LAS Leadership

The Law Alumni Society Board of Managers meets three times a year to discuss and implement outreach to Penn Law alumni nationally and internationally and to volunteer with prospective and current students and alumni. Their meeting dates include discussions with Penn Law students and departments, an update from the dean, an opportunity to volunteer, social time and an educational component. Managers serve one three-year term with the option to serve an additional three years. They provide service to the Law School through committees on (1) Career Planning and Professionalism, (2) Public Interest and Public Service, (3) Student Life and (4) Post-Acceptance Admissions. The Board also selects the Alumni Award recipients each year. This year the Board adopted new guidelines which increased the size of the group and included representatives from each alumni club. It also eliminated the annual Law Alumni Society dues requirement, so that all 12,000+ University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni are now, for the first time, full members of the LAS. Please contact any member of the Board of Managers; Nancy Rasmussen (nrasmuss@law.upenn.edu), Associate Director of Alumni Relations; or Rick D'Avino (rick.davino@ge.com), the President of the Law Alumni Society for more information and to discuss how we can best serve Penn Law alumni.

Above: New members of the Board gathered for an orientation at the Law School in July 2010

OFFICERS
President Rick D'Avino L'80 Riverside, CT Rick is Vice President and Senior Tax Counsel, General Electric Company. View Bio Hide Bio	Vice President Laura Kassner Christa L'80 Los Angeles, CA Laura is a founder of Christa & Jackson, a Los Angeles-based litigation firm, which represents national and international clients primarily in complex litigations matters. View Bio Hide Bio	Public Interest Committee Chair Cathy Carr L'79 Philadelphia, PA Cathy is Executive Director of Community Legal Services, Philadelphia's largest civil legal aid program. Community Legal Services provides access to justice to thousands of vulnerable low income Philadelphians facing legal problems with basic needs such as housing, employment, health care, income, and family integrity, through individual representation and administrative, litigation and legislative advocacy seeking policy and systems change. View Bio Hide Bio
Post Acceptance Committee Chair Terri Solomon Topaz L'79 New York, NY Terri is a partner in the New York Office of Littler Mendelson, the nation's largest firm exclusively representing employers in employment, labor and benefit matters and related litigation. View Bio Hide Bio	Student Life Committee Chair Julius Towers L'03 New York, NY Julius is a Senior Counsel at Bristol-Myers Squibb, specializing in intellectual property, specifically trademarks, copyrights, Internet law and licensing. Before BMS, he was an associate in the Intellectual Property Group in the NYC office of Pillsbury Winthrop LLP. View Bio Hide Bio	CP&P Committee Chair Mark Weisberg Chicago Alumni Club W'85, L'88 Evanston, IL Mark is a partner in Winston & Strawn's employee benefits and executive compensation practice group, represents large employers in the design, establishment, and administration of retirement benefit, welfare benefit, and deferred and equity-based compensation plans. He also represents both employers and executives in the drafting and negotiation of employment and separation agreements. Mark is one of the leaders of the Penn Law Chicago Alumni Club. View Bio Hide Bio
GENERAL BODY MEMBERS
Leslie Altus L'83 Hewlett, NY Leslie is counsel in Davis Polk & Wardwell's Tax Department, where she advises on tax controversy and various transactional matters including the tax aspects of leveraged leasing transactions. She was previously an associate for the same firm. View Bio Hide Bio Leona Barsky L'84 New York, NY Leona is a Labor and Employment Arbitrator with Employment Compliance Services in New York City. View Bio Hide Bio Alessandro Barzaghi Italy Alumni Club GL'03 Milano, Italy Alessandro is a corporate lawyer and partner in the mid-size Italian law firm Cocuzza & Associati, out of Milan. He focuses his practice on retail and real estate law, advising international clients on their real estate development as well as on corporate and commercial law, and venture capital investments. His clientele is composed of both U.S. and international companies who wish to establish a presence in Italy, or Italian companies which need to establish a presence abroad. View Bio Hide Bio Jennifer Bealer L'09 New York City, NY Jennifer is an associate in the health care group at Ropes & Gray in New York City. View Bio Hide Bio Wendy Beetlestone L'93 Philadelphia, PA Wendy is a commercial litigator and a partner at Hangley Aronchick. In 2002, she accepted an appointment as General Counsel of the School District of Philadelphia where she provided legal advice, guidance and counsel to the School District and its governing body, the School Reform Commission, and led the 19 lawyers in the office of the General Counsel. View Bio Hide Bio Alex Bokor South Florida Alumni Club L'02 Miami, FL Alex is an Assistant County Attorney in the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office.He