American Bar Association
Task Force on Human Trafficking
Lawyers Mobilizing To Combat Human Trafficking Through
Public Awareness, Advocacy, Training and Education
09/01/13
Members
Hon. Louraine C. Arkfeld
Liaison to ABA Center for Human Rights
Tempe, AZ
Judge Louraine C. Arkfeld recently retired as the Presiding Judge for the Tempe Municipal Court after
twenty-six years on the bench. Judge Arkfeld also just completed her service on the Arizona Judicial
Council and as Chair of the Serving Orders of Protection Task Force for the O’Connor House. She was
the winner of the 2005 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence and the 2006 Hero in
Women’s Mental Health award.
Judge Arkfeld served as the Judicial Member-at-Large of the ABA’s Board of Governors and as the chair
of the Board’s Program, Evaluation and Planning Committee, is a Past Chair of the Judicial Division of the
ABA and the ABA Commission on the American Jury Project and currently serves on the Council of the
International Law Section as well as the Senior Lawyers Division. She also chaired the ABA Working
Group on the Rule of Law and an Independent Judiciary.
Judge Arkfeld chaired the Court Leadership Institute of Arizona and continues to teach in its Court
Executive Program. She also served on the Arizona Supreme Court Commission on Technology, the
Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Trial Court Leadership Council for the NCSC and the ABA’s
Committee on the Research of the Future of the Legal Profession.
Laurel G. Bellows
Chicago, IL
Laurel Bellows, a principal of The Bellows Law Group, P.C. in Chicago, represents executives in the
United States and internationally. Laurel is an experienced business lawyer counseling senior executives
and corporations on employment matters, employment and severance agreements, executive
compensation and workplace disputes. Her expertise in executive compensation matters also includes
mid-level management compensation and benefit plans, and matters involving incentives, pensions,
retirement and workforce restructuring.
Bellows the immediate past president of the American Bar Association. Her one-year term as president
condluded at the ABA Annual Meeting in August 2013. She has served as chair of the association’s
policymaking House of Delegates (2006-2008), the second highest elected office in the ABA. Bellows has
also served as chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, and as a member of the ABA
Board of Governors, where she chaired the Finance Committee. She was also president of the National
Conference of Bar Presidents and chair of its Metropolitan Bar Caucus, ABA affiliates.
Bellows’ work in the law and her community has been recognized by many publications. Crain’s Chicago
Businesslists Bellows among its annual list of Power Players; in 2006, she was named one of the 28
Power Lawyers in the City byChicago Magazine; she was cited as one of Chicago’s 100 Women of
Influence in 1996, also by Crain’s Chicago Business; and Bellows was listed among Working Mother
Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Working Mothers in the country in 1997.
Bellows has been on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on the Administration of Justice, and on the
U.S. Senate Judicial Nominations Commission for Illinois. She has served as chair of the Chicago
Network, a networking organization of diverse, professional women in the Chicago area. Bellows was
the second female president of the 22,000-member Chicago Bar Association where she founded the
Women’s Alliance.
She is admitted and qualified as an attorney and counselor of the Supreme Court of the United States
and is a mediator, certified through the Institute for Conflict Management. Bellows is licensed to
practice in Illinois, Florida and California.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Loyola University School of Law, Bellows has practiced
law for more than 30 years. She practices law with her husband, Joel, in Chicago. They have four
children and four grandchildren.
Dawn M. Conway
Chicago, IL
As Senior Vice President of Global Content Licensing for Cision US, Inc. based in Chicago, Dawn is
responsible for acquiring and retaining all content in support of Cision's global businesses, including
news monitoring and media database services. She is an attorney and member of the District of
Columbia Court of Appeals, the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights and the National
Association of Women Lawyers. Dawn is a founding member of the Global Business Coalition Against
Human Trafficking (gBCAT) and the recipient of the 2011 Nomi Network Corporate Social Responsibility
Award.
She is a frequent speaker on the role of business in combating human trafficking. Her recent public
speaking engagements include Human Trafficking: Why Companies Should Care sponsored by the U.S.
Council for International Business, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Organization of
Employers; Global Women’s Initiative: creating the ripple effect sponsored by Womenetics; The Role of
Business in Human Trafficking, Social Entrepreneur Conference hosted by the Harvard Business School
and Kennedy School of Business; CSR and Human Trafficking What Every Business Needs to Know and
the World Justice Forum III; Human Trafficking and The Rule of Law.
Dawn is the co-author of Doing Well by Doing Good “CSR for Bars” published in the Spring 2012 Bar
Leader Magazine, an ABA publication. Prior to joining Cision, Dawn held key leadership positions with
LexisNexis in corporate responsibility, global licensing and business development.
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Jimmy Goodman
Liaison to ABA Section of Litigation
Oklahoma City, OK
Jimmy Goodman is Chairman of Crowe & Dunlevy, P.C., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A trial lawyer at
Crowe & Dunlevy for more than 39 years, he tries lawsuits in state, federal and tribal courts, and advises
clients, with specialties in both complex business and commercial litigation as well as federal Indian law
and gaming. He represents individuals, businesses of all size and Native American Nations. He is
recognized for his expertise by Oklahoma Superlawyers, Chambers and Best Lawyers in America. He is
Oklahoma’s Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates, has held numerous positions of leadership in the
ABA Litigation Section, and has served on the ABA’s Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice, and its
Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and Hispanic Rights
and Responsibilities. Jimmy was named the 2009 Recipient of the William G. Paul Oklahoma Justice
Award, which is awarded annually by Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. on behalf of Oklahoma's
justice community for commitment to "the American promise of equal justice for all." In 2006 he
received the Oklahoma Bar Association John E. Shipp Award for Ethics and the Journal Record
Leadership in Law award for service to the legal profession, especially toward increasing diversity and
pro bono service. He is past Chair of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and is a Special
Advisory Director to the Board of the ABF. J.D., Stanford Law School, 1971. Editor, Stanford Law
Review.
