneWebDay, a global Earth Day for the internet that takes place each Sept. 22. One of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers and Visionaries Transforming Politics in 2015; one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology (2009); IP3 Awardee (2010); one of Prospect Magazine’s Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future (2011); and one of TIME Magazine’s Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech (2013). Ms. Crawford received her B.A. and J.D. from Yale University. She served as a clerk for Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) (Washington, D.C.) until the end of 2002, when she left that firm to enter the legal academy.

David S. Denenberg ’91 As Senior Vice President, Global Media Distribution & Business Affairs for NBA Entertainment (NBAE), David Denenberg is responsible for negotiating agreements and helping manage relationships relating to all facets of NBAE’s domestic and international media business, including television, film, radio, music, digital media, photography and talent. Mr. Denenberg also negotiates distribution and affiliation agreements relating to NBA TV and NBA League Pass and frequently advises NBA, WNBA and D League teams on a variety of issues relating to their television and entertainment businesses.

He currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame where he also serves on the Finance Committee.

Prior to joining the NBA in March 1995, Mr. Denenberg worked in the Corporate Department of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in New York City. A 1991 cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Denenberg graduated magna cum laude from Colgate University in 1988. He currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and three children.

T.J. Duane ’02 T.J. Duane ’02 is a serial entrepreneur and former practicing attorney. He currently heads Qollaboration, Inc. a Silicon Valley- based technology company that develops relationship management software using data analysis and machine learning. Prior to Qollaboration, Mr. Duane co-founded Lateral Link, a web based legal jobs platform. He also developed HL Central while he was a 1L at HLS. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Law School Association and chairs the HLSA Entrepreneurs Network.

Mr. Duane began his career as a corporate attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York. T.J. has spoken at universities across the country on entrepreneurship, has appeared on CNN and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, American Lawyer, the National Law Journal, Business Week and Business Insider. In addition to his JD from Harvard Law, he holds a BS from Cornell University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Ariel Eckblad ’16 Ariel is pursuing a JD at Harvard Law School with a focus on negotiation, mediation, and public international law.

While at HLS, Ariel has twice served as a teaching assistant for Harvard Law’s Spring Negotiation Workshop as well as the Harvard Negotiation Institute. As part of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinic, She created and delivered a conflict resolution training for the international nonprofit Seeds of Peace. Further, Ariel co-created and facilitated a 5 week series on facilitated dialogues entitled “Conversations on Race” with a cohort of HLS students. And, her writings on negotiation, identity, and alternative dispute resolution have been published in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review and the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Blog.

Ariel is a graduate of Spelman College with degrees in Political Science and Women’s Studies. She went to graduate school in the UK, where she studied International Relations at the University of London and the University of Oxford.

Andrew Feldstein ’91 Andrew Feldstein is the CEO and Co-CIO of BlueMountain Capital Management. Mr. Feldstein is the Chair of the firm’s Management Committee and a member of the Investment and Risk Committees. Prior to co-founding BlueMountain in 2003, Mr. Feldstein spent over a decade at J.P. Morgan where he was a Managing Director and served as Head of Structured Credit; Head of High Yield Sales, Trading and Research; and Head of Global Credit Portfolio. Mr. Feldstein is a member of the board of directors of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. He is also a Trustee of Third Way, a public policy think tank; a Trustee of the Santa Fe Institute, an independent research and education center; and a member of the Harvard Law School Leadership Council. In addition to his JD from Harvard Law School, Mr. Feldstein holds a BA from Georgetown University.

Andrea D. Fessler ’91 Andrea D. Fessler is the Founder and Executive Director of Premiere Performances of Hong Kong, a registered charity that brings the best classical musicians in the world to Hong Kong for performances and outreach. In addition to its flagship event, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, Premiere Performances also runs a year-round Recital Series, a Family Series to inspire young audiences, and a Chamber Music in Schools program. Ms. Fessler received a Commendation from the Home Affairs Bureau in 2012 for her Outstanding Contribution to Arts and Culture, and in June 2015 she was awarded a Women of Hope Award for Art & Culture by the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital Foundation.

Prior to her responsibilities with Premiere Performances, Ms. Fessler was an international corporate lawyer. She first worked as a corporate associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Ashursts in London and Freshfields in Tokyo, and then as in-house Asia Counsel for Cabot Corporation and Star TV. Together with her husband, she founded Time Out Hong Kong magazine in 2008. She is also a member of the Harvard Law School Leadership Council of Asia.

Fabio Filocamo ’01 Founder and Managing Director of Dynamis, a new ventures advisory and investing business, Fabio currently is a board member of several high tech companies. Since 2013, innovation columnist and advisory board member at RCS, leading Italian media group, inter alia publisher of Corriere della Sera, national top newspaper, for the implementation of its cross-media platform on innovation, knowledge economy, future trends and scenarios. Since 2014, Fabio also serves as President of the Harvard Club of Italy.

Trained and experienced in both Europe and the USA, in the areas of law, finance, innovation and venture capital, over the years he aided, accelerated, and/or invested into a notable number of technology transfer and R&D projects, start-ups and spin-offs, some of which globally successful (Intercept, Okairos, Gelesis, EOS). Formerly, board member of the leading Italian venture capital fund, Director of Industrial Research at the Italian Ministry of Science and Technology (managing an overall budget in excess of € 3 billions in five years) and Corporate Director at the Italian Space Agency. Previously, he worked as an attorney and an advisor, between Italy and Wall Street, focusing on M&A in the finance and high tech industries.

Mr. Filocamo obtained an LLM degree from Harvard Law School, a PhD in International Law & Economics from University of Molise, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institut in Hamburg, and a JD from the University of Rome “la Sapienza”.

