• Associate Dean, International Personnel, HR Regulatory & Compliance, Human Resources, Mount Sinai Health System

Hamel Vyas is currently the Associate Dean for International Personnel, and HR Regulatory and Compliance, at the Mount Sinai Health System where she oversees all employment immigration matters as well as I-9 and E-verify for the health system. She is the Responsible Officer for the J-1 Exchange Visitor visa program and the Principal Designated School Officer of the F-1 Student Visa Program. She is admitted to the New York State Bar, and to the United States Supreme Court.

She serves as an immigration co-chair for the South Asian Bar Association, North America, and is co-chair of D&I committee for the NY chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Ms. Vyas is the recipient of the inaugural 2014 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year from the South Asian Bar Association of New York Pro Bono Clearinghouse for outstanding commitment to pro bono legal service for the South Asian community and 2018 recipient of the Public Interest Award from the South Asian Bar Association of New Jersey. Ms. Vyas is an inaugural member of the Immigration Affairs Commission for Jersey City, New Jersey established in January 2017 and is currently the Chair. In 2021, she was presented with the Excellence in the Service of Education award by the Institute for Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Ms. Vyas volunteers her time advising survivors and victims of domestic violence pertaining to immigration matters. She has spoken at the United Nations DPI/NGO briefing encouraging gender equality in the contemporary global era. Ms. Vyas has also spoken and written on various immigration topics nationally.

• Immigration Attorney, Paturi Law

With thirteen years of experience in practicing Immigration Law, Madhurima Boyapti Paturi has made her mark in the Orlando area by being one of the founding partners of her own law office and obtaining mainly family-based and business-based visas for her clients that seek her great help to lawfully enter the United States. Not only is she the founder of her own law office and obtains visa approvals for her clients, but she is also the founder and president of her non-profit organization, ShakthiUS, Inc. that aims to aid women and children who are victims of domestic violence by any means necessary with the goal of opening a shelter for these women and children in the near future. Furthermore, she has been greatly involved with the Florida Chapter of the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) as the most recent past President and President-Elect for the previous year. Presently though, she is the Immigration Chair for SABA Nation and is a tenured speaker and publisher for topics regarding immigration and women's rights. Mrs. Paturi has a passion for helping those in need from immigration to domestic violence to women's rights, and as such has expressed such passion by founding her own business, founding a non-profit organization, becoming deeply involved with prominent organizations, and educating the public on pertinent topics.

• Supervising Immigration Attorney, Murthy Law Firm

Khorzad A. Mehta practices immigration law in Owings Mills, MD. He represents individuals, families and U.S. employers with employment- and family-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visa matters. He has a special interest in the representation of international physicians and their employers with J-1 waivers to improve access to health care for the rural, semi-rural, and low income populations of the United States, H and O nonimmigrant petitions, labor certifications, and National Interest Waivers and Extraordinary Ability based immigrant petitions. Khorzad is a 2004 graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, a 2001 graduate of The Ohio State University, and is admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

• Principal Attorney, Dutta Law Firm, P.C.

Neena Dutta is the principal of the Dutta Law Firm in NYC and Special Counsel to McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney and Carpenter, LLP. Her practice is primarily business, along with naturalization and family-based cases. She is currently a board member of the Rapid Defense Network (RDN). Also, she is Vice Chair of the National Client Resources Committee and Co-Chair of the AILANY Advocacy Committee. She was formerly an elected director on the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association’s (AILA) Board of Governors. She has lectured numerous subjects but is known for her expertise on PERM and Labor Certifications, Entrepreneur Visas, Extraordinary Ability NIVS and IVs and the Fundamentals of Immigration. She has worked with numerous entities in the financial sector such as fund administrators, private equity firms, hedge funds and family offices. She has worked alongside non-profits and service providers on special pro bono projects, such as Citizenship Day, NYCAI and volunteered at several pro bono projects in immigration detention centers. Ms. Dutta has spoken and written on the topic of immigration law in various venues and conferences. She has previously been recognized as an attorney in the New York Metro Rising Stars, Super Lawyers and Top Women Attorneys and the SABANY Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. She has appeared on numerous international news reports as an expert in immigration on channels such as NPR, AP, WNYC, NY1, CGTN and I-24 News.

After emigrating from the UK to the US in 2000, she is now a dual national of both countries. She is a graduate of Seattle University and New York Law School, and a member of the state bars of New York and New Jersey.

• Lead Counsel, Corporate Law & Pro Bono Chair, MassMutual

Sucharita Varanasi is Lead Counsel in the Corporate Law Department at MassMutual where she supports the Investment Management and Corporate Treasury functions. Last year, Sucharita chaired the Pro Bono Committee of the Law Department and was nominated to be a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow by MassMutual in 2019. Sucharita helped lead the SABA/SABA Foundation delegation to Dilley, TX where attorneys and paraprofessionals provided pro bono legal services to detained immigrant women and children. She is currently the President and former Secretary of the SABA Foundation, and has served on the Board of Trustees for the past five years. Earlier this year, Sucharita was appointed as a Commissioner for the City of Cambridge’s Commission on the Status of Women. Sucharita is passionate about social justice issues affecting the community and is the former Senior Program Officer at Physicians for Human Rights in the Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones.

• Principal, Jackson Lewis P.C.

Nicky Jatana is the office managing principal of the Los Angeles, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Her practice focuses on employment litigation, as well as on advising employers regarding daily workplace issues. Nicky has significant trial and arbitration experience and has spent the majority of her career focusing on complex and class action litigation in wage and hour matters and alleged Fair Credit Reporting Act violations. She frequently litigates wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, and other labor and employment-related matters. Nicky also provides day-to-day counseling and conducts various employment related training for clients. She frequently speaks publicly on a multitude of employment law topics. Nicky's experience includes handling employment matters from both in-house counsel and outside counsel perspectives. She practices in both state and federal courts and also before such tribunals as the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the California Department of Industrial Relations - Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. She has represented employers in the retail, real estate, media and entertainment, restaurant, manufacturing, life sciences, transportation and banking industries, among others.

• President/Partner, Banner Witcoff

Binal Patel is the president of Banner Witcoff. He handles a wide range of intellectual property matters, including district court patent litigation, proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and patent portfolio management. Representing clients in industries ranging from automotive and insurance to financial services and heavy equipment technologies, Binal works with his clients to craft innovative strategies to protect their intellectual property and propel their business. He approaches patent procurement with an eye towards litigation and with an effort to obtain maximum desirable claim coverage results. He also counsels clients to establish and maintain effective patent prosecution procedures.

As a former engineer, Binal offers his clients valuable insight and deep knowledge of complex technologies, including artificial intelligence, computer software and hardware, mobile-device applications, security and fraud-detection systems, telecommunications, and medical devices, among others. Binal has served in a number of leadership positions at Banner Witcoff and has played an instrumental role in promoting and advancing diverse attorneys across the country. He co-founded both the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago and the South Asian Bar Association of North America. Binal also founded the North Shore Corporate IP Roundtable program to provide educational and networking opportunities for in-house corporate counsel.