Linda Hayman
Liaison to ABA Business Law Section
New York, NY
Linda Hayman is Of Counsel to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (where she was previously a
partner from 1992-2010); she founded and supervises the Firm's UCC and Secured Transactions Practice.
Ms. Hayman has focused much of her public service work in two primary areas: (1) professional
associations and (2) diversity-oriented organizations. Ms. Hayman has held numerous leadership roles
within the American Bar Association including chair of the Business Law Section. Ms. Hayman is a
member of the American Law Institute, American Bar Foundation, TriBar Opinion Committee, American
College of Investment Counselors, American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers and in addition was
one of the founders of the Working Group on Legal Opinions. Ms. Hayman was one of the founders of
DirectWomen, a project whose mission is to increase the number of women attorneys on boards of
directors. In addition, Ms. Hayman was one of a small group who formed the Kate Stoneman Project, an
organization for women partners at New York's transaction-based law firms.
Pamela S. Menaker
Chicago, IL
Pamela Sakowicz Menaker is the Communications Partner at Clifford Law Offices. As an attorney with
two degrees in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Pam combines
her experience in these two fields in handling the press in the many high-profile cases handled by the
firm. For instance, Pam was involved in the month-long trial of internationally-claimed violinist Rachel
Barton who was severely injured by a Metra train. The case drew front-page headlines and daily
television coverage in what has been described as the most publicized civil trial in the history of Cook
County. It resulted in a $29.6 million verdict that was upheld on appeal. Pam is involved with numerous
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clients from the initial filing of a case to the final settlement of the matter. She routinely conducts press
conferences so that an organized, considered approach to high-profile matters can be presented that
ensures the clients’ rights are protected. Other cases for which she has handled the press that drew
national media attention include the fire at the Cook County Administration Building, the scaffolding
collapse at the John Hancock Building, the porch collapse in Chicago that killed 13 and injured dozens of
others, and most recently the Union Pacific derailment that led to a bridge collapse killing a Glenview
couple.
Pam also has been involved in handling the press involving Girl X, a girl left for dead at a Chicago housing
project; Michael Chambers, who was killed by off-duty officers at a wedding in south suburban
Countryside; Bob Collins, the popular WGN radio personality who was killed in a small plane crash;
Nancy Clay, who was killed in a high-rise fire when Chicago firefighters were unable to reach her; and
every major commercial airline crash in the United States over the past decade in which Robert Clifford
has been involved.
When it comes to the press, Pam is no stranger. Her background includes experience in every type of
media outlet. Upon graduating from Northwestern, Pam worked as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
She then moved to ABC-TV where she worked for the local affiliate in Chicago as a writer/producer for
the local news. She also created the column Prelude in N for North Shore Magazine which she wrote for
two years for the popular magazine. She has been a Washington correspondent and political speech
writer in the nation’s capital as well as a producer/writer for Tribune Entertainment and the New York
Times Corporation where she worked on a pilot for a news magazine program. Pam has taught as an
adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism where she taught writing to
graduate students and assisted in teaching Law of Journalism to undergraduates. Most recently, Pam
was an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Program of the Integrated Marketing Communications
Department of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism where she taught a class on "Consumer, Law
and Ethics of Marketing."
Pam also has been very involved in legal writing since her graduation from Loyola University School of
Law in 1984. Having been the first night-law student selected to compete on the school’s Moot Court
team, while still a student Pam argued a case before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in her
Appellate Practicum class. After being sworn in as an attorney in Illinois, she later appeared before that
court as a pro bono attorney representing criminal defendants for the Northern District of Illinois. She
also was selected as an extern attorney and worked in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office,
Consumer Fraud Division, where she was introduced to issues of consumer fraud. In 1991, she
continued her brief writing for Clifford Law Offices as well as handling of the press on high-profile cases
that grew until her appointment in 2001 as the firm's Communications Partner, which recognizes her
journalism as well as her legal experience. Pam also is involved in various bar associations including the
American Bar Association where she was Co-Chair of the Section of Litigation's Written Materials
Committee and other positions involving the publication of materials for that 70,000-plus member
section. She also served as Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting in Chicago in 2005, helping organize the
dozens of programs and written materials accompanying the continuing legal education seminars. She
also serves as an Editor on the prestigious Litigation Magazine that is distributed quarterly to the
section's members and most recently she was appointed to a three-year term on the ABA Standing
Committee on Strategic Communications. Pam also has been a member of the Chicago Bar Association's
(CBA) Editorial Board for the Chicago Bar Record, serving as its book review editor since 2000. In 2006,
she was appointed to serve as Co-Chair of the CBA's Pro Bono Week Committee, which was marked by
Mayor Richard Daley and Governor Rod Blagojevich proclaiming the week in October in recognition of
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the efforts of the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation in raising the awareness of
lawyers' pro bono efforts in Chicago and around the state. She also serves on the CBA Judicial
Evaluation Committee.
Pam was selected in 2006 to serve as the Co-Chair of the Host Committee for the Illinois Bar
Foundation's Annual Gala Affair. The annual event, designed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars
which ultimately is used to benefit the dozens of pro bono legal organizations around Chicago, is an
event that attracts hundreds of lawyers who also are committed to furthering the philanthropic goals of
the charitable arm of the Illinois Bar Association. Pam was elected to the Illinois State Bar Association
(ISBA) Assembly for a three-year term. She also has served a number of years on the Illinois Bar Journal,
the publication of the ISBA that goes out monthly to its thousands of members across the state.
Currently, Pam spearheads the continuing legal education programs at Clifford Law Offices which has
been certified by the state as a provider of such programs to lawyers. Over the years, the popular and
substantive programs have drawn more than 2,000 attendees in person and on the Internet.
As a side interest, but one that complements her career, Pam has taken classes in improvisation at
Second City and Improv Olympics in Chicago, and has appeared on stage entertaining audiences in the
field of improv comedy. She is in the process of writing a book.
Norma Ramos
New York, NY
Norma Ramos is a longstanding public interest attorney and social justice activist.
