nomination for “outstanding committee member of the year” · i, raghu nandan, hereby nominate...

Dawn Haghighi Nomination of 10

Nomination For “Outstanding Committee Member of The Year” Is awarded for individual excellence, leadership and major contributions made by a member of an ACC Committee. General Requirements: Eligibility for this award is restricted to current ACC members in good standing who are members of an ACC Committee. Nominees are considered for their committee leadership positions, their contributions to the committee, ACC and the legal profession generally, especially in-house practice. Contributions to the community at large through volunteer work or pro bono activities may also be considered. Please attach additional sheets, as necessary and return your nomination to ACC (attn: Victor Morales at [email protected]). I, Raghu Nandan, hereby nominate the following ACC Member for “Outstanding Committee Member of the Year.” Nominee: Dawn Haghighi Nominee's Company: PCV Murcor Committee Affiliation: Real Estate Committee Please provide a brief summary of the nominee’s leadership role(s) and contributions to the above committee: Please tell us about the nominee’s contributions to ACC (e.g., CLE programs, ACC publications, membership outreach/development, etc.), the legal profession generally and in-house practice specifically (including through other bar association activities which promote the expertise of in-house counsel). Please comment on any community service or pro bono activities on the part of the nominee or any other factors, which you would like to be considered. NOTE: A bio and headshot of winner will be required within two-weeks after selection has been made.


NOMINATION FOR JONATHAN A. SILBER OUTSTANDING COMMITTEE MEMBER OF THE YEAR AWARD As the Vice-Chair of ACC’s Real Estate Committee, I am pleased to nominate Dawn Haghighi, General Counsel of Affiliate Companies PCV Murcor Real Estate Services (Los Angeles), Hightide Settlement Services (Anaheim), and VRM Mortgage Services (Dallas) for the 2017 Jonathan A. Silber Outstanding Committee Member of the Year Award. Dawn has contributed her time and talents to many ACC, professional and volunteer organizations. Dawn’s efforts have been essential to success of the Real Estate Committee in her role as Chair; she has raised visibility of the ACC in her leadership role in the Financial Services Committee and as Co-Chair of the Regulatory Working Group. This year, despite the lack of a Real Estate Committee sponsor, Dawn could secure speakers, significantly increase the number of Legal Quick Hits to average more than 1 a month, and add many first-time initiatives with the overall goal of making the successes sustainable. Dawn’s bio is attached as Exhibit A and below is a high-level summary of key ACC, professional, and volunteer activities for 2017. A. ACC VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP 2017 ROLES 1. Chair, Real Estate Committee (2016 & 2017) 2. Leadership, Programs, Financial Services Committee (2017) 3. Co-Chair, Regulatory Working Group 4. Advisory Board Member, 2017 Mid-Year Meeting & 2017 Annual Meeting 5. Panelist, 2016 Annual Meeting; 2017 Mid-Year Meeting; 2017 Annual Meeting 6. SoCal Chapter GALA Committee 2017

• Maintained the distinction of selling highest number of table sales

• Member of the Gala Committee for 16 years.

• Dawn is a former board member of the SoCal Chapter.


7. Participant a. 2017 ACC Global Foundation Women in Law and Leadership Event at UN

b. ACC Global CLO Diversity Roundtable, co-sponsored with the Global CLO and SoCal Chapter

8. Discussion Leader a. Council of Committees – Programming Initiatives b. Council of Committees – Local Chapter Events

9. ACC Chicago Board Alumni Chapter Committee, 2017 to present a. Chicago Chapter President in 2005.

10. Met with ACC Melbourne Office during April 2017 visit to Melbourne, Australia B. 2017 LEADERSHIP, COMMUNITY AND IN-HOUSE LEADERSHIP ROLES Dawn is involved in many global leadership roles outside of the ACC. These global roles promote the ACC and the in-house community, especially women in the profession, and contribute to thought leadership of in-house profession. These roles have provided significant visibility to the in-house community. Some

of her key thought leadership and volunteer positions in 2017 include: 1. Speaker, Women in Business Law – Los Angeles Forum, Women on Board of Directors, sponsored

by Legal Media Group September 2017.

2. Participant, Host Committee 2020 Women on Boards – Los Angeles, Jul7 2017. National initiative to increase the number of woman on boards of directors by 20% by 2020.

3. Participant, National Association of Women Business Owners, April 2017 to present. 4. In- house Legal Advisor, Daily Journal Women Leadership in Law, May 2017. Dawn was

instrumental in program creation, securing speakers, and publicizing event to encourage in-house

http://www.callawyer.com/events/women-leadership-law/#event-registration


participation. The Daily Journal invited Dawn to serve in this capacity and specifically created this role for her to expand the participation of in-house counsel. See Exhibit B for more information.

5. Panelist, The Board Game – How Smart Woman Become Corporate Directors, Inaugural the Daily

Journal Women Leadership in The Law, May 2017. 6. Presenter, Daily Journal Inaugural Cyber Boot Camp, Risk Management for Board Directors,

January 2017. Dawn was instrumental in not only presenting as a panelist on Risk Management for Board of Directors but securing numerous speaking positions for other in-house counsel on the panels (previously filled by law firm attorneys).

7. Participant, UCLA Women Law LEAD Program, co-chaired by Nancy Abell Paul Hastings and

Michelle Banks former GC of The Gap, February 2107. Dawn was not only a participant but was able make arrangements for numerous complimentary passes for ACC in-house women members to participate.

8. Advisory Board of Directors, The Western Justice Center Foundation, 2006 to present. Founded

by Justice Kennedy and Judge Dorothy Nelson 9th Cir. Court of Appeals to support alternate dispute resolution with a focus on children. Board member from 2006 to 2012.


9. Participant in Numerous 2017 Invitation-Only CLO Roundtables sponsored by various entities including Ernst Young, Peer 150, Corporate Counsel Summit, the SoCal CLO Group et al.

10. Participant, Pacific Counsel on International Policy (invitation only), 2010 to present. Founded

by Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Participated is many 2017 programs featuring global leaders and Heads of State.

11. Founding Director and Past Chairman, National US Hong Association and Advisory Board, 2002

to present. Promotes trade between US and Asia. Dawn Supports on-going programs, 2002 to present.

C. DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESOURCES AND PROGRAMS FOR REAL ESTATE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEES This year, despite the lack of a real estate committee sponsor, Dawn has taken the lead to fill the monthly a QuickHit spots and secure speakers, but she has significantly increase the number of QuickHits to average of almost 2 a month. This year several programs had very high registration numbers of 100. In addition, she added many first-time initiatives with the overall goal of making the successes sustainable through strategic planning and goal setting. Dawn was also very active with the Financial Services Committee in identifying and interviewing sponsors and coordinating programming. 1. New Initiatives Through Dawn’s leadership, vision and coordination the Real Estate Committee instituted several initiatives for the first time including:

a. Strategic Plan with defined objectives b. Succession Plan c. Newsletter d. Non-substantive Programs with goal of attracting C-Suite in-house

• Career Development and Executive Leadership Series (4 programs)

• Compensation and How to Negotiate Your Salary

• Pro Bono Opportunities

• Diversity and Inclusion Panels (2-part CLO series)

• How to Secure a Seat on A Board of Directors e. CLO Roundtables and Local Chapter Events f. Communication Plan for Annual and Mid-Year Meetings

2. Strategic Plan and Succession Plan The Committee leadership is relatively new and the Committee did not have a Committee sponsor this year. The committee did not have a pipeline so the executive leaders took these positions as their first roles on the committee. To get the leadership to the next level, Dawn remained as Chair for a 2nd year, and created a Strategic Plan with goals and defined objectives to expand the resources for the committee. To kick-off the Committees activities, Dawn identified the need to have a “State of the Committee” Report at the 2016 Annual Meeting Committee Lunch to Kick-off the Program. As part of the succession plan, Dawn worked with new leader Raghu Nandan, Secretary, to present an objective benchmarking Committee Report to present to the Committee membership at 2016’s Annual Meeting Committee Luncheon. The Report served as tool to initiate a discussion on best practices for serving the membership. It also now serves as a benchmarking tool and foundation for measuring the success of the programs. She also guided the leadership to create a succession plan. Over the last few months we worked to identify, secure, and cultivate volunteers to work with each leadership role for redundancy and to create a pipeline to keep the committee work proceeding after her leadership. In chairing the


monthly leadership calls, Dawn focusses the committee on the key goal of making the initiatives sustainable and long term, keeping calls efficient and effective. 3. Leadership Development As part of her commitment to developing the next cadre of leaders within ACC, Dawn worked closely with Darryl Austin, Elena Antonetti, Erik Lindberg, and me to mentor them into our present leadership positions with ACC. Under Dawn’s mentorship, Darryl successfully co-moderated multiple presentations at 2016 Annual Meeting, developed a template for meeting minutes, and was the creative force behind our newsletter. Elena pursued forms and resources with dogged enthusiasm, building a library from scratch. Erik created a template for welcoming new members and pursuing increase in membership. I have had the opportunity to moderate multiple programs and organize local CLO roundtables. 4. Newsletter (see Exhibit C for published Newsletter) To raise the visibility of the Committee and increase membership, Dawn worked with Vice Chair Darryl Austin to create a consistent format for the newsletter to include 1) Chair’s message 2) Upcoming Events 3) What Are You Doing 4) Pro Bono Corner 5) Career Development Corner 6) Member Profile 7) Annual an MYM Updates. Dawn secured the content for many of the standard sections such as the career corner, pro bono corner, and member profile. See Attachment A. Our next newsletter is forthcoming.