specializes in tort and medical malpractice defense as well as government operations and procurement contracts. Previously, Alex worked as a commercial litigation associate at Jones Day in New York and Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Miami. View Bio Hide Bio Lance Breiland L'98 Minneapolis, MN Lance works for Interlachen Capital Group, a hedge fund. He is originally from Minnesota and hopes to start a Penn Law Alumni Club there. Lance was class president while at Penn Law. View Bio Hide Bio Cindy Chen PLAAN (Penn Law Asian-American Alumni Network) L'04 New York, NY Cindy Chen is currently a Senior Counsel with Johnson & Johnson, supporting its Medical Devices & Diagnostics sector. She was previously an Mergers & Acquisitions associate in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. View Bio Hide Bio Alyson Cooke Washington D.C. Alumni Club L'89 Silver Spring, MD Alyson works with Chairman Barbara Boxer on the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, managing all of the presidential nominations over which the Committee has jurisdiction. In this capacity, she frequently interacts with the White House, Office of Government Ethics, and every nominee and respective agency for which they have been nominated to serve. She also manages matters before the Committee involving the national real estate portfolio of the General Services Administration. View Bio Hide Bio J. Raul Cosio L'85 Miami, FL Raul is a partner at Holland & Knight, a firm he has practiced at his entire legal career. He is a member of the commercial litigation, securities litigation and international litigation and arbitration practice groups, with experience in various matters including banking fraud, foreclosures and lease disputes. View Bio Hide Bio Sam Danon L'91 Miami, FL Sam is a partner at Hunton & Williams, focusing on litigation with an emphasis on financial institutions and government regulatory advice, internal investigations, corporate compliance, petroleum marketing, business torts, contract and partnership disputes, products liability and intellectual property. View Bio Hide Bio Silvia Diaz L'08 PA Silvia is a litigation associate at the law firm Wisler Pearlstine, LLP, where she specializes in all aspects of education law. View Bio Hide Bio Adriano Dib Brazil Alumni Club GL'05 São Paulo, Brazil Through his firm Adriano Dib Assessoria Juridica, Adriano provides direct legal advice to domestic and international companies in the corporate law arena. He is also a professor of corporate, economic and international law. View Bio Hide Bio Jennifer Driscoll-Chippendale L'00 Washington, DC Jennifer is a partner at Sheppard Mulling Richter & Hampton LLP in Washington, DC. View Bio Hide Bio Mark Farrell L'01 San Francisco, CA Mark is a Managing Director at Quest Hospitality Ventures. He previously worked as an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, and as an investment banker at Thomas Weisel Partners in San Francisco, where he led the Internet & Digital Media investment banking team. Mark is co-founder of the Penn Law Northern California Alumni Club, and served as Student Body President while at Penn Law School. View Bio Hide Bio Larry Finkelstein W'73, L'76 Bala-Cynwyd, PA Larry is a senior partner with Blank Rome LLP. With a business and finance background, he primarily represents entrepreneurs, family, and privately-owned middle-market businesses located throughout the US, and also represents foreign owned companies, primarily family-owned businesses, in purchasing, establishing and operating US businesses.He focuses his practice on middle-market M&A, financings (debt and equity), joint venture and cross-border transactions, as well as business, tax and succession planning. His clients are in many industries, including health care, real estate, sophisticated manufacturing and financial services. View Bio Hide Bio Gerry Frim Boston Alumni Club L'84 Newtonville, MA Gerry is an attorney at the McCormack Firm in Boston, practicing in the areas of insurance coverage, bad faith and tort defense litigation. He has over 17 years experience in civil litigation and insurance law. He practiced in Los Angeles for 12 years, representing prominent thrift and loan companies, real estate developers, physician groups, and private businesses. View Bio Hide Bio Omer Gamlieli Penn Law Israel Alumni Club LLM '11 Omer will lead the Israel Club when he graduates in May 2011. View Bio Hide Bio Gerardo Garcia-Fiad Penn Law Alumni Club of Argentina GL'02 Buenos Aires, Argentina Gerardo is Corporate Counsel SA for Alcatel-Lucent in Buenos Aires. View Bio Hide Bio Michael L. Goldman L'86 Trumbull, CT Michael is a founding Member of the firm Goldman Gruder and Woods, LLC, where he serves as the managing principal. Michael also serves as Chairman of the Business/Corporate Law Practice Group and the Commercial Real Estate Law Practice Group. He is past president of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. View Bio Hide Bio Kurt Gwynne L'92 Glen Mills, PA Kurt is the managing partner of the Wilmington office of Reed Smith LLP, practicing in the areas of Commercial Restructuring & Bankruptcy and Delaware Litigation. He is a member of the Financial Industry