She is an eco-feminist who links the worldwide inequality of women to the destruction of the
environment. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in
Women (CATW), which is the world’s first organization to fight against human trafficking internationally
and the world’s leading abolitionist organization, now in its twenty-fifth year. She writes and speaks
extensively about the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children as a core global injustice,
and has appeared on the television shows Charlie Rose and Larry King Live, as well as national radio
programs.
Ms. Ramos is an early environmental justice activist who worked to build an environmental movement
that addresses inequalities based on race, gender and class. She is the former executive director of the
Rainforest Foundation and serves on the board of the National Hispanic Environmental Council and on
the board of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation. Ms. Ramos is the recipient of the Women's
Committee Award and the Flor De Maga Award, both from the Puerto Rican Bar Association. In 2009,
she was awarded the Humanist Heroine Award by the American Humanist Association. Recognized as a
pioneer Latina lawyer who has made outstanding contributions to the Latino community, Ms. Ramos
was awarded the Hispanic National Bar Association Commission on Latinas in the Legal Profession
Annual Award 2010. In May 2012, the Trafficking in America Task Force honored Ms. Ramos as the firstever recipient of the Pioneering & Leadership Award.
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Kavitha Sreeharsha
Liaison to ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence
San Francisco, CA
For over a decade, Kavitha Sreeharsha has been a leader in the anti-trafficking movement. Her
multifaceted experience includes legal services, technical assistance, federal and state public policy
advocacy, and civil rights enforcement and litigation.
As a staff attorney at Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, she consulted with and represented over 100
labor and sex trafficked persons. She coordinated NGO services with federal agencies conducting
trafficking raids. She also litigated family law and immigration cases, representing primarily immigrant
domestic violence survivors, and developed an accompanying pro bono project. Kavitha subsequently
worked at Legal Momentum where she spearheaded efforts to expand protections for trafficked
persons by successfully drafting and advocating for language that was included in the William
Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008. She worked with federal
agencies to implement laws including advocacy to publish the delayed U-visa regulations. Her technical
assistance included developing a groundbreaking leadership and skills building initiative for law
enforcement working with immigrant crime victims. Most recently, Kavitha worked in the Civil Rights
Division at the Department of Justice, enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, focusing on national origin
discrimination by criminal justice agencies.
As an anti-trafficking expert, Kavitha speaks and trains nationally and internationally. She has testified
and briefed Congress. Kavitha has written extensively on immigrant women, immigration, and human
trafficking and has published in the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. Kavitha has served on
the Board of Directors of Narika, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and the South
Asian Bar Association of Northern California. She is also the recipient of numerous awards including the
Tanya Nieman Award and the Unity Award from the Minority Bar Coalition of the San Francisco Bay
Area. She is a graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and received a
bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the bars of the District
of Columbia and California.
Julie Myers Wood
Liaison from ABA Commission on Immigration
Washington, DC
Julie Myers Wood is the President, Compliance, Federal Practice and Software Solutions of Guidepost
Solutions LLC. In this capacity, Ms. Wood brings her extensive background to oversee complex
investigations and help build business compliance solutions for companies and educational institutions,
large and small. Ms. Wood is the former founder and President of ICS Consulting, LLC (ICS Consulting), a
specialist in compliance, risk assessments, immigration and customs investigations, and federal business
development. Guidepost Solutions acquired ICS Consulting in September 2012. While with ICS
Consulting, Ms. Wood was instrumental in developing proprietary software products that assist
employers with compliance issues, including SecureID, ICS Eval and EZCertOrigin.
Prior to founding ICS Consulting, Ms. Wood served as head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) for nearly three years. In this role, she led the largest investigative component of the Department
of Homeland Security and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government, with more
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than 17,000 employees worldwide and an annual budget of more than $5 billion. During her tenure, ICE
had five integrated divisions (Detention and Removal Operations, Investigations, Federal Protective
Service, Intelligence, and International Affairs). In supervising ICE’s investigative activity, Ms. Wood
oversaw the agency’s wide variety of anti-money investigations and private sector compliance
programs, testified about AML best practices and investigations, and enforced the Export Administration
Act and related export control regulations. Under her leadership, the agency set new enforcement
records with respect to immigration enforcement, export enforcement (including ITAR, EAR and deemed
export investigations), and intellectual property rights. .
Ms. Wood is nationally recognized for her expertise on immigration and other law enforcement issues,
and is often asked to speak on these issues. She has testified before Congress a number of times and has
appeared on FOX, CNN, C-SPAN, ABC, CNBC, MSNBC, NPR, and numerous other television and radio
stations. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the American Bar Association’s Commission on
Immigration and the Constitution Project’s Immigration Committee.
Her previous leadership positions in the federal government include service as Assistant Secretary for
Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce and Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division at the
Department of Justice. She also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary (Money Laundering and Financial
Crimes) at the Treasury Department, where she helped draft regulations relating to Title III of the Patriot
Act, coordinated the U.S. government’s national report/strategy on money laundering, and oversaw
Treasury Enforcement activities relating to OFAC. Ms. Wood also served as an Assistant United States
Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where she prosecuted a variety of criminal cases,
including financial crimes, securities fraud, and other white-collar criminal cases.
Before entering government service, Ms. Wood was an associate at Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago, IL.
She also clerked for the Honorable C. Arlen Beam of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth
Circuit.
Ms. Wood earned a bachelor's degree at Baylor University and a J.D. cum laude from Cornell Law
School. She is a native of Shawnee, Kansas.
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Liaisons and Special Consultants
Azizah Ahmad
Liaison from National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Washington, DC
Azizah Ahmad is the Senior Programs Associate at the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
(NAPABA). At NAPABA, Azizah works on various issue areas including, language access, election
protection, and human trafficking. Before joining NAPABA, Azizah was the California Policy Advocate for
the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. Azizah was also NAPABA's AmeriCorps VISTA from 20082009 where she worked on language access for low-income limited English proficient Asian Pacific
Americans. She received her BA from the University of California, Davis.