5. Non-Substantive Programs As chair of the committee, Dawn was instrumental in expanding the offerings to the committee on non-real estate topics including several non – legal substantive programs. This included hosting in many months more than one program month. She secured Major Lindsay & Africa to conduct a four-part Career Development and Executive Leadership QuickHit Series of Programs with a Career Corner write-up in the Newsletter.

The Pro Bono program Phase One has just been kicked off. Dawn has been successful identifying law firms with Pro Bono opportunities for the members and is announcing them in the Newsletter. The Plan is to launch Phase Two and host a Pro Bono QuickHit before year end.

Through Dawn the Financial Services Committee and Real Estate Committee are finalizing the plan for a two-part series QuickHit on Diversity and Inclusion featuring CLOS from Fortune Companies. Dawn has created the program and secured GE and Walmart for the kickoff event.

6. Committee Offerings and QuickHits Despite lacking a Committee sponsor for much of 2017, the Real Estate Committee has been able to offer almost 2 programs each month to our membership with robust attendance (many events have featured pre-registrations approaching 100). We attribute the boost in attendance to initiatives spearheaded by Dawn, including having Leadership reach out to membership to promote programs, and streamlined communication that allows our membership to clearly know program details well ahead of time. Dawn was instrumental in securing speakers for almost all programs organized in 2017. As part of this effort, she focused on not only increase topics but also diversity in topics, allowing us to cross-market our programs to other committees, leading to an increased interest in membership in the Real Estate Committee.


Our Legal QuickHits since 2016 Annual Meeting include: a. The Drones Are Coming to the US, What to Do About It b. Title Insurance Claims and Damages c. Top Ten Mistakes Made by Commercial Landlords when Dealing with Defaulting Tenants d. Jujitsu Techniques for Enforcing and Defending Contract Liability Claims e. Common Pitfalls in Commercial Transactions Leading to Real Estate Claims f. CFPB Year in Review and What to Expect under the Trump Administration g. Hacking, Encryption, and Privacy: Where Will a Trump Administration Go? h. What Can ACC Do for You? A Review of ACC & Real Estate Committee Resources i. EQ vs IQ: What is it, How Do You Get it, & How Do Hiring Managers Test For it? j. Use of Influencers and Social Media for Real Estate, Financial Services and other Regulated

Industry Marketing k. Career Development in the Evolving Workplace

7. Creating Process, Systems and Communication Mechanism To improve the Committee’s efficiencies a key goal has been to create standardized processes. This includes standardizing and having a communication plan.

a. QuickHit Meetings Invites A standard way to communicate the programs was created for efficiency. As part to of her goal to develop the talent, leadership pipeline, and leadership, and to connect the Committee Leadership with the members, Dawn included not only herself as chair on the communications, but requested that all leadership, including pipeline volunteers, be included on the communications.

b. QuickHit Announcements To support the Annual and MY, acknowledge the support by the ACC, and promote future programming, a script was created for the leader moderating the call to accomplish these goals and to encourage participation. c. Annual Meeting Announcement Through Dawn’s leadership ideas Programs and Publications Chair, Elena Antonetti created a standard template to promote the annual meeting events hosted by the Real Estate Committee.

8. Annual Meetings Offerings

a. Supported the Program Submission Process As part of the strategic plan created under her leadership, one of the key goals was to increase the offerings of annual meeting programs and to identify synergies between committees for program content. As a leadership team and part of our strategic plan, we also put our efforts not only in identifying topics of interest for our members but the best way to present the write-ups for the programs. The Committee had the its highest acceptance rate for programs accepted with 3 joint-programs. As a veteran, Dawn could connect the Real Estate Committee with leaders in other committees to 1) the Financial Services Committee 2) Environmental Committee and 3) International Committee for co-sponsoring opportunities. Her outreach supported my efforts as the Annual Meeting Program Chair to achieve this success for our committee promoting joint-submissions. b. Annual Meeting 2017 Advisory Board Member and Presenter Dawn served on the Advisory Board for the 2017 Annual Meeting, and is a panel presenter. She is

http://webcastarchive.acc.com/detail.php?id=461891&go=1







a big supporter of attendance at the Annual Meetings, with this year being her 16th annual meeting in a row. c. Annual Meeting 2016 Presenter Who’s the Regulator in the Room? Regulations on Kickbacks, Money Laundering, and More. Presented by the ACC Real Estate and Financial Services Committees

Featured in the picture from left to right: Dawn Haghighi, Chair Real Estate, Laura Dorman Former Chair, Financial Services, The Hon. Thomas O’Brien, former U.S. Attorney, Brian Stretch, U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Erin Schneider, Associate Regional Director of Enforcement SEC CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE


d. Mid-Year Meeting Offerings Dawn has also been a big supporter of the Mid-Year Meeting serving both on the 2017 Mid-Year Meeting Advisory Board and as a presenter for the Financial Services Regulatory and Technology Pulse panel, featuring Tony Alexis, Assistant Director of Enforcement, CFPB, and Kathleen McGovern, Senior Deputy Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, US Department of Justice.

Full page write-up in Metropolitan Corporate Counsel magazine

e. Written Resources Under Dawn’s leadership, the Real Estate Committee has continually expanded its curated forms and documents offering to its membership.

f. Contributions to member recruitment and participation Under Dawn’s leadership we instituted many new initiatives to extend the scope of the committee’s reach, profile, and the visibility of the committee activities. She spearheaded outreach to various Chapters and coordinated local CLO events.


Chief Legal Officer Regulatory Roundtable, Los Angeles, California, July 28, 2016

Featured in the picture from left to right: The Hon. Eileen Decker, US Attorney; Michelle Layne, SEC Director LA; The Hon. Thomas O’Brien, former US Attorney, Lilly Hughes, Dawn Haghighi, Chair Real Estate and Laura Dorman Chair, Financial Services.

On July 28, 2016, the ACC Real Estate Committee and Financial Services Committee, in conjunction with the SoCal Chapter, held the CLO Regulatory Roundtable Series in Los Angeles, California. The CLO Roundtable featured the Honorable Eileen Decker, US Attorney for the Central District of California, the Honorable Michele Layne, Regional Director of the SEC Los Angeles Regional Office, and the Honorable Thomas O’Brien, former United States Attorney for the Central District of Los Angeles and current litigation partner at Paul Hastings. Dawn and Laura Dorman were the CLO Roundtable Co-Chairs. The event drew over 40 CLOs, including members of both sponsoring committees and of the SoCal Chapter of the ACC. The CLOs came from a wide range of industries, including retail, healthcare, banking, private equity, aerospace, title insurance, mortgage lending, aviation, government contractors, and food and beverage, governance, challenges and consequences of regulations.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information. Sincerely, Raghu Nandan General Counsel & COO Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC 520.382.5542 [email protected] Vice-Chair, ACC Real Estate Committee Attachments Exhibit A: Dawn’s Bio Exhibit B: Women Leadership in Law Programming Exhibit C: Newsletter developed under Dawn’s Leadership

mailto:[email protected]

DAWN HAGHIGHI, is General Counsel, Privacy and Compliance Officer for affiliated companies PCV Murcor Real Estate Services (Los

Angeles), Hightide Settlement Services (Anaheim) and Vendor Resource

Mortgage Services (Dallas). Her career encompasses senior management positions with responsibility for matters at several multi-national

corporations, including Assistant General Counsel and Privacy Officer for

Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd., General Counsel for the Illinois Division of Charter One Bank, NA (Royal Bank of Scotland), and Midwest

Employment Counsel for Nordstrom, Inc.

Ms. Haghighi is a frequent lecturer before boards, foundations and

professional organizations around the world. She is active in a number of

international, public policy, and not for profit organizations. She was selected as a participant to the U.S./China Economic & Trade Cooperation

Forum welcoming then PRC Vice President Xi Jinping to Los Angeles,

as a delegate to the Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria, as a member of the United States delegation to the Enhancing the Middle

East’s Economic Future IV Forum Doha, Qatar, as a participant to the

RAND China Reform Forum, in Beijing, China, a participant at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, a

presenter to the Supreme People’s Court Mediation and Arbitration

Congress in Beijing and Shanghai, China and as a delegate to several HKTDC Business Forums in Honk Kong, SAR. Ms. Haghighi also

attended the White House Welcome Ceremony for the PRC Premier Wen

Jibao.

Most recently, she served as the In-House Advisor and panelists for the Daily Journal Inaugural Women Leadership in the Law Conference, as a

panelists for the Cyber Security Boot Camp, presented at the Association

of Corporate Counsel Financial Services Mid-Year Meeting on Risk Management for Corporate Boards. She also served as one of the keynote

panelists at the Greenberg Taurig National Executive Women’s

Leadership Conference, and she presented at the Ford Harrison Women Leadership Forum.

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EXHIBIT A

Her community involvement also vests in memberships of a number of international, public policy, and not for profit organizations. She is Chair

of the Association of Corporate Counsel Real Estate Committee, the

leadership for the Financial Services Committee and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy (invitation only). She has served

on the Board of Directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel SoCal,

the Los Angeles Committee on Foreign Relations (invitation only), the Western Justice Center Foundation (current advisory board member), and

the National U.S. Hong Kong Business Association (past chairmen and

founding director). She was also a founding director and secretary of the Princess Cruises Community Foundation.