• Managing Partner, Murtha Cullina LLP

Andy Corea is the Managing Partner of Murtha Cullina LLP and previously chaired the firm’s Business and Finance Department. He has practiced trademark law since 1999 – first as a trademark examining attorney for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, later at an intellectual property boutique, and now as a member of Murtha Cullina’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.

His comprehensive trademark practice includes both transactional and adversarial matters. He assists clients in obtaining trademark rights through clearance, counseling, and prosecution of trademarks and provides intellectual property due diligence to support mergers and acquisitions. He also helps clients protect their intellectual property rights through enforcement, litigation, and licensing. He appears regularly before the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and has represented clients in federal court cases throughout the country. He serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law and is actively involved in the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut and Connecticut Intellectual Property Association.

• Managing Partner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

Anand Sharma currently serves as managing partner of Finnegan. He works in all areas of patent law, from litigation in U.S. district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to strategic client counseling at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Whether managing patent litigations or patent portfolios, he develops client-specific strategies and leads experienced teams to implement them. Anand is a first-chair litigator, with experience in jury and bench trials. He has examined dozens of witnesses at trial, argued key motions, and successfully led clients through complex settlement negotiations and numerous mediations. A former NASA software engineer, he comfortably handles complex technologies, including data storage and software solutions, telecom, medical devices, automotive systems, polymer films, industrial manufacturing, and consumer appliances and electronics. Anand has held several leadership and management roles at the firm. He served as Finnegan’s first chair of its diversity and inclusion committee, and as leader of the mechanical practice group. He was a member of the management committee and co-leads the firm’s India practice.

• Managing Partner, Susman Godfrey LLP

Kalpana Srinivasan serves as Co-Managing Partner of litigation trial boutique Susman Godfrey and sits on the firms Executive Committee. Ms. Srinivasan is only the 4th managing partner in the firm’s 40-year history. She is the first woman to serve in the position, and the first managing partner to have risen through the associate ranks at the firm. Ms. Srinivasan has been described as an “engaging, exceptionally smart and approachable lawyer” by Chambers; deemed a Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360; and recognized by Benchmark Litigation as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America.

Ms. Srinivasan tries high-stakes cases for plaintiffs and defendants across the country and has secured significant victories for her clients in antitrust, intellectual property, copyright, class action, media and other complex disputes. Ms. Srinivasan joined Susman Godfrey in 2005 after serving as a judicial law clerk to the late Hon. Raymond C. Fisher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from Stanford Law School, where she was an editor of the Stanford Law Review, and she received her undergraduate degree from Yale University.

• Director, Legal, Google

Vineet Shahani is Director, Legal at Google LLC in Mountain View, CA and came to Google via the acquisition of Nest Labs, Inc. in 2014. At Google, Vineet leads a team that provides legal counsel for the Google hardware business on engineering/supply chain transactions, product issues, marketing strategy, international expansion, governance issues, public policy, and a wide range of strategic and operational matters.

Prior to Google, Vineet was Sr. Legal Counsel (WW Operations/Products) at Apple Inc., where he advised on visible product matters and transactions around the world related to Apple's global supply chain. Prior to Apple, Vineet was Assistant General Counsel at Enova International, a financial technology firm based in Chicago, and a corporate attorney with Latham & Watkins LLP, based in the firm's Washington, D.C. and Chicago offices. Vineet received a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a BBA from the University of Michigan.

• Partner at Hogan Lovells and Former Acting Solicitor General of the United States

Neal Katyal is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University and a Partner at Hogan Lovells. He previously served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States. He has argued 44 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, with 41 of them in the last decade. His cases include successfully striking down the Guantanamo military tribunals, successfully defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, successfully defending the Peace Cross in Maryland, and a landmark personal jurisdiction win for Bristol Meyers Squibb. At the age of 51, he has already argued more Supreme Court cases in U.S. history than has any minority attorney, recently breaking the record held by Thurgood Marshall. His numerous distinctions include: the Edmund Randolph Award (the highest civilian award given by U.S. Department of Justice), The Litigator of the Year by American Lawyer (2017 and 2018, chosen as the sole Grand Prize Winner of all the lawyers in the United States), Appellate MVP by Law360 numerous times (most recently in 2017), winner of Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Award in two different categories (both private and public law) (2017), one of GQ’s Men of the Year (2017), 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Last Decade Nationwide by National Law Journal (2010), and 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers Over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times (2008). He has appeared on virtually every major American news program, as well as on Stephen Colbert and House of Cards on Netflix (where he played himself).

• General Counsel, Google

Halimah DeLaine Prado is General Counsel at Google, leading the company’s world-class legal team, advising on some of the most complex and important legal issues of the digital age. Prior to that, Halimah was a Vice President of Legal. In this role, she managed the Products and Agreements Legal team, a global legal team responsible for the product and commercial counsel advising of Google’s products, including Ads, Search, Cloud, Hardware, Platforms & Ecosystems, and YouTube. She has been with Google since 2006.

Prior to joining Google, Halimah practiced media law and products liability law at Dechert LLP and Levine Sullivan Koch and Schulz, which has since merged with Balllard Spahr. She also clerked for the Honorable Mary A. McLaughlin of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Halimah obtained her J.D. from Georgetown, and her undergraduate degree from Yale.

• Attorney, Litigation Group, Federal Trade Commission

Nandu Machiraju is an Attorney at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). For two-and-a-half years, Nandu advised the FTC Chairman on antitrust issues pertaining to enforcement, appellate advocacy, policy, and congressional relations as well as matters relating to agency management. He has worked in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, where he investigated mergers in industries affecting healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other major industries. Before coming to the FTC, Nandu was an antitrust associate at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP’s Washington, D.C. and Brussels offices, where he advised clients in the technology sector.

Outside of his daily legal practice, Nandu has been a leader and mentor to many. He has been an active member in the South Asian Bar Association for Washington, D.C. (“SABA-DC”) for years. Nandu is President-Elect for the SABA-DC Board, and for three years before that, he served on the SABA-DC Board helping to organize substantive programming, career development training, and networking events. Nandu also ran a mentorship program for SABA-DC, and he currently is the mentor program coordinator for the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. Finally, he co-leads a diversity initiative through the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section.

• Partner, Constantine Cannon

Ankur Kapoor is a Partner at Constantine Cannon LLP, and focuses his practice on antitrust litigation and counseling. Although he has represented clients in numerous industries, much of his practice has involved technology markets, particularly electronic payments. Ankur has co-chaired the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Media & Technology Committee for the past six years.

• Ph.D., Managing Director, Global Co-Leader of Economics Consulting, AlixPartners

Tasneem Chipty is an internationally recognized expert in antitrust economics and econometrics. She has 25 years of experience studying competition in antitrust investigations and litigations, including on behalf of antitrust enforcers. Tasneem has studied issues of market power and abuse of market power in innovative technology markets, including ones characterized as platforms. Tasneem is global co-head of the economics practice at AlixPartners.

• Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Sujal Shah is a partner at Morgan Lewis whose practice focuses on antitrust litigation and counseling, particularly in the technology sector.  He has represented clients in monopolization, tying, exclusive dealing, and price-fixing including on issues related to platform technologies, two-sided markets, and the intersection of IP and antitrust law.  He also has extensive experience counseling clients on complex antitrust issues in the U.S. and abroad including on platform policies, joint venture and IP agreements, and vertical sales and distribution agreements.

• National Co-Chair and Partner, Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Subrata is National Co-Chair of the firm’s Competition and Foreign Investment Review Group and National Business Leader of the firm's Corporate Commercial Group. He is recognized for providing strategic competition, foreign investment and regulatory advice to global corporations on complex matters of high reputational and commercial significance. He has been described by Who's Who Legal as "among the very best lawyers in Canada".

Subrata focuses his practice on all aspects of Canadian competition/antitrust law, foreign investment law, regulatory litigation and public policy advice. He is particularly focused on the data, media and technology sectors, including major global digital platforms, and has been called a "go-to" lawyer for work in this area (Who's Who Legal, 2020).

Subrata has consistently been named as one of Canada’s leading competition/antitrust lawyers in the most prominent international and domestic peer review surveys.

He has led the defence of clients in major international and domestic cartel investigations and related litigation, including class actions, cleared major multi-jurisdictional and domestic mergers in virtually all industry sectors, and provided advice on other contentious and compliance matters under the Canadian Competition Act.

Subrata carries on an extensive foreign investment practice, and has advised non-Canadian investors (including state owned
enterprises) on Canadian foreign investment issues under the Investment Canada Act and other federal policies/legislation
including national security reviews. He also provides high level advice on government relations, regulatory strategy and policy issues to global and domestic clients, particularly in the media and technology sectors.

Subrata has appeared as counsel in all levels of court in the Province of Ontario, the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Recent matters of note include advising Netflix on its C$500m Canadian production investment and the establishment of Netflix Canada, lead representation of Deutsche Bank AG in the Canadian aspects of the LIBOR, precious metals, foreign exchange and sovereign bond matters, and ongoing advice to Samsung Electronics Company and Samsung Canada on numerous competition law and regulatory matters.

Subrata is active in the international competition policy community. He is one of the few non-U.S. attorneys to have served as an Officer and on the Council of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section after holding successive senior leadership positions in the Section. He is also a Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network (ICN) appointed by the Canadian Competition Bureau.
He is routinely cited as an expert in Canadian competition/antitrust in major international and domestic business publications, including the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Globe and Mail and National Post.

He has been an invited participant in programs organized by the World Economic Forum, World Knowledge Forum, Asia Pacific Economic Council and International Competition Network.

Subrata is Co-Chair of the firms Korea Practice and a member of its Asia Pacific Steering Committee.

• Vice President, Legal Services and Co-Founder, Elevate Services

Kunoor is Co-founder and VP of Legal Services at Elevate. She built the legal services offerings that are part of Elevate’s portfolio of solutions, including in litigation, contracts, compliance and intellectual property. She works closely with customers to understand their enterprise challenges and brings the right suite of technology, services and consulting to meet their needs. She designs rightsourced solutions focused on combining people, process, technology and data in innovative ways that enable customers to modernize and optimize operations.

Throughout her career, Kunoor has spearheaded the transformation of the legal industry by creating platforms that provide effective and efficient options to obtain, manage, and perform legal services. She has been instrumental in transforming the legal industry, from her days at the forefront of the early days of legal process outsourcing to helping build one Elevate.

Kunoor is a recognized authority in the legal industry on topics related to women in entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, legal outsourcing, right sourcing of legal work, and optimization of legal work. She is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management Fellow and serves as a member of its Board of Trustees. She also co-chairs the South Asian Bar Association’s LGBTQ+ Section. In September 2020, World Commerce & Contracting, the leading global association for commercial and contract management professionals, recognized her contributions to commerce and society by including her in its first-ever “Inspiring Women in Commerce and Contracting” honors.

Kunoor is a licensed California attorney and previously practiced general litigation with Nossaman and Fulbright & Jaworski in Los Angeles, California.

• Member, Mintz

Suman Chakraborty is a Member at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo in New York, where he is a part of the Litigation and Insurance/Reinsurance Disputes groups.  He is an industry-recognized first-chair litigator with two decades of experience advocating in high value arbitrations, and in state and federal court litigation across the country. Collaborative and client-focused, Suman develops dispute resolution strategies tailored to his clients’ business objectives. He leverages his deep industry experience and knowledge to serve as both a determined litigator and a trusted advisor, helping his clients navigate and resolve the full range of risks they face. 

For several years, Chambers USA has listed Suman as a leading attorney in its insurer-side disputes rankings.  His surging reputation has also been recognized in Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, Expert Guides, and Who’s Who of Insurance and Reinsurance, and he is frequently invited to share his insights at industry conferences. 

Suman also devotes his time to pro bono efforts and his past efforts have included providing successful representation of political asylum applicants and drafting amicus briefs to the state and federal appellate courts on issues such as same sex marriage, conversion therapy and the rights of same sex adoptive parents.  He is a former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the National LGBTQ Task Force, the country’s oldest national LGBTQ advocacy group.  He also previously served as Vice President of the Board of Trustees of FFR/Princeton BTGALA.

• Assistant Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine

Swethaa Ballakrishnen is Assistant Professor of Law (and, by courtesy, of Sociology, Asian American Studies, and Criminology, Law and Society) at the University of California, Irvine. Primarily oriented within a critical socio-legal praxis, they write, think, and teach about law's connection to actors/institutions/relationships at the periphery, usually around identities/queers/souths.

Ballakrishnen’s work has appeared in, among other journals, the Law and Society Review, Law and Social Inquiry, International Journal of the Legal Profession, and the Canadian Review of Sociology. Their first book, Accidental Feminism, explores the case of unintended gender parity in the Indian legal profession and was published by Princeton University Press in 2021. Other book projects focus on collaborative legal globalization (Invisible Institutionalisms, ed. w/Sara Dezalay), gendered inheritances of constitutional privacy (w/Kalpana Kannabiran), and inequ(al)ities in legal education (ed. w/Bryant Garth).

Ballakrishnen currently serves as an elected trustee on the boards of the Law and Society Association and the ISA’s Research Committee on Sociology of Law, and am on the Executive Committee for the AALS Section on Empirical Study of Legal Education/Profession. At UCI, they co-run a center on the legal profession, a critical interdisciplinary graduate emphasis and a workshop on socio-legal studies.

• Executive Director, Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON)

Manjusha (Manju) P. Kulkarni is Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), a coalition of more than forty community-based organizations that serves and represents the 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County. She also co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, the nation’s leading aggregator of COVID-19-related hate incidents against AAPIs. Additionally, she is a Lecturer in the Asian American Studies Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Manju’s work has been featured in the New York Times, and on CBS News and CNN, as well as in numerous ethnic media outlets. In 2014, she received the White House Champions of Change award from President Barack Obama for her dedication to improving health care access for Asians American communities. Recently, she testified before Congress at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, on the issue of anti-Asian hate.

Manju holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law. 