Shonnie Ball
Liaison from Trafficking in Persons Office, US Department of State
Washington, DC
Shonnie R. Ball serves as the lead Interagency Liaison in the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor
and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office). The TIP Office leads the United States’ global
engagement in the fight against human trafficking, partnering with foreign governments and civil society
to implement effective strategies to confront modern slavery. The Office supports Secretary Clinton in
her role as Chair of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking and chairs
the Senior Policy Operating Group, which was established by Congress to implement the vision of the
Task Force and includes more than 14 U.S. government member agencies . Shonnie is a lawyer and
previously served as staff attorney for Safe Horizon’s Anti-Trafficking Program providing direct legal
representation to trafficked persons. In that role, she was also the chair of the Freedom Network’s
policy committee.
Hon. Ann Breen-Greco
Liaison from National Association of Women Judges
Chicago, IL
Ann Breen-Greco is an Administrative Law Judge/Hearing Officer with the Illinois State Board of
Education, presiding over special education hearings. Previously, she was an Administrative Law Judge
at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Judge Breen-Greco is also an arbitrator with
the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and mediator with the Illinois Department of Human
Services.
Judge Breen-Greco is chair-elect of the American Bar Association’s National Conference of the
Administrative Law Judiciary (NCALJ), chair of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Administrative Law
Section and a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, past chair of the Women’s Bar
Association’s Boards and Commissions Committee, member of the National Association of Women
Judges, past chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, a past
president of the Illinois Association of Administrative Law Judges (IAALJ), and past board member of the
National Association of Administrative Law Judges (NAALJ). Judge Breen-Greco has organized a number
of conferences for administrative law judges and has been a faculty member at seminars for
administrative law judges. She also developed the first Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program in
Illinois for Administrative Law Judges which was sponsored by IAALJ. Most recently she developed a CLE
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program for the Chicago Bar Association ADR Committee entitled, “The role of the ADR community in
helping to stop the killing of our children in Chicago.” She is also a certified restorative justice facilitator
and has received certification for peacemaker/peace circles.
Recently, she has written two legal articles: “Immunity for Administrative Law Judges” which was
published in the Illinois State Bar Association Administrative Law Section Newsletter, and “Special
Education Hearing Officer: A ‘Hybrid’ Federal/State Administrative Law Judge”, published as a chapter in
the Illinois State Bar Association Administrative Law Handbook.
For more than two decades she has worked to reduce violence against women, working with women’s
groups and elected officials to promote the Violence Against Women Act and continuing to lobby for its
funding. Her efforts on behalf of survivors of sexual assault include media contact to address the issue
of portrayal of violence against women as “entertainment” and working with women’s advocacy groups
to advocate for judicial training on sexual assault.
Judge Breen-Greco is the recipient of a number of awards and recognition including the Women’s Bar
Association Woman of Vision award; U.S. Customs Department Woman of Vision and Courage award;
Illinois Institute of Technology Women’s Network Julia Beveridge award, for contribution to the IIT
community; Illinois Treasurer’s Woman to Woman award--Women Making a Difference, motivational
category; Center for Conflict Resolution, ten years of service mediating court-referred misdemeanors;
Lerner Newspaper Citizen of the Month; Chicago Housing Authority Sports-O-Rama, for organizing
running clinics for children in the housing projects; Spirit of Love Committee for Little City, for work on
behalf of mentally and physically challenged youth and adults; International Association of Official
Human Rights Agencies, for outstanding service and contribution as a workshop presenter; International
Association of Administrative Professionals, for a presentation on how women can take control of their
lives. She has been featured in articles in the Chicago Tribune’s WomanNews, Lerner Newspaper, and
the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. She has appeared on WGN’s morning show, cable television’s Cathi
Watson show--Ageless for Life, and Clark Weber’s radio show.
Judge Breen-Greco is active in her community and served as President of the Ravenswood Community
Council for two years and on the board for several years. She has been a parent volunteer at her
daughter’s elementary school and has participated in the Principal for a Day program for six years,
conducting mock trials with seventh and eighth graders.
Hon. Pamila J. Brown
Liaison from ABA Judicial Division
Ellicott City, MD
Pamila J. Brown has served as an Associate Judge for the District Court in Howard, Maryland since 2002.
In that capacity she presides over civil, criminal, domestic and traffic cases. Judge Brown received her
J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law, after earning a B.S. in Political Science from
Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Prior to her appointment to the bench she served as a
Maryland Assistant Attorney General and an Assistant City Solicitor in the Baltimore City Law
Department. She is a frequent lecturer locally and nationally on ethics, tort liability, litigation
techniques, gender equity, domestic violence, trial advocacy and professionalism. She has served as an
Adjunct Professor at the University of Baltimore Law School and on the faculty of the Southeastern
National Institute of Trial Advocacy, (NITA), the Maryland Judicial Institute and a lecturer for the Defense
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Research Institute (DRI). Judge Brown is the former Chair of the ABA the Chair of the ABA Commission
on Domestic Violence and the ABA Government Lawyers Division and is a member of the Executive
Committee of the Conference of Specialized Trial Court Judges, the Standing Committee on Public
Education and the GP Solo Division.
Judge Brown is a Past President of the Baltimore YWCA, and the first women of color to serve as
President of the Bar Association of Baltimore City and the Howard County Bar Associations. Her civic
activities are extensive and include past service as President of the Baltimore YWCA, Chair of the Hickory
Ridge Village Board and the Greater Northwood Community Association. She is Co- Chair of the Family &
Sexual Violence Coordinating Council of Howard County, a former member of the Board of Directors of
the Maryland Lupus Foundation and is a current Secretary and member of the Maryland State Bar Board
of Governors. Judge Brown=s honors include being named as one of Maryland=s Top 100 Women,
Alumnus of the Year at the University of Baltimore Law School, the Leadership in the Law Award from
“The Daily Record”, YWCA Leader Lunch Presidents Award, BLSA Distinguished Alumni, the ‘Torch Bearer
Award”, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, The Living History Award from the Association of Negro
and Professional Women and the Brent- Mitchell Award from the Baltimore City Bar Association. She
has also been recognized nationally and is the recipient of the American Bar Association Nelson Award,
“The Difference Maker Award” from the ABA General Practice and Solo Firm Division and the
Distinguished Citizen Award from Macalester College.