In Chicago, Illinois she served on the Board of Directors for the Hong Kong Business Association of Midwest (past president), The Association

of Corporate Counsel Chicago (past president) and the Chinese American

Service League. She is also pro bono consultant to the Rockefeller Pacific Trust advising on the advancement of national and international justice

systems, with emphasis on transnational economic activities.

Ms. Haghighi has received many professional awards including the

Association of Corporate Counsel Advocacy Award, the Los Angeles

Business Journal In-House Counsel Awards (Finalist), the Alston & Bird Women of Distinction Award, the Association of Corporate Counsel

Robert Townsend Member of the Year Award and the Association of

Media and Entertainment Honoree.

7/11/2017 Women Leadership in Law - California Lawyer

http://www.callawyer.com/events/women-leadership-law/#event-registration 1/17

EVENTS

Women Leadership in LawConnect. Engage. Grow

• $185 - $240

Our inaugural event will bring together some of the greatest law �rm and in-house practitioners to participate ininsightful discussions on recent topics important to the legal profession and of interest to women leaders. This is aconference/interactive forum, with networking opportunities throughout the event, for current, past or futurewomen leaders in law �rms and law departments.

About our KeynoteEileen M. Decker

Former United States Attorney, Central District of California

Until earlier this year, Eileen M. Decker served as a United StatesAttorney, and as such was the chief federal law enforcement o�cerin the Central District of California, a sprawling district based in LosAngeles that encompasses seven counties. Ms. Decker oversaw thelargest United States Attorney’s O�ce outside of the District ofColumbia, an o�ce that employs approximately 280 attorneys whoserve almost 20 million residents. The United States Attorney’s O�ceprosecutes the entire range of federal criminal o�enses, defends theUnited States in civil actions, and represents government interests intax matters.

After being unanimously con�rmed as United States Attorney by theUnited States Senate on June 11, 2015, Ms. Decker was given a four-year appointment by President Barack Obama. As part of her duties,Ms. Decker served on �ve Attorney General Advisory Committees –Civil Rights, Cyber/Intellectual Property, Terrorism/National Security,Violent and Organized Crime, and White Collar/Fraud. Along withmany of her colleagues who were appointed by President Obama,Ms. Decker resigned on March 10, 2017.

Prior to becoming the United States Attorney, Ms. Decker was the Deputy Mayor for Homeland Security and PublicSafety for the City of Los Angeles for nearly six years. As Deputy Mayor, Ms. Decker was responsible for mattersrelated to the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Fire Department, and the Emergency Management

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EXHIBIT B

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Department. In addition, she was the principle liaison for the City of Los Angeles to all federal law enforcementagencies.

Ms. Decker was an Assistant United States Attorney for almost 15 years, during which time she investigated andprosecuted a wide variety of cases. During her tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, she was the �rstChief of the National Security Section. She also served as Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime and TerrorismSection and as Deputy Chief of Organized Crime Strike Force.

Prior to becoming an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Decker was in private practice for three years at the law�rm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles. She also served as a law clerk to United States District Judge GaryL. Taylor in the Central District of California.

Ms. Decker received her undergraduate and law degrees from New York University. She also received a Master’sDegree in Homeland Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School and was a Wasserstein Fellow atHarvard Law School. In addition, she is a Past President of the Women Lawyer’s Association of Los Angeles.

About our ChairsDeborah S. Chang

Attorney, Panish Shea & Boyle LLP

Deborah S. Chang is an attorney with the �rm of Panish Shea & Boyle LLP and was namedby Daily Journal as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California in 2016. She was on trialteams that obtained the two largest wrongful death verdicts in California in 2014, four ofthe top 25 verdicts in California in both 2014 and 2015 – including the largest verdictsreceived in North County, San Diego (Vista) and Imperial County (El Centro). Deborah is the recipient of the 2014Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) Consumer Attorney of the Year Award, and was a �nalist for the award in2012 and 2016. She is a member of the Los Angeles chapter of ABOTA, where she serves on the ExecutiveCommittee and is a National Board Member. Deborah also serves on the Executive Committee and as a BoardMember of the CAOC, and is currently the Third Vice-President and Education Chair for 2017. She is listed in BestLawyers in America and Super Lawyers for Southern California.

Cheryl D. Orr

Chair, National Labor and Employment Practice Group,

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Cheryl D. Orr is chair of Drinker Biddle’s national Labor and Employment Practice Group and anelected managing partner of the �rm. Cheryl concentrates her practice on defending employers nationwideagainst complex wage and hour class, collective, and representative actions arising in industries including retail,health care, education, insurance, �nance, and manufacturing. She also has a long history of resolving wrongfultermination, unfair competition and discrimination cases through a winning motion practice. In addition tolitigation, she provides a full range of employment law counseling, audit and training services.

Cheryl is often quoted in the media on employment law issues. She is a frequent writer and lecturer onemployment law topics and regularly chairs the American Conference Institute’s national wage and hour classaction conference. The Daily Journal has named Cheryl one of California’s Top Employment Lawyers and TopWomen Lawyers, and Chambers USA consistently ranks Cheryl as one of the top employment lawyers in California.She is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the American Employment Law Council.

About our In-House Advisor



About our In-House AdvisorDawn Haghighi

General Counsel, Privacy and Compliance O�cer, PCV Murcor & General Counsel, VRMMortgage Services

Dawn Haghighi is General Counsel, Privacy and Compliance O�cer for a�liated companies PCVMurcor Real Estate Services, Hightide Settlement Services and Vendor Resource Managementin Los Angeles, California. Her career encompasses senior management positions withresponsibility for matters at several multi-national corporations, including Assistant General Counsel and PrivacyO�cer for Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd., Charter One Bank, NA (Royal Bank of Scotland), and Nordstrom, Inc. Ms.Haghighi is a frequent lecturer before corporate boards, foundations and professional organizations around theworld. She is active in a number of international, public policy, and not for pro�t organizations. In June 2011, sheserved as one of the keynote panelists at the Greenberg Taurig National Executive Women’s LeadershipConference. In recent years, she was selected as a participant to the U.S. – China Economic & Trade CooperationForum welcoming PRC Vice President Xi Jinping to Los Angeles (2012), as a delegate t the Salzburg Global Seminarin Salzburg, Austria (2010), as a member of the United States delegation to the Enhancing the Middle East’sEconomic Future IV Forum Doha, Qatar (2009), as a participant to the RAND China Reform Forum, in Beijing, China(2004 and 2005) and a presenter to the Supreme People’s Court Mediation and Arbitration Congress in Beijing andShanghai, China (1990 -1995) and as a delegate to several HKTDC Business Conferences in Honk Kong. Ms.Haghighi also attended the White House Welcome Ceremony for the PRC Premier Wen Jibao (2003). Hercommunity involvement also vests in memberships of a number of international, public policy, and not for pro�torganizations, she is Vice Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel National Real Estate Committee, amember of the Paci�c Council on International Policy (invitation only) and a member of the Board of Directors ofthe Los Angeles Committee on Foreign Relations (invitation only). She has served on the Boards of The Associationof Corporate Counsel SoCal, The Western Justice Center Foundation, and the National U.S. Hong Kong BusinessAssociation (past chairmen and founding director). She was also a founding director and secretary of the PrincessCruises Community Foundation. In Chicago, Illinois she served on the board of directors for the Hong KongBusiness Association of Midwest (past president), The Association of Corporate Counsel Chicago (past president)and the Chinese American Service League. She is also pro bono consultant to the Rockefeller Paci�c Trust advisingon the advancement of national and international justice systems, with emphasis on transnational economicactivities. Ms. Haghighi has received many professional awards including the Los Angeles Business Journal In-House Counsel Awards (Finalist). Alston & Bird Women of Distinction Award (2011), the Association of CorporateCounsel Robert Townsend Member of the Year Award (2005 – 30,000 membership) and the Association of Mediaand Entertainment Honoree (2007).

About our SpeakersElizabeth E. Atlee

Deputy General Counsel, Global Litigation, CBRE, Inc.

Ms. Atlee is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel for CBRE, Inc. In this capacity, shemanages more than 300 active cases and other litigation globally including reporting to insurers,senior managers and the Board on litigation, developing and managing the e-discovery andlitigation hold protocols, managing a small department of lawyers and paralegals. Ms. Atlee isalso responsible for outside counsel management and legal spend containment among other responsibilities as asenior legal manager. She is a commercial litigator with experience in state and federal courts. She has manageda wide variety of matters including antitrust lawsuits, governmental agency investigations, unfair business practicelitigation, contractual disputes, franchise-relations issues, products liabilities allegations and real estatecontroversies.

Prior to joining CBRE, Ms. Atlee was a Senior Attorney at BP, an international energy company, where she managedlitigation as well as state and federal investigations and transacted franchise-related retail agreements.

Ms. Atlee is a member of the California State Bar. She is admitted to practice in all California courts, the UnitedStates District Court, Central District of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.



Cecily T. Barclay

Partner, Perkins Coie LLP

Cecily T. Barclay is a partner in Perkins Coie’s Real Estate and Land Use practice. She is amember of the �rm-wide Executive Committee and chair of the �rm’s Land Use practice. Cecily previously served on the �rm’s Lateral Partner Hiring Committee and was chair of theLand Use practice while a partner at Bingham McCutchen. For more than a decade, Cecilyhas served as President and a Board Member of two non-pro�t housing corporations. Cecily also co-authorsCalifornia Land Use and Planning Law, regularly speaks and writes on topics involving land use and localgovernment law.

Cecily received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, and her B.A. from University of California, Berkeley.

