Audra Dial is a senior litigator at Mercedes-Benz USA, where she provides strategic advice about all aspects of litigation. For almost twentry in private practice before joining Mercedes-Benz, Ms. Dial defended and protected companies in a variety of industries, including the automotive industry.

Ms. Dial was recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in 2018 and 2019 for Technology Law. She has been recognized as a 2013 and 2014 "Legal Elite" for General Practice by Georgia Trend magazine. In 2012, Ms. Dial was recommended by Legal 500 US in the area of Trade Secrets Litigation.

Ms. Dial earned her J.D. from William and Mary School of Law. Ms. Dial is involved with the Trade Secrets Committee of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, Women in Electronic Discovery, and the National Association of Women Lawyers. Ms. Dial received her Bachelor of Arts from American University, where she graduated cum laude in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Paul Bolus has been representing insurance company clients for over 25 years, litigating and managing over 200 cases in federal and state venues across the country. Paul has handled multi-million-dollar cases, including class action lawsuits, regularly representing insurance companies in litigation dealing with health and life issues in just about every context, including major medical, specified disease, cancer, heart, stroke, disability, life insurance, long-term care insurance, securities, annuities, STOLI, department of insurance complaints and litigation, unfair consumer trade practices, deceptive trade practices and agent accounting litigation.

Paul is also actively involved in insurance industry organizations. He belongs to the Association of Life Insurance Counsel (ALIC). Paul also belongs to the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section and the DRI Life, Health and Disability Committee and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI).

CiCi Cheng is a trial attorney at Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell, a national litigation boutique in Denver, Colorado. She helps clients navigate the intricacies of complex commercial disputes in a wide range of cases, such contract disputes, trade secret misappropriation, and antitrust and unfair competition. As Co-President of the Colorado Pledge to Diversity, she is passionate about the legal communitys investment in real opportunities to create the pipeline of talented, inspirational, and diverse lawyers.

Ernest D. Holtzheimer is an associate in Montgomery McCracken’s corporate and securities practice group. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions, and other general corporate matters.  Ernie also serves as an editor of Montgomery McCracken’s Private Business Counsel blog. In addition, he is a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee.

Ernie currently serves on the Executive Committees of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Business Law Section and Young Lawyers Division, and as a Business Law Fellow in the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section.

As an active community member, Ernie serves on several nonprofit boards including the Special Olympics PA-Philadelphia Executive Advisory Board, The Spruce Foundation Board of Directors, and the Covenant House PA Associate Board. He is also an advisor to an institutional venture fund and an international angel investment group.

Nelva Smith is a labor and employment attorney with Steptoe & Johnson PLLC. From general day-to-day counseling, to litigation, workers' compensation, and safety and health issues, Ohio employers of all sizes rely on Nelva for employment law guidance.

As a member of the firm's Workplace Safety Team, she has defended employers in front of the Industrial Commission on a variety of issues that arise out of Ohio workers compensation matters. She also has experience in safety and health issues, with an emphasis on OSHA. She has presented on several occasions nationally on OSHA topics, and she has twice been a contributing editor to the national treatise on Occupational Safety and Health Law. Nelva has experience defending employers in general employment litigation, charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charges before the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, charges before the National Labor Relations Board, and defending OSHA citations, and she has also successfully handled wage and hour audits before a state government agency. In addition to her employment experience, Nelva is also on the firm's Higher Education Team and actively represents several universities and colleges in the region against Title IX litigation.

Alex More is a partner with Carrington, Coleman in Dallas, Texas. Clients engage Alex to advise them on a broad range of issues that include corporate governance, compliance, and negotiation. Alex has significant experience with litigation, including in the areas of fiduciary duties, securities, and fraud. Alex’s clients include public companies and their officers and directors, private companies and business owners, and individuals working in the securities, health care, energy, aviation, automotive, real estate, and other industries. Alex has also focused on counseling clients regarding legal risk and compliance in connection with virtual token and blockchain issues.