Group and head of the Wilmington bankruptcy group. View Bio Hide Bio Adam Haberfield Northern New Jersey Alumni Club L'98 Adam is a partner with Orloff, Lowenbach, Stifelman & Siegel, P.A. in Roseland, NJ. He currently serves on the Firm's management committee and handles transactional matters as a member of the Corporate and Real Estate practice groups. Adam founded the Northern New Jersey Alumni Club in 2010. View Bio Hide Bio	Elliott Hahn Southern California Alumni Club C'71, L'74 Rolling Hills Estates, CA Elliott is an attorney at Hahn & Bolson, LLP, a full-service business law firm in Torrance, California and is the head of the transactional practice. In 2009/2010 they were named by the British magazine Corporate INTL as the best law firm in California for labor and employment work. View Bio Hide Bio Joseph Halprin L'91 Hastings on Hudson, NY Joe is Managing Counsel, Global ATM, Debit, & Prepaid Products & Solutions at MasterCard Worldwide. View Bio Hide Bio Go Hashimoto Alumni Club of Japan L'92 Tokyo, Japan Go specializes in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring/insolvency, civil and commercial disputes, education and professional activities for Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo. View Bio Hide Bio Henry Hoberman C’82, L'85 New York, NY Henry oversees global legal affairs and intellectual property protection for the Motion Picture Association of America. Previously he served as the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of RHI Entertainment, Inc. View Bio Hide Bio Adam Hobson L'08 New York, NY Adam is an associate with Wachtell Lipton Rosen and Katz. View Bio Hide Bio The Honorable Randy Holland L'72 Milford, DE Justice Holland is serving a second 12-year term on the Delaware Supreme Court, where he was named to the bench in 1986. The recipient of the Law School's James Wilson Award in 2009, Judge Holland has also been an active leader in the areas of ethics and professional responsibility. View Bio Hide Bio Robert W. Ivey Dallas-Ft. Worth Alumni Club L'05 Dallas, TX Robert is a reorganization and corporate finance attorney with the law firm of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. View Bio Hide Bio Karthik Jayashankar Alumni Club of India GL'08 India Karthik is the leader of the new Penn Law Alumni Club of India. He recently planned an alumni dinner in New Delhi with Professor Eric Feldman, who is exploring ties with India for Penn Law. View Bio Hide Bio Ann R. Klee L '86 Fairfield, CT Ann is Vice President for Environment, Health & Safety at the General Electric Company in Fairfield, CT. She is responsible for ensuring that GE's global operations comply with applicable EHS laws and regulations, managing the Company's environmental litigation, and advising business leaders on environmental policy issues. View Bio Hide Bio Inti Linkletter Knapp Seattle Alumni Club L'00 Seattle, WA Inti is a founding partner of Linkletter Walsh, a legal recruiting firm in Seattle. Previously Inti joined the world's largest legal search firm as a recruiter after four years with Perkins Coie LLP. View Bio Hide Bio Lori Knauer Wilmington Alumni Club L'89 Swarthmore, PA Lori is Corporate Counsel, Employee Benefits, at E. I. du Pont and Company in Wilmington, Delaware. Before joining DuPont in 1998, she worked with law firms in Philadelphia, and clerked for the Honorable Robert S. Gawthrop, III on the Eastern District. View Bio Hide Bio Jeff Kohn L'97, W'97 Los Angeles, CA Jeff currently works with a small LA law firm, after working for firms specializing in real estate and in the hospitality industry. Jeff is vice president of the Penn Law Southern California Alumni Club. View Bio Hide Bio Esther Lander L'97 Washington D.C. Esther is a Deputy Chief in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, where she has been employed since 2006. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Esther practiced labor and employment law with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, LLP in Washington DC. Ester is Board member Marion Hubing's daughter. View Bio Hide Bio Gail Lione L'74 Fox Point, WI Gail is the President of the Harley-Davidson Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the communities in which the company has facilities, with the majority of the Foundation's investments in the areas of education and community revitalization. Prior to her current role, she was the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Harley-Davidson, Inc. for 13 years. She started her legal career as an associate with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and also served as General Counsel of US News & World Report. View Bio Hide Bio Robert Marchman L'83 New York, NY Robert is Executive Vice President, Legal Section, with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Market Regulation Department. He has served as an Executive Vice President in New York Stock Exchange Regulation, directing and managing the activities of the Division of Enforcement (investigates and prosecutes trading and other Exchange rule violations), and the Regulatory Risk Group (identifies areas of internal risks as well as external market risks). Since 1999, Robert has served as Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange's Diversity Council. View Bio Hide Bio Don Mares Denver Alumni Club L'82 Denver, CO Don is CEO of Mental Health America of Colorado, based in Denver. He has served in the Cabinet of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., as head of the Department of Labor and Employment, after having been elected to the Colorado House and Senate and serving two terms as Denver's elected Auditor. View Bio Hide Bio Enrique "Rick" Martin L'92 Miami, FL Rick is a shareholder in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group of Greenberg Traurig. His practice focuses on acquisitions, joint ventures, securities offerings and private equity transactions, and he is frequently engaged in connection with various forms of international business transactions. He lives in Miami and is a leader of the Penn Law South Florida Alumni Club. View Bio Hide Bio Walfrido J. "Wally" Martinez L'91 Ridgefield, CT Wally currently serves as the managing partner of Hunton & Williams. His practice focuses on complex business litigation and white collar criminal defense. View Bio Hide Bio J. Bradford "Brad" McIlvain L '84 Philadelphia, PA Brad is a Partner with Archer & Greiner P.C. in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Chair of the firm's Construction and Real Estate Litigation Group. He has represented stakeholders in major Philadelphia region public development projects, including construction of Lincoln Financial Field, the National Constitution Center, Philadelphia Airport Terminal F, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. View Bio Hide Bio Cathyrn Miller-Wilson L'93 Philadelphia, PA Cathy is Deputy Managing Attorney for the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania and specializes in private disability benefits, FMLA, ADA and other employment and financial matters for persons with HIV/AIDS. She was the primary author of Pennsylvania's Standby Guardianship Law and has lectured nationally on permanency planning for the HIV-infected parent, discrimination in child custody law and on Pennsylvania's Standby Guardianship Law. View Bio Hide Bio Chris Murray Indianapolis Alumni Club L'01 Indianapolis, IN Chris is an attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., focusing his practice on litigation, primarily representing management in employment-related cases. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Fred I. Parker on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and then practiced in Chicago at Mayer Brown LLP before returning to Indiana. View Bio Hide Bio	Ancela Nastasi L'89 New York, NY Ancela is a partner in the Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group at the NY office of Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP. Prior to joining RK&O, she was Of Counsel to Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe LLP, and was associated with Weil Gotshal & Manges and with Kirkland & Ellis. She also has a diploma from the London School of Economics. View Bio Hide Bio Christoph Naumann Penn Law Germany Alumni Club LLM '08 Frankfurt, Germany Christoph is a leader of the alumni club and an associate with Clifford Chance in Frankfurt. View Bio Hide Bio Marina Nelson L '06 San Francisco, CA Marina is involved in social media marketing, public relations and community engagement in Northern California. View Bio Hide Bio Matthew Olesh Philadelphia Alumni Club L '07 Philadelphia, PA Matthew is an attorney with Fox Rothschild LLP in Philadelphia and founded the Penn Law Philadelphia Alumni Club. View Bio Hide Bio Robert Parker L'84 Washington D.C. Robert is a partner with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. View Bio Hide Bio Andrea Patton L'99 Boston, MA Andrea practiced at King & Spalding in Atlanta before moving to Boston with her young family, where she has become involved with several regional non-profit organizations, including the Aspergers Association of New England. View Bio Hide Bio Tashanna Pearson L'08 New York, NY Tashanna is a litigation associate with Weil Gotshal in New York City. View Bio Hide Bio Donyale Reavis PAALAS L'99 Haddonfield, NJ Donyale is an intellectual property attorney and partner with Reavis & Associates, PC and the Program Manager of CORE (College Opportunity Resources for Education), a citywide scholarship organization which has awarded $26M to Philadelphia graduating high school seniors over the past six years. She currently has an entertainment and non-profit law practice, and is co-founder of Spring Garden Pictures, a youth-focused film organization, the successor to an earlier youth media literacy organization. View Bio Hide Bio Brielle Rey L'08 Philadelphia, PA Brielle is an associate at Dechert where she's a member of the firm's White Collar & Securities Litigation Group. She also clerked on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. View Bio Hide Bio Joe Roda L'74 Lancaster, PA Joe is a shareholder and president of Roda & Nast, P.C., which limits its practice to civil litigation. Joe handles a wide range of cases, including individual and class actions. He is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and has for the past four years been named one of the top 100 lawyers in Pennsylvania in the annual surveys