Lucie Barron

Founder and President of ADR Services, Inc

Lucie Barron is the Founder and President of ADR Services, Inc. Born in Germany to Russianparents, she emigrated to Australia at a young age. Ms. Barron studied psychology in Adelaidebefore going on to obtain her Masters in Psychology at the University of Sydney. After workingas a psychologist for several years, she earned her MBA from McGill University in Montreal,Canada.

After relocating to Southern California, personal litigation introduced Ms. Barron to the legal system, where sherecognized the value of alternative dispute resolution, an emerging �eld at that time. In 1994, she founded ADRServices, Inc., which now operates in seven o�ces across the state, with over 135 conference rooms and 130retired judges and attorneys. ADR Services, Inc., has expanded at a signi�cant rate due to Ms. Barron’s tenacity anddedication, developing a reputation for successful resolution with its highly diverse and experienced neutrals.

Terry P. Bayer

Chief Operating O�cer, Molina Healthcare, Inc.

Terry P. Bayer is chief operating o�cer for Molina Healthcare, Inc. In this role, Ms. Bayer isresponsible for operational oversight of the Company’s state health plans, direct delivery,Molina Medicaid Solutions and Pathways Human Services. Her responsibilities alsoinclude health plan support in medical a�airs, quality, and provider and memberengagement. As COO, she has successfully overseen implementation of Molina’s expansion into new product linessuch as the Medicare and Marketplace.

Prior to joining Molina, her professional experience included operations responsibilities at FHP and multi-stateresponsibility as regional vice president at Lincoln National, Maxicare and Partners National Health Plan, a jointventure of Aetna Life Insurance Company and VHA. She has also served as executive vice president of managedcare at Matria Healthcare, president and chief operating o�cer of Praxis Clinical Services, and as western divisionpresident of AccentCare. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the California Water Services Group.

Terry holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Stanford University, a Master’s degree in Public Health from theUniversity of California at Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication from Northwestern University.

Betsy Berkhemer-Credaire

Chief Executive O�cer, Berkhemer Clayton

Author of “The Board Game – How Smart Women Become Corporate Directors,” Betsy is CEO and co-founder ofBerkhemer Clayton Inc., retained executive search. Her book “The Board Game” reveals how 58 women directorsfound their �rst corporate board seats.



Betsy chairs the Los Angeles/Orange County chapter of Women Corporate Directors (WCD), aglobal nonpro�t network of women serving on public and private boards; and is a member ofthe National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Society for CorporateGovernance. She has been keynote speaker throughout the U.S., and in Washington D.C. at theU.S. Chamber of Commerce.

She serves on the boards of the statewide National Association of Women Business Owners-California (NAWBO-CA), also Southern California Leadership Network (SCLN) and was previouslyon the consumer advisory board at Southern California Edison (SCE), and UCLA Health Sciences Medical Center.

Janice Block

Executive Vice President & Chief Legal

and Administration O�cer, Kaplan Inc.

Janice Block is an executive vice president and the Chief Legal and Administrative O�cer,at Kaplan Inc., a global education company owned by The Graham Holdings Company. With nearly 400 locations in more than 30 countries and more than 24,000 employeesworldwide, Kaplan educates more than one million students and professionals each year.

As Kaplan Inc.’s Chief Legal and Administrative O�cer, Janice leads a worldwide team of legal, regulatory,compliance, government relations, human resources and talent development professionals, supporting all facetsof Kaplan’s business. She also serves on the board of directors and as an o�cer of numerous Kaplan entities inthe U.S. and overseas.

Janice earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Princeton, her M.S. degree in journalism fromNorthwestern, and her J.D. degree from Columbia. Janice serves on the advisory board of The Center for Women inLaw and is active in Global Leaders in Law, through which she has completed leadership programs at both OxfordUniversity and Harvard Business School. Janice was awarded the “Woman of Achievement” award from the Anti-Defamation League in 2014.

Lori A. Bowman

Partner, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.

Lori Bowman has more than 30 years of experience representing employers in labor andemployment law. For several years, Lori has been named a Best Lawyer in America and aSouthern California Super Lawyer. Lori graduated from Indiana University School of Lawwhere she was an Editor of the Indiana Law Journal. She received a MA in labor relationsfrom the University of Illinois and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an AB from Indiana University.

Linda Burrow

Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

Linda Burrow, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, is a go-to litigator in the entertainmentindustry for cases ranging from breach of contract, to copyright and trademarkinfringement, defamation and right of publicity who has garnered high-pro�le trial andappellate victories on behalf of her clients. Ms. Burrow also handles a variety of othercomplex litigation matters.



Ms. Burrow is also committed to pro bono work and has twice been honored by the ACLU Foundation of SouthernCalifornia for her advocacy on issues of free speech and civil rights. She is consistently recognized as a leadpractitioner by a number of legal publications, including Chambers USA, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers and hasbeen honored as one of California’s “Top Women Lawyers” by the Daily Journal for seven of the past eight years(2009 and 2011–present).

Hon. Christine Byrd

Los Angeles Superior Court

Christine Byrd was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2010 by then-Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger. She has been part of the Family Law Department sinceappointment, assigned to the San Fernando Courthouse for the �rst six months andthereafter to Dept. 65 in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. She is amember of the Family Law Curriculum Committee of the Center for Judiciary Education and Research (CJER).

A native of California, Judge Byrd attended Stanford University and then the University of Virginia School Of Law,receiving her J.D. in 1975. Following law school, she served as law clerk to the Hon. William P. Gray in the U.S.District Court for the Central District of California.

Prior to her appointment, she was a partner with Irell & Manella LLP for 14 years, from 1996 – 2010, where shehandled complex business litigation and specialized in damages in patent litigation. Before that, her legal careerincluded nine years as a partner at Jones Day and �ve years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s O�ce.

During her 35 years of law practice, she tried over 20 signi�cant jury and non-jury cases, earning her recognition inSouthern California “Super Lawyers” and in “Top California Women Litigators,” and election as a Fellow in theAmerican College of Trial Lawyers. She also served as a neutral arbitrator in dozens of complex business disputesand was elected as a Fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators.

Her other accomplishments include raising two children, now ages 31 and 24, while practicing law full-time, whichshe could not have done without the help and support of her late husband, the well-known architect Gary Byrd.

Araceli Campos

Executive Director, Miguel Contreras Foundation (MCF), Commissioner, Los Angeles CityEthics Commission, Former President of the City of Los Angeles Commission on theStatus of Women (CSW)

Araceli Campos is Executive Director of the Miguel Contreras Foundation (MCF), a new 501(c)(3) non-pro�t organization founded by local civil rights, labor, and business leaders. MCF’smission is to serve and empower working families throughout Los Angeles County, including the mostunderserved, such as immigrants. MCF honors the legacy of late union leader Miguel Contreras, who helped bringpreviously-excluded workers into the workers’ rights movement and into political power in California. MCF ishoused at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Before MCF, Araceli served as national Corporate Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense andEducational Fund (MALDEF), one of the largest Latino civil rights organizations in the United States. She supportedprograms in the areas of education, employment and equal opportunity, immigrant rights, and political access. During her time at MALDEF, the organization brought numerous cases, including against Arizona’s anti-immigrantSB 1070 and against Latino vote suppression in Texas, Illinois, and around the nation. She also helped developlasting infrastructure supporting several grassroots immigrant youth-led coalitions now leading in California andTexas.

Hon. Judith C. Chirlin, Ret.



Executive Director, Western Justice Center

Judge Judith C. Chirlin (Ret’d), served on the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1985 to 2009. InNovember of 2011, she became Executive Director of the Western Justice Center (“WJC”) inPasadena, California. WJC is a non-pro�t organization dedicated to building a more civil, peacefulsociety where di�erences are valued. It designs and implements creative programs that changethe way people think about and respond to di�erences and con�ict.

Over her years as a lawyer and on the bench, Judge Chirlin became involved in numerous e�orts to improve thelegal systems and the administration of justice in California, throughout the nation and around the world. Arenowned speaker and educator, Judge Chirlin has traveled extensively, consulting on court reform, human rightsand con�ict resolution and teaching programs for foreign judges, lawyers, police o�cers, educators and otherprofessionals in more than 20 countries. Since joining WJC, she has focused on con�ict resolution and reduction ofprejudice and intergroup con�ict in schools and communities.

Erika Contreras

Attorney, Panish Shea & Boyle LLP

Erika Contreras is an attorney at Panish, Shea and Boyle. She currently focuses herpractice on mass tort pharmaceutical and medical device litigation as well as oncatastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, and motor carrier liability.

Prior to joining Panish, Shea & Boyle in 2011, Ms. Contreras was an attorney for the A.V.rated �rm of Kussman & Whitehill where she represented plainti�s in cases relating to catastrophic personalinjury, product liability and medical malpractice. She has litigated cases involving defectively designed andmanufactured tires and was involved in the Bridgestone/Firestone and Continental Tire Judicial CouncilCoordinated Proceedings where she helped injured Plainti�s recover millions of dollars.

Ms. Contreras received a Bachelor’s Degree from UCLA in English with a minor in French. She then went on toattend Loyola Law School and obtained her J.D., all while working full time at Kussman & Whitehill.

