Swethaa Ballakrishnen (they/them) 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, […]

Jen Jenkins (they/them) is a policy advocate at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, D.C.’s oldest civil legal services organization. They focus on policy initiatives to address the needs of Legal Aid’s client community, which primarily consists of low-income and Black District residents. They came to Legal Aid D.C. in 2021 from […]

Ebony Ava Harper (she/her) is a first-generation American of Jamaican descent, born in Prince Georges County, Maryland, and raised in Los Angeles. Having come out as a Black trans woman at an early age, Ebony began working as an activist in the trans community, emphasizing the importance of the intersectionality between her racial and transgender […]

Mike Jackson is Assistant General Counsel/Senior Director for Microsoft’s Global Workplace Investigations Team (WIT). As a member of the WIT leadership team, Mike leads a team of seven ethics and compliance attorneys responsible for conducting complex workplace investigations for the U.S. and Canada (retail). Mike also leads WIT’s data governance team. Prior to Microsoft, Mike […]

Luiza Drummond Veado (she/her) is OutRight’s United Nations Program Officer based in New York. She is a Brazilian attorney with an International Human Rights Law LLM from the University of Essex. She worked at the Rapporteurship on Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for almost […]

Denise Hunter (pronouns: she/her/ella) is a white, queer bisexual, neurodivergent, cisgender woman living in California’s San Joaquin Valley with her dog Yoda. Denise is the LGBTQ+ Program Legal Director of California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) based in the Modesto Office. CRLA’s LGBTQ+ Program supports low-income LGBTQ+ communities in rural CA through community collaborations and […]

Romy is the founder of Turtle on Post LLC, a board advisory services company, and serves as an independent director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and an advisor to PBJ Marketing LLC (https://pbjmarketing.com). Prior to retiring from the Exelon Corporation in 2020, Diaz was General Counsel of PECO Energy Company and led […]

Cyndy oversees and manages extensive portfolio of broad-ranging litigation matters throughout the United States and Canada, and is a Member of the legal department’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, and is the chair of the subcommittee on hiring/retention of diverse talent.

Wesley Bizzell serves as Senior Assistant General Counsel and Managing Director of Political Law & Ethics Programs for Altria Client Services.    Overseeing a comprehensive compliance system covering the regulation of government affairs, Mr. Bizzell provides advice and guidance on political law compliance for more than 75 jurisdictions.  Mr. Bizzell also heads the legal team […]

Susie Cirilli is a principal with the firm, Offit Kurman. She is admitted in the Middle District and Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She is also admitted in the Federal Court for the District of New Jersey. Susie’s practice focuses on employment matters involving the ADA, FMLA, and Title VII claims. She litigates cases involving hostile […]