Presented by the Columbia Pre-Law Society, Lawlapalooza is a conference that aims to help students answer whether a law career is right for them and allows them to explore the diverse fields within law. By bringing together several professionals in these fields and encouraging their interaction with students, we try to answer questions ranging from the broad "What do lawyers do?" and "What can I do with a law degree?" to more in-depth topics such as "What barriers remain in the realm of equal rights?” The goal is to make the conference welcoming both to those who are certain they want to pursue a career in law and to those who are just starting to consider it.
A cum laude graduate of New England College and a graduate of George Washington University Law School, Judge W. Franc Perry also received a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. After practicing law for over 20 years with Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz and Dick, he served as a Principal Court Attorney for the Appellate Term, First Department. He was elected a judge in 2011 and currently presides in the New York Civil Court. Judge Perry is presently a member of the Mid-Manhattan Branch of the NAACP and is a former Board member of Mothers' Voices, an AIDS education organization. We are also proud to recognize Judge Perry as the Columbia Pre-Law Society's Professional Advisor.
Herbert Sloan has been a member of the Barnard faculty since 1986. In addition to his teaching duties for the history department, Professor Sloan is affiliated with Barnard's American studies program. Professor Sloan's teaching interests are history of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, and the history of American law, including the Constitution. He is a recipient of the Emily Gregory Award for Teaching Excellence at Barnard.He frequently gives presentations on historical topics to audiences ranging from the high school level to professional organizations for historians. He is presently working on a book to be entitled The Fall and Rise of Nancy Randolph. Professor Sloan is a member of the advisory board of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. He is also active in the world of documentary editing, two current examples being his memberships on the advisory boards of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson and the Papers of John Jay.
Ms. Atassi has been employed by Fragomen since 2001. She worked for Fragomen while attending law school and joined the firm as an Associate in 2006. While in law school, Ms. Atassi received the Cornelius T. Wickersham, Jr. Prize for Constitutional Law, CALI Excellence for the Future Award for Constitutional Law and was a member of the Moot Court Honor's Society. Ms. Atassi represents multinational corporate clients in a variety of industries including financial services and consulting. She provides guidance on all aspects of corporate immigration, including nonimmigrant visas, permanent residence, and citizenship. Ms. Atassi provides strategic guidance to Human Resource professionals, Recruiters, employees, Global Mobility teams, and the General Counsel’s office to ensure successful and compliant immigration solutions. Isha also provides pro bono assistance to indigent persons, including filing permanent residence applications for nonimmigrants and obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for unaccompanied minors.
Jeff Dunifon is an associate in Hunton & Williams LLP’s New York office with the Global Technology, Outsourcing & Privacy practice group. Prior to joining the Hunton & Williams, Mr. Dunifon was an associate at Baker & McKenzie and had worked as a federal investigator for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. While at OCR, he conducted investigations of alleged violations of federal regulations, and enforced and provided guidance on federal civil rights laws, HIPAA, and the HITECH Act.
Mr. Ma is an associate in the New York office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises clients on corporate finance, financial restructuring, and corporate governance matters. Prior to joining WSGR, Steve was an associate in the Business Solutions, Governance, Restructuring and Bankruptcy group of Proskauer Rose LLP, where he advised debtors, creditors, statutory and ad hoc committees, and equity holders in chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings. Mr. Ma's representative engagements include: the Statutory Unsecured Claimholders’ Committee in the chapter 11 cases of Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc. et al.; the Statutory Creditors’ Committee in the chapter 11 case of SIGA Technologies, Inc.; the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation of the State of Rhode Island in defending against bondholder litigation seeking to prevent issuance of more than $600 million in tobacco bonds; and the Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico in drafting its recovery act.
Mrs. Tetelbaum is an associate in the Corporate Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate and securities laws matters, and has included domestic and cross-border transactions, securities offerings, corporate governance, proxy fights and takeover defense. Ms. Tetelbaum has advised both public and private companies in a wide range of industries in connection with mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Ms. Tetelbaum has also advised with respect to proxy contests, takeover defense strategies and other corporate governance matters. Ms. Tetelbaum received an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University, as a John Harvard Scholar and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Tetelbaum completed a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal on Regulation and editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, Ms. Tetelbaum served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Ms. Svokos is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Prior to joining Goodwin and during law school, Ms. Svokos served as the Intellectual Property Manager for BrainScope Company, Inc., a medical neuro-technology company based in Bethesda, MD. While attending law school, Ms. Svokos served as the Symposium Editor for the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics and as the President of the Student Intellectual Property Law Association. Some of Ms. Svokos's recent matters include: Moderna Therapeutics in its strategic collaboration with Merck to advance novel mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines, with an upfront payment of $200 million. Blueprint Medicines in its worldwide collaboration with Roche, valued up to $1 billion with a $45 million upfront payment. Surface Oncology in its collaboration with Novartis to develop next generation immunotherapeutics, with Surface to receive up to $170 million in near term cash, plus milestones and royalties.
