A Journey Through the Pipeline: Identifying Challenges and Improving Diversity and Inclusion In the Legal Profession
Thursday, March 15, 2012 | 1:45 - 7:00p.m. | 4 NY/NJ CLE Credits
Speakers
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JULIE CAVANAGH
Julie Cavanagh is Assistant Counsel, Appointments Office, Office of the Governor of New Jersey. She was engaged in private practice with the law firm of Budd Larner until 1994, and with the firm of Gallagher Rowan and Egbert until joining the Division of Law in 2000. Since that time, she has represented various State agencies in tort matters, as well as providing representation and advice to client agencies regarding a variety of issues, including construction and fire code enforcement and local government services.
Ms. Cavanagh is a 1988 graduate of Rutgers Law School.
JUSTICE JAMES H. COLEMAN, JR.
Justice James H. Coleman, Jr., is Of Counsel to Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C. He joined the firm following an impressive judicial career. He focuses his practice on advising attorneys and clients on appellate strategy and on acting as a mediator or arbitrator of complex, private and public disputes.
Justice Coleman had a long and distinguished career on the bench spanning more than 30 years. He is a former Associate Justice and Justice Pro Tempore of the New Jersey Supreme Court; and Presiding Judge and Judge, Appellate Division, and Judge, Law Division of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Justice Coleman received his B.A. cum laude from Virginia State University, his J.D. from Howard University School of Law, and honorary degrees from Virginia State University, Widener University and Essex County College.
LUIS J. DIAZ
Luis J. Diaz is Director of the Intellectual Property Group at Gibbons P.C. He has over 20 years of extensive experience in a wide range of complex matters including intellectual property law, technology related joint ventures and strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, sales and marketing, and government relations. Mr. Diaz provides legal and business counsel to business units in the United States and abroad on commercial and intellectual property matters and is experienced with diversified industries in both private and publicly traded companies. He currently represents foreign corporations from Spain, Central America, South America and India.
Prior to joining Gibbons, Mr. Diaz was Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel with IDT Corporation, where he founded the intellectual property group and managed a staff of six IP professionals on a wide range of matters worldwide. Mr. Diaz also served on the Technology Committee to the IDT Board of Directors and was an advisor to the government relations team.
Mr. Diaz received his B.S. from Cook College, Rutgers University, and his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law.
PAULA T. DOW
Paula T. Dow was appointed the First Deputy General Counsel of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey by Governor Christopher Christie. She was previously the New Jersey Attorney General. Prior to her appointments by Governor Christie, Ms. Dow served as the Essex County Prosecutor. During her tenure at the Prosecutor’s Office, Ms. Dow ushered the Office through a series of improvements, including the county’s highest criminal conviction rate since 2000. She also served with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark and the Southern District of New York.
Before entering the public sector, Ms. Dow began her career as an associate for Tomar, Parks, Seliger, Simonoff & Adourian in Camden, New Jersey. She then worked as an attorney for Exxon Company in Texas, New Jersey and New York.
Ms. Dow received her B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in 1977 and her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
JEREMY FARRELL
Jeremy Farrell is an Associate and Diversity Committee Chair at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP. Mr. Farrell is admitted to practice law in the State of New Jersey, the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, and the State of New York. He is an active member of the New Jersey and New York State Bar Associations, the Essex County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
Mr. Farrell joined Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP, as an Associate in 2007 at which time he practiced commercial litigation, municipal Law, condemnation law, construction litigation, and bankruptcy. In the fall of 2008 through the summer 2009 Mr. Farrell served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Dennis M. Cavanaugh, U.S.D.J., for the District of New Jersey. He returned to the firm in the fall of 2009. He currently concentrates his practice in commercial litigation.
Mr. Farrell is a graduate of McGill University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Development. He received his J.D. from Seton Hall Law School in 2007. While attending Seton Hall, Mr. Farrell served as a member of the Seton Hall Sports and Entertainment Law Journal and as a Student Bar Association Senator.
SUSAN A. FEENEY
Susan A. Feeney is a partner in the Tax and Employee benefits group of McCarter and English LLP in Newark, New Jersey. Ms. Feeney’s practice focuses on state and local property taxation and also includes redevelopment law and condemnation.
Ms. Feeney has received numerous accolades including being named by NJBIZ in 2009 as one of the Best 50 Women in Business. For four consecutive years she was also named among the Best Laywers in American and for the past five years she has been named a SuperLawyer in New Jersey. In addition to her practice, Ms. Feeney is the president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and the trustee of the New Jersey Bar Foundation.
Ms. Feeney received her B.S. summa cum laude from Seton Hall University and received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.