Paolo Lanciani is a Business Psychologist with a passion for supporting lawyers and law firms in their marketing, personal branding and leadership development. He offers his skills as a facilitator, coach and assessor to apply psychological know-how and conpetence as a practical tool that supports his clients in facing challenges and taking on new opportunities. Paolo also works with large corporations in Italy, Germany (he is half German), and worldwide.

Mike MacKay became President of Cross Platform Businesses – now Bloomberg BNA Plus – in November 2016.

In March 2014, he joined Bloomberg BNA as Vice President, Cross Platform Businesses. In that role, he was responsible for commercial operations, focusing on driving direct and indirect growth.

MacKay received a bachelor’s degree in business communications from Calvin College.

Scott Mozarsky acts as President, Legal Division/Bloomberg Law for the Bloomberg BNA. In this role, he is accountable for leading Bloomberg BNA’s Legal Division which, through its flagship Bloomberg Law product, provides workflow platform driven solutions that incorporate tools, news, content, analytics and data that enable professionals to be more successful in their day to day jobs in the Legal, Compliance and Regulatory markets.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, Scott held a number of leadership roles during a thirteen-year tenure in the UBM plc Group. As President – Media & Marketing Services for UBM Tech, Scott was responsible for building UBM Tech’s Marketing Services business and driving the evolution of leading websites such as Information Week.com, EE Times, Dr. Dobbs Journal and Light Reading to an online community model tied to UBM Tech’s live events.

As EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, of PR Newswire, Scott oversaw PRN's commercial activities worldwide which involved spearheading the company’s efforts to meet the communications, marketing, investor relations and compliance needs of its customers.

From 2002-2009, Scott served as General Counsel and headed up global Corporate Development & M&A for United Business Media Limited’s US based subsidiaries. In this role, Scott’s organization played a lead role in transforming UBM from a North American-centric print media group to a global provider of integrated digital and live event solutions.  Scott’s team was responsible for identifying, evaluating, negotiating, structuring and closing over 100 transactions in North America, Asia, EMEA and Latin America.

Prior to joining the UBM Group, Scott spent eight years at two multinational law firms representing media, technology, telecommunications, insurance and manufacturing companies.  Scott, who speaks Japanese and lived in Japan, has advised numerous companies on business, financial and legal issues arising out of cross border transactions.

Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Williams College and his J.D. from Fordham Law School.

Jaelynn's practice is centered on estate planning, non-profits, and business law. She loves learning about her client's families, businesses, and their plans for the future.

Jaelynn began her career as a law clerk in the Fourth District Court of Utah. Through her clerkship, she worked on all manner of cases including million dollar business disputes, high profile murder trials and everything in-between. She has private practice experience in both transactional and litigation matters.

Jaelynn strongly believes in the power of connecting and giving back to her profession and community. She donates much of her time to serving on professional boards and is constantly on the lookout for ways to give back to the community at large.

Nic Mayne is a J.D. Candidate at Harvard Law School and the former head of Mayne Marketing, a marketing agency specializing in law firm marketing. He is also the author of Market Me: How Marketing Is Changing and Why You Should Too. A former hockey player, Mayne now represents athletes through his latest venture, four|thirteen, with a focus on branding and marketing players to increase sponsorship potential and maximize compensation. He also enjoys working with entrepreneurs and emerging companies through programs like the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project. A past contributor to LawMarketing.com and LegalInk Magazine, Mayne now serves as the Opinion Editor for the Harvard Law Record.

T. Christopher Wharton is a solo practice attorney in Salt Lake City focusing on family law, criminal defense, and LGBT legal advocacy. Chris graduated magna cum laude from Westminster College before receiving his law degree from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. Chris also studied Anglo-American Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, and international criminal law at The Hague, Netherlands. He worked in public service and private practice before opening his own firm in 2012.