David S. Friedman ’96 Dave Friedman is Senior Vice President, Legal & Government Affairs for the Boston Red Sox, where he handles a variety of legal matters, including regulatory compliance and government relations issues, oversight of litigation, assistance with the club’s interactions with Major League Baseball and other teams on a variety of legal-related issues, and Red Sox charitable foundation matters.

Mr. Friedman previously served as First Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts, where he advised A.G. Martha Coakley and managed an office of 490 staff, and as Counsel and Chief Policy Advisor to Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini, where he worked on the state’s landmark health care law, economic development, and a broad range of other issues. He also worked for several years at the law firm of Hill & Barlow, and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and federal appeals court Judge Michael Boudin. Mr. Friedman has been a Lecturer at Harvard Law School since 2012, and now teaches a Reading Group on “Management and Leadership Skills for Lawyers.”

Susan Freiwald ’91 Susan Freiwald ’91 is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law where she teaches Internet Law, Information Privacy Law, and Criminal Procedure. A former software developer, Susan has published and presented widely on the intersection of communications technology and law, focusing on online surveillance and the Fourth Amendment.

Ms. Freiwald has filed amicus briefs about e-mail privacy and briefed and argued as an amicus in federal appellate cases involving law enforcement access to historical cell site location data. Susan advises lawyers and companies on the electronic surveillance laws and has worked for years for legal reform of those laws. Most recently, she served on the policy team, as an issue expert, and as academic liaison for the sponsors of CalECPA (SB178), which became law on January 1, 2016 and requires a warrant for California law enforcement access to most electronic information.

In addition to her Harvard Law education, she holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in Economics, magna cum laude.

Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants ’80 Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court in 1997 by Governor William Weld. In 2008, he served as Administrative Justice of the Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session. He chaired the Superior Court Rules Committee, and was a member of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure and its Ad Hoc Advisory Committee to Study Canon 3B(9) of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

Governor Deval Patrick appointed him to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in January 2009 as an Associate Justice. In 2014, he was appointed the thirty-seventh Chief Justice by Governor Patrick and was sworn in on July 28. Chief Justice Gants served as co-chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission from 2010 –2015, and chaired the Standing Committee that revised the Model Jury Instructions on Homicide in 2013.

After graduation from Harvard Law School, in 1980, Chief Justice Gants served as Law Clerk to United States District Court Judge Eugene H. Nickerson. From 1981 – 1983, he was Special Assistant to Judge William H. Webster, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1983, he was appointed Assistant US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, serving as Chief of the Public Corruption Division from 1988 – 1991. In 1991, he joined the Boston law firm formerly known as Palmer & Dodge LLP, becoming a partner in 1994.

In 2012, he was awarded the Boston Bar Association Citation of Judicial Excellence and the Suffolk Law School Public Service Award. He is married with two children. Fernando Elizondo García LL.M. ’11 Fernando Elizondo García LLM is the Deputy Director General on Human Rights at the Executive Comission for the Attention of Victims, an organ that is part of the Mexican federal government. He supervises the work of “Federal Legal Advisers”, a group of lawyers who provide free legal counsel and representation to victims of human rights violations committed by federal authorities. Previously, Fernando was the Director of the Human Rights Center at Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, where he supervised the publication of several reports on issues such as torture and immigrant rights.

Mr. Garcia also worked for three years at the Human Rights Commission of the State of Nuevo Leon, where he was in charge of investigating claims of human rights abuses and drafting recommendations to the authorities who committed them. He worked mostly on cases of torture, enforced disappearances, illegal and arbitrary detentions and gender issues. On his free time, Fernando also coordinated the Legal Department of an immigrants shelter in Monterrey that provided free legal services, mostly to central American immigrants traveling through Mexico.

Julius Genachowski ’91 Julius Genachowski is a Managing Director and Partner at The Carlyle Group, focusing on acquisitions and investments in global technology, media and telecom. He is on the boards of directors of several public and private companies, including MasterCard, Sprint, Sonos, Syniverse and AsiaSat. He also serves on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

From 2009 – 2013, Mr. Genachowski served as Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). During his tenure, the FCC was named the most improved agency in the federal government, and the agency was named one of Wired Magazine’s “Top 7 Disruptions.” He presided over a period of robust innovation and investment around communications technology, including wired and wireless broadband applications, as well as devices and networks. Under his leadership, the FCC focused on wired and wireless broadband, developing the National Broadband Plan and taking major actions to extend broadband access, accelerate the rollout of advanced mobile networks, free-up spectrum for wireless communications, preserve an open and vibrant Internet, foster competition, and enhance public safety communications. Mr. Genachowski also extended the FCC’s international engagement, visiting more than 20 countries while leading US delegations and working on agreements involving global wireless, Internet and cybersecurity.

Prior to his FCC appointment, he worked for more than a decade in the private sector. As a senior executive and member of the Office of the Chairman, Mr. Genachowski helped Barry Diller build IAC/InterActiveCorp, which owned and operated multiple Internet and media businesses, including Expedia, Ticketmaster and USA Network. During this time, when he was IAC General Counsel and then Chief of Business Operations, BusinessWeek named Mr. Genachowski one of 25 “Managers to Watch” in the media sector.

He has taught a joint class at Harvard’s Law and Business Schools, and worked as a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He served as a law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice David Souter and, before that, Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (Ret.) and Chief Judge Abner Mikva of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. He also worked on the staff of the Select Committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, and, for then Representative Charles E. Schumer.

Mr. Genachowski is the son of immigrants with family members who survived the Holocaust, and led the United States delegation to the 65th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. He is a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School and from Columbia University in 1985.