RACHEL D. GODSIL
Rachel D. Godsil is the Eleanor Bontecou Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law. Professor Godsil teaches Property, Zoning, Planning & Land Use Policy, Constitutional Law and Civil rights. Her research interests include property, land use, environmental justice, education, and race.?
Prior to joining Seton Hall in 2000, Professor Godsil was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. She was an Associate Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, focusing on environmental justice, as well as an associate with Berle, Kass & Case and Arnold & Porter in New York City. She also clerked for John M. Walker of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.?
Professor Godsil received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as the Executive Article Editor of the Michigan Law Review, was awarded the Henry M. Bates Memorial Award, and elected to the Order of the Coif.
ALYCIA M. GUICHARD
Alycia M. Guichard is the Director and New Jersey State Bar Fellow for the Street Law Program and Associate Director for the Minority Student Program at Rutgers School of Law–Newark.
Prior to joining Rutgers School of Law–Newark in January 2007, she was a teaching fellow and summer law faculty at Georgetown University Law Center. In 2008 she received the Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the Young Lawyers Division of the New Jersey State Bar Association. This award salutes a young lawyer whose personal and professional achievements merit special recognition and who has made significant community and public service contributions. In 2009 the Street Law Program was awarded a Chancellor’s Award for Student Community Service. In 2010, she received the Ernest McMahon Award from the president of Rutgers University for her “outstanding leadership in extending the University educational resources to the community through the Street Law Program.”
Ms. Guichard received her A.A. from Westchester Community College, her B.S. with honors from New York University, her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, and her LL.M. with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center.
PATRICK E. HOBBS
Patrick E. Hobbs is Dean and Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School where he teaches in the area of taxation. After joining the faculty in 1990, he eventually became the Associate Dean for Finance, and in 1999, he became the Law School’s seventh Dean.
In his leadership capacity at Seton Hall Law School, Dean Hobbs has assumed leadership positions both in the City of Newark as well as on the state level. He was appointed a Commissioner on the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation by former Governor James McGreevy. He is also a member of the Standards Review Committee of the American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, and has twice chaired the Law School Development Committee. He serves as a member of the Boards of the Newark Alliance, Lexis-Nexis, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, the New Jersey Commission of Professionalism and the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. In 2004, he served as Chair of the Newark, New Jersey, Mayor's Blue Ribbon Commission on the Downtown Core Redevelopment.
Dean Hobbs graduated magna cum laude from Seton Hall University with a B.S. in Accounting. He received his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned his LL.M. from New York University.
VIELKA V. HOLNESS
Vielka V. Holness is the Director of the Pre-Law Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The Pre-Law Institute prepares John Jay College Students to successfully enter law school and the legal profession by crafting academic skill-building programs and professional development initiatives and by emphasizing early and intensive student engagement in developing that analytic and critical writing skills that students will need to perform optimally as law school applicants and as law students.
Ms. Holness is the President-Elect for the Northeast Association of Pre-Law Advisors and has previously served on the Board of Directors. She is also a member of the New York City Bar's Diversity Pipeline Committee. Prior to joining John Jay College, Ms. Holness was the inaugural Director of Master’s College at the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University, a Director for Equal Employment and Affirmative Action at Columbia University and managed career development programs at area law schools including the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Pace Law School where she served as Dean for the Center for Career Development. Ms. Holness practiced employment law in Detroit and New York City.
She received her B.A. from New York University, an M.P.A. from Columbia University, and a J.D. from University of Michigan School of Law.
SHAVAR D. JEFFRIES
Shavar D. Jeffries is an Associate Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law teaching in the Civil Litigation Clinic. Professor Jeffries’ work focuses on impact civil-rights scholarship, advocacy, and litigation, focusing on education and housing inequities affecting urban communities. He has also represented individuals and community associations in a variety of housing cases, including tenants facing unlawful rent increases in subsidized housing units, and individual victims of mortgage fraud and predatory lending.
Prior to joining Seton Hall in 2004, Professor Jeffries was a Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Litigation at Gibbons P.C., where he worked on a variety of cases including matters involving special education, voting rights and affordable housing. Professor Jeffries also clerked for Nathaniel R. Jones, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and worked as an Associate at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering.