Hon. Elizabeth R. Fe�er


Judge Elizabeth R. Fe�er was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2007, and currentlypresides over a civil independent calendar (I/C) general jurisdiction courtroom, at the StanleyMosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. Judge Fe�er has previously been assigned to civiltrial, family law, and criminal departments. Judge Fe�er has presided over 70 civil jury trials andover more than 500 civil bench trials. As member of the bench, Judge Fe�er has served on a number of court-related committees, both locally and statewide, including the Superior Court’s Rules and Security Committees, theCalifornia Judges’ Association’s Civil Law & Procedure Committee, the California Judicial Council’s Judicial BranchLeadership Development Curriculum Committee, the Executive Committee of the California State Bar’s LitigationSection, and the Civil Jury Project at NYU School of Law. Judge Fe�er has also written articles pertaining to legalissues published in the Daily Journal, Metropolitan News-Enterprise, CAALA’s The Advocate, the Los Angeles SuperiorCourt’s Gavel to Gavel, and the California Supreme Court Historical Society Newsletter. Judge Fe�er earned her B.A.from UCLA, her M.A. from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication, and her J.D. from USC’s Gould School ofLaw.

Jeanne A. Fugate

Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

Jeanne A. Fugate, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, has a wide-ranging practice, focusingprimarily on employment litigation, complex civil litigation, and securities litigation. Ms.Fugate handles all phases of litigation in state and federal courts across various �elds,including employment, contract, real estate, and general business disputes. She also



advises clients regarding employment and compliance issues. Ms. Fugate is recognized as a “Southern CaliforniaSuper Lawyer” by the publishers of Super Lawyers and Los Angeles magazines (2016 and 2017) and was previouslyselected as a “Rising Star” (2009–2014).

Since 2015, Ms. Fugate has served as a board member of the California Bar Foundation and is presently Co-VicePresident of the Board. She is also Vice President of the Los Angeles Civil Service Commission, and a boardmember of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers

Kate S. Gold

Partner, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Kate S. Gold is a partner in Drinker Biddle’s national Labor and Employment Practice Group.Kate’s practice includes defense of individual, collective and class actions and focuses onbusiness and employment litigation and counseling.

She handles matters involving wrongful termination, retaliation, whistle blower, sexualharassment, family leave, discrimination; misappropriation of intellectual property and trade secrets, interferencewith contract, unfair competition; compliance with federal and state employment laws, including wage and hour,classi�cation of employees, employment issues in the context of purchase and sale of businesses, and non -competition agreements; executive employment and separation agreements; and employee handbooks andpolicies.

Deana Kardel

Founder and President, EOS Consulting Inc.

Deana Kardel is an executive coach and consultant who works with clients to achieve theirmaximum potential. Drawing on 30 years of business, marketing and dispute resolutionexperience in executive level positions, Deana advances strategic practices that work toadvance her client’s goals and intentions. Her client roster includes high pro�le partners,in-house counsels, board chairs, CEOs, ADR neutrals, and law school and industry leaders, among others.

Before founding Eos in 2008, Deana served as the Regional Vice President for JAMS where she was responsible forthe budgetary and personnel oversight of eight of the company’s Northwest o�ces. As part of seniormanagement, she led the �rm’s strategic business development plan that fostered the company’s growth. Prior toJAMS, Deana built the Client Relations Department for Littler Mendelson from scratch. Proceeding her legal career,she served as a Vice President for a San Francisco based public relations agency and the Director of Sales andMarketing for a national mobile communications company.

Deana is often called a “coach-sultant” because she combines leadership skills, operations, human relations,communications, and business imperatives into one strategic plan. She was recently featured in the Book entitled,Mastering the Art of Success, and presents regularly at retreats and conferences on the topic of SuccessfullyManaging Di�cult Conversations.

Nina Marino

Partner, Founder, Kaplan Marino

Nina Marino is a 27-year lawyer and a State Bar of California Certi�ed Criminal LawSpecialist. Her practice focuses on white collar and complex criminal litigation on both anational and international level. Ms. Marino regularly represents individuals in mattersinvolving allegations of all aspects of fraud, including, wire and mail fraud, health carefraud, insurance, and bank fraud, as well as allegations of money laundering, conspiracy, computer crimes,



bribery, and kickbacks, counterfeiting and copyright infringement, tax crimes, securities cases, antitrust matters,and public corruption investigations including FCPA violations. Ms. Marino also represents both foreign nationalsand U.S. citizens in matters involving extradition and related Interpol notices. Ms. Marino’s ability to communicatepersuasively with all government agencies at every level on behalf of her client has served her client’s interests fornearly three decades, and is only matched by her skills as an e�ective and aggressive litigator.

Ms. Marino is a regular speaker and author on topics relating to the practice of criminal law. In 2016, the LosAngeles Daily Journal recognized Ms. Marino as one of the top 100 women lawyers in California. In 2015, the LosAngeles Business Journal recognized Ms. Marino as one of the most in�uential lawyers in the �eld of white collarand cybercrime in Los Angeles. Since 2004, Ms. Marino has been voted by her peers as a Southern California SuperLawyer and a Top Woman Lawyer.

Ms. Marino is a native New Yorker, transplanted in LA, with residence in Miami and London along the way

Kathleen A. “Katie” McGinty

Partner, Militia Hill Ventures

Kathleen A. “Katie” McGinty is Partner at Militia Hill Ventures, a �rm that creates anddevelops transformative life sciences companies in the Philadelphia region. In 2016 shewas the Democratic Nominee for US Senate in Pennsylvania.

McGinty’s public sector career includes chairing the White House Council onEnvironmental Quality during President Bill Clinton’s administration and as Secretary of Environmental Protectionunder Governor Ed Rendell.

In the private sector, McGinty led a business cleaning up and redeveloping polluted properties, and developingrenewable energy projects. As an Operating Partner with a private equity fund, she helped build successful growthstrategies for early stage clean energy, water, and e�ciency companies. She also started her own small company,and has been a Director on public and private company boards.

McGinty’s career was launched when she was awarded the Congressional Fellowship of the American ChemicalSociety and went to work for then-Senator Al Gore developing legislation to strengthen the competitiveness of U.S.high tech companies that commercialize basic research. Just prior, and with a degree in chemistry from St. Joseph’sUniversity and a law degree from Columbia University, McGinty was awarded a judicial clerkship on the Court ofAppeals for the Federal Circuit, the federal appellate court with special jurisdiction over intellectual propertymatters. McGinty also lived and worked in India, serving as a Senior Visiting Fellow at TERI, a leading energy andenvironmental organization in New Delhi.

Deirdre M. O’Callaghan

Chief Counsel, Center for Internet Security, Inc.

Ms. O’Callaghan is an experienced in-house attorney. She currently serves as ChiefCounsel for the Center for Internet Security, Inc., a nonpro�t organization located in EastGreenbush NY, which focuses on developing and sustaining cybersecurity standards andrelated services. She previously served as General Counsel for Gas Turbine E�ciency, Ltd.,TerraMesa Development Group and Centex Hospitality Group, as well as Assistant General Counsel and Sr. VP ofDevelopment for American Skiing Company. She was also previously a partner in the New England law �rm PretiFlaherty, where her practice focused on environmental, energy and government relations matters. She is agraduate of the University of Maine and Columbia Law School.

Stacy D. Phillips



Partner, Blank Rome LLP

Stacy D. Phillips is a Certi�ed Family Law Specialist and one of the country’s most well-knownand respected family law practitioners, having achieved virtually every honor available to alawyer for her work. She is also an author (including Divorce: It’s All About Control – How toWin the Emotional, Psychological and Legal Wars, ExecuProv Press), sought-after commentator,speaker and writer, philanthropist, and a tireless advocate for children and families.Throughout her career, she has given back through active involvement as a leader andvolunteer in community and nonpro�t organizations, as well as multiple professional associations.

At Blank Rome, Ms. Phillips represents a wide variety of high-pro�le and celebrity clients as they undergo thesigni�cant and often di�cult changes involved in divorce and custody issues. After more than 30 years of practice,she continues to believe in a philosophy she often shares with her clients: “How we treat others, how we conductourselves and how we communicate during di�cult times, can alter the course of one’s life.”

In a career �lled with extraordinary accolades and accomplishments for both her clients and herself, Ms. Phillips ismost proud of her team’s work through their Adopt-A-Center Program. Founded by her former �rm Phillips Lernerin 1999 as a way to both give back and support good works, each year the Adopt-A-Center program supports adeserving local nonpro�t organization that helps children and families in Los Angeles. Ms. Phillips and hercolleagues not only donate and raise money for these worthy organizations, but they also often participate asactive volunteers.

Hon. Virginia A. Phillips

Chief District Judge, Central District of California

Chief Judge Phillips was appointed to the United States District Court for the CentralDistrict of California by President Clinton on November 15, 1999. She was a MagistrateJudge in the Central District from 1995 until 1999, and served on the California SuperiorCourt for four years before joining the federal bench

Judge Phillips graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Riverside and received her law degreefrom the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). She is a founding member of the Inland Empire chapter ofthe Federal Bar Association, and the Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, where she serves as a Judicial Master emerita andwas a member of the Board of Directors. She served on the Ninth Circuit Jury Trial Improvement Committee fromits formation in 2002, and was appointed Chair of the Committee in 2008.

Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Phillips was a partner in Best, Best & Krieger. She has served inleadership roles with various community organizations, including the Inland Counties Federal Bar Association,Riverside Legal Aid, Riverside Youth Service Center, the Children’s Center of the Inland Counties, the Survive FoodBank of Riverside & San Bernardino Counties, the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center, and the city’s Human RelationsCommission

Amy Fisch Solomon

Partner, Girardi | Keese

Amy Fisch Solomon, a partner with Girardi | Keese, specializes in the areas of professionalliability, products liability and catastrophic injury. She is a Past President of the ConsumerAttorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), the largest local plainti�s bar association in thenation. She has successfully tried over 45 jury and bench trials in both State and Federal courts,and obtained numerous seven and eight �gure verdicts and settlements on behalf of her clients. She is Memberof the American Board of Trial Advocates and the International Association of Trial Lawyers. She is on the Board ofDirectors for the Inner City Law Center, the Western Justice Center and the Consumer Attorneys of California. Ms.Solomon is a past recipient of CAALA’s Ted Horn Memorial Award (2009), and CAOC’s Robert E. Cartwright, Sr.award (2011). She recently was named one of the top 25 Personal Injury lawyers in California, by the Daily Journal. She has been named as a Top Woman Litigator in the State of California by the Daily Journal for the past 12 years. She sits on the Los Angeles County Bar Central Civil Bench/Bar Liaison Committee, the LACBA Presidents AdvisoryCommittee on Women in The Legal Profession and the LACBA Complex Court Committee. Ms. Solomon is a



Commissioner for the California State Bar serving on the Judicial Evaluation Nominee Committee. She is on theBoard of Overseers of Loyola Law School and the Board of Directors of Loyola Law School Civil Justice Program. She has obtained certi�cation in mediation from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine and mediates cases forcolleagues. In her spare time, she mentors both Inner-City High School Students, as well as Law Students, toencourage their participation in the Civil Justice System

Jennifer Stanley

Chair, Copyright Group, Fenwick & West LLP

Jennifer Stanley is Chair of the Copyright Group at Fenwick & West. She focuses herpractice on intellectual property, technology and media transactions and counselsregularly on copyright protection, strategy, and business model analysis and riskmanagement. Jennifer also advises on copyright disputes and copyright registrationmatters and she is one of the go-to authorities on intellectual property issues relating to games, content licensingand social media. Jennifer is also a member of the �rm’s transactional Privacy and Information Security practice,advising clients on all aspects relating to collection, use and disclosure of personal information, and the legalissues that arise when running sweepstakes, contests and promotions.

Britt K. Strottman,

Principal, Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson, PLC

Britt K. Strottman is a seasoned litigator with 15 years of experience, more than 30 jury trials,and over 60 state and federal administrative hearings. She is a Principal at Meyers Nave andChair of the �rm’s Crisis Management: Public Policy, Ethics and Investigations Practice Groupand California Public Utilities Commission Practice Group. In addition to special expertise inhigh-pro�le state and federal gas regulatory prosecutions, Britt focuses her practice on municipal law specialcounsel issues, criminal prosecutions, crisis management, whistleblower matters and workplace investigations.

Britt has earned numerous honors for her expertise, results and leadership in the legal profession, including, “Top100 Lawyers” (Daily Journal 2016), “Top Women Lawyers” (Daily Journal 2015), “Top 20 Under 40” (Daily Journal 2015),“Giant Slayer” (The Recorder 2015) and “Top Women Lawyers” (Daily Journal 2014).

She has received local, state and national recognition for her successful representation of the City of San Brunoagainst Paci�c Gas & Electric Company in the aftermath of a deadly gas pipeline explosion that attractedinternational headline news coverage. Britt’s pioneering work on behalf of the City of San Bruno transformedCalifornia’s utility regulatory landscape and helped raise awareness about e�ective utility regulations and gaspipeline related safety issues across the country. Law360 named Meyers Nave a “California Powerhouse,”speci�cally recognizing that the �rm “�exed its muscle” by “marshaling the City of San Bruno through theaftermath of a devastating pipeline explosion.”

Britt’s background includes serving as a Senior Assistant Attorney General at the Ohio Attorney General’s O�ceand a Deputy District Attorney at the San Mateo District Attorney’s O�ce. In addition to her work as a litigator, Brittpreviously served as Vice President at Van Prooyen Green�eld LLP, where she developed and implementedlitigation, crisis communications and public relations plans for public agencies, law �rms, law schools andcorporations.

Cheryl Travis-Johnson

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating O�cer, VRM Mortgage Services & Co-Chair,

The Council for Inclusion in Financial Services



Cheryl Travis-Johnson is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating O�cer of VRMMortgage Services and Co-Chair of the Council for Inclusion in Financial Services.

Cheryl’s career in mortgage banking spans over 30 years and includes leadership roles inlending, loan servicing and real estate. Her extensive experience enables her to recognizeindustry trends and proactively address operational challenges with creative perspectiveand innovative solutions.

Ms. Travis-Johnson ensures that VRM uses a diverse network of providers, and as a result VRM has beenrecognized by DiversityBusiness for two years in multiple categories including top African-American, Diversity-Owned and Minority-Owned business. Cheryl is an executive participant on the MBA Diversity & InclusionCommittee. As a part of her involvement, she led the co-development of a new Diversity and Inclusion Self-Assessment Tool. The new tool will enable Lenders, Servicers and Investors to assess, document and measuretheir compliance with the proposed OMWI standards for diversity and inclusion developed in response to Section342 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

She is an active advocate for and participant in various industry organizations including the MBA, NAREB, NAHREP,AREAA, the Asset Manager Forum, California Mortgage Bankers Association and DFW REO Professionals. Ms.Travis-Johnson serves as a director on the board of the non-pro�t organization, PCV|VRM Seeds of Hope whereher leadership through philanthropy serves to educate, enable and empower homeowners in an e�ort to stabilizeneighborhoods and breathe new life into communities.

Susan K. Ullman

General Counsel, U.S. O�ce of Special Counsel

Susan has spent most of her career as a public servant. She was the �rst female law clerkto Judge John R. Bartels (E.D.N.Y.), an Assistant Attorney General with the WisconsinDepartment of Justice for 6 years, and a Senior Trial Counsel with the U.S. Department ofJustice for 16. Susan has litigated cases before the EEOC, the MSPB, all three levels of theWisconsin state court system, federal district courts, federal courts of appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court, and aninternational tribunal in The Hague. Recent constitutional issues have included an Eighth Amendment challenge tothe treatment of inmates at the federal Supermax prison, an Equal Protection challenge to the questioning ofMuslims re-entering the U.S., and a separation of powers issue concerning the O�ce of Special Counsel. Susanstarted as the General Counsel at the U.S. O�ce of Special Counsel on January 17, 2017.

Lisa Von Eschen

Partner, Lamb & Kawakami LLP

Lisa Von Eschen, Esq. counsels businesses and non-pro�t organizations on employment lawcompliance, including exempt classi�cations, leaves of absence, discipline, terminations andreductions in force. She advises companies and executives on employment contracts,commission plans, restrictive covenants and severance agreements. Ms. Von Eschen drafts personnel handbooks,leads internal investigations, and conducts preventive training on harassment and other employment topics. Shehas successfully litigated wrongful termination, discrimination and wage and hour cases for almost 25 years.

Hon. Elizabeth Allen White


Judge Elizabeth Allen White sits in Department 48 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse where she handles generaljurisdiction trial matters. She was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1997 and elevated uponuni�cation to the Los Angeles Superior Court where she’s served since 2000. Judge White holds a B.A. from UCLA



The Montage Beverly Hills

225 N Canon Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210

and a JD from Loyola Law School. She has served as an Instructor for UCLA Extension’sParalegal Training Program since 1998 and Adjunct Faculty for Loyola Law School from2002-2005. She has served as adjunct faculty for USC’s LLM program and Summer Lawand English Program since 2012. Judge White serves as Chair of the Civil Law Sub-committee for Judicial Education Seminars for the Los Angeles Superior Court and isfrequent faculty for judicial education courses. She is the author of the Rutter Group’sCalifornia Paralegal Manual on Civil Procedure and a co-author of the California ParalegalManual on Civil Trials and Evidence, the California Paralegal Manual on Personal Injuryand the California Paralegal Manual on Corporations.

Venue

Schedule

REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST8:00am - 8:55am

INTRODUCTION BY CO-CHAIRS8:55am - 9:00am

WOMEN SUCCESS STORIES: I'M WITH HER9:00am - 10:00am

Our esteemed panel will share successes nearly three decades out of school. They will discuss how they used theirlaw degrees to advance their varied and diverse careers and how they have dealt with challenges and supportedeach other in both their professional and personal lives.

Moderator:

Cheryl D. Orr, Partner, Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP

Panelists:

Janice Block, EVP, Chief Legal and Chief Administrative O�cer, Kaplan, Inc.

Katie McGinty, Partner, Militia Hill Ventures

Deirdre O’Callaghan, Chief Legal Counsel, Center for Internet Security

Susan Ullman, General Counsel, U.S. O�ce of Special Counsel

WOMEN IN THE COURTROOM10:00am - 11:00am

Recent statistics published by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession concluded that women aresigni�cantly and shockingly underrepresented as lead trial lawyers in court. Join this powerhouse panel to see thesuccessful women trial lawyers who are sitting in courtroom tables as �rst chairs at signi�cant trials – and pavingthe way for other women to follow.



Moderator:

Deborah Chang, Attorney, Panish Shea & Boyle LLP

Panelists:

Linda Burrow, Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

Amy Fisch Solomon, Partner, Girardi | Keese

Britt K. Strottman, Principal, Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson, PLC

NETWORKING BREAK11:00am - 11:20am

WOMEN IN THE BOARDROOM11:20am - 12:20pm

The panel will discuss the representation of women in the C-suite and on corporate boards and how to bestleverage abilities and talents to achieve positive business results. Our presenters will also share advice on how toget a seat at the table and successfully navigate the myriad issues facing women in leadership roles and explorewide-ranging ways to create a culture of inclusion. Board-ready attorneys will gain insights, tools, and connectionsto learn, advance, and lead.