by Philadelphia Magazine of all practicing lawyers in the state. View Bio Hide Bio Mike Saslaw L'82 Dallas, TX Mike is a partner in the Dallas office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He's one of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Alumni Club leaders. View Bio Hide Bio Sherrie Savett L'73 Philadelphia, PA Sherrie is a local attorney with Berger and Montague and has served as the firm solicitor for several years. View Bio Hide Bio Mark Schichtel L'94 Charlotte, NC Mark is a tax attorney for Time Warner Cable in Charlotte, NC. He is responsible for all areas of tax at Time Warner Cable, including the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, strategy, planning, policy, litigation, risk management, financings, financial reporting and compliance. He has an A.B. from the University of Chicago in Political Science. View Bio Hide Bio Andy Schiesl L'95 Milwaukee, WI Andy is the VP and General Counsel of Quad/Graphics. View Bio Hide Bio Ben Schireson New York City Alumni Club L'05 NYC, NY Ben is a litigation attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz in New York focusing on white collar investigations and securities cases. Before joining Wachtell Lipton, Ben clerked for Chief Justice Anthony J. Scirica of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. View Bio Hide Bio Nicole Seawell Denver Alumni Club L'96 Englewood, CO Nicole practiced as a commercial real estate and corporate associate at Holland and Hart in Denver until she left to work for a client, Inflow, in business development and automation. She's currently CEO of three busy, energetic, smart, funny boys Will, Cole and Mac and her lawyer husband Malcolm. View Bio Hide Bio Sara Shikhman New York City Alumni Club L'06 Brooklyn, NY Sara is a fixed income portfolio manager at Deutsche Asset Management and an adjunct professor of business law at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University. View Bio Hide Bio Rick Silva L'90 Tampa, FL Rick is President and CEO of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc, based in Tampa, Florida. Checkers is a fast food hamburger restaurant chain with over 800 restaurants across the US. Before joining Checkers, Rick spent 13 years in various executive positions at Burger King Corporation. Before that, he was an attorney with the Miami office of Greenburg Traurig. View Bio Hide Bio Janet Stotland C'66, L'69 Philadelphia, PA Janet is General Counsel for the Education Law Center in Philadelphia. View Bio Hide Bio Clayton Thomas, Jr. L'62 Philadelphia, PA Clayton is currently working with the firm of Wade Clark Mulcahy, a regional firm, in their Philadelphia location. Their main office is in New York City, with another office in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. The firm represents insurance companies and self insured in the areas of product liability, environmental, general liability, and insurance coverage in state and federal courts. Clayton is also an active member of the Philadelphia Association of Defense counsel where he serves on their executive committee. View Bio Hide Bio Karen Knox Valihura L'88 Wilmington, DE Karen Knox Valihura is a litigation partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Wilmington, Delaware. She handles corporate and commercial litigation in state and federal courts and currently is President of the Delaware Bar Foundation. She is active in a number of other community and legal organizations. View Bio Hide Bio The Hon. Flora Barth Wolf L'80 Philadelphia, PA Judge Wolf is a judge of the City of Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, assigned to the Family Court. She sits in Dependency Court and hears cases involving abused and neglected children and families in need of everything from a roof over their heads to sophisticated psychotherapy to respect and acknowledgement. View Bio Hide Bio
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS
Past President Arlene Fickler L'74 Philadelphia, PA University of Pennsylvania Law School, Dean Dean Michael A. Fitts Philadelphia, PA Past President Jim Golden L'80 Merion Station, PA Association of Alumnae Marion Sokal Hubing L'90 Valley Forge, PA	Penn Alumni Lisa Holzsager Kramer L'70 Bedford, NY Past President Arthur W. Lefco L'71 Conshohocken, PA Order of the Coif Alfred W. Putnam, Jr. L'78 Ardmore, PA Past President David Richman L'69 Ardmore, PA	Past President Richard E. Rosin L'68 Elkins Park, PA Past President Tai Chang Terry L'80 New York, NY Stella Ming Tsai L'88 Philadelphia, PA Stella is a business litigation partner at the Philadelphia office of Archer & Greiner P.C. with a practice concentrating in ethics and regulatory compliance. Prior to Archer & Greiner, Stella served as Chair of Administrative Law at the City of Philadelphia Law Department from 2000-2003 and was appointed to Philadelphia's Zoning Code Commission to help rewrite the City's outdated zoning code to facilitate sustainable growth. She is incoming President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, immediate Past Chair of the Women's Law Project Board of Trustees and a member of the Family Planning Council Board of Directors. View Bio Hide Bio

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