Professor Jeffries received his B.A. in History from Duke University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Paul Robeson Scholar, Jane Marks Murphy Prize recipient, Mitsubishi International Fellow, and Managing Editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
CRAIG LIVERMORE
Craig Livermore worked for several years at Legal Outreach, Inc., in New York City, where he directed law-related and college preparation programs for low-income urban youth. He founded the non-profit pipeline diversity program, New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project (NJ LEEP) in 2006, in partnership with Seton Hall Law School, to bring the Legal Outreach model to urban New Jersey. Under Mr. Livermore’s leadership, NJ LEEP has provided educational services and law-related programming to more than 3,000 youth in Newark, Trenton and Camden. NJ LEEP has thus far graduated two classes of high school seniors from its four-year College Bound Program. 100 percent of program graduates have gained admission to college, with more than 70 percent gaining admission to top 100 four-year colleges such as Princeton, Bryn Mawr, Spelman, Mt. Holyoke, Drew, Rutgers, and many others.
Mr. Livermore was the founding board chair of Newark Legacy Charter School and is an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall Law School where he teaches seminars on Race, Law and Education, and Constitutional and Political Issues in Education Reform. In addition to work on religion, ethics and public policy, Mr. Livermore has published articles on urban educational management, and educational policy and its effects on racially equitable educational outcomes. One of Mr. Livermore’s most recent articles includes "Racial Complexity and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," 26 J. Civ. Rights & Econ. Dev. (2011).
Mr. Livermore holds a B.A. in Religion and Mathematics from Franklin and Marshall College, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.
NATALIA MARTIN
Natalia Martin is an Associate and the Director of Diversity at Simpson Thacher in New York City. Ms. Martin returned to Simpson Thacher after serving in administration at Yale Law School, first as an Assistant Dean and then as Associate Dean from 1991 to 2005. She is a member of the Committee on Minorities in the Profession of the New York State Bar Association and of the Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. She speaks frequently on diversity in the legal profession at regional and national conferences.
Ms. Martin is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.
JUDGE SOHAIL MOHAMMED
Judge Sohail Mohammed was nominated as New Jersey’s first Indian-American judge and the State’s second Muslim judge in January 2011, and was confirmed in July 2011. He serves in the Superior Court in Passaic County.
Judge Mohammed emigrated from India with his parents. Prior to his nomination, he was a defense attorney concentrating on immigration matters. In his capacity as an immigration attorney and immigrant himself, Mohammed worked in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks to try to foster trust between American Muslims and law enforcement, particularly federal officials. He provided training regarding Islamic Cultural and Religious Practices to thousands of members of the law enforcement community. He was named one of the 101 most influential people in the state by New Jersey Monthly magazine in 2009 and as a New Jersey “Super Lawyer” for four years, beginning in 2006.
Judge Mohammed graduated in 1988 with a degree in electrical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and then worked full-time for GEC-Marconi Electronic Systems while earning his law degree at Seton Hall Law School.
TERESA L. MOORE
Teresa L. Moore, Esq., joined the Rutgers University-Newark Institute on Education Law and Policy in 2006 as a consultant after practicing law in Newark, N.J., with the law firm of McCarter & English, LLP for 18 years. She has researched and written Institute publications such as the reports "Shared Services in School Districts: Policies, Practices and Recommendations," "Governance and Urban School Improvement: Lessons for New Jersey from Nine Cities" and "Guide to the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC)."
Ms. Moore is a founder of an online magazine about education law called Legally Speaking (http://www.legallyspeakingmagazine.com), for which she writes and edits. She collaborated in developing a school law curriculum for public school district leaders known as LEGAL ONE, in which she teaches education law to school leaders.
In private legal practice Ms. Moore represented public school districts and independent schools, providing counseling and representation in litigated matters in areas such as special education, civil rights, discrimination, employment disputes, contract matters, and pupil discipline. She has argued numerous cases before the state and federal courts of New Jersey, including the New Jersey Supreme Court, and in the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law. Her private practice also included representing public and private clients in employment matters.
Ms. Moore holds a J.D. from Rutgers Law School-Newark, where she was a member of the Rutgers Law Review, and is a graduate of Wellesley College. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable John E. Keefe in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division before beginning private law practice.
JANAI S. NELSON
Janai S. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Law and the Associate Director of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John’s University. In addition to conducting research on election law and voting rights issues, she teaches Election Law and Political Participation, Comparative Election Law, Voting Rights Seminar, and Professional Responsibility. In the year before she joined St. John’s, Professor Nelson was a Fulbright Scholar at the Legal Resources Center in Accra, Ghana, where she researched the political disfranchisement of persons with criminal convictions and what it portends for the advancement of democracy in Ghana.
Prior to receiving the Fulbright award, Professor Nelson was the Director of Political Participation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) where she oversaw all voting-related litigation and matters, litigated voting rights and redistricting cases, and worked on criminal justice issues on behalf of African Americans and other underserved communities.