Maura Barry Grinalds ’91 Maura Barry Grinalds represents corporations and individuals in a wide variety of complex disputes, including securities, corporate, commercial litigation and class actions in courts throughout the country. Ms. Grinalds has extensive experience representing clients in arbitration proceedings, including full evidentiary hearings and proceedings to compel or enjoin arbitrations and enforce orders of arbitral tribunals She represents companies and individuals through all phases of federal securities class actions and derivative litigation, regulatory proceedings and investigations before the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as in merger-related shareholder class actions and consumer class actions.

Ms. Grinalds is a two-time recipient of the Legal Aid Society award for outstanding pro bono public service and an active volunteer for the Innocence Project. She served a six-year term on the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department. Ms. Grinalds is a co-chair of Skadden’s Women’s Initiative Committee and a member of the Partner Selection Committee. She repeatedly has been included in The Best Lawyers in America. She is co-chair of the New York Chapter of the Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance. She is also a member of the American Arbitration Association Large Case Committee.

Horacio Gutierrez ’91 Horacio Gutierrez is the General Counsel of Spotify, based in Spotify’s United States headquarters in New York City. As Spotify’s chief legal officer, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s legal and regulatory affairs around the world, and serves as corporate secretary to its board of directors. He came to Spotify after having spending over 17 years at Microsoft Corporation, most recently as General Counsel and Corporate Vice President for Legal Affairs. Throughout his career, Horacio has been involved in some of the most complex and cutting-edge legal issues in the tech industry.

He has been deeply involved in a number of high-profile legal and regulatory matters, and as head of the intellectual property group concluded numerous intellectual property deals, including licensing agreements with companies around the world. He has played a leading role around the globe on innovation policy issues, including intellectual property policy and internet regulation. Mr. Gutierrez served as a member of the Harvard Law School Visiting Committee from 2011 – 2015.

Gönenç Gürkaynak LL.M. ’01 Gönenç Gürkaynak is the founding partner and the managing partner of ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law, a leading law firm of 65 lawyers based in Istanbul, Turkey. He was elected as the Honorary President of Harvard Law School Alumni Association of Turkey. He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Law in 1997 and received his LLM degree from Harvard Law School, where he was also a research assistant to Professor Louis Kaplow.

He is a member of the Istanbul Bar, New York Bar, the Law Society of England & Wales (Solicitor), and Brussels Bar. Before founding ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law in 2005, he worked as an attorney at the Istanbul, New York and Brussels offices of a global law firm for more than eight years. He holds teaching positions at undergraduate and graduate levels at Bilkent University School of Law in Ankara, and at Yeditepe University School of Law in Istanbul.

He frequently gives lectures in other universities in Turkey. His primary fields of work and publication are law and economics of competition, Internet law, political economy of public law, and anti-corruption law. Mr. Gürkaynak is also head of the Regulatory and Compliance department of ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law. He has published two books and more than 100 articles in English and in Turkish by various international and local publishers, and he has spoken at over 200 national and international conferences all over the world.

Daniel R. Halem ’91 Daniel R. Halem is the Chief Legal Officer for the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, and reports to Commissioner Rob Manfred. In this capacity, he is responsible for overseeing MLB’s Labor Relations Department, Human Resources Department, Department of Investigations, Diversity Department, Government Affairs Department, and all of MLB’s legal groups. Mr. Halem serves as the representative of MLB Clubs in collective bargaining with the players and umpires, and oversees all aspects of MLB’s collective bargaining agreements with the Major League Baseball Players Association and the World Umpires Association. His departments administer all of MLB’s drug programs, health and safety programs, diversity initiatives, and investigations. In addition, beginning in 2015, all of MLB’s various legal departments were consolidated under Mr. Halem.

Prior to his current position, he served as Executive Vice President, Labor Relations for the Office of the Commissioner and Senior Vice President and General Counsel – Labor. Before joining MLB in 2007, Dan was a partner in the Labor and Employment Law Department of Proskauer Rose LLP, where his clients included Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the New York Jets, and Hershey’s Food Corporation, among others. He also represented several Major League Baseball Clubs in salary arbitrations with players. Mr. Halem graduated from Cornell University’s School of Industrial Relations in 1988, and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991.

David Heckman ’17 David is the Vice President of Events for the Armed Forces Association where he plans and coordinates academic and social events, and is currently working to develop a leadership curriculum with Student Government for future Student Organization leaders. He is Line Editor on the National Security Law Journal. He is also a member of Harvard Law and Entrepreneurship Program, Student Government Committee for Student Organizations and Journals and Student Funding Board, as well as the Student Government new Constitution Working Group which drafted the new proposed Constitution. He has been a Service 2 School Mentor – assisting transitioning veterans gain admission to top law schools...and he is never ever sick at sea. He spent last summer at the Iowa AG’s office and will be at Jenner and Block in Chicago this summer.

Eva Hibnick ’01 Eva Hibnick is the founder of ONE400. Before entering the startup world, she was an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She is on the board of the HLSA of Los Angeles and the HLSA Entrepreneurs Network.

Porus F. Kaka LL.M. ’91 Mr. Porus Kaka is currently the worldwide President of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), the Netherlands. He is the first Asian to head this prestigious organization. He was re-elected as President in 2015 for an additional two year term.

In India he is designated as Senior Advocate by the High Court. He has been India’s representative on the Permanent Scientific Committee of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), Netherlands from 2004 – 2011. He was awarded the Client Choice award for 2011 by ILO, for Corporate Tax Law for India.

He has been consistently named as one of India’s leading Senior Tax Advocates by Chambers & Partners, and one of India’s Leading Tax Counsels by International Tax Review. He’s also been appointed as an Expert Witness on Indian Tax Law in London in International Arbitration, and on the Editorial Board of the World Tax Journal, published by IBFD.