• Founder & Co-Director, Queer Asian Social Club

Maya Reddy is a queer South Asian former professional golfer, LGBTQ+ athlete activist, Athlete Ally Ambassador, founder of the Queer Asian Social Club, and a Toll Public Interest Scholar in the University of Pennsylvania Law School class of 2022. She was a three-time NCAA All-American and gained status on the Symetra Tour before having to take a step back from the sport due to its exclusive culture and the many harmful experiences she endured, as a result of that culture. Maya focused her pain in fighting for and becoming an advocate for LGBTQ-inclusive policies in sports and decided to pursue a law degree to strengthen her work in inclusive policy formation, advocacy, and litigation defending trans and queer athletes.

• Chair of IP Practice, Maynard Cooper & Gale

Sasha Rao is Chair of Maynard Cooper & Gale's nationwide Intellectual Property Practice, which includes an experienced team of IP lawyers and professionals located in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Huntsville, and Birmingham. Sasha is a seasoned intellectual property lawyer with an established record of success for some of the world's leading companies.

Sasha regularly leads intellectual property and commercial litigation for her clients, including cases involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, unfair competition, and complex commercial disputes. Sasha has tried cases in district courts throughout the U.S. Her strong science background in physics has enabled her to develop effective courtroom strategies for cases involving technologies ranging from pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and biotechnology to computers, Internet, and software. In the technology realm, Sasha has defended some of Silicon Valley’s leading companies in cases brought by competitors and non-practicing entities. In the realm of life sciences, Sasha has extensive experience in Hatch-Waxman/ANDA litigation and has represented generic and branded pharmaceutical companies in numerous patent cases.

Sasha also advises clients on corporate, transactional, policy and regulatory matters, including IP aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Sasha's enthusiasm for cutting-edge technologies has led to her being recognized as one of the leading practitioners in the emerging field of autonomy and robotics systems, including autonomous vehicles, drones, and UAVs, urban air mobility, and connected and artificially intelligent systems. Her legal subject matter expertise includes regulatory, policy, intellectual property, data rights, and legal strategy.

Sasha is registered to practice in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She also represents clients in Patent Office trials, including covered business method (CBM) and inter partes review (IPR) post-grant invalidity challenges available under the America Invents Act.

Chambers USA recognized Sasha in 2020 as a Leading Individual in Intellectual Property: Patent. She was also named by the Daily Journal in 2020 as one of California’s Top Intellectual Property Lawyers (having previously received this recognition in 2019 and 2013) and in 2019 as one of California’s Top Women Lawyers and Top Artificial Intelligence Lawyers. Sasha was selected as an Intellectual Property Trailblazer for 2019 by the National Law Journal. The Recorder has recognized Sasha as one of the “Women Leaders in Tech Law” four times (2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018). Sasha’s success and talents in the IP ?eld have also earned her recognition by The Best Lawyers in America© in the area of Litigation: Intellectual Property (2017-present). She was also recognized as a “Trailblazer” by the South Asian Bar Association – Northern California (2016); an “IP Star” by Managing IP magazine (2013–present); and one of the “Top 250 Women in IP” by IP Stars (2013–present).

• Partner, Maynard Cooper & Gale

Ashe is a Partner in Maynard Cooper’s Intellectual Property practice. He is a recognized trial attorney whose practice focuses on intellectual property litigation, including cases involving patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, and unfair competition. From startups to major corporations, Ashe helps companies resolve their IP disputes.

Technology and innovation is not only Ashe’s passion, it is what drove him to become an engineer and brings him into close and frequent contact with other innovators. His success in the courtroom has enabled him to negotiate many settlements.

Ashe is registered to practice in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He has represented clients in trials before the Patent Office, including inter partes review (IPR) post-grant invalidity challenges available under the America Invents Act. Ashe also assists clients in developing IP strategy and navigating freedom-to-operate issues relative to the IP rights of others.

Ashe has been recognized as an influential lawyer by the Los Angeles Business Journal and serves as a leader in the legal community. Ashe currently serves as the President of the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association.  Ashe is also the Past Co-President of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California and a past two-term director of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He is a certified web developer and an avid tennis player and cyclist who has completed three century (100-mile) cycling races.

Ashe earned his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law and B.S. (Biomedical Engineering) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

• Of Counsel, Maynard Cooper & Gale

Dr. Suparna Datta is Of Counsel and a registered patent attorney in Maynard Cooper’s Intellectual Property practice group. She focuses her practice primarily on patent litigation and patent prosecution in the areas of wireless communication systems, optical and magnetic storage systems, error correction codes, and digital signal processing. Dr. Datta has extensive experience litigating complex patent cases, where she has successfully represented clients in both federal district courts and the International Trade Commission.

Dr. Datta has several years of experience as a researcher and engineer in coding and information theory. As a member of the DSP Solutions R&D Center of Texas Instruments, she conducted coding research for 3rd and 4th generation wireless standards. In particular, she investigated and designed LDPC codes for use in mobile wireless ADSL systems. Dr. Datta has worked with the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center doing research for their Multimedia Communications System group. Additionally, she was a visiting assistant professor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department of Northeastern University, where she taught several electrical and computer engineering courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

As a Presidential Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Datta’s doctoral work produced many new results in the area of coding for nonbinary runlength-limited channels. She has authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals related to her work.

Dr. Datta received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, where she was the recipient of the Best Oral Advocate award and the Honorable Mention Best Brief award. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She received her B.S. in electrical engineering, with distinction, and her B.A. in mathematics, with distinction, from Cornell University. Dr. Datta is a member of the Phi Delta Phi Legal Honors Fraternity, Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and the IEEE Information Theory Society. Dr. Datta is admitted to practice in California, New York, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, as well as before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

• Associate, Littler Mendelson P.C.

Hinna Upal provides practical solutions and strategic guidance to multinational employers on a wide range of international employment and compliance concerns and in litigation. Her competencies cover a range of workplace topics, such as discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and accommodations at the state and federal levels and before administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the New York State Division of Human Rights. She also guides employers on the intricacies associated with employment in multiple nations and the difficulties associated with conflicting jurisdictional obligations including in such areas as: Workplace ethics and compliance; Global mobility programs and expatriate workforces, including advice on the relevant guidelines and practices as well as the benefits and limitations associated with secondments, independent contractors, and localization structures; Multi-country and international surveys on employment laws and practices; Global codes of conduct and international policies; Discrimination and harassment; Human resources; The employment cycle including applications, interviewing, hiring, discipline, promotions, demotions, recordkeeping and terminations; and Executive employment and severance agreements, compensation, and negotiation.

• U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Judge Cathy Bissoon was appointed by President Barack Obama as a United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania on October 20, 2011, having previously served on the Court as a Magistrate Judge from 2008. With her appointment, Judge Bissoon became the first Hispanic female Article III judge in Pennsylvania, the first Asian American Article III judge in Pennsylvania and the first South Asian American female Article III judge in the United States. Judge Bissoon graduated summa cum laude from Alfred University in 1990 and received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1993.

