Board of Directors and Staff

Amanda Samuel is a Counsel - Trademark and Copyright for Colgate-Palmolive Company. Ms. Samuel is responsible for all worldwide intellectual property matters on behalf of Colgate Palmolive Company related to the Colgate brand and related products. This includes trademark clearance, prosecutions, infringement actions, counterfeit prosecution, divestitures and customs issues. She also handles intellectual property licensing agreements globally. She manages internet and domain names conflicts for the company. Finally, she handles music, image rights and copyright issues for the Colgate brand.  

Ms. Samuel is a 1992 graduate of Princeton University and 1997 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining Colgate, she was an Associate in the Trade Practices and Regulatory Law Group of Weil Gotshal & Manges.  

Veronica Relea is an associate in the Finance Department of the New York office of Latham & Watkins LLP, where she has practiced since joining the firm in 2004.  Ms. Relea's practice focuses primarily on the representation of investment and commercial banks, as well as borrowers and private equity funds, in leveraged finance transactions, with a particular focus on acquisition financings, project financings, cross-border financings and other secured lending transactions.

Sean C. Doyle is a corporate attorney concentrating in mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate law. Mr. Doyle’s mergers and acquisitions experience includes public and private transactions; negotiated acquisitions and contested takeovers; joint ventures; and other corporate transactions. He has been involved in a number of significant transactions.  Mr. Doyle has also advised several of the firm’s investment banking clients in transactional work and has represented both issuers and underwriters in equity and debt offerings. He has also represented issuers and investment banks in connection with several rights offerings.

Education

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1993 (magna cum laude; Order of the Coif; Administrative Editor, The Georgetown Law Journal)

A.B, Georgetown University, 1988

Paula Edgar, Esq. is the Executive Director for Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc. (PALS).  PALS is an organization which is dedicated to providing mentoring, academic support, career development information and networking opportunities to minority law students and new attorneys.  As Executive Director, she focuses on programming and mentoring to aid in the career development of law students and new attorneys of color.  Ms. Edgar is particularly invested in the program as she was a PALS mentee as a law student.  Prior to becoming the Executive Director, Paula practiced law as a Staff Attorney in the Law Enforcement Division of the New York City Commission on Human Rights.  Recently, Ms. Edgar was a participant in the     New York City “Strength Through Diversity” Young Professionals Leadership Program; a program designed to identify and energize emerging community leaders committed to promoting mutual understanding among New York City’s diverse ethnic populations.  Ms. Edgar has served as a panelist and speaker on topics related to diversity in the legal profession and networking for law students and young attorneys.  Ms. Edgar received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Anthropology from California State University (Fullerton) and a Juris Doctorate from the City University of New York School of Law.   

Michael C. Banks has extensive experience in domestic and international securities offerings, including SEC-registered and Rule 144A offerings of investment grade and high yield debt, equity, lease securitizations, export receivables, pass-through trust certificates and trade and lease receivables financings. Mr. Banks’s practice consists of capital markets offerings of complex instruments in the infrastructure, project finance and structured finance areas, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors, including innovative capital markets financings of power plants, pipelines, refineries, transportation and infrastructure assets.

Ms. Bell is an associate in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's New York office.

Areas of Practice

She has wide-ranging experience in complex commercial litigation and has represented major corporate clients including investment banks, real estate companies, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies in a variety of complex commercial and securities- related matters. Ms. Bell has also represented individual clients in investigations by the SEC and state regulators as well as clients seeking asylum protection in the United States.

Education

• J.D., Columbia Law School, 2000
• B.A., Hunter College of the City University of New York, 1995, summa cum laude

Tiffany Lee Christian practices primarily in the area of drug and medical device litigation, with a focus on pharmaceuticals. She is experienced in the complexities of multi-district litigation and is proficient in motion practice in New York and New Jersey.

Ms. Christian is a member of the New York Office's Recruiting Committee and is heavily involved in the firm's diversity efforts. Her pro bono work has included assisting the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
 

EDUCATION

• J.D., Georgetown University Law Center 2002
• B.A., Cornell University 1999

Mr. Drayton has a general litigation practice involving intellectual property, antitrust and complex commercial issues. He has practiced before both state and federal courts as well as the International Trade Commission. Mr. Drayton also counsels clients in all aspects of intellectual property acquisition, transfer, protection and enforcement.