He completed his LLM from Harvard Law School as an Inlaks Scholar in 1991, where he was elected the LLM Class Representative on the Harvard Law School Council. He completed his education from the Cathedral and John Connon School and Sydenham College and qualified in First Class as a lawyer from the Government Law College.

Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III ’09 Joe Kennedy III is proud to serve the Fourth District of Massachusetts in Congress. Currently in his second term, he represents a diverse district that spans from the suburbs of Boston to the more industrial towns of Massachusetts’ South Coast. As member of the influential House Energy & Commerce Committee, Mr. Kennedy has prioritized economic opportunity for working families. A vocal advocate for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, vocational schools and community colleges, he has authored several pieces of legislation in Washington aimed at improving access to our modern economy, including the Perkins Modernization Act and STEM Gateways Act. Inspired by the manufacturing traditions that drive many of the communities he represents, Mr. Kennedy also introduced the Revitalize American Manufacturing (RAMI) Act during his first term, which will help fuel innovation and new technologies throughout our manufacturing sector. After a year of building broad bipartisan and industry support, RAMI passed the House of Representatives and was signed into law by President Obama at the end of 2014. From his spot on the E&C Committee, he has emphasized issues of critical importance to Massachusetts. Whether leading efforts to combat opiate abuse or working with federal regulators to tackle the rising cost of energy across New England, his legislative agenda is driven by the communities back home. Deeply dedicated to being as accessible as possible to his constituents, Mr. Kennedy has launched creative efforts to consistently visit every city and town in the 4th District, from “Tour 34” to “District Days.”

Whether at home in the Commonwealth or down in Washington, Mr. Kennedy has become a powerful voice for social justice, championing issues like employment non-discrimination, pay equity, marriage equality and comprehensive immigration reform. Prior to being elected to Congress, Mr. Kennedy served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Assistant District Attorney in both the Middlesex County and Cape and Island’s District Attorneys’ Offices. Before that, he served as a member of the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic where he designed and implemented an economic development project near Puerto Plata.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy is fluent in Spanish and holds a bachelor’s degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University as well as a JD from Harvard Law School. He lives with his wife, Lauren, a health policy expert, their daughter, Eleanor, and their dog, Banjo, in Brookline, MA.

Minjoo Kim ’18 Minjoo Kim is a 1L at Harvard Law School. After graduating from Amherst College in 2013 with a degree in Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought, Minjoo worked at the Korean House of International Solidarity in South Korea, where she conducted research on labor violations by Korean corporations in countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan. Minjoo also founded and led the first survivors group for English-speaking foreigners and expats in South Korea. Currently, Minjoo is working with Dean Sells to implement Title IX bystander intervention training and peer support programs at Harvard Law School. She will be working at the East Bay Community Law Center’s Consumer Justice Clinic in Berkeley, CA this summer.

Anthony Lombardi ’17 Anthony Lombardi is a 2L from North Attleboro, MA. He graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Political Science and Classical Studies. At HLS, Anthony joined the Harvard Law School Journal on Legislation, for which he has served as Membership Development Chair and currently co-serves as Congress Editor. Anthony has worked with the Food Law and & Policy Clinic as a clinical student to investigate the efficacy of a federally-administered national food strategy, among other projects. He additionally serves as an Admissions Fellow and as a Resident Assistant for the law school. Anthony spent his 1L summer in Boston and Beaverton, OR working for the in-house counsel departments at Converse and Nike. This summer, Anthony will work as a summer associate for Ropes & Gray in Boston.

Christopher P. Lu ’91 Chris Lu was sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor on April 4, 2014, after being confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. He serves as the chief operating officer of a 17,000-employee organization that works to create greater opportunities for all Americans.

During his career in public service, Mr. Lu has worked in all three branches of the federal government. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the White House Cabinet Secretary and Assistant to the President. In this role, he was President Obama's primary liaison to the federal departments and agencies, helping to coordinate policy and communications strategy.

As one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in the Obama Administration, Mr. Lu was also the Co-Chair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Prior to his service in the White House, Lu worked for then-Senator Obama, first as the Legislative Director, and then as the Acting Chief of Staff. After the 2008 Presidential election, Mr. Lu was the Executive Director of the Presidential transition planning efforts.

Mr. Lu's government experience includes eight years working for Rep. Henry Waxman as the Deputy Chief Counsel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and serving as a law clerk for Judge Robert E. Cowen on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He began his legal career as a litigation attorney at Sidley Austin in Washington, DC.

In addition to his government service, Mr. Lu has been a fellow at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. He is also the co-editor of the book, Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Congress.

Mr. Lu is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, and the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from MacMurray College. He is married to Katie Thomson, the General Counsel of the Department of Transportation. Kenneth W. Mack ’91 Kenneth W. Mack is the inaugural Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the co-faculty leader of the Harvard Law School Program on Law and History. During the 2015–16 year, he will serve as co-faculty leader of the Workshop on the History of Capitalism in the Americas at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American history.

His research and teaching have focused on American legal and constitutional history with particular emphasis on race relations, politics and economic life. His 2012 book, Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer (Harvard University Press), was selected as a Top 50 Non-Fiction Book of the Year by the Washington Post, was a National Book Festival Selection, was awarded honorable mention for the J. Willard Hurst Award by the Law and Society Association, and was a finalist for the Julia Ward Howe Book Award. His is also the co-editor of The New Black: What Has Changed – And What Has Not – With Race in America (New Press, 2013). His articles have been published in a wide variety of scholarly and general interest publications. He is currently working on a book project that examines the social and political history of race and political economy in the United States after 1975.