Before becoming a District Judge, Judge Bissoon was an employment litigator with both Reed Smith and Cohen & Grigsby, and served as the head of the employment group at both firms. Judge Bissoon also served as Reed Smith’s Director of Diversity for six years. Judge Bissoon has earned various accolades throughout the years for her work as a lawyer, for her efforts to increase diversity within the legal profession and for her advocacy on of behalf of and mentoring of historically underrepresented attorneys.

Over the course of her years in private practice, Judge Bissoon was named a Fellow of the Litigation Council of America; listed multiple years in the Best Lawyers in America; named a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” by Philadelphia Magazine; listed in Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers; and was recognized as one of the top 50 lawyers in Pennsylvania under the age of 40 by Pennsylvania Law Weekly. Additionally, she served on both the Lawyers Advisory Committee for the Third Judicial Circuit as well as the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

• Principal, Saeed Consulting Group

Asker A. Saeed is the founder and principal of Saeed Consulting Group, a full service consulting firm for law firms, legal departments, and other organizations with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion process improvement, strategic plan development, assessments, and awareness training. Using a fractional diversity officer model, the firm helps its clients ideate, design, develop, and implement systems, procedures, and programs designed to advance organizational diversity and inclusion goals. Prior to founding Saeed Consulting Group, Asker headed up the diversity and inclusion initiative at international law firm Fried Frank and prior to that at northeast regional law firm Day Pitney. Prior to becoming a diversity and inclusion professional Asker held various roles at United Technologies Corporation (now known as Raytheon Technologies), including as Vice President, Customer Business, Commercial at International Aero Engines AG and Assistant Counsel at Pratt & Whitney, where he also served as the Pratt & Whitney delegate to the UTC Diversity Council. Asker is a licensed attorney and started his legal career as an associate at Connecticut based law firms Murtha Cullina and Robinson & Cole, where he took an active role as a member of the respective firm’s diversity and inclusion committees. He has also held management level business development roles at Robert Half Legal Consulting Solutions and Future Shop.

A highly sought after and recognized speaker, both nationally and internationally, Mr. Saeed has received numerous awards for his efforts, including the 2008 South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut Member of the Year Award, the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity 2015 Edwin Archer Randolph Diversity Award, and the 2018 University at Buffalo Law School Students of Color Committee Distinguished Alumni Award. Originally from Canada, he is a founding member of the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut.

Asker also serves as Special Advisor to the President of the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) of North America, having previously served as the organization’s Executive Director.

• Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Mintz

Narges Kakalia is the firm’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. In that role, Narges leads the  firm in developing and implementing its DEI strategy and goals, and is in charge of implementing thoughtful and innovative steps towards fostering a culture that values and celebrates difference, and ensures that every employee has an equal opportunity to succeed. By fostering a culture in which all  individuals can bring their whole, unique selves to work, Narges will help Mintz bring multiple perspectives to each matter, thereby providing the highest level of client service and community engagement.

Prior to serving as the firm’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Narges was a Member in the  firm’s Litigation Practice, Vice Chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Program, a leader of the firm’s Women’s Initiative, and a member of the firm’s MIATTY (Minority Attorney) affinity group. 

• Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Davis Wright Tremaine

Yusuf Zakir is the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Davis Wright Tremaine.  Yusuf leads the firm's efforts to continue building a culture where all attorneys and staff—including those traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession—can have, and can see, a path to long-term success. He collaborates with key stakeholders to develop and implement strategies, programs, and initiatives to build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization.  Yusuf collaborates with DWT's practice groups and professional development departments to scale and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion across the organization, including by working with the firm's diversity structure to propel and accelerate these efforts. He also partners with clients and external organizations in order to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in the broader legal profession and to cultivate an industry that recognizes intersectionality, empowers authenticity, and nurtures belonging.

• Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Stinson LLP

As Stinson's Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Ann Jenrette-Thomas takes an innovative approach when it comes to addressing diversity-related challenges within the firm and the profession. Her two-pronged approach centers on: 1) individual responsibility—equipping people with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to create an inclusive environment; and 2) eradicating the effects of systemic bias by continuously evaluating the firm's policies, practices and norms and identifying unique methods to achieve desired outcomes. This approach has yielded significant results in just four years, including:

- 120% increase in lawyers of color in 4 years

- increasing the average retention rate of all diverse attorneys to 91.5%

- launching several pilot programs to address challenges facing the recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse attorneys and staff.

Ann frequently speaks on topics related to D&I in the legal profession.  Prior to joining Stinson, Ann was a diversity and inclusion consultant, an attorney at an Am Law 100 firm, a judicial clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a legislative attorney for the New York City Council.

• Director of Diversity and Inclusion, K&L Gates

Overview:

Ramla Farzad's background spans law, human resources, professional development, and training. After graduating from the University of Southern California Law School, she practiced law for six years before taking the helm of the Center for the Global Legal Profession as its executive director. In this role, she worked to enhance the impact of the legal profession throughout the world and discover new ways for lawyers to communicate and collaborate internationally. From there, Ramla became the director of professional development and training at Lawyer Metrics, a company that provides law firms, legal departments, and law schools with data-driven strategies that deliver measurable results in the areas of diversity, human capital management, recruiting, and market strategy. During her time there, she developed a rigorous interview training system and trained more than 1,000 lawyers to apply it for associate and partner selection.

Professional Background:

Prior to joining K&L Gates, Ramla built a consulting practice that focused on designing and leading immersive training programs. She has particular experience with behavioral interviewing models and deep experience serving corporate legal departments as well as large and small firms. She has a strong foundational background in behavioral psychology and is skilled at shifting organizational behavior using data and analytics.

• Chief Legal Officer, MESH/diversity

Naveen is a seasoned human rights and labour/employment lawyer with 20 years of experience. He has also worked as General Counsel to one of Canada’s largest labour organizations. An award-winning global Diversity, Inclusion and Workplace Leadership speaker, coach, and strategist, he is well-known as a thought leader on D&I in the legal profession and professional services industries.

• Senior Counsel, Apple

Pami Vyas manages complex, high-risk disputes, including litigation, arbitration, and mediation across the globe. She also advises clients on risk, strategy, and legal compliance as Senior Counsel at Apple.  

Prior to joining Apple, Pami clerked for the Honorable Susan Illston of the Northern District of California, and she served as a Staff Attorney for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She began her legal career at the firm of Townsend and Townsend and Crew, focusing her practice on intellectual property and competition matters.

Pami has also engaged on pro bono matters throughout her career, and she currently serves as Board Secretary for Equal Rights Advocates, an organization working to promote gender justice through policy reform, community outreach, impact litigation, and movement-building at the state and federal levels.

Pami received her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law.

• Deputy Director, ACLU

Vikrum Aiyer is the Deputy Director of the ACLU, where he oversees national political advocacy for the economic justice and gender justice portfolios. Previously, Aiyer ran the public policy & strategic communications arm of the tech startup, Postmates, where he oversaw regulatory, legislative, and electoral strategy up through it's $2.6B acquisition by Uber.  While managing legislative negotiations on tech policy topics ranging from privacy & tax to the future of work & the labor rights in gig-economy, Aiyer also helped steer the company's executive communications, crisis communications, and corporate social responsibility strategies.