Marcel Florestal is a tax and estate planning attorney/CPA with nearly 11+ years of experience. In addition to tax and estate planning, Mr. Florestal practices business and contract law, probate, nonprofit and elder law. He is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law and is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York and the United States Tax Court.

Mr. Florestal’s unique combinations of communication, legal, and accountancy skills have been strong assets to clients. His skills have been tested in handling some high profile clients and their dealings such as the Reverend Al Sharpton, United States Eastern District Court Judge Sterling Johnson, individuals from the music industry including associates of Roc A Fella Records, and Murder Inc.

Much of Mr. Florestal’s strengths come from his experience in giving back to the community. Accordingly, he is currently a member of various boards – including the One Hundred Black Men of New York.

Prior to Florestal Law Firm, Mr. Florestal was an in-house tax and estate planning attorney with Deloitte & Touche, Tohmatsu, LLP. 

Mr. Florestal also has extensive experience in the entertainment industry. Prior to his position with Deloitte & Touche, Tohmatsu, LLP, he was employed with EMI Capitol Music Group where he handled various royalty contracts, most notably Tina Turner, Garth Brooks, and Hellen Reddy.  

Mr. Florestal has spoken all around the United States as an authority on the topic of tax and estate planning, and has been interviewed by Black Enterprise Magazine as an authority on philanthropic giving and the tax implications thereof.

Mr. Florestal has received various recognition honors, most notably from the United States Attorney’s Office New Jersey District for assisting in the prosecution of white collar crimes.

Donna Gordon is a partner in the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP litigation practice group. Ms. Gordon has a broad range of experience in complex litigation matters including ERISA, securities and individual class actions, insurance-related litigation, and energy, contract, fraud, employment, telecommunications, and real estate matters. Ms. Gordon has handled several civil litigations at the trial and appellate level in federal court.

Alphonzo Grant is a member of the Firm’s Criminal Defense and Investigation Group and also serves as the Firm’s Director of Diversity Initiatives.

 

Mr. Grant graduated from Brooklyn Law School (J.D. 1998) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (B.A., M.P.S. 1994). He served as the law clerk to the Hon. Edward R. Korman, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1998-1999). Mr. Grant, an associate at S&C from 1999 to 2002, returned to the firm in 2006. As an associate he engaged in various aspects of litigation practice, with a focus on antitrust, labor and employment and criminal defense law.

From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Grant served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, assigned to the Violent Crimes and Terrorism Unit. During his tenure as a prosecutor, Mr. Grant prosecuted a wide variety of criminal violations of federal law, including terrorism, racketeering, weapons, narcotics, immigration, money laundering, tax and government fraud offenses.

Mr. Grant is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as the New York State Courts and United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Mr. Grant has tried several jury trials in federal court and has argued appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. Grant brings years of relevant experience and commitment to the Director of Diversity position. Throughout his educational and professional life, Mr. Grant has steadfastly championed diversity, serving on several boards and committees focused on enhancing diversity in the legal profession. He heads S&C’s Diversity Management Department, which has the mandate of developing, implementing and coordinating the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and programs.

Professional Activities and Community Involvement

• In-house presenter on Trial Practice

   

• Frequent presenter on Diversity and Inclusion

   

• Member, the NYC Bar Association Enhance Diversity in the Profession Committee

   

• Member, Brooklyn Law School Alumni Admissions Board

   

• Board Member, The Youth Empowerment Mission, Inc., a non-profit that provides comprehensive services to at-risk youth.

   

• Member, NYC Bar Association, Civil Rights Committee, 2000-2001

   

• Secretary, NYC Bar Association Minorities in the Courts Committee, 1998-1999

Keisha-Ann G. Gray is a senior counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department of Proskauer Rose and co-chair of the Department's Employment Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group.  She is an experienced trial lawyer with a background in both the private and public sectors.  Her practice focuses on civil law with an emphasis on employment discrimination work. Keisha-Ann regularly litigates sexual harassment, age, gender and disability discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination claims before federal and state courts, and counsels Fortune 500 companies including, but not limited to, those in the television/entertainment, banking/finance and consumer products industries on issues pertinent to employment law and complaint prevention. 