Moderator:

Dawn Haghighi, General Counsel, Privacy & Compliance O�cer, PCV Murcor and General Counsel, VRM MortgageServices

Panelists:

Terry P. Bayer, Chief Operating O�cer, Molina Healthcare, Inc.

Betsy Berkhemer-Credaire, Chief Executive O�cer, Berkhemer Clayton

Araceli Campos, Executive Director, Miguel Contreras Foundation; Commissioner, Los Angeles City EthicsCommission; Former President, City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

Cheryl Travis-Johnson, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating O�cer, VRM Mortgage Services & Co-Chair, TheCouncil for Inclusion in Financial Services

KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: "TRIALS BY FIRE--LEADING AND MANAGING THROUGH CRISIS"12:20pm - 1:30pm

Eileen Decker, Former United States Attorney, Central District of California

Interviewed by Nina Marino, Founder, Partner, Kaplan Marino

THE CAREER TRAJECTORY OF WOMEN IN LAW: PATHS AND OPPORTUNITIES1:30pm - 2:30pm

This panel is comprised of accomplished women in Law who have each taken (and continue to take) di�erentpaths to success and ful�llment. Each of these women — and their career choices — exemplify the myriadopportunities and transitions that a lawyer can experience. Whether they began in government, a large �rm, or asmall �rm, and transitioned to a di�erent-sized �rm, to the bench, or to private industry, this distinguished groupof attorneys has wrestled with the same life events, work environments, and career decisions as the womenattending this conference. This panel will highlight the wealth of opportunities available today to women in Law,examine the positives and negatives of di�erent trajectories, and comment on their personal experiences withchange.



Moderator:

Stacy D. Phillips, Partner, Blank Rome LLP

Panelists:

Cecily Barclay, Partner, Perkins Coie LLP

Hon. Christine W. Byrd, Los Angeles Superior Court

Kate S. Gold, Partner, Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP

Jennifer Stanley, Partner, Fenwick & West LLP

Lisa Von Eschen, Partner, Lamb and Kawakami LLP

There are downloads available for this session. Jump to Downloads section »

NETWORKING BREAK2:30pm - 2:50pm

COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR WOMEN: HOW TO BE HEARD2:50pm - 3:50pm

E�ective communications are critical to one’s progress and success. As leaders, we often negotiate contracts, askfor business, disagree in a group, say no to someone, communicate a bad reviews, oppose disrespectful,discriminatory or bad behavior, end a relationship, ask for money, or give directives to colleagues and sta�, the listgoes on. This session will focus on various communication practices that worked to champion this panel’s careersuccess.

Moderator:

Deana Kardel, Principal, EOS Consulting, Inc.

Panelists:

Elizabeth E. Atlee, Deputy General Counsel, Global Litigation, CBRE, Inc

Lucie Barron, Founder and President, ADR Services, Inc.

Lori Bowman, Partner, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.

Jeanne Fugate, Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

There are downloads available for this session. Jump to Downloads section »

WOMEN ON THE BENCH3:50pm - 4:50pm

Moderator:

Erika Contreras, Attorney, Panish Shea & Boyle LLP

Panelists:

Hon. Judith C. Chirlin, Ret., Executive Director, Western Justice Center

Hon. Elizabeth R. Fe�er, Los Angeles Superior Court



Hon. Virginia A. Phillips, Chief District Judge, Central District of California

NETWORKING RECEPTION4:50pm - 5:30pm

DownloadsThe Report on the Status of Women and Girls - Part 1The Report on the Status of Women and Girls - Part 2The Report on the Status of Women and Girls - Part 3The Report on the Status of Women and Girls - Part 4The Report on the Status of Women and Girls - Part 5Dress for Success - Donations and Tuck $20Western Justice Center's 11th Annual Robert I. Weil LectureState high court should weigh in on campus sexual assault decisionDi�cult Converstaions (Communication Skills for Women: How to Be Heard)Show Me the Culture and I'll Show You the Money (Communication Skills for Women: How to Be Heard)Managing-Partners-Seeking-Higher-Pro�ts-Look-at-Your-Culture (Communication Skills for Women: How to BeHeard)Health Care Fraud Sweeps ContinuePurging Racial Prejudice from the Administration of JusticeThe Trump Administrations’ Shifting PrioritiesWanted in InterpolThe Accidental DefendantA Letter from Los Angeles Mayor GarcettiRecommended Reading List - Career Trajectory Panel (The Career Trajectory of Women in Law: Paths andOpportunities)

Sponsors

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Raghu Nandan

From: ACC Committees <[email protected]> on behalf of ACC Committees

<[email protected]>

Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2017 3:35 PM

To: Raghu Nandan

Subject: ACC Real Estate Law Committee March Newletter

For Web or mobile version, click here.

To view this newsletter on the web, click here

ACC Real Estate Committee March Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE...

Message from the Chair

Executive Development and Leadership

Leadership Biographies

Financial Regulation Best Practices

Litigation vs Arbitration: How do you prefer to draft your contracts?

Call for Resource Library Suggestions

Member Spotlight

Upcoming Quick Hits

Save the Dates

Networks

Virtual Library

Renew Your Membership

Update Your Records

Upcoming ACC Programs

Search Back Issues

Webcasts

Updates From ACC Committees

Message from the Chair

Dear Members,

Last year was a very successful year for our committee. It is with great excitement that I introduced the 2017 leadership. We are excited that a number of members expressed interest to join the leadership team and we are reaching out to each of you and look forward to your support and participation.

In addition, the Real Estate Committee is in the process of developing ways for our committee members to participate on Pro Bono efforts. We are looking for law firms to partner with their existing programs. This will provide avenues for in-house to work with partners in certain practices areas to enhance their skill sets or learn new practice areas while providing a service to the community.

Our featured law firm promo program this is Paul Hastings, which has a deep commitment to pro bono work. Nearly 99% of lawyers in their U.S. offices and 83% of lawyers in their international offices contributed 20 or more pro bono hours last year. There may be an opportunity for some pro bono representation for one of your favorite not for profits. If you have a not of profit to recommend for pro bono services or would like to participate in an existing project please contact Jennifer Baldocchi, IP partner and the chair of Paul Hastings pro bono committee in Los Angeles, to discuss your ideas. Her email is [email protected] her telephone number is (213) 683-6133.

Also please reach out me if you have any questions. Dawn Haghighi Chair Real Estate Committee - [email protected] [ More ]

Executive Development and Leadership

Stay Tuned.... The Real Estate Committee will be announcing a double header Quick Hit on Executive Development and Leadership to be presented by Major Lindsay and Africa.

Trends for 2017

raghun

Typewriter

EXHIBIT C

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What are the anticipated hot practice areas in 2017? Will there be more/less hiring? The impact of LF raises on IH comp?

2017 promises to be a turbulent year with anticipated changes in health care, immigration, trade, environmental and tax policies leading to an increased need for talented regulatory attorneys. Budgets for these areas tightened last year awaiting the election results. In the coming months, hiring will increase in those areas, while the compensation for such talent continues to increase. The most recent pay raises in law firms have tightened the market for talent coming out of those firms as associates delay any departures, while forcing in-house positions to pay a premium over 2015 and 2016 salaries to attract that talent. Cybersecurity and data privacy continue to be growing areas. An uptick in litigation, particularly class actions, and the potential for increased M&A activity will also influence the legal job market. Legal hiring is generally a lagging indicator, so hiring changes may not materialize until the latter part of the year. In an upcoming presentation we will explore general compensation trends and some of the challenges in-house departments may face in hiring. [ More ]

Leadership Biographies

Chair

Dawn Haghighi, General Counsel, PCV Murcor Real Estate Services.

Dawn is General Counsel, Privacy and Compliance Officer for affiliated companies PCV Murcor Real Estate Services (Los Angeles, CA), Hightide Settlement Services (Anaheim, CA) and Vendor Resource Mortgage Services (Dallas, TX). Her career encompasses senior management positions with responsibility for matters at several multi-national corporations, including Assistant General Counsel and Privacy Officer for Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd., Charter One Bank, NA (Royal Bank of Scotland), and Nordstrom, Inc. In addition to serving as the Chair of the ACC Real Estate Committee, leadership positions with the Association of Corporate Counsel include the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter, The Board of Directors and past President of the Chicago Chapter, the Annual Meeting Advisory Committee (2006) and the National Board Nominating Committee (2005). She was the recipient of the Association of Corporate Counsel Robert Townsend Member of the Year Award (2005). Ms. Haghighi is a frequent lecturer before corporate boards, foundations and professional organizations around the world. She is active in a number of international, public policy, and not for profit organizations. She was selected as a participant to the U.S. – China Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum welcoming PRC Vice President Xi Jinping to Los Angeles (2012), as a delegate to the Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria (2010), as a member of the United States delegation to the Enhancing the Middle East's Economic Future IV Forum Doha, Qatar (2009), as a participant to theRAND China Reform Forum, in Beijing, China (2004 and 2005) and a presenter to the Supreme People's Court Mediation and Arbitration Congress in Beijing and Shanghai, China (1990 -1995) and as a delegate to several HKTDC Business Conferences in Honk Kong. Ms. Haghighi also attended the White House Welcome Ceremony for the PRC Premier Wen Jibao (2003). In recent years, she served as one of the keynote panelists at the Greenberg Taurig National Executive Women's Leadership Conference. Her community involvement also vests in memberships of a number of international, public policy, and not for profit organizations, she is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy (invitation only) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Committee on Foreign Relations (invitation only). She has served on the Boards of The Association of Corporate Counsel SoCal, The Western Justice Center Foundation, the National U.S. Hong Kong Business Association (past chairmen and founding director), The Princess Cruises Community Foundation (founding director and secretary), The Hong Kong Business Association of Midwest (past president), The Association of Corporate Counsel Chicago (past president) and the Chinese American Service League. She is also pro bono consultant to the Rockefeller Pacific Trust advising on the advancement of national and international justice systems, with emphasis on transnational economic activities. Ms. Haghighi has received many professional awards including the Los Angeles Business Journal In-House Counsel Awards Finalist (2012). Alston & Bird Women of Distinction Award (2011),) and the Association of Media and Entertainment Honoree (2007).