He began his professional career as an electrical engineer at Bell Laboratories before turning to law and history. Before joining the faculty at Harvard Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and practiced law in the Washington, DC office of the firm Covington & Burling.

Michael J. Mellis ’91 Michael J. Mellis is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Major League Baseball. His areas of responsibility include corporate governance, business transactions, litigation and regulatory compliance, legislative affairs, and intellectual property rights establishment and protection.

Prior to assuming this role in 2015, Mr. Mellis was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the League’s Internet and interactive media company. He was General Counsel of MLBAM since it was founded in 2000.

Before joining Major League Baseball in 1998, Mr. Mellis practiced in the Corporate and Litigation Departments of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, and clerked for the Honorable John R. Bartels, US District Court, Eastern District of New York. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Williams College.

Mr. Mellis recently led Major League Baseball in its defense of Garber v. Major League Baseball, (SDNY), an antitrust class action that sought to dismantle the League’s broadcast structure and claimed damages of more than $1 billion. He played a key role in implementing a legal strategy that enabled Major League Baseball to defeat the plaintiffs’ damage claim in its entirety and settle the remaining claims in a manner that preserved the League’s territorial broadcast structure.

Mr. Mellis has been widely recognized for his work to combat Internet piracy of live sports telecasts and other television programming. He has testified about this subject before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and Office of the US Trade Representative. In 2006, he helped start the Coalition Against Online Video Piracy, which currently includes more than fifty sports organizations, entertainment companies, telecasters, and trade associations located throughout the world.

Mr. Mellis’s experience and expertise extends to areas such as intellectual property, technology, sports, media, and marketing. He has been a speaker on these topics at venues including the American Bar Association, National Sports Law Institute, New York Bar Association, Practising Law Institute, Promotion Marketing Association, and Sports Lawyers Association.

Naz K. Modirzadeh ’02 Naz K. Modirzadeh is the founding Director of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC). She was appointed Lecturer on Law at HLS for the Fall 2014 term, when she taught International Humanitarian Law/Laws of War. At PILAC, Ms. Modirzadeh is responsible for overall direction of the Program, collaboration with the Faculty Director and other affiliated faculty, development of research initiatives, and engagement with key decision-makers in the armed forces, humanitarian organizations, government, and intergovernmental organizations. Ms. Modirzadeh regularly advises and briefs international humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, and governments on issues related to international humanitarian law, human rights, and counterterrorism regulations relating to humanitarian assistance. For more than a decade, she has carried out legal research and policy work concerning a number of armed conflict situations. Her scholarship and research focus on intersections between the fields of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and Islamic law. She frequently contributes to academic and professional initiatives in the areas of humanitarian action, counterterrorism, and the laws of war.

In addition to taking part in several expert advisory groups for UN research initiatives, Ms. Modirzadeh is a non-resident Research Fellow at the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the Naval War College and a non-resident Research Associate in the Humanitarian Policy Group of the Overseas Development Institute. She is also on the Board of Directors of International Association for Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection, on the Advisory Council of Geneva Call, and the Interim Advisory Group of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Networks.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her JD from Harvard Law School.

Jeffrey L. Orridge ’86 Jeffrey L. Orridge is the 13th Commissioner of the Canadian Football League.

A leading executive with a lifelong passion for sport and more than 20 years of experience in building major brands and businesses, he has a track record of taking properties to new levels of success.

In just his short time at the helm of the CFL, Jeffrey has announced the sale of the Toronto Argonauts to Bell Canada and entrepreneur Larry Tanenbaum, which moves the team to a new home at a refurbished BMO Field; signed one of the biggest sponsorship deals in league history, making Shaw the new presenting partner of the Grey Cup; and finalized an extension of the CFL’s landmark broadcast agreement with TSN and RDS.

Mr. Orridge came to the CFL from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he was the Executive Director of Sports and General Manager, Olympics. His extensive resume includes stints in the 1990s as Director, Global Sports Marketing for Reebok International and as Assistant Executive Director of USA Basketball, where he played an important role in introducing the first “Dream Team” to a global audience.

Born and raised in New York, he and his young family have lived in Canada since 2007. Now a Canadian citizen, he often describes himself as American by birth, and Canadian by choice.

Anna Palmer ’11 Anna Palmer is a 2011 graduate of Harvard Law School and the co-founder and CEO of Fashion Project, which has become a powerful movement turning closets into cash for charities around the world. Since its founding, Fashion Project has raised $12M in venture capital, expanded to process over 350,000 items and donate over $800,000 to non-profits around the world, helping provide valuable funding for disease research, humanitarian aid, sustainability initiatives, and disaster relief. Ms. Palmer and her co-founder have been featured in Glamour Magazine, named "top style innovators to watch" by InStyle Magazine, and guest editors for the International Best Dressed list on VanityFair.com. The Fashion Project community was recently acquired by Union & Fifth to continue the mission of using fashion as a force for good together.

Steven A. Peeters ’11 Steven A. Peeters is a Senior Attorney at Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick, a leading independent law firm based in Brussels. His practice encompasses both contentious and advisory/transactional work in relation to domestic and cross- border taxation. He is also an affiliated researcher at the Institute for Tax Law of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), where he is conducting PhD research on tax and corporate law aspects of legal capital. Steven regularly publishes on tax- related issues, for example in the area of cross-border relocations of companies.

Until 2013, Mr. Peeters was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. He is a member of the bars of Brussels and New York (inactive). He obtained an LLM degree from Harvard Law School in 2011 with a Fulbright grant and a Fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation, and also holds a Bachelor and Master Degree in Law from KU Leuven (University of Leuven) Belgium.