Susan Leah Dechovitz
Liaison from the Miami Dade Office of the State Attorney
Miami, FL
Susan Leah Dechovitz has devoted her career to public service and has been employed at the Office of
the State Attorney in Miami-Dade County for over 33 years. She has spent the vast majority of her
career prosecuting homicide cases, and also has extensive experience prosecuting sexual batteries,
robberies and public corruption cases. She began in the Juvenile Division, was promoted to the Felony
Division and very quickly rose to the position of division chief, where she supervised attorneys and
focused on homicide trials. Shortly thereafter, she was promoted to what was then called the Major
Crimes Division (now Senior Trial Counsel) where she tried the most difficult and complex cases in the
office.
Ms. Dechovitz is currently part of the administrative team running the office, supervises all training for
the office, and is a Senior Trial Counsel. In addition to these duties, Ms. Dechovitz has been given the
honor of holding the position of Director of the State Attorney’s Office Human Trafficking Unit and Task
Force.
Recently, as Senior Trial Counsel, Ms. Dechovitz successfully prosecuted two defendants who kidnapped,
robbed and eventually murdered five victims. In 2010, Ms. Dechovitz was honored by the law
enforcement community by being selected as Prosecutor of the Year. In addition to the foregoing, Ms.
Dechovitz has the honor and distinction of serving as one of the legal counsel to the Grand Jury. A
significant part of her duties with the Grand Jury involve conducting Grand Jury investigations such as
the recent investigations into Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami’s public, safety net hospital, and the
investigation into child homicide while the child was in the custody of the Florida Department of
Children and Families. Subsequent to her work with the Grand Jury on matters concerning Jackson
Memorial Hospital, she served as the Vice-Chairperson of the Miami-Dade County Hospital Governance
Task Force. In addition, she reviews all police use of deadly force matters in Miami-Dade County.
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Ms. Dechovitz is also noted for the successful prosecution of the first case in the nation of a husband
raping his wife while they were actively married and living together.
Ms. Dechovitz received her bachelor’s degree in political science from New York University in 1974 and
her law degree from Nova University in 1978. While in law school, she successfully completed a
certified legal internship with the State Attorney in Miami. Ms. Dechovitz began her career as an
assistant state attorney in that same office immediately after graduation from law school.
Jerry Gardner
Liaison from ABA Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities
West Hollywood, CA
Jerry Gardner (Cherokee), JD, is an attorney with more than 30 years of experience working with Indian
tribes and tribal court systems with a particular focus on crime victimization issues such as child abuse
and violence against Native women. He is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.A. in 1976) and the
Antioch School of Law (J.D. in 1979). He is the founding Executive Director of the Tribal Law and Policy
Institute www.tlpi.org an Indian owned and operated non-profit corporation established in 1996 to
design and deliver education, research, training, and technical assistance programs which promote the
improvement of justice in Indian country and the health, well-being, and culture of Native peoples. He
has also served as the Director of the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Tribes
(www.NRC4Tribes.org) since its establishment in October 2009.
He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall)
from 1995-2000, at UCLA School of Law from 2002-2006, and at Southwestern School of Law (2009). He
has been a tribal appellate court judge for various tribal courts including the Turtle Mountain Band of
Chippewa Indians in North Dakota and the Poarch Creek Band in Alabama. He served as the
Administrator for the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) from May 1998December 2000 when he established NAICJA’s National Tribal Justice Resource Center. He served as the
Senior Staff Attorney with the National Indian Justice Center (NIJC) from NIJC’s establishment in 1983
until December 1996. He has also worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (1978-1979),
the national office of the Legal Services Corporation (1979-1981), and the American Indian Lawyer
Training Program (1981-1983). Since 2006, he has been a Council Member of the American Bar
Association (ABA) Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities (IRR) and a member of the Tribal
Courts Council of the ABA Judicial Division.
Roy A. Hammer
Liaison from ABA Center for Human Rights
Boston, MA
Roy A. Hammer is currently Of Counsel to Hemenway & Barnes LLP after 46 years of practice in
corporate law, estate planning, and the administration of trusts and estates. He devoted a substantial
portion of his professional time to fiduciary activities, both within the firm and as co-trustee with other
financial institutions. Before his retirement as senior partner at the end of 2006, Roy was the lead
counsel and trustee to many of the firm's wealthiest family clients, representing several generations of
such families, and he originated many new trust clients for the firm.
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Roy has been deeply involved in pro bono legal activities throughout his career and has served in a wide
variety of bar association and other professional offices at the local, state and national levels, including:
President of the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts 1970-1973, and recipient of the Alper Award in
1974; Member of the Boston Steering Committee of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1974-1984, and member from 1975-1977 of Action Plan for Legal Services; President of the
Massachusetts Bar Association 1978-1979, and recipient in 1985 of the MBA Gold Medal; Service on the
Board of Governors of the American Bar Association 1993-1996 and member of the ABA's House of
Delegates since 1978; Service on the council of the ABA Fund for Justice and Education and past
directorship of the American Judicature Society, from which he received a Special Merit Citation in 1984;
and Service on the joint Board of the ALI/ABA Committee on Continuing Professional Education.
Pearl Kim
Liaison from the National District Attorneys Association & Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association
Media, PA
Pearl Kim currently works as an Assistant District Attorney in the Office of the District Attorney,
Delaware County, PA in the Special Victims and Domestic Violence Division. As a special victims unit
prosecutor, Ms. Kim handles Protection From Abuse matters, child physical and sexual abuse, domestic
violence, rape, and Internet Crimes Against Children cases. In an effort to more effectively reach out to
underrepresented communities, she was designated the Asian Outreach Liaison and has been cross
deputized as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Montgomery County, PA. Ms. Kim was appointed to
serve on the Joint State Government Commission's Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking and to
report back to the PA Senate any recommendations for changes in state law, policies, and procedures.