Prior to joining Proskauer in 2007, Keisha-Ann served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York.  Among her notable jury trial victories, Keisha-Ann defended the U.S. Postal Service – the largest employer in the United States – against an unlawful termination claim involving allegations of reverse-race and gender discrimination and retaliation.  She also has secured successful defense verdicts and judgments in matters involving allegations of failure to promote, sexual harassment, age, race, national origin and disability discrimination, and constitutional tort.  In addition, Keisha-Ann has written and successfully argued motions before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prior to having served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Keisha-Ann was a federal law clerk for two years to the Honorable Jaime Pieras Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.  As a result of her clerkship, Keisha-Ann observed first-hand the inner workings of the trial court and gained substantive experience by assisting the Judge in evaluating the numerous single and multiple plaintiff employment discrimination actions that were assigned to his docket. 

In her spare time, Keisha-Ann speaks and lectures regularly on trial practice, employment discrimination matters and diversity and inclusion issues.  She is also the Legal Clinic Columnist for Human Resources Executive Online Magazine.

Keisha-Ann received her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, and her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1998, where she served as a research assistant to Professor Derrick Bell and as staff editor for the Review of Law & Social Change.  Keisha-Ann is admitted to practice in New York State, the District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. 

Carole Green is a commercial real estate attorney with extensive experience handling real estate leasing, finance, acquisitions, dispositions, development, brokerage and management matters.  She also serves as a securities arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. 

 Carole is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College and a graduate of the Harvard University School of Law, where she was a Legal Methods Instructor and a teaching assistant.  She was associated with Kaye Scholer LLP and Richards & O'Neil, and was Counsel to Petrie Stores Corporation and Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. before becoming a contract attorney in 1996.

 Carole was a founding member of Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc. and currently serves on its Board of Directors.  She is also a member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where she chaired a subcommittee of the Committee on Career Advancement and Management.

 Carole is admitted to practice in the State of New York.

Hosea H. Harvey is a corporate associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he specializes in corporate governance/regulations, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and securities matters. Prior to Cravath, Mr. Harvey clerked for U.S. District Court Judge (now U.S. Circuit Judge) Barrington D. Parker Jr. in New York and for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Ann Claire Williams in Chicago on the 7th Circuit. Mr. Harvey received his Ph.D. in Political Science in 2005 from Stanford University, where he held a National Science Foundation Fellowship. Mr. Harvey graduated from Dartmouth College in

1995 and Stanford Law School in 2000. While at Stanford Law School, Mr. Harvey served as Vice-President of BLSA, an advisor on the law school's curriculum changes, Articles Editor for the Stanford Law and Policy Review and as an extern for Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. Mr. Harvey is admitted to the bar of New York State and is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Adam Hemlock is a partner in the firm’s Antitrust practice. He represents clients in a variety of antitrust, intellectual property, commercial litigation, and other legal matters, and has particular experience in the antitrust/intellectual property and international antitrust areas. Mr. Hemlock also has extensive experience working with Japanese clients on a wide variety of litigation, transactional and counseling matters.

Dennis Hopkins focuses his practice on all aspects of intellectual property, with an emphasis on patent, copyright and trade secret litigation. Mr. Hopkins has significant experience in all phases of IP litigation, including mediations, trials and appeals. In addition, Mr. Hopkins' practice includes counseling clients on issues relating to litigation strategies and intellectual property management. His IP experience also includes drafting and negotiating agreements and licenses, preparing written opinions, and providing general IP counseling to clients, including counseling on patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark matters.

Education

• U.S. Military Academy at West Point, B.S., 1988

• Rutgers University School of Law, J.D., 1998

Brad S. Karp has achieved national prominence as both a litigator and corporate adviser. Mr. Karp is the co-chair of the firm's Litigation Department and the newly elected chair of the firm and a member of the firm's Management Committee.  Mr. Karp has extensive experience handling and trying a broad range of matters, with particular emphasis defending financial institutions and corporations in complex securities and commercial matters as well as representing financial institutions and other clients before the SEC, the Department of Justice and federal and state regulatory authorities. Mr. Karp will begin his term as chair on January 1, 2009.