In 2013, Chris helped lead a team of attorneys who submitted an amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court, arguing for equal treatment of LGBT families under the law. In 2015, Chris obtained the first same-sex common law marriage adjudication in Utah and was given an award for “Best Advocate for LGBT Families.” He has also been recognized as a “Rising Star” by SuperLawyers Magazine.

As an active member of the legal community, Chris serves on the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission. He is a member of the board of the LGBT & Allied Bar Association of Utah and is the current president of the Utah Young Lawyers Division.

Jim An is a 2L at Harvard Law School. He is the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Record, which is Harvard Law School's student newspaper.

Erik Ullberg has been an IP and marketing lawyer with Wistrand Advokatbyrå in Gothenburg, Sweden since 2004 and a member of the Swedish Bar Association since 2009. Erik works primarily with advising Swedish and international clients in matters related to IT and technology, intellectual property and advertising and marketing law. He is a member of organizations such as INTA and Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA). He is recommended by Legal 500.

Ari Kaplan, a leading legal industry analyst, is an inaugural Fastcase 50 honoree and a finalist for ILTA's 2015 Thought Leader of the Year award. His most recent book, Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace, was released in Japanese, and Thomson Reuters is publishing the second edition of The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development in 2016.

He is the principal researcher for a variety of widely distributed benchmarking reports and has been the keynote speaker for events in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and throughout the U.S. Kaplan is also the founder of the Lawcountability® business development platform and iPhone app, a finalist for ILTA's 2015 Innovative Solution Provider of the Year award, and a two-time Ironman triathlon finisher.

Renee Phillips is a partner in Orrick's Employment Law Group and Co-Head of the firm's Whistleblower Task Force. Her practice includes a full range of employment litigation and counseling, with particular emphasis on Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank whistleblower issues and internal investigations.

Renee is also co-author of Corporate Whistleblowing in the Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank Era, the leading treatise on corporate whistleblower law. She speaks and writes regularly on whistleblower law, internal investigations, and other employment law topics. Renee has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Employment Litigation and by the American Society of Legal Advocates as a Top 40 Under 40 Employment Lawyers in New York State.

Lindsey A. Zahn, Esq. is an alcohol beverage and food attorney at Lehman Beverage Law, PLLC. Ms. Zahn has previously counseled wine, beer, and spirits companies on licensing and compliance, federal and state labeling, customs regulations, supplier agreements, and advertising and promotions. She is an award-winning author on wine law, publishes a leading wine law blog called On Reserve, and has traveled to over a dozen wine regions in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, she has given talks and instructed classes on wine law throughout the country and in France. In 2014 and 2015, her blog was nominated as one of the Top 100 Legal Blogs by the ABA Journal.

Chris Brown was once in your shoes. While working as a full-time corporate lawyer, he struggled to find a web marketing company that understood law firms. And while reading a blog post about “repurposed lawyers,” Chris decided to make the entrepreneurial jump he’d been considering for some time — he left his law firm to create b.Legal Marketing.

Today, Chris enjoys working with forward-thinking lawyers who want a professional online presence. Together with his team of marketing strategists and developers, he creates and manages law firm websites for small law firms.

Rather than leaving the practice entirely, Chris created Venture Legal so he could continue serving a small number of tech startups in Kansas City. Even though he only practices law on a limited basis, he found that all of his marketing efforts continue to pay off as he gets more calls than he can handle (he refers most potential clients to other firms). His law firm website was even named a top ten law firm website in 2014 by Lawyerist.com.

Chris is also very active in the Kansas City tech and startup community. He mentors entrepreneurs through several volunteer programs and serves as an advisor to KCnext where he sits on the policy committee. You can also find him strumming his ukulele while relaxing with his wife and young daughter.