Lorin L. Reisner ’86 Lorin L. Reisner is a litigation partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York where his practice emphasizes white collar criminal matters, government investigations and complex business litigation. From January 2012 through June 2014, Mr. Reisner served as Chief of the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he supervised the investigation and prosecution of federal crimes by a team of more than 160 Assistant US Attorneys. From 2009 until his appointment as Chief of the Criminal Division, Mr. Reisner served as the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Division of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC. In that position, he helped set enforcement priorities, supervised the work of more than 900 investigative professionals nationwide and oversaw the trial and related litigation activity of the Enforcement Division.

From 1996 through 2009, Mr. Reisner was a litigation partner at an international law firm based in New York. Mr. Reisner served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1990–1994. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Milton Pollack of the Southern District of New York from 1986–1987. In addition to his JD from HLS, he received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University in 1983.

Dalia Topelson Ritvo Dalia Topelson is Assistant Director and Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, based at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Dalia has concentrated her legal practice on intellectual property and media law, particularly in the areas of technology, media and digital content. Prior to joining Harvard Law School, Dalia worked as in- house counsel at Amazon.com. From 2004-2009, Dalia worked as an associate in the New York law offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and DLA Piper LLP, focusing on intellectually property and technology issues. Dalia received her BA, magna cum laude, from Emory University in 1999 and her JD and LLM in International Law from Duke University School of Law in 2004.

Dan Rube ’91 Dan Rube joined the NBA in 1995 and currently serves as Executive Vice President & Deputy General Counsel. His principal responsibilities include collective bargaining with the National Basketball Players Association, oversight of the salary cap system, enforcement of CBA and league rules, formulation of league revenue sharing policies, and a variety of competition- related matters.

Previously, Mr. Rube served as a law clerk for the Hon. Robert Cowen of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and worked as a litigation associate at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss and the Philadelphia law firm of Ballard Spahr. He received his BA from Amherst College in 1988.

William B. Rubenstein ’86 William Rubenstein is the Sidley Austin Professor of Law at Harvard Law School where he teaches and writes primarily about complex litigation.

Professor Rubenstein is the author, coauthor, or editor of four books and more than a dozen scholarly articles, as well as dozens of shorter publications, most of which concern complex litigation. Since 2008, Professor Rubenstein has been the sole author of Newberg on Class Actions and he is in the process of re-writing the entire 11-volume treatise for its Fifth Edition. He has litigated, consulted, and regularly serves as an expert witness in class action lawsuits.

Professor Rubenstein was a practicing lawyer for nearly a decade before becoming a law professor. After graduating from Yale College (magna cum laude, 1982) and Harvard Law School (magna cum laude, 1986), Professor Rubenstein clerked for the Honorable Stanley Sporkin in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. He was then awarded a Harvard Fellowship in Public Interest Law to help start an AIDS Project at the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union. Professor Rubenstein was a Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s National LGBT and AIDS Projects from 1987–1990 and Director of those Projects from 1990–1995. In those capacities, he litigated civil rights cases in state and federal courts throughout the country and oversaw the ACLU’s national litigation docket on these issues. Professor Rubenstein argued the landmark case, Braschi v. Stahl Associates, 544 N.E.2d 49 (N.Y. 1989), before New York’s highest court, yielding the first decision in the United States recognizing a gay couple as a legal family.

While practicing at the ACLU, Professor Rubenstein also taught courses on sexual orientation and AIDS law at Harvard and Yale Law Schools. In conjunction with those courses, he authored the first law school casebook in the area, now entitled, Cases and Materials on Sexual Orientation and the Law (now with Carlos Ball and Jane Schacter, 4th ed. 2011).

From 1995–1997, Professor Rubenstein was a visiting professor from practice at Stanford Law School; he was awarded the 1996–1997 John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford Law School. From 1997–2007, Professor Rubenstein taught at UCLA School of Law; he was awarded the 2001–2002 Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching at UCLA. While at UCLA, Professor Rubenstein founded the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. Professor Rubenstein joined the Harvard faculty in 2007; he was awarded the 2011–2012 Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard Law School.

Alison Sander ’86 Alison Sander serves as the Director of The Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Center for Sensing & Mining the Future and brings more than 20 years of experience working with senior teams on complex global challenges. She has designed significant growth strategies for CEOs and Boards of Directors across many sectors and has used Megatrends to help clients form long- term visions and to find the next billion dollars of growth. Ms. Sander joined BCG in 1997, serving as Globalization Topic Advisor – a job that allowed her to see shifts across many countries. Prior to BCG, Alison worked for two years in global and public finance at Goldman Sachs and ran her own company, Cambridge Transnational Associates, Inc.

Ms. Sander has an MBA from Harvard Business School, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA in political science with high honors from the University of Chicago. She is a member of the Asia Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Association of Professional Futurists, a founder of AltWheels (www.altwheels.org), and a Board member of the World Resources Institute (www.wri.org). She has worked in or traveled to more than 91 countries, and has written on robotics among other topics www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/business_unit_strategy_innovation_rise_of_robotics/ and recorded a TED talk on future trends www.youtube.com/watch?v=7boVGRUJ0w0.

Dean Marcia Lynn Sells Marcia Sells is Associate Dean & Dean of Students at Harvard Law School. After over 13 years at Columbia University, first as Associate Vice President, Program Development and Initiatives, for the office of Government and Community Affairs and then adding Associate Dean in the School of the Arts for Outreach & Education at Columbia University, she joined HLS to again work more directly with students and in legal education.