Meredith R. Miller is a business and employment attorney and legal educator. She is Professor of Law and Director of Solo & Small Practice Initiatives at the Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. In addition, she is founder and principal of Miller Law, PLLC. Since beginning her career as a law professor in 2004, Ms. Miller has taught law school classes in writing and research, contracts, civil procedure, business organizations and employment law. More recently, she has spearheaded the development of a curriculum for law students that intend to operate their own practices. Her teaching has been recognized more than once with a “Professor of the Year” award from her students. Ms. Miller's scholarly papers are widely cited in influential law journals and leading law school casebooks. Her writing focuses on contract, employment and business law; she has lectured on these topics throughout the world. She also has experience working with non-profit organizations. She is Immediate Past President of the LGBT Bar Association and Foundation of Greater New York ("LeGaL").
Liz Platt is the Director of the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School. Before joining Columbia, she was a Staff Attorney at MFY Legal Services Mental Health Law Project. After graduating from New York University School of Law, she was a Carr Center for Reproductive Justice Fellow at A Better Balance. During law school, Liz worked with the Urban Justice Sex Workers Project, New York Civil Liberties Union, and Brennan Center for Justice. In 2013, she published Gangsters to Greyhounds: The Past, Present and Future of Offender Registration, 37 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 727 (2013).
Suzanne Goldberg, one of the country’s foremost experts on gender and sexuality law and a leading advocate for the LGBTQ community, serves as the Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law. She also leads the Law School’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law and its Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic. Goldberg joined the Law School’s full-time faculty in 2006. She previously served on the faculties of Rutgers School of Law–Newark and Fordham Law School. During her time at Lambda, she served as co-counsel for the defendants in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas. Her commentary has been featured on 20/20, CNN, and other national television networks, as well as on radio and news outlets around the world. Goldberg graduated with honors from Brown University, and went on to serve as a Fulbright Fellow at the National University of Singapore. She earned her J.D. at Harvard Law School and later clerked for Justice Marie Garibaldi of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Kathleen graduated from Indiana University Maurer School of Law before joining The Kurland Group in November, 2016. While in law school, Kathleen was a student leader of various progressive organizations, including the American Constitution Society, Law Students for Reproductive Justice (now If/When/How), OutLaw, and the Inmate Legal Assistance Project, among others. Kathleen is a member of The Order of the Barristers, a national advocacy honor society, and has worked with organizations such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the ACLU of Indiana. At the Kurland Group, Kathleen’s practice is focused on constitutional and statutory litigation on behalf of LGBTQ populations and individuals. Her research and scholarship focuses on the intersections of LGBTQI identities, racial justice, reproductive justice, and the prison industrial complex.
Alex Abdo is a Senior Staff Attorney at the newly formed Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, where he will be litigating cases concerning the freedom of speech in the digital age. Prior to joining the institute, Mr. Abdo worked for eight years at the American Civil Liberties Union, first in its National Security Project and then in its Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. While at the ACLU, Mr. Abdo litigated cases concerning the Patriot Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the use of encryption, the right to speak anonymously online, and the treatment of detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Navy Brig in South Carolina. Mr. Abdo is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. Prior to working at the ACLU, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Barbara M.G. Lynn, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, and to the Hon. Rosemary Barkett, United States Circuit Judge for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Anthe M. Vorkas is the General Counsel of the New York County Lawyers Association. As lead attorney, Ms. Vorkas handles all corporate governance and contractual matters. Ms. Vorkas attended Barnard College, graduating summa cum laude with a combined major in Political Science and Human Rights. She is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law. After law school, Ms. Vorkas worked for the Office of the General Counsel at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative as an Orison Marden Public Service fellow. Following her fellowship, Ms. Vorkas practiced finance, securities and corporate law at White & Case LLP and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. Ms. Vorkas also co-taught the Community Economic Development Clinic at Fordham Law. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Barnard College Student Mentoring Program.