Andrew Sommer is a partner in Winston & Strawn’s Washington, D.C. office. In addition to having first-chair trial experience, Mr. Sommer has almost fifteen years of experience with intellectual property matters, with a specific focus on patent litigation in a broad array of forums including district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Federal Circuit, and in trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

Mr. Sommer has handled all phases of patent litigation, from the filing of a complaint through appeal. He has served as lead trial counsel in federal court litigation, has argued dispositive motions, and argued Markman hearings in both district court and the ITC. He is also a recognized authority and strategist when it comes to counseling clients on the interplay between litigation and trial proceedings before the PTAB. He has been involved in more than three dozen PTAB trials and has represented Patent Owners and Petitioners. He has authored, and regularly updated, two chapters in BNA’s “Drafting Patents for Litigation and Licensing,” one relating to continued prosecution of a patent and the other relating to validity trials before the PTAB. He is a sought-after speaker on topics related to patent litigation.

Travis Crabtree brings a unique perspective to his litigation, technology, media and marketing practice. Travis graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and spent several years in television news before embarking on a law career. Travis explores the emerging legal issues and trends for the internet, marketing, technology, intellectual property and online media on his blog, eMediaLaw.com. His technology practice focuses on media communications, online defamation, privacy, domain name disputes, policy and governmental compliance, software licensing and audits, copyrights and trademarks, and related transactional documents for start-ups and technology companies.

In addition, Travis represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex business matters including cases involving defamation, open records issues, antitrust, RICO, the False Claims Act, shareholder derivatives, minority shareholder oppression, corporate officer/director fiduciary cases, partnership disputes, trade secrets, the DTPA, employment and class actions in both state and federal court. His commercial litigation experience allows him to counsel clients at all stages of conflict from avoiding disputes, to resolving disputes, trials and appeals. Most importantly, Travis’s courtroom experience helps him keep his clients out of the courtroom if he can, but aggressively represented if that is what it takes.

Alexandra Devendra is a freelance attorney and legal design consultant based in San Francisco. She uses visual communication design to help other attorneys communicate the law more effectively. Alix also works with legal tech startups, who view her as a strategic partner due to her wide range of skills. She has spoken internationally about visualization of the law and she frequently facilitates design-thinking workshops for lawyers. Before launching her consulting business, Alix practiced law at Nixon Peabody LLP, where she focused on employment litigation and social media law.

Rachel Leiser Levy is principal at Groom Law Group, Chartered, where she advises clients on a wide range of federal tax issues affecting health and welfare plans and retirement plans. Ms. Levy specializes in all tax aspects of the Affordable Care Act, including the “Cadillac Tax”, employer shared responsibility, the new tax reporting requirements of the Internal Revenue Code sections 6055 and 6056, and premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions. Ms. Levy also works with cafeteria plans, tax nondiscrimination rules and VEBAs. Ms. Levy’s expertise extends to retirement plans, where she advises clients on executive compensation, qualified plans and pension plan funding issues. Ms. Levy provides advice to employers, service providers and trade associations on legislative and regulatory strategy.
Immediately prior to joining Groom Law Group Ms. Levy was Associate Benefits Tax Counsel in the Office of Tax Policy at the US Department of the Treasury. As Associate Benefits Tax Counsel, Ms. Levy helped develop tax policies and guidance related to the taxation of employee benefits with a primary focus on implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Her work included guidance on the employer mandate, the premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions, and the new tax reporting requirements of Internal Revenue Code sections 6055 and 6056. In her role at Treasury, she coordinated with IRS, DOL, HHS, and the White House Domestic Policy Counsel on all aspects of health care reform implementation, and advised the Office of General Counsel and the Department of Justice on a range of litigation related to the Affordable Care Act.
Prior to her time at the Treasury Department, Rachel was Legislation Counsel at the Joint Committee on Taxation, where she assisted in the development and drafting of numerous pieces of legislation, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, and the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 among other legislation.

Venroy July is a senior associate in the corporate practice. His practice includes a wide range of corporate and finance matters, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity offerings, debt offerings and general corporate governance. He has worked on private and public company transactions, including mergers, stock and asset purchases and sales, joint ventures, proxy contests, debt and equity offerings, and business restructurings.