She recently secured the first trafficking of persons conviction under Pennsylvania’s trafficking statute
and was a faculty member for the 2012 Institute on the Prosecution of Human Trafficking. She has
spoken at several national conferences on issues relating to human trafficking and sexual violence.
In 2012, Governor Corbett appointed Pearl Kim to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian
American Affairs. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Asian Pacific American Bar
Association of Pennsylvania, the Board of Directors for the Pearl S. Buck International, and is on the
leadership board for the Villanova Law Minority Alumni Society.
Ms. Kim obtained her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law where she was the recipient of the
Villanova Achievement Scholarship, and received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. The Legal
Intelligencer has recognized Ms. Kim as one of the 2011 Lawyers on the Fast Track, as one of 2011
Diverse Attorneys of the Year, and as one of the 2012 Women of the Year.
Andrea Kramer
Liaison from National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations
Boston, MA
Andrea Kramer is an experienced litigator who has represented businesses, hospitals, academic
institutions, and individuals for nearly twenty years primarily in the areas of commercial disputes and
employment law. She has also litigated trademark, copyright, and trade secret cases, property disputes,
professional malpractice cases, earn-out cases, and product liability cases.
As both an advisor and a litigator, Andrea has advised clients on dispute resolution and counseled clients
through disputes without litigation. She also has counseled individuals in negotiating severance and
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employment agreements. Andrea’s clients appreciate her practical approach to resolving disputes and
her business and financial acumen in addressing damages issues and possible resolutions.
Andrea also has an active appellate practice. She recently represented a nonprofit corporation before
the Massachusetts Appellate Court in an employment discrimination case, succeeding in having the
Court reverse a $2.2 million lower court judgment against the defendant. She also authored an amicus
brief in the Hancock school funding case then-pending before the Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of
Massachusetts 2020, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and eleven other co-signers, and she has
authored or participated in over a dozen appellate briefs on issues of importance to women and
children in Massachusetts and federal appellate courts.
Andrea is a member of HRW's Data Security Team, which was formed to develop a comprehensive
approach to new data security laws, including programs for compliance, and she has spoken and trained
on the subject and monitored and participated in relevant legislative activities.
A leader in the law, Andrea is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization of
attorneys, judges, and law professors whose professional, public, and private careers have
demonstrated outstanding dedication to their communities and to the highest principles of the legal
profession. She has also served for a decade as an adjunct professor at Brandeis University, where her
courses have included ones on uses of scientific evidence in litigation and sex discrimination law.
John A. Martin, Ph.D.
Liaison from State Courts Collaborative
Boulder, CO
John A. Martin, Ph.D., is the Director of the recently established Human Trafficking and the State Courts
Collaborative. For the past five years Dr. Martin has also directed the Center For Public Policy Studies,
Immigration and the State Courts Initiative, which is supported by the State Justice Institute. He is
recognized as an innovator in planning, management and institutional development for courts, justice,
and human service organizations. Over the past 40 years, he has worked with courts, justice, and
human service agencies of all types across the nation, conducting grant-funded research, providing
technical assistance, and teaching. Topics addressed in programs and projects directed by Dr. Martin
have included innovation and systems change, agency and inter-agency planning and management,
organizational culture and change management, work process improvement, simplified litigation,
alternative dispute resolution, technology applications, cross-cultural interaction, the impacts of
immigration in the courts, Latino family violence, performance measurement, and executive-legislativejudicial relations. Dr. Martin is also on the Senior Faculty of the Institute For Court Management, has
authored over seventy articles, monographs, and books about courts and justice systems, and has
served on editorial boards for court practitioner-oriented publications. He holds a Ph.D. from the School
of Public Affairs of the University of Colorado.
Selene Martin
Liaison from LexisNexis
Washington, DC
Selene Martin assumed the position of Director, Corporate Responsibility for LexisNexis Legal &
Professional in December, 2011. Most recently, Selene was the Director, Law School Outreach for
LexisNexis. In this role, Selene was focused on applying the unique capabilities of LexisNexis to develop
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and maintain partnerships in law schools by creating programs that communicate the company’s
commitment to social responsibility, specifically issues that advance rule of law.
Prior to her law school role, Selene was the Director of LexisNexis Cares. In this global role, she focused
on applying the unique capabilities of LexisNexis to improve the lives of others around the world. A key
part of her work was to develop and support partnerships with customers, governments and NGOs to
work collaboratively on two signature issues for LexisNexis: advancing the Rule of Law particularly
around human trafficking and increasing the capacity for pro bono. Selene has more than 13 years of
experience and has held key management positions within LexisNexis in corporate communications,
marketing and human resources. Selene received a BS in Marketing from Wright State University. She
served as co-chair of the LexisNexis Pro Bono initiative, is a founding member of the LexisNexis
Women’s Connected Network, and currently serves as an observer on the drafting committee for the
Uniform Law Commission’s Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking.
Michael J. Navarre
Liaison from ABA Section of Public Contract Law
Washington, DC
Michael J. Navarre is special counsel in the Washington office of Steptoe, where he is a member of the
Litigation Department. His practice focuses on government contracts and complex commercial
litigation.
Mr. Navarre’s prior cases have included successful multi-million dollar claims against the US government
before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and disputes between prime contractors and their
subcontractors. He has also represented clients in bid protests before the Government Accountability
Office, the FAA’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition (ODRA), and the Court of Federal Claims,
including a protest of a multi-billion dollar contract award by the Department of Defense. He has also
represented institutional and individual clients in numerous administrative actions by federal agencies in
matters relating to contract claims, security clearances, personnel actions, and the Freedom of
Information Act. He also advises clients regarding compliance with procurement statutes and
regulations, including organizational conflicts of interest rules and contingency operations contract
specific clauses.
Mr. Navarre has represented clients in complex commercial contract disputes, professional malpractice
cases, first-party property insurance claims, and multi-district antitrust cases. Mr. Navarre was also cocounsel for two government contractor employees that sought writs of habeas corpus challenging the
US military’s constitutional power to try them by court-martial. Both cases ended with military officials
abandoning court-martial efforts shortly after their petitions were filed.