In 2003, Mr. Karp was profiled in The American Lawyer as one of the 45 leading lawyers in the United States under the age of 45. Mr. Karp was profiled by Chambers (2004-07) as one of the leading securities litigators in the United States, by Lawdragon (2005-08) as one of America’s leading lawyers, by Best Lawyers in America (2005-07) as one of the leading lawyers in the United States handling "Bet the Company" litigation, by Legal 500 (2007) as one of the leading litigators in the United States, and by Benchmark/Institutional Investor (2008) as one of the litigation “stars” in the United States. Mr. Karp's successful representation of Citigroup and other clients in complex litigations and regulatory matters was featured in a January 2006 American Lawyer cover story, "The Lifesavers," in which Paul, Weiss was selected as the best litigation firm in the United States.

Currently, Mr. Karp is lead counsel for Citigroup in numerous matters, including, among others, its subprime-related litigations and regulatory matters; its Enron-related litigations and regulatory matters; its Parmalat-related litigations; its auction rate securities litigations; the litigations arising out of the activities of former Salomon Smith Barney research analyst Jack Grubman (in connection with his coverage of WorldCom, Global Crossing, AT&T, Qwest and other issuers); and a nationwide employment discrimination class action.

In addition to the matters he is handling for Citigroup, Mr. Karp currently is lead counsel for Bear Stearns in the litigations and regulatory matters arising out of its March 2008 collapse. Mr. Karp also is representing several syndicates of Wall Street underwriters in securities litigation arising out of $25 billion of GM/GMAC bond offerings, and is representing JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Deloitte, MacAndrews & Forbes, Bear Stearns, Ericsson, Scottish Power, Eton Park and Repsol YPF, S.A., among others, in significant securities, commercial and regulatory matters, and is handling a range of litigations and special projects for the National Football League, Sotheby's, Alcoa and ING.

Mr. Karp is a frequent lecturer and writer, having published more than 350 articles on business litigation and securities law issues. For the past 23 years, Mr. Karp has written a monthly column for the New York Law Journal, titled "Second Circuit Review," which analyzes developments in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Active in the community, Mr. Karp is a Director of the Legal Action Center, a Trustee of the Riverdale Country School, a member of the Institute of Judicial Administration, a Director of Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc., a Director of American Friends of The Hebrew University, a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation, a member of the Program Advisory Board of the Brennan Center for Justice, and a member of the Federal Bar Council Second Circuit Inn of Court. Recently, Mr. Karp was awarded the Torch of Learning Award by the American Friends of Hebrew University and The Arthur Liman Public Interest Award by The Legal Action Center.

Tom C.W. Lin is an associate in Davis Polk & Wardwell's Corporate Department.  Mr. Lin graduated, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from New York University in 2002 and in 2005 received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was senior editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law and an Advanced Legal Writing Instructor.  He also received a Certificate in Business and Public Policy from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.  He is admitted to the bar of New York and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.

Timothy Lynch currently serves as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and has been with the Office since 2003.  Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Lynch worked as an associate in the New York Office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP working in their commercial litigation department.  Mr. Lynch is also a Board Member for the Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc. (PALS®), an organization for minorities in the legal profession. Mr. Lynch received his juris doctor in 1999 from Hofstra University School of law where he was the Articles Editor for the Hofstra Law Review.  He did his undergraduate studies at Seton Hall University where he graduated magna cum laude in 1996.

Hazel-Ann Mayers is Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Litigation at CBS Broadcasting Inc. and the Deputy Compliance Officer for CBS Corporation. She represents CBS and its business units in litigation matters and also manages the Corporation’s domestic and international compliance matters. Hazel counsels her clients on a variety of litigation and compliance related issues, manages and supervises outside counsel and directly handles litigations and investigations in-house (without the retention of outside counsel).

Seema Misra is a litigation partner who represents clients in a wide variety of business disputes, before state and federal courts, as well as arbitral tribunals. She has particular expertise in the areas of commercial disputes, insolvency related litigation, and insurance and reinsurance disputes. Ms. Misra's commercial litigation experience has involved prosecuting and defending a wide variety of claims, relating to commercial contracts, lender liability, fraud and other business torts.