Prior to Postmates, he served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor in the White House's National Economic Council, as well as Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of Commerce for IP. He currently lives in San Francisco, where he serves as an advisor to former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs on poverty relief, and as a Commissioner for Mayor London Breed's Workforce Investment Board (WISF).

• CEO, GenLead|BelongLab

Neha Sampat, Esq. is CEO and founder of GenLead|BelongLab, where she focuses on building belonging and true inclusion. Through consulting, training, speaking, and writing, she helps organizations create peak‐performance, inclusive teams by addressing hidden barriers to belonging, such as internalized bias, unconscious bias, distrust in teams, and wellness challenges. She is a nationally sought-after expert on inclusive leadership and disrupting Imposter Syndrome, and she runs the top-rated “Owning Your Value” programs to cultivate evidence-based confidence and nurture authenticity.

In her work, Neha leverages her experience working as an attorney at both large and boutique law firms, her tenure as dean of students and leadership professor, and the joys and struggles of “mama”ing her 8 year old and 6 year old kids. Neha’s insights have been featured in Time Magazine, Thrive Global, ABA Journal, Attorney at Work, the Mom Life and Law podcast, Dreammakers podcast, the Women’s Advocate podcast, and numerous other professional publications and media. Neha holds BAs in Sociology and Political Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, obtained her JD from UC Berkeley School of Law, received her Certificate in Graduate Applied Psychology, and is certified in Hogan personality assessment systems. Neha works across industry, from Amazon to Pixar, and UC Berkeley to Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. You can read more of Neha’s insights at blog.genlead.co and follow her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsampat/ and on TW/IG/FB at @belonglab.

• Managing Partner, Susman Godfrey LLP

Kalpana Srinivasan serves as Co-Managing Partner of litigation trial boutique Susman Godfrey and sits on the firms Executive Committee. Ms. Srinivasan is only the 4th managing partner in the firm’s 40-year history. She is the first woman to serve in the position, and the first managing partner to have risen through the associate ranks at the firm. Ms. Srinivasan has been described as an “engaging, exceptionally smart and approachable lawyer” by Chambers; deemed a Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360; and recognized by Benchmark Litigation as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America.

Ms. Srinivasan tries high-stakes cases for plaintiffs and defendants across the country and has secured significant victories for her clients in antitrust, intellectual property, copyright, class action, media and other complex disputes. Ms. Srinivasan joined Susman Godfrey in 2005 after serving as a judicial law clerk to the late Hon. Raymond C. Fisher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from Stanford Law School, where she was an editor of the Stanford Law Review, and she received her undergraduate degree from Yale University.

• Golden Globe Director, Producer and Writer

Nisha Ganatra a Golden Globe winner and an Emmy nominee for her work as the Director/Producer for Transparent. Recently she directed The High Note for Working Title and Focus Features starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Ice Cube, June Diane Raphael, Dakota Johnson and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Nisha most recently directed the film Late Night, starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, which premiered at Sundance, sold to Amazon in a record-breaking deal, and garnered the highest streaming numbers of 2019. Nisha recently directed the viral ad campaign for Bodyform and Libresse called #wombstories that gives a voice to the unseen, unspoken and unknown truths about the physical experiences of women everywhere. It confronts the damaging etiquette that women live with every day and which dictates what they should and shouldn’t feel about their bodies. Nisha is SABA Foundation’s 2021 Hero Award winner.  

• Actor, Author, Activist

Maulik Pancholy is an award-winning actor whose career has spanned hit television shows, the Broadway stage, films and animation. He is also a newly published author of The Best At It, and a long-time activist for the AAPI and LGBTQI communities. He played Alec Baldwin’s intrepid assistant Jonathan on the Emmy®, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning NBC comedy 30 Rock, and Sanjay on the Showtime hit series Weeds. For his work on television, he has been nominated for and won the Screen Actors Guild Award on multiple occasions. In 2014, Maulik was appointed by President Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). As a Commissioner, he co-founded Act to Change – an anti-bullying campaign designed to meet the unique needs of AAPI youth – which he continues to lead today. Maulik received SABA Foundation’s Hero Award in 2019.

• Activist, Author and Founder of Girls Who Code

Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic. Reshma is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than five million views globally. Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer.

• Senior Associate, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

Malavika (Molly) Rao is a Senior Litigation Associate at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.  She is an experienced first-chair litigator, who represents major pharmaceutical, life sciences, and technology companies in a wide variety of IP matters, complex commercial disputes, and internal investigations. She has handled all aspects of civil litigation at the trial and appellate level in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitrations. She has managed complex discovery matters, conducted direct examinations of an expert witness, taken and defended depositions, and worked with experts to develop reports and present hearing testimony. Molly also has extensive motion, trial, and appellate brief writing experience. She routinely counsels clients on regulatory matters and sensitive government investigations involving allegations of financial fraud, securities fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the False Claims Act.

Molly previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Susan Richard Nelson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Molly received her JD from Cornell Law School and a Bachelor’s of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona.

• Co-founder and CETO (Chief Executive & Technology Officer), BlueFoot

Ramya is a co-founder and CETO (Chief Executive & Technology Officer) of BlueFoot. Ramya was most recently in house patent-counsel at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Company. Prior to that, she was a patent attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. She also has experience from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and as a programmer for a defense contractor. Ramya has an MBA from Georgetown University, a J.D. from George Mason University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

• Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, Litigation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Vaishali is Vice President, Associate General Counsel for Litigation at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. In addition to handling commercial and employment litigation matters, her team handles all of HPE’s IP litigation, including patent, copyright, IP licensing and trade secret claims. She is a winner of the HPE Women’s Excellence Award, recognizing extraordinary women across HPE, the recipient of the National Bar Association’s 2020 Diversity in Tech and IP Award, DCA Live’s Top Corporate Counsel Award, and for the past five years, Managing Intellectual Property named her a “Corporate IP Star.” Prior to joining HP in 2011, Vaishali was an associate at Jones Day and Pennie & Edmonds. She earned her J.D. from American University's Washington College of Law, and her B.S., in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia.

• Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP

Neel Chatterjee is a partner in Goodwin’s Intellectual Property practice and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. An internationally recognized technology litigator and trial lawyer, Mr. Chatterjee has a proven track record of wins in hard-to-win technology cases. Mr. Chatterjee has a passion for representing entrepreneurs and disruptive technology companies, even at their earliest stages. His cases often break new ground in undefined areas of the law. Clients frequently turn to Mr. Chatterjee shortly before trial to take over complex technology cases. A key strategist on complex litigation spanning multiple venues, Mr. Chatterjee simplifies extremely complex concepts to ensure that judges and juries understand the key issues in each case. Mr. Chatterjee has substantial expertise handling disputes related to patents, trade secrets, copyrights, internet law, and complex commercial technology issues.

• Associate, Fish & Richardson

Raisa Ahmad is a litigation associate in Fish & Richardson’s Southern California office. Ms. Ahmad recently returned to the firm after a clerkship for the Honorable Judge Leonard P. Stark of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. She was previously a summer associate with the firm, in which she conducted research and prepared memos for patent litigation cases involving software and security patents, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical devices. Since joining Fish, Ms. Ahmad’s practice has ranged from Hatch-Waxman patent litigation to trademark and trade secret litigation matters. In those matters, Ms. Ahmad has helped prepare motions to dismiss and discovery motions, and analyzed claim construction and invalidity contentions.