Prior to working at Columbia University in 2002, Dean Sells held a variety of progressively responsible positions in academia, the private sector and public service including: Educational Consultant for Dance Theatre of Harlem, Vice President of Employee and Organizational Development for Reuters America, Vice President of Organizational Development & Human Resources, and Vice President Player Education and Development for the National Basketball Association, Dean of Students at Columbia University School of Law, and Assistant District Attorney trying rape and child abuse cases for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

Predating her career as a lawyer and in academia, she began her life in New York City over 40 years ago, working for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Columbia University School of Law and received her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College. Marcia remains a member of the New York Bar and retired from Connecticut Bar.

Stephen E. Shay Stephen E. Shay has been a Senior Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School since 2015.

Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty as a Professor of Practice in 2011, Mr. Shay was Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs in the US Department of the Treasury. Prior to rejoining the Treasury Department in 2009, Mr. Shay was a tax partner for 22 years with Ropes & Gray LLP. Mr. Shay served in the Office of International Tax Counsel at the Department of the Treasury, including as International Tax Counsel, from 1982 – 1987, during which Mr. Shay actively participated in the development and enactment of international provisions in the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

Mr. Shay has published scholarly and practice articles relating to international taxation, and testified for law reform before Congressional tax-writing committees. He has had extensive practice experience in the international tax area and while in active practice was recognized as a leading practitioner in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, Euromoney’s Guide to The World’ Leading Tax Advisers and Euromoney’s, Guide to The Best of the Best. Mr. Shay discloses certain related interests and activities not connected with his position at Harvard Law School on the Harvard Law School website.

Mr. Shay is President of the American Tax Policy Institute Board of Trustees and was the IBFD Professor in Residence for 2015. Mr. Shay serves on the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section and has been active in the American Bar Association Tax Section as a Council Director and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Activities of US Taxpayers, in the American Law Institute as an Associate Reporter and in the Taxes Committee of the International Bar Association.

Mr. Shay is a 1972 graduate of Wesleyan University, and he earned his JD and MBA from Columbia University in 1976.

Holger Spamann LL.M. ’01, S.J.D. ’09 Holger Spamann is Assistant Professor at Harvard Law School, where he teaches corporations, corporate finance, and a class on hedge funds. His research employs theoretical and empirical tools from economics, psychology, and comparative law. His main areas of interest are corporate governance, financial markets, and social-scientific jurisprudence. He has also worked on comparative crime, conflict of laws, and international trade. Before embarking on his academic career, he practiced with the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and clerked for two years in Europe. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University, a BSc in economics from L.S.E., a doctorate in law (SJD) from Harvard Law School, and basic law degrees from the Sorbonne and the University of Hamburg.

Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez ’17 Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez is the President of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB), a student-run nonprofit law firm that has provided free legal aid services to low-income clients in the Greater Boston area for over 100 years. HLAB student attorneys practice under Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:03 and represent low-income clients in cases ranging from Housing Law and Family Law to Benefits and Wage and Hour cases. At the Bureau, Pedro has represented clients in housing and foreclosure cases. Prior to law school, Pedro worked at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and completed degrees at UC Berkeley and the University of Cambridge. Toby Stock ’01 Since early 2009, Toby Stock has led the group charged with building relationships with individuals who are committed to the mission of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He leads a small team of gift officers and development staff. In 2013, he assumed management of AEI’s college and university outreach in order to engage hundreds of students and faculty with AEI’s free enterprise mission. Mr. Stock also advises AEI’s president and senior vice president for development on institutional marketing,strategy, and talent development.

Toby joined AEI after serving more than three years as Assistant Dean for Admissions at Harvard Law School. As head of JD admissions, he reported to Dean Elena Kagan (now an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court) and worked with the faculty chair, Elizabeth Warren, to review approximately 7,000 applications each year.

Prior to joining the staff at Harvard, Mr. Stock was the co-founder of Chicago-based Brody Admissions, a college and graduate school admissions advising and test-prep firm. From 2001 to 2003, he was an associate in McKinsey & Company’s Chicago office, working with Fortune 500 financial institutions on strategic and operational problems.

Mr. Stock is a 2001 graduate of Harvard Law School and a summa cum laude graduate in finance at the University of Missouri College of Business (1998). He first worked in DC as an intern with Procter & Gamble’s National Government Relations office, in conjunction with classes at Georgetown as part of the Fund for American Studies’ summer program. Toby has served on the advisory councils for TFAS and for a start-up college prep firm called Launch Point and was a 2010 National Review Institute Fellow. He is the founder of the STRIVE DC Council, supporting a job readiness and training program in Northeast DC.

Sally A. Thurston ’86 Sally A. Thurston advises multinational clients on a wide range of tax matters, including the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, joint venture formations, restructurings, divestitures and spin-offs, with a particular focus on the US tax aspects of cross-border transactions, cash repatriation techniques and investment structures.

Ms. Thurston is advising Pfizer Inc. in its $160 billion acquisition of Allergan; and TAL International Group, Inc. in its merger-of-equals with Triton Container International Limited. She also has advised The Middleby Corporation in its acquisition of AGA Rangemaster Group plc.

In addition to her extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, Ms. Thurston regularly advises multinational pharmaceutical and medical device companies in connection with general tax planning matters. She also represents clients in connection with international debt and equity offerings, and has substantial experience representing offshore insurers and reinsurers and their shareholders.

In the United States, Ms. Thurston advises clients on taxable and tax-free acquisitions and divestitures and has significant experience in the partnership taxation area. She also regularly counsels private equity clients in connection with acquisitions and divestitures of portfolio companies.

Ms. Thurston lectures frequently on various international and US tax matters. She has been selected for inclusion in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Tax Directors Handbook, Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America and The Best Lawyers in America.