In addition to his litigation experience, Mr. Navarre has represented clients in internal corporate
investigations and responding to both state and federal grand jury and civil investigative demands.
These cases have included investigations of alleged government contractor personnel misconduct,
government corruption, and tax fraud.
Mr. Navarre is also recognized in various aspects of military law and frequently speaks on topics in the
area. Prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. Navarre served as a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy Judge
Advocate General’s Corps for five years. During that time he served as a prosecutor, the sole attorney-
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advisor to the Commander of Regional Support Group, Norfolk, Virginia, and as an appellate criminal
defense counsel.
Krishna Patel
Liaison from North American South Asian Bar Association
Bridgeport, CT
Krishna R. Patel serves as Deputy Chief of the National Security and Major Crimes Unit. From
2004 until 2011, Ms. Patel had been designated by the United States Attorney to coordinate efforts to
combat human smuggling and human trafficking in the State of Connecticut and served as the Chair of
the Connecticut Smuggling and Trafficking of Persons Investigative Task Force (STOP IT). Ms. Patel has
also served as an ex-officio member of the Connecticut State Legislature working group on human
trafficking. From 2006 until 2010, Ms. Patel also served as the Coordinator for Project Safe Childhood, a
national initiative to combat a variety of crimes involving the exploitation of children. Most recently, in
2010, Ms. Patel began serving as the Coordinator for the criminal division’s Civil Rights program.
Ms. Patel has prosecuted human trafficking cases here in the United States and also prosecuted cases
involving American citizens who travel abroad to exploit children. Ms. Patel has provided training to
foreign law enforcement in many countries on issues relating to human smuggling/trafficking, border
security and child sex offenses. Ms. Patel has won many awards for prosecutions that she has handled
and for her work to combat trafficking and child exploitation.
From 1999 until 2002, Ms. Patel worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District
of New York. Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of
New York, Ms. Patel was associated with the firm of Winston & Strawn in New York where she worked
on a variety of commercial litigation matters. As an associate at Winston & Strawn, Ms. Patel also did
pro bono work for the Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights and the Open Society.
From 1994 until 1996, Ms. Patel was admitted to the United States Attorney General’s Honor Program.
She has also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alan H. Nevas (retired) of the United States District
Court for the District of Connecticut.
Ms. Patel is a 1993 graduate of Rutgers University School of Law where she graduated with honors in
international and foreign law and received her B.A. in 1990 from Rutgers University with honors.
Kristal Rivers
Liaison from ABA Judicial Division Lawyers’ Conference
Chicago, IL
Kristal Rivers joined the Illinois Attorney General's office in 2010. In this capacity she is assigned to the
Sexually Violent Persons Bureau where she seeks to civilly commit persons who have been convicted of
a sexually violent crime and have been found to have a mental disorder that makes it substantially
probable that they will commit another sexually violent crime. Prior to her position there, Mrs. Rivers
was in solo practice from 2001 to 2010, focusing on real estate transactions and litigation. Before solo
practice, Mrs. Rivers was a prosecutor with the Dallas County Prosecutor's office in Dallas Texas, where
she served as a Chief Prosecutor in misdemeanor courts and as a lead felony prosecutor in the Child
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Abuse Division. During her tenure as a prosecutor Mrs. Rivers has been lead trial counsel in 97 jury
trials. She received her Bachelor of Science cum laude from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University and her J.D. from Drake University.
Casey Trupin
Liaison from ABA Commission on Homelessness & Poverty
Seattle, WA
Casey Trupin is the Coordinating Attorney for the Children and Youth Project at Columbia Legal Services
in Seattle, where he advocates for at-risk, homeless and foster youth. Trupin has served as counsel to
thousands of foster youth and homeless adults in litigation and worked on state and federal legislation
designed to improve services to low-income children, youth and adults in Washington State and
nationwide. Trupin is Co-Chair of the Children’s Rights Litigation Committee of the American Bar
Association (ABA) and is a Special Advisor to the ABA’s Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, which
he chaired from 2006-09. Trupin co-teaches the Legislative Advocacy Clinic at the University of
Washington School of Law, and previously taught Street Law. Trupin has authored or edited numerous
books and articles on at-risk, homeless and foster children, including Educating Children without
Housing: A Primer on Legal Requirements and Implementation Strategies for Educators, Advocates and
Policymakers (3d Ed.) (ABA, 2009). In 1997, Trupin co-founded Street Youth Legal Advocates of
Washington (SYLAW), and went on to direct the program until 2005. From 2005-2006, Trupin worked on
federal child welfare policy as Counsel for Special Projects at the Center for Law and Social Policy
(CLASP) in Washington, D.C. Trupin has received national recognition for his work, including the ABA’s
Child Advocacy Award—Distinguished Lawyer (2011), the National Network for Youth Advocacy Spirit
Award (2010), and the Congressional Angel in Adoption Award (2005). From 2006-12, Trupin served as
the Inaugural Chair of the William H. Gates Public Service Law Program. Trupin graduated from the
University of Washington School of Law with honors in 1999.
Samantha Healy Vardaman
Liaison from Shared Hope International
Arlington, VA 22209
Samantha is Senior Director and Counsel for Shared Hope International. She directed research for the
DEMAND report and documentary for the U.S. Department of State and for the National Report on
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking for the U.S. Department of Justice. Samantha designed and directs the
Protected Innocence Challenge, which establishes a framework of laws necessary to combat child sex
trafficking in each state and leads advocacy efforts to institute and implement these laws. She also
oversees Shared Hope’s domestic and international grant program funding services and shelter for
victims of sex trafficking. Previously, Samantha served as the director of the American Bar Association
Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative’s Moldova office developing anti-trafficking legislation,
training, and legal services for victims of trafficking. She is a graduate of Boston College and the
University of Miami, School of Law.