Alison L. Moore is an associate at the New York office of Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP, an international law firm based in France. Ms. Moore is a corporate transactional attorney whose practice includes cross-border finance, asset finance and private equity transactions.   Prior to joining Gide, Ms. Moore was an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and Thelen Reid & Priest. Ms. Moore received her Juris Doctor in 2001 from Columbia Law School and her B.A. cum laude from Harvard University in 1997.

In addition to her service on the Board of Directors of PALS, Ms. Moore serves on the Board of Governors of The Hotchkiss School and is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Association of Black Women Attorneys.

Meredith Moore, Director, Global Diversity, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, is responsible for overseeing the Firm's diversity initiatives globally including diversity education and training, affinity groups, and supplier diversity programs.

Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Moore launched the Office for Diversity at the New York City Bar Association. In that capacity, she led the City Bar in its extraordinary accomplishments in highlighting diversity issues and worked with major legal employers (law firms, in-house legal departments and government legal employers) to foster more diverse and inclusive work environments.

Ms. Moore previously served as Director of Research and Information Services at Catalyst, the leading research and advisory organization working with businesses and professions to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. During her seven years at Catalyst, Ms. Moore was instrumental in many of Catalyst's significant accomplishments, including the groundbreaking US study, "Women in the Law," and on the global front, a study of female and male leaders in European business and a practical guide for increasing the number of women in global business. Ms. Moore is also a specialist on workplace flexibility and mentoring.

Ms. Moore is currently an adjunct assistant professor at New York University's Wagner School and was previously adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. She received her master’s in Public Policy and Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the State University of New York College at Geneseo.

Chad Peterman is a Counsel at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. His practice focuses on patent and antitrust litigation with an emphasis on the electrical engineering and pharmaceutical arts. He has been involved in all phases of litigation, including pre-suit investigation, trial, and appeal. He has represented major pharmaceutical companies in complex ANDA and antitrust litigations, and major software, telecommunications, semiconductor, fiberoptic and medical equipment companies in patent litigations. In addition to litigation, Mr. Peterman also represents companies in intellectual property transactional matters, including rendering patent opinions and negotiating a variety of intellectual property agreements.  Mr. Peterman received his B.S.E., Princeton University, and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

 Education Information

Amherst College, BA, 1995, Major:  English and Film Studies
Pepperdine University, JD, 2000, Pepperdine Moot Court Appellate Team, 1999-2000;  Pepperdine Moot Court Board, 1999-2000;  First Place Team Award,  Interschool Appellate Competition, 2000;  First Place, 1999 ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) Nathan Burkan Memorial Essay Competition – “The Unauthorized Fixation of a Person’s Otherwise Unfixed Speech:  Copyright Implications of the Monica Lewinsky Tapes”

 

Paul Roberts is counsel in the firm’s Financial Services and Products Group. He practices in the areas of structured finance, securitization and derivatives. Prior to joining Alston & Bird, Paul was a corporate associate with Clifford Chance in New York, where he worked with all forms of collateralized debt and loan obligation transactions.

Paul received his J.D. in 1996 from Northeastern University and his B.A. in history in 1991 from Dartmouth College. He is admitted to practice in New York and Florida.

Representative Experience

• Represented investment banks and credit rating agency in connection with collateralized debt obligation transactions where securities were backed by residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, insured securities, CDO securities, credit default swaps and total return swaps.
• As in-house counsel to financial guaranty insurance company, provided legal support to Surveillance Division in connection with all areas of structured finance. Also worked on regulatory filings with the SEC and New York State Insurance Department and actively involved in all legal/regulatory aspects of insurance subsidiary formation in the United Kingdom.
• Represented investment banks in asset securitization transactions involving credit card receivables, automobile leases, bond obligations and mortgages.
• Represented real estate developers in connection with residential and commercial projects throughout South Florida.

Richard Ross is a Vice President & Assistant General Counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  He recently joined Goldman as the lawyer for the Infrastructure Investment Group.  Prior to joining Goldman, Richard was a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.  Richard received his JD/MBA from Cornell University, M.A. from Stanford University and B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley.   