Prior to joining Fish, Ms. Ahmad was a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs, where she managed valuation platforms for the investment bank’s equity and FICC derivative products. Ms. Ahmad previously researched with the Center for Biosignatures Discovery Automation, a National Institutes of Health center at Arizona State University, where she studied single-cell genomics, cell function, and disease.

• Chief Defender Attorney, Restoring Justice

Amrutha N. Jindal is the Chief Defender Attorney at Restoring Justice, a grassroots nonprofit that provides holistic criminal defense representation and engages in criminal justice policy reform work in Houston, Texas. In addition to representing clients in their state criminal cases, Amrutha oversees the organization's legal, advocacy, and community engagement efforts. Prior to joining Restoring Justice, Amrutha was a trial and supervisory attorney at the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. and a Litigation Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Amrutha is a graduate of Cornell University and Georgetown University Law Center.

• Supreme Court and Appellate Counsel, MacArthur Justice Center

Devi M. Rao is Supreme Court and Appellate Counsel at the MacArthur Justice Center. She briefs and argues important civil rights and criminal justice issues in federal appeals courts across the country, and in the U.S Supreme Court, including qualified immunity, excessive force, municipal liability issues, habeas, access to the courts, and federal sentencing issues. She also teaches at Harvard Law School, co-directing the law school’s Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic and Seminar.

Prior to joining the MacArthur Justice Center, Devi was a partner in the Supreme Court and Appellate practice at a major law firm. Devi previously served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Between her clerkships, Devi served as a Skadden Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center, where her work focused on using Title IX to combat sex-based discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Devi received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2010, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Law Review, and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

• Executive Director, Institute to End Mass Incarceration, Harvard Law School

Premal Dharia is the Executive Director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration at Harvard Law School, which draws together organizers, scholars, activists, policymakers, lawyers, and students who are committed to new approaches to ending mass incarceration and to undoing the effects of decades of unjust criminal laws and policies. For nearly fifteen years, Dharia worked on the criminal legal system’s front lines, representing individual clients as a public defender. In that role, she represented people in local and federal courts, supervised and trained attorneys, led teams in complex cases, and tried numerous cases before judges and juries. Dharia then shifted to impact litigation as the Director of Litigation for Civil Rights Corps. Prior to her current role, Dharia founded and directed the Defender Impact Initiative, which has advanced the role of public defenders as systemic change agents. Dharia graduated from Brown University with a degree in History and African-American Studies and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

• Partner, DLA Piper

Thiru Vignarajah has extensive federal, state and local government experience. A former federal and Baltimore City prosecutor and Supreme Court clerk, Thiru served most recently as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Maryland. His practice focuses on complex trial and appellate litigation, white collar and internal investigations, and global regulatory compliance.

Thiru attended Yale University and Harvard Law School, where he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review. He subsequently clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Stephen G. Breyer on the United States Supreme Court. After practicing at a firm in Washington, DC, Thiru served as an Assistant US Attorney for the District of Maryland, was selected as Chief of the Major Investigations Unit in the State's Attorney's Office for Baltimore City and was then appointed Deputy Attorney General for Maryland.

Thiru also teaches courses on constitutional law, crime policy, and law and education at The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Baltimore School of Law and the University of Maryland School of Law, where he has repeatedly been voted outstanding professor of the year.

• Executive Director, ACLU of New Jersey

Amol Sinha serves as the Executive Director of the ACLU-NJ, having taken the helm in 2017. He brings to the ACLU-NJ a vision to make the organization a more collaborative, accessible resource for all of New Jersey, and he strives to create an even better, even more welcoming Garden State.

Prior to joining the ACLU-NJ, Amol was a policy advocate at the Innocence Project, where he led state-level policy campaigns nationwide to address wrongful convictions. From 2010-2015, Amol was the director of the Suffolk County Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, where he led efforts to defend and promote the constitutional rights of all Suffolk County residents, particularly around policing and criminal justice, immigrants' rights, and education reform. At the NYCLU, Amol worked on legislation, litigation, and community-based advocacy, and gained a deep understanding of the need to work collaboratively with community members, advocates, and government officials in order to advance policy.

Amol is also an adjunct professor at Marymount Manhattan College, where he has taught courses on constitutional law, civil rights, media law, and criminal justice. Additionally, Amol is the president of the South Asian Bar Association of New York and co-chair of the public interest committee of the South Asian Bar Association of North America.

Amol holds a B.A. in journalism and economics from New York University, and a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was a Public Service Scholar. Most importantly, Amol grew up in Lawrenceville, NJ, and is a proud product of Lawrence Township Public Schools. His role at the ACLU-NJ merges two central passions: advocating for constitutional rights and New Jersey.

• Partner, Technology & IP Litgation, White & Case LLP

Bijal is a member of our Technology Industry Practice and the Global Intellectual Property Group. He successfully represents technology companies in all aspects of their life cycle. He also has an impressive track record litigating complex patent cases in district courts, the International Trade Commission, and before the Federal Circuit. The knowledge and insight he brings to the most complex technology and intellectual property matters globally make him a valued asset for companies ranging from those on the Fortune 100 list to Silicon Valley startups.

Bijal's practice covers a wide range of technologies, including computer software, semiconductors, drones, e-commerce, social media, payments, autonomous vehicles, consumer electronics, telecommunications, video games, medical devices and innovative uses of blockchain technology in cryptocurrency. His technology practice includes serving as lead counsel in hundreds of contentious patent matters, leading US and cross-border deals, strategizing on complex technology transactions and forming technology alliances in trailblazing industries.

• Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, Coinbase

Paul Grewal is the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase, where more than 56 million people in over 100 countries buy, sell, store, use and earn cryptocurrency. Paul is responsible for Coinbase’s legal, compliance, global intelligence, risk and policy groups. Before joining Coinbase in August 2020, Paul was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook. Paul previously served as United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California. He was appointed by Chief Justice Roberts to the Magistrate Judges Education Committee of the Federal Judicial Center. He also was a partner at Howrey LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual property litigation. Paul received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School and his SB in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT.

• Group General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Infosys Limited

Inderpreet is the Group General Counsel and the Chief Compliance Officer of Infosys. In this role she leads the legal and compliance function of the Company. She is a tactical business partner supporting the business in legal and regulatory matters and ensuring the implementation of the compliance and ethics program of the Company in line with Infosys’ core C-LIFE values.

Inderpreet is a seasoned international professional with over 25 years of experience, including as a General Counsel of a large IT Service company, and as Managing Partner of a mid-sized law firm in Silicon Valley where her mandate included counsel on complex international transactions. She also serves on the National Advisory Council of SABANA (South Asian Bar Association of North America). Her past leadership positions include President SABANA, Board Member of Pratham Bay Area, Foundation for Excellence and Indus Women Leaders.