Lydia Watts
Liaison from the National Legal Aid & Defenders Association
Washington, DC
Lydia C. Watts, Esq., Director of Quality and Program Enhancement, Civil Programs, NLADA. In this role,
Ms. Watts manages a number of projects for the Program Enhancement Committee of the Civil Policy
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Group of NLADA, including Measuring Outcomes and Research and the Strategic Advocacy for Lasting
Results (SALR) Initiative. Ms. Watts also serves as the Deputy Director of the D.C. Access to Justice
Commission and is a principal of Greater Good Consulting LLC, which consults with nonprofits on a
variety of organizational management, leadership and development issues. During her third year of law
school, Ms. Watts founded WEAVE (Women Empowered Against Violence, Inc.), a Washington D.C.based agency that provided teen and adult victims of domestic violence with a wide range of services,
including legal, counseling, clinical case management, economic literacy and empowerment, outreach,
and education. She served as WEAVE’s Executive Director from 1995 until June 2005. During that time,
WEAVE grew from a staff of two with an annual budget of $130,000 to a staff of 24 with an annual
budget of $2.5 million, and merged with two sister-organizations: the Women Economic Development
Fund and the Emergency Domestic Relations Project. Ms. Watts served as Executive Director of the
Victim Rights Law Center based in Boston, MA and the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy
(MATP). Ms. Watts is a member of the LeadBoston class of 2009, Leadership Washington Class of 2003,
was named “Woman of Justice” by Massachusetts Lawyers’ Weekly in 2009, “Washingtonian of the
Year” by Washingtonian magazine in 2001, and was a recipient of the First Annual Peter Cicchino Award
for Excellence in Public Advocacy from Washington College of Law of American University in April 2000.
She graduated summa cum laude from Washington College of Law of American University in June 1996
and from Boston University in January 1991.
Stephanie Williams
Liaison from ABA Section of International Law
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Stephanie Williams, Juris Doctor, is the Vice President of Janus Institute For Justice LLC, an international
human rights law advocate, social entrepreneur and gender expert. She has more than eighteen years of
experience in her field and has assisted the victims of rape, torture, botched honor killings, female
genital mutilation, human trafficking, modern-day slavery, domestic violence, hate-crimes, child abuse,
social, economic and environmental injustices.
Williams worked in the field of international human rights prior to law school. Her first international
effort involved traveling to Kenya in the summer of 1994 with a group of students from her college
(Hendrix) to help build a school and perform other volunteer functions. While teaching English, she met
numerous refugees who had recently fled from neighboring Rwanda during the genocide. She
encountered many women and children who had been brutally gang-rape, mutilated and tortured. She
worked diligently to gain their trust and understand their needs. Williams used the information she
learned to help local leaders from Nairobi to Meru to set up seven refugee health and learning centers.
Future trips to the area inspired her to start initiatives aimed at eradicating female genital mutilation
(FGM), reducing violence against women, and assisting former child soldiers. Soon thereafter she began
to work as a research field analyst for a nonprofit located in Brixton, England. In that capacity, she
helped developed localized programs and events that offered an alternative to female cutting as a rite
of passage.
Ms. Williams holds a Bachelor’s of Art degree, magna cum laude, in political science with an emphasis in
gender studies. She graduated with honors from the University of Miami School of Law, where she was
the recipient of the Sonia Yadr Schneider Scholarship, the H.O.P.E. Fellowship, and the Res Ipsa Loquitor
Writing Award. She was a founding member of the UM Wrongful Conviction Project, a contributing
writer for the law school newspaper, and Executive Editor of the University of Miami International &
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Comparative Law Review. Williams studied at University of Oxford and the University of Ghana as an
undergraduate. She attended the University College of London for two summers while in law school.
In 2009, Williams decided to return to the international arena. She became a bi-coastal resident (New
York – Florida) and established herself as a social entrepreneur and human rights consultant for NGOs,
IGOs, think tanks, and nonprofit organizations committed to researching, identifying, assessing and
eradicating human rights abuses around the world. She has worn many hats during her career, including
that of a co-founder, project coordinator, program director, legislative liaison, social media manager,
communications director, press editor, executive officer, board member and field analyst. Williams has
written extensively on the subject of human rights, and she occasionally gives lectures, organizes
education and awareness campaigns or events, and participates in topical symposiums or seminars.
Peter Zinober
Liaison from ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law
Tampa, FL
Peter ("Pete") W. Zinober is a labor and employment lawyer specializing in the defense of employment
discrimination cases in state and federal court, both jury and non-jury, as well as wage and hour,
disability discrimination, age and all other types of employment litigation. He also specializes in
"traditional" labor management relations law, including the representation of employers in connection
with unfair labor practice and representation case proceedings before the National Labor Relations
Board, labor and non-union arbitrations, collective bargaining and counseling.
Pete has had an illustrious career thus far, which is exemplified by his inclusion in many of the world’s
leading legal ranking publications, including Chambers USA Guide where he was named a "Star
Performer," and in The Best Lawyers in America for 25 consecutive years, receiving Best Lawyers’
"Lawyer of the Year" award in 2013. Pete has also been listed as a "Leading Lawyer" in Lawdragon 3000,
as a "Legal Elite" in Florida Trend magazine, in Human Resource Executive magazine, where he was
named among the "Top 100 Employment Lawyers in the United States" in four consecutive years, and in
Super Lawyer magazine, where he was named among the "Top 100 Lawyers in Florida" from 2006-2011,
and among the "Top 10 Lawyers in Florida" in 2006.
In addition to earning various accolades as an attorney, Pete is actively involved in the legal community
having served as Chairman of the Florida Bar Labor Law Section, Chairman of the Florida Bar Labor Law
Advisory Committee, President of the Tampa Bay Business Committee for the Arts and presently as a
member of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Tampa Area Office Advisory Committee. He
received his J.D. from Florida Levin College of Law, where he served as Chancellor of the Honor Court,
and his L.L.M. from George Washington University. He has numerous Court and NLRB decisions and
orders published on Westlaw, representing clients from United Airlines and Wal-Mart, to Winn Dixie and
Anheuser-Busch.
Pete is admitted to practice across every district in Florida, the Supreme Court of Florida, the 1st, 5th,
and 11th Circuits, as well as the District of Columbia Courts of Appeal. He has argued cases all the way
up to the United States Supreme Court.
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