Heather Shaw has over 15 years of experience as a lawyer, executive leader and strategist. A multi-skilled executive, Heather has demonstrated expertise in corporate philanthropy, professional development and leadership training, public relations, business and economic development, corporate governance and marketing and promotions.

Heather’s experience spans both the private and public sectors. Her unique skill set allows her to provide project management that is focused and efficient. Her foundation as a lawyer gives her strong analytical, communication and organizations skills, while her experience as a corporate executive gives her a keen sense of how to protect and enhance corporate reputation and image by building relationships and effectively communicating with employees and key external stakeholders, including policy makers, opinion leaders, Non-Government Organizations (‘NGO”), and the media.

She is currently the Director of Community Investment and Employee Engagement at Time Warner Inc. where she is responsible for over $2+ million in corporate giving. She has helped the company and nonprofit organizations achieve performance objectives by devising business and community strategies. Heather provides paths for Time Warner to support NGOs through grant making, employee volunteering and collaborative capacity building.  She has successfully established and managed Community Investment initiatives and targets, and identified and addressed gaps to improve overall business performance as related to Time Warner’s focus areas: college achievement, art/culture and a diverse and inclusive culture. Heather’s wide breath of responsibilities is a direct result of her strong ability to maintain relationships and build consensus that gets direct results.

Heather has created a career of helping corporations and employees better understand how a company’s behavior in the areas of corporate governance, workplace, consumers, environment and the community can have a tremendous influence on public opinion and the ability to hire and retain talented people. Heather ensures strategies are clearly communicated and helps direct Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) programming to ultimately improve the overall business performance.

Prior to joining Time Warner, Heather served as a Government/Community Relations consultant, where she guided the NY Botanical Garden, one of the largest arts/culture NGOs in the US. She provided relationship building with government officials to maintain and increase operations and capital government funding. Prior to the NY Botanical Garden, Heather spent 10 years providing legal counsel and building programs aimed at the development of small business, community affairs and urban economic development with the NYC Mayor’s Office and Department of Business Services. During her tenure, Heather led the $4.3 million executive management for the Deputy Mayor for Community Development and Business Services. She advised the Deputy Mayor on issues ranging from expansion, dispositions, efficiency improvement, and troubleshooting as well as supervised agencies such as Parks, Consumer Affairs, Housing, Business Development, UN/Consular Corps/Protocol and Community Affairs. She is a solution finder, consensus builder and a doer.

Heather has a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University James Madison College and a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law. She is on the boards of several prominent arts, education and civic NGOs and enjoys travel, sports and entertainment. She is also an avid traveler to UK, France, Greece, South Africa, China, Canada, Egypt and UAE.

Julian Stapleford is Senior Counsel at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. His practice focuses on structured finance and capital market transactions with a particular emphasis on asset and mortgaged-backed securities.  Julian is the founding co-chair of the Wells Fargo Legal Group Diversity Council and is a member of the Outside Counsel Committee whose focus is on increasing diversity among the attorneys staffed on Wells Fargo’s matters and in the legal profession as a whole. Julian has been instrumental in the success of the Wells Fargo Legal Group Diversity Council and has helped to direct the law department’s diversity program and diversity initiatives.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo Bank, Julian was an associate in the New York office of McKee Nelson LLP in the structured finance group and as an associate in the New York office of White & Case LLP.

Mr. Stapleford received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University. He is admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Timothy Wilkins is a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in New York. He is currently based in the New York office and has worked for over 11 years in Tokyo. His practice focuses on corporate mergers, private equity investments, joint ventures and software licensing. His clients include U.S. and European multinationals as well as major Japanese corporations. Mr. Wilkins is a graduate of Harvard College (magna cum laude) and a JD/MBA of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Public International Law and served as an Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. In Japan, Mr. Wilkins was a member of the Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association and served as the Vice-Chair of the Legal Services Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Mr. Wilkins has lectured frequently on M&A topics at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, the Japan Society and Hitotsubashi Graduate School. Mr. Wilkins currently serves on the Board of PALS, the Advisory Board of Legal Outreach and the Advisory Board of the Opportunity Agenda. He is the first African American partner at Freshfields in the firm's 270 year history. Mr. Wilkins is a member of the New York bar and speaks Japanese.