In recognition for her work, Inderpreet has been awarded the 2006 Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award, 2010 Outstanding Mentorship Award - SABA Northern California, 2010 NASABA (North American South Asian Bar Association ) Cornerstone Award and the 2013 NASABA Corporate Counsel Achievement Award. She is a frequent speaker at conferences globally.

Inderpreet has a BA (Hons.) and LL.B degree from Delhi University and an LL.M from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.

• Senior Vice President and General Counsel, American Airlines

Priya Aiyar is Senior Vice President and General Counsel and leads American’s Legal Affairs team and its legal strategies. This includes the company’s corporate governance, securities and corporate finance, business and commercial, litigation, competition and antitrust, compliance, privacy, environmental, labor and employment, and intellectual property legal issues and work.

Priya joined American from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where she was a partner, Prior to Willkie, she served as Acting General Counsel and Deputy Counsel for the U.S. Department of the Treasury as well as Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. She began her legal career as a clerk to Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Priya holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

• Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary and Diversity Leader, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada Corporation

Hina Latif is VP, General Counsel & Secretary at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada. In her role, which she has held since June 2018, Hina is responsible for providing timely, effective legal and related business advice to both Mercedes-Benz Financial and the company’s Daimler Truck Financial brand, and to minimize legal risk for both brands. She also oversees legal matters for all areas of the business and her work includes working advising on privacy and compliance matters and liaising closely with external counsel. She collaborates with her peers on the executive leadership team to devise and implement corporate strategy which relates to customers, dealers and employees.

As Head of Diversity, Hina co-chairs the recently launched diversity and inclusion working group at Mercedes-Benz Financial, which aims to optimally utilize the diversity of thought that comes from the company’s existing diverse workforce. Hina is also co-founder and executive team member of the National GC Network, which organization aims to assist general counsel and in-house lawyers to advance ED&I values in their organizations and the legal community and to promote leadership opportunities for Canadian Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour lawyers.

Prior to Mercedes-Benz Financial, Hina acted as Canadian Counsel for Element Fleet Management and has extensive experience in secured financing. Hina is qualified in Ontario and in the UK, where she began her legal career in 2000.

• Partner, Goldstein & Russell, P.C.

Tejinder Singh is a partner at Goldstein & Russell, P.C. His practice focuses on providing Supreme Court and appellate help to people in need, including civil plaintiffs (especially whistleblowers, but also people injured by fraud, civil rights violations, accidents, or terrorist attacks), criminal defendants (especially capital defendants), and advocacy organizations. He also takes on complex matters in trial courts, assisting with complaints and dispositive motions.

Tejinder has argued twice in the Supreme Court, winning both times—alongside a string of victories in the lower courts. These successes have made Tejinder a go-to appellate advocate in the plaintiffs’ bar.

In addition to his legal practice, Tejinder has served as an instructor in Harvard Law School’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. He is also a regular contributor to the SCOTUSblog.

• Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Kannon Shanmugam is a partner at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He is chair of the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice and managing partner of the Washington office. Kannon is widely recognized as one of the nation’s top appellate litigators. He has argued 31 cases before the Supreme Court; beyond the Supreme Court, he has argued dozens of appeals in courts across the country, including all 13 U.S. courts of appeals and numerous state courts. Prior to private practice, Kannon served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and to Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 

• Partner, Head of Supreme Court & Appellate Practice, Akin Gump

Pratik Shah serves as the head of Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice. Pratik has argued 15 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (winning all but three), and over 50 cases in the federal courts of appeals (including in every circuit).  Pratik is ranked among the country’s top appellate litigators by a number of leading publications, including Chambers USA which describes him as “absolutely brilliant” and “the complete package: an extremely gifted writer and an extremely effective oral advocate.”

Prior to joining Akin Gump, he served for more than five years as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the Justice Department and received a number of awards for his advocacy before the Supreme Court during that time, including the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his role as lead drafter of the successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor. Pratik also clerked for Justice Stephen G. Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge William A. Fletcher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

• Partner, Litigation, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Anitha Reddy is a partner in the Litigation Department of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Her practice focuses on representing directors and corporations in disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, contests for corporate control, and corporate governance matters, and in class and derivative actions alleging breaches of fiduciary duty.

Ms. Reddy is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School, where she was managing editor of the Stanford Law Review. After law school, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and to the Honorable Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Ms. Reddy served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court for the October 2014 term.

• Director of Strategic Legal Advocacy, Earthjustice

Kirti Datla is the Director of Strategic Legal Advocacy at Earthjustice, the nation’s largest nonprofit environmental law firm, where she focuses on the organization’s advocacy on cross-cutting legal doctrines such as standing, finality, deference, and remedies.

Kirti served as a law clerk for Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Amul R. Thapar, then of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Before joining Earthjustice, Kirti worked in both private practice and in government service. As a senior associate in the Supreme Court and Appellate practice group at Hogan Lovells US LLP, Kirti briefed numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appellate courts and argued five federal appeals. As an attorney-adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, she reviewed the legality of presidential orders; advised federal agencies on questions of constitutional, statutory, and administrative law; and examined pending legislation for constitutional issues.

Kirti received her B.A. in environmental engineering from Rice University, where she graduated cum laude, and her law degree from the NYU School of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude and served as the managing editor of the NYU Law Review. 

• SABA D.C. President

SABA-DC President, Priya Bhanu welcomes you into her open level vinyasa flow class – an extension of herself – a melodic home where you can be your fullest and truest self, discover what yoga means for you, and "get that OM." Her class will introduce you to your own power to feel more alive with every pose and find a connection to the rhythm within. Priya’s class will wrap you in a moment that allows you to find your flow, build community, ask questions, and nurture your own voice. Her students will leave her class with a sense of warmth, true human connection, and a deeper acceptance for who they are, who they’ve been, and who they’re re becoming.

Priya was first introduced to yoga as a young child, witnessing the powerful influence yoga and meditation had on her friends and family. After developing her own practice and experiencing the transformational nature of yoga for self-reflection and discovery, Priya decided to become a teacher, particularly to welcome those who never thought yoga would work for them.

When not on the mat, Priya is an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State.

• Litigation Associate, Proskauer Rose LLP

SABANY VP of Sponsorship Hena Vora leads a weekly BollyX class—a Bollywood-inspired dance-fitness program that combines dynamic choreography with upbeat Bollywood music. The program’s 50-minute cardio workout cycles between higher and lower-intensity dance sequences. At the very core of any BollyX workout is the inspiration drawn from the music and dances of Bollywood, the film industry of India. BollyX embodies the infectious energy and expressions in Bollywood, and broadens the realm of fitness.  As a high-intensity exercise that involves a good amount of jumping, squatting and lunging, mixed with various isometric movements, Hena’s BollyX class will help you achieve a full-body workout while jamming out to your favorite songs! 
 
Hena has been dancing since she was 4 years old – she is trained in the classical Indian art of Bharatnatyam and competed nationally on two dance teams in college. Hena became a certified BollyX instructor in 2017 while she was in law school at Emory Law, and has been teaching BollyX ever since. She is currently a litigation associate in Proskauer’s New York office.