Vice Chair and and Co-Program Chair

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Raghu Nandan,General Counsel & COO, Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC.

Raghu Nandan has been in the mortgage industry in a variety of operational capacities for almost 15 years. He has helped establish and manage Risk Management departments and divisions in large mortgage banks, litigated as a plaintiff's counsel in business and personal tort matters, and provided compliance oversight and general counsel services to small- to medium-sized organizations. He is presently a member of Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC, a Tucson-based residential mortgage lender, and serves as General Counsel & COO of Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC.

Raghu is actively involved with ACC's Regulatory Working Group, and is the Vice-Chair of ACC's Real Estate Committee.

Secretary and Communications Chair

Darryl Austin, General Counsel, Forerunner Housing Partners, LLC.

Darryl has extensive experience in all aspects of developing and financing multifamily real estate. He has a particular expertise in structuring the multiple layers of government financing and incentives included in housing tax credit programs. Darryl has been syndicating multifamily properties for almost two decades through positions with a large law firm, a national multifamily developer and the federal government. He received his joint JD/MBA from American University.

Co-Program Chair, Written Materials and Resources

Elena Antonetti, Executive Counsel, Travelers.

Elena joined Travelers in 2007. Prior to joining Travelers, Elena was senior in-house counsel with a leading multinational food and beverage company, focusing on M&A transactions, domestic and international reorganizations and IT deals. Elena also worked as an associate in law firms in New York and Connecticut. She holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law. Elena is bilingual in English and Russian and fluent in Spanish. She is a member of the Real Estate Committee, Law Department Management Committee & the IP Committee.

Membership Chair

Erik W. Lindberg, Assistant Counsel, William Charles, Ltd.

Erik joined William Charles, Ltd. in 2007 as Associate Counsel. William Charles, Ltd. is a holding company engaged in environmental remediation (Environmental Contractors, Inc.), heavy highway (William Charles Construction), rail and commercial construction (Ragnar Benson Construction) and real estate development (William Charles Real Estate). A graduate of Saint Louis University School of Law in Saint Louis, Missouri and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Erik is a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois with an undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. His prior work experiences include Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP and Ernst & Young, LLP. Erik is a founding Board Member of the Ethan Lindberg Foundation, Inc. a not-for-profit supporting children and families facing congenital heart disease. Erik also works closely with Rockford Corridor Improvement, Inc. a not-for-profit working to reduce urban blight.

[ More ]

Financial Regulation Best Practices

CFPB recently issued guidance on managing production incentives in the financial marketplace (CFPB Compliance Bulletin 2016-03 issued November 28, 2016). In issuing this guidance, CFPB highlighted some of the problems the agency sees in incentive programs,

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ranging from opening accounts without consent to variable compensation payment based on types, terms, or conditions of transactions (leading to abusive/deceptive practices).

While recognizing that incentive programs are common and may be potentially beneficial to consumers, CFPB emphasizes the importance of a robust Compliance Management System (CMS). In CFPB's guidance, a CMS takes a multi-pronged approach starting with (a) executive management oversight, (b) monitored compliance program, policies, procedures, and training, (c) consumer complaint management, and (d) an independent compliance audit.

CFPB expects a "tone from the top" attitude to executive management's role in a robust CMS. Executive management should consider harmful unintended outcomes of incentive programs, and empower employees to raise concerns without fear of retaliation. Policies and procedures should be transparent, equitable, and with sufficient institutional control supplemented by a comprehensive training and monitoring program that incorporates meaningful corrective action. Consumer complaints should play a critical role in identifying abuses or unintended consequences of incentive programs. An independent compliance audit should enable the company's compliance team and executive management to assess the incentive program.

CFPB's recent regulatory actions suggest a continued focus on production incentive programs. The November 28, 2016 guidance provides insight into CFPB's concerns with respect to such program. A periodic review of existing incentive programs through the lens of this guidance may help companies in the financial marketplace assess the robustness of their Compliance Management System.

Raghu Nandan General Counsel & COO Sunstreet Mortgage, LLC [ More ]

Litigation vs Arbitration: How do you prefer to draft your contracts?

We encourage you to log-in to the eGroups and post to the Real Estate Committee's message board to share your thoughts.

I have a strong preference for Arbitration. The costs are substantially less and it is a lot more efficient than litigation.

--Drew Iddings, Detroit MI

Arbitrators tend to split baby. When representing the money partner I prefer litigation. I don't want 50% of damages, I want 100%.

--Robert Richman, Rochester, NY

Neither, I've actually found Mediation to be the most helpful on my new construction deals. Sometimes the answer is simply to have the contractor and architect sit down at a table with a neutral party to walk through the issues. Most of the time the parties can find common ground simply by having someone diffuse the emotions and walk through the facts.

--Terrence Green, Washington, DC

[ More ]

Call for Resource Library Suggestions

We want to hear from you! What forms, templates or tutorials would you like added to the Resource Library. Please email your requests to Elena [email protected].

In addition, every month ACC hosts a webcasts that goes over how to search the Resource Library and explains all that it offers. It is a 30-min presentation and the archived version of the November presentation can be found at here.

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Call for Legal Quick Hit Topics.

What programs would you like to see presented as a legal quick hit? Please email your requests to Elena [email protected]. [ More ]

Member Spotlight Meet Laura Dorman

Laura Dorman is a Managing Director and Associate General Counsel at Berkeley Research Group. BRG is a leading global strategic advisory and expert consulting firm that provides independent advice, data analytics, authoritative studies, expert testimony, investigations, and regulatory and dispute consulting to Fortune 500 corporations, financial institutions, government agencies, major law firms, and regulatory bodies around the world. Named by Forbes as one of America's Best Management Consulting Firms in 2016, BRG is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with offices across the United States and in Asia, Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom.

Laura joined BRG in 2011, when BRG was one year old and had less than 100 employees, and has participated in the company's growth to its current level of almost 1,000 employees. In addition to advising her colleagues, Laura leverages her experience in litigation to provide advice and strategic leadership on client matters, guiding lawyers and executives in the process of assembling appropriate consultants and experts for complex, high-priority client matters.

Following her graduation from law school at USC, Laura clerked for a federal district court judge, and then headed to Washington, DC, where she worked on the staff of a Congressional task force studying fraud, waste and abuse in the Department of Defense. She returned to California to join Severson & Werson, where she specialized in litigation and became a shareholder. She also taught Pretrial Litigation and tort law at Golden Gate University School of Law, first as an adjunct and then as a full-time professor for two years. She then spent 10 years in-house at California Federal Bank and Citibank, where she was responsible for supervising and managing the bank's litigation. Laura has been active in the ACC since becoming in-house counsel. Having served as chair of the Financial Services Committee, she joined forces with Real Estate Chair Dawn Haghighi to organize the committees' Regulatory Working Group, which she and Dawn co-chair. She has also served on the Advisory Board to the ACC's Mid-Year Meetings.

Laura is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. She is currently a member and Advisor and served as vice-chair of the Financial Institutions Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California. She also served on the State Bar's judicial selection committee. She has devoted time to a number of non-profits, including Reading Partners, and served on the board of her community educational foundation.

[ More ]

Upcoming Quick Hits The Real Estate Committee is pleased to announce the following timely topic for our March Legal Quick Hit.

Real Estate Committee Legal Quick Hit March 16, 2017 Noon PST/3:00 PM EST

The Real Estate Committee is pleased to announce the following timely topic for our March Legal Quick Hit.

Topic: Hacking, Encryption, and Privacy: Where will a Trump Administration Go?

Explore the upcoming policy decisions around encryption and data security and whether a Trump Administration will embrace encryption and privacy, law enforcement access, or some blend of both. The discussion will also focus on the impact of President Obama's January 2017 sanctions on the Russian government, and how that will impact Trump's policies and decision-making.

Presenter

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Paul M. Rosen serves as Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Rosen previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor at DHS and Chief of Staff at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and for the Department of Justice Criminal Fraud Section. Mr. Rosen also served as Counsel to then-Senator Joseph Biden, Jr. on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. Prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Rosen was a law clerk to the Honorable Gary Allen Feess, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California.

Moderator

Jason P. Gonzalez, a former Assistant US Attorney, partner at Nixon Peabody specializing in white collar investigations and a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US).

Dial-in: 1.877.647.3411 Passcode: 1835235160

Click here to register for this presentation. [ More ]

Save the Dates

ACC Mid-Year Meeting, April 2-4 in New York, NY. o Chair Dawn Haghighi will be presenting: "After Dodd-Frank and CFPB:

Surveying the New Financial Regulatory Landscape".

2017 ACC Annual Meeting, October 15-18 in Washington, DC. o Early registration is open through March 22.

[ More ]

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nomination for “outstanding committee member of the year” · i, raghu nandan, hereby nominate...

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