Mr. Riano is a public scholar in Constitutional Law, Ethics, and Government. He currently serves as a Lecturer in Constitutional Law and Government at Columbia University, and as the Faculty Moderator for the Civic Education Programs of The United States Federal Courts of the Second Circuit. His first book, co-authored by William Eskridge of Yale Law School on the constitutional history of the marriage movement in the United States, is forthcoming from Yale University Press. Previously, he served as an Administrative Law Judge for the State of New York in 2016, and was Founder & CEO of The Riano Group, LLC from 2011 - 2016. In addition, he worked as Special Counsel, and then was Partner, at Drohan Lee LLP from 2013 - 2016.
Maria E. Celis has worked in Customs and international trade for over 17 years, and is a partner in the New York office of Neville Peterson LLP. She practices in the areas of international trade, Customs, export law, Food and Drug Administration, and other federal regulatory matters. She is admitted to practice before various federal courts, including U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ms. Celis has been asked to speak before numerous groups regarding trade, including: Cargo Logistics America in San Diego, California; the Mediterranean Anglo- American Business Network (MAABN) in Aix-en Provence and Marseille, France; the Midwest Global Trade Association (MGTA), in Minneapolis, MN; and the Xinji Chamber of Commerce in Hebei, China, on such issues as Exporting and Business Strategies During a Recession, INCOTERMS, Free Trade Agreements, Essential in Commercial Contracts, and Payment Terms in International Commercial Contracts; and NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Felipe Nazar Pagani is an international arbitration attorney based in New York. Trained in both civil and common law, Felipe represents clients in international commercial and investment arbitrations. With a special focus on construction disputes, Felipe's experience spans energy, mining, and corporate matters, as well as international public law issues. Given his Chilean roots, language abilities, and work experience in Latin America, Felipe is particularly qualified to advise on strategic solutions to challenges faced by companies doing business in the region. Prior to joining White & Case, Felipe was a senior associate at a leading Chilean law firm and a foreign associate in the international arbitration group of a major international law firm based in Washington, D.C. Felipe has also served as a consultant to construction companies developing projects in Latin America. Felipe regularly publishes and speaks on international arbitration issues.
Mark Vecchio is a partner and the Co-Chair of Venable's New York Corporate Group. He specializes in corporate and commercial transactions, with a particular emphasis on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international project finance, international joint ventures, public-private partnerships, infrastructure development projects (with a focus on transportation and energy, including renewable and alternative, in addition to fossil fuels), and private equity transactions. Mr. Vecchio regularly serves a range of domestic and international clients, both public and private, including corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, financial institutions and foreign governments. He has extensive experience in the negotiation and documentation of mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, capital markets transactions, privatizations, energy and natural resource development projects, intellectual property transactions, and in-bound and out-bound foreign direct investment and financing. He has significant personal international experience, having lived and worked for extended periods of time in France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and Canada.
Mr. Chase is an honors graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School. While at Yale, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the leading national collegiate Honor Society, and was a Ranking Scholar (top 10%) during the majority of his eight semesters before graduating from Yale magna cum laude. At Harvard, Mr. Chase earned his JD degree cum laude. After leaving television and film production in 1995, Mr. Chase returned to the practice of law in Miami. He has represented Spanish- and English-language television and radio stars; Spanish- and English-language production companies; Spanish- and English-language recording artists; fine artists; art galleries; composers; record companies; and filmmakers, models, authors and screenwriters. He lectures regularly on representation of media personalities and the “do’s and don’t’s” of music, television and film production. His most recent Law Review article is The FCC’s Indecency Jurisdiction: A Stale Blemish on The First Amendment, 39 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 697 (2013).
Dr. P.J. Blount is an adjunct professor in the LL.M in the Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, and he teaches Montclair State University. He teaches Space Security Law, International Telecommunications Law, Cyberlaw, Human Rights Law, Intellectual Property, and US Foreign Policy. Blount’s primary research areas are legal issues related to space security and cyberspace governance. He has published and presented widely on the topic of space security law and has given expert testimony on space traffic management before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space. Blount serves as the co-editor-in-chief of the Proceedings of the IISL; as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Space Law; and as an editorial board member of the Journal of Astrosociology. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law and participates as a judge in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.
Deborah Goldberg is the Managing Attorney of Earthjustice’s northeast office, located in New York City. Since joining Earthjustice in 2008, she has been conducting litigation and other advocacy to protect public health and the environment from the adverse effects of shale gas development and toxic chemicals. Ms. Goldberg’s career in environmental law began in 1988, following clerkships for then-Judge Stephen Breyer of the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the late Judge Constance Baker Motley of the Southern District of New York. She spent a decade in private practice, concentrating on environmental impact review, historic preservation, and hazardous waste litigation. She then joined the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, serving as its Democracy Program Director until 2008. Ms. Goldberg is a 1986 graduate of Harvard Law School. She also holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and taught for three years at Columbia University.