Anna Wallin LL.M. ’86 Anna Wallin is the head of secretariat to the Committee on Taxation in the Swedish Parliament. She coordinates the work of the committee and together with her team assists the members of the committee in presenting proposals for decisions by the Parliament and examining EU proposals in the Tax area. Previously she was between 2000 and 2007 counsellor at the Swedish Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels. Earlier in her career she served at the Ministry of Finance and as head of the International Unit, National Board of Taxation. She holds a Juris Kand from the University of Uppsala, Sweden in addition to an LLM from Harvard Law School in 1986. Brandie N. Weddle ’06 Brandie N. Weddle is a Trial Attorney at the US Department of Justice, Commercial Litigation Branch/Frauds. She works with US Attorney’s Offices nation-wide to litigate cases involving financial fraud against the Federal Government.

Previously, Ms. Weddle was a litigation associate at Arnold & Porter LLP. There, her practice focused on complex commercial litigation, international litigation, securities compliance, and enforcement. Her clients have included private and publicly traded companies, corporate officers and directors, and foreign governments.

Lis Wiehl ’87 Lis Wiehl is the author of fifteen award winning books, including fiction and non-fiction. She appears daily on national television analyzing legal news, and anchors “Wiehl of Justice” on Sirius Radio; and “Legal Lis” on Fox Radio.

Ms. Wiehl is an Adjunct Professor at the New York School of Law, and a former Tenured Law Professor at the University of Washington School of Law. She previously worked as an Executive Assistant US Attorney in Seattle, the Deputy Chief Investigative Counsel for the United States House of Representatives (Impeachment Investigation and Hearings on President Clinton) and as a Harvard Law School Instructor in the Winter Trial Advocacy Program. In addition to her JD from Harvard Law School, she earned a Master of Literature Degree from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Scott A. Westfahl ’88 Scott Westfahl is the Faculty Director of HLS Executive Education and also teaches courses on problem solving, teams, networks and innovation within the law school’s JD curriculum. As the Faculty Director of the Executive Education program, he leads the HLS effort to support and develop lawyers across the arc of their careers, particularly as they advance to new levels of leadership and responsibility. He oversees and teaches in Executive Education’s core, global leadership programs for law firm managing partners, emerging law firm leaders and General Counsel.

He also collaborates with HLS colleagues and other Harvard faculty to design and teach custom programs for law firms, law departments and other legal-related organizations. He focuses his Executive Education teaching and writing on leadership, motivation and development of professionals, and organizational alignment from a talent management and diversity and inclusion perspective.

Professor Westfahl joined HLS from, Goodwin Procter LLP, where he served from 2004 – 2013 as the firm’s Director of Professional Development. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the professional development of the firm’s attorneys and staff, focusing on organizational and leadership development, feedback, mentoring, career progression, diversity, professional skills training, attorney and staff integration and transitions and alumni. As a Lecturer on Law from 2010–2013, he teamed with Professor David Wilkins to teach an 80-student section of the law school’s Problem Solving Workshop for first-year students.

In 2008, Professor Westfahl was chosen as one of Law Firm, Inc. magazine’s five “Innovators of the Year” for his development of a cutting edge attorney assignment system and database called iStaff, which effectively ties attorney work assignments to their professional development needs. From 2009 – 2011, he served as the Chair of the Professional Development Consortium, a 450-member professional association for law firm professional development and training leaders across North America and the UK. Professor Westfahl frequently lectures and comments upon talent development within professional services firms and is the author of You Get What You Measure: Lawyer Development Frameworks and Effective Performance Evaluations (NALP, 2008).

Prior to his work at Goodwin Procter, Professor Westfahl spent six years leading professional development for the Washington, D.C. office of McKinsey & Company. He is also an experienced business and federal regulatory attorney, having practiced law with Foley & Lardner’s Washington, DC office from 1988 – 1998. Professor Westfahl earned his JD from Harvard Law School in 1988, and graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1985.

Sarah Leah Whitson ’91 Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, oversees the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries. She has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, accountability, legal reform, migrant workers, and political rights.

She has published widely on human rights issues in the Middle East in international and regional media, including The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN. She appears regularly on Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, and CNN. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Ms. Whitson worked in New York for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley before attending Harvard Law School. Ms. Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She speaks Armenian and Arabic.

Brian L. Zimbler ’86 Brian L. Zimbler ’86 is a partner in the Moscow and London offices of Morgan Lewis, and oversees a team of 30+ lawyers in Moscow. Brian advises on cross-border M&A and private equity transactions, compliance and regulatory matters, and international disputes. He is both a US lawyer and an English solicitor, and frequently works on transactions that involve multiple legal systems with clients from around the globe, with the main focus on Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Sample projects have included a $4 billion investment in Kazakhstan by a Chinese state oil company; a manufacturing joint venture between General Electric and Russian state-owned companies; the sale of a Swiss-listed public company whose main assets are Russian commercial property; and advising NBC Universal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Mr. Zimbler practiced at Graham & James (San Francisco), LeBoeuf Lamb, and Dewey & LeBoeuf before joining Morgan Lewis, and has been based outside of the US since 1994.

Jonathan L. Zittrain ’95 Professor Zittrain’s research interests include battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, the roles of intermediaries within Internet architecture, human computing, and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education. He performed the first large-scale tests of Internet filtering in China and Saudi Arabia, and as part of the OpenNet Initiative, co-edited a series of studies of Internet filtering by national governments: Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering; Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace; and Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberpace.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Board of Advisors for Scientific American. He has served as a Trustee of the Internet Society, and as a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum, which named him a Young Global Leader, and as Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the Federal Communications Commission, where he previously chaired the Open Internet Advisory Committee. His book, The Future of the Internet — And How to Stop It predicted the end of general purpose client computing and the corresponding rise of new gatekeepers. More information about this book and his other works may be found at www.jz.org.