Professor Nelson began practicing law as a litigation associate at the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and was the 1998 recipient of the NAACP LDF/Fried Frank Fellowship.
She received a B.A. from New York University and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law. While in law school, she served as Articles Editor of the UCLA Law Review, Consulting Editor of the National Black Law Journal, and Associate Editor of the UCLA Women’s Law Journal. She has been published on issues of domestic and comparative election law, democracy, race, and criminal justice, including articles in the Georgetown Law Journal and Albany Law Review. Professor Nelson clerked for the Honorable Theodore McMillian on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Honorable David H. Coar on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
CHIEF JUSTICE STUART RABNER
Justice Stuart Rabner is the eighth Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Justice Rabner was nominated by Governor Jon S. Corzine and sworn into office on June 29, 2007. Immediately prior to his nomination to the court, Justice Rabner was named New Jersey Attorney General in September 2006.
Justice Rabner began his career as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise. He then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark as a federal prosecutor in 1986. In his position at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Justice Rabner worked in numerous positions including chief of the terrorism unit and chief of the criminal division. Justice Rabner was also chief counsel for Governor Jon S. Corzine.
Justice Rabner graduated summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He also graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.
JUDGE ESTHER SALAS
Judge Esther Salas is a U.S. District Court Judge in Newark, New Jersey. She was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2011 after being nominated by President Barack Obama and became the first Hispanic woman in in the state to be appointed. Prior to her appointment, she served as a District Court magistrate judge in New Jersey since 2006.
Prior to becoming a Judge, Judge Salas worked as an Assistant Public Defender for the District of New Jersey from 1997-2006. She also worked as an associate at Garces & Grabler PC. Judge Salas began her career as a clerk for New Jersey Superior Court Judge Eugene Codey, Jr.
Judge Salas received her B.A from Rutgers University and her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark.
WALTER F. TIMPONE
Walter F. Timpone is a hiring partner at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP in Morristown, New Jersey. At the firm, Mr. Timpone practices in white collar criminal work, corporate internal investigations, health care compliance and defense, labor law for labor unions and complex civil litigation.
Mr. Timpone served for 11 years at the United States Attorney’s Office in Newark, where one of his positions included the Chief of Special Prosecutions. He has also served as a Federal Election Monitor in Passaic County, where he worked to ensure the voting rights of Hispanic citizens. Mr. Timpone previously worked for Townley & Updike in New York City. He has received numerous awards and accolades including being listed as a NJ SuperLawyer since 2005, named a Top 100 New Jersey Lawyer for 2009 and 2010, and in 2011 being recognized by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations.
Mr. Timpone received his B.A from St. Francis College and his J.D. from Seton Hall Law School.
KAROL CORBIN WALKER
Karol Corbin Walker is a shareholder at LeClairRyan. She joined the firm in 2007 when it merged with Seiden Wayne where she had been since 1989. In 1995 Ms. Walker became the first African American woman to attain partner status at any major New Jersey law firm. She is a litigator with trial experience in the State and Federal Courts. Ms. Walker has argued many cases before the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, as well as the New Jersey Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Ms. Walker focuses her practice on business, commercial, employment, environmental, hazardous waste, insurance coverage, toxic tort and product liability litigation matters. Her clients have included many Fortune 500 corporations as well as other publicly and privately held corporations, financial institutions, entertainers and insurance companies. In 2003, Ms. Walker became the first African American President in the then 105-year history of the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA). In 1998 she was the first African American appointed as Chair of the NJSBA’s most prestigious Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee. She is a former president of the Garden State Bar Association, a former trustee of the Essex County Bar Association and has held numerous other positions, as well.
Ms. Walker received her B.A. in political science, with honors, from New Jersey City University and her J.D. from Seton Hall Law School.
CHRISHANA M. WHITE
Chrishana M. White ’13 is a student at Seton Hall University School of Law. During her time at Seton Hall Law, Ms. White was an intern for the Federal Magistrate Judge Michael Shipp, a research assistant for Professor Solangel Maldonado, and a Legal Education Opportunities study group facilitator.?
Currently, Ms. White serves as a mentor for NJ LEEP, vice president for the Black Law Students Association, the Student Bar Association (SBA) representative for Urban Education Law & Policy Institute, and a member of the Dean’s Diversity Council. The SBA president recently nominated Ms. White to serve on the Disadvantaged Applicant Selection Committee. In addition, Ms. White is a teaching fellow for Seton Hall Law's Academic Success Program. Ms. White received her B.A in English and Communications from Boston College.
Ms. White has been awarded the Porzio Diversity Scholarship and will be a summer associate with Porzio, Bromberg & Newman P.C. in 2012.