Our Team
Niki Khoshzamir – Chief Executive Officer
Niki Khoshzamir is the Chief Executive Officer of PracticePro, an EdTech social enterprise that provides skills training, coaching, and scholarships to empower the next generation of diverse attorneys. In her role, she leads all business and legal aspects of the company, including corporate governance, strategic partnerships, IP portfolio strategy, and product development.
Prior to founding PracticePro, Niki was an attorney at the global firms of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, LLP, and Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. She focused her practice on intellectual property litigation, complex commercial disputes, and trade sanctions compliance. Niki was the first recipient of the firm’s Pickering Fellowship on the West Coast, through which she spearheaded the Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus’ advocacy and community education project on U.S. sanctions.
Niki currently serves on the national advisory board of the Iranian American Bar Association (IABA), and she is the former president of the Northern California Chapter, which she founded in 2006. She also serves on the Leadership Council of Asian Law Caucus. From 2011 to 2017, Niki was a Lecturer at Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Prior to her legal career, Niki researched cancer genomics at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and was a research technician at Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine.
Niki received her B.S. in Biology, summa cum laude, from Texas Southern University, Juris Doctorate from Berkeley Law, and an Advanced Genomics and Genetics certificate from Stanford School of Medicine. She grew up in Tehran, London, and Vienna and immigrated to the United States on her own at 19 to attend college.
Isabella Gonzalez – Law School Mastery® Co-Director
Jackson Gossett – Law Clerk
Jackson Gossett is a 3L at Boston University School of Law. Before attending law school, Jackson graduated with Highest Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in History and Political Science and a minor in English. At UNC, he worked as a Trial Manager at a jury research firm and served as a Student Government Appointee on Carolina Student Legal Services’ Board of Directors.
Outside of law school, Jackson enjoys fly-fishing with his father in the North Carolina mountains and savors any opportunity to spend time in nature.
Jackson is eager to promote PracticePro’s goal of diversifying the legal profession and is driven to help provide students with equitable access to success.
Heather Scaffide – Scholarship Programs Coordinator
Heather Scaffide is a graduate of University of California, Irvine. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Heather pursued a career in education helping students of all age groups feel heard and strive towards achieving their scholastic goals. While working in education, she also utilized her marketing passion and skills she had gained as a college intern in the marketing department of an international company to write and publish newsletters and develop new curriculum for technology and creative studies classes.
Raised by a mother who went to law school when Heather was a young child, she often accompanied her mother to law school classes and legal seminars, and even assisted where she could with research at the law library. As a consequence, Heather grew up feeling a strong connection to the legal community, and viewed those within the legal profession with the utmost respect. She watched, first-hand, the struggles and challenges that her attorney mother, and many other legal professionals faced as they navigated a legal career. After learning of PracticePro’s mission of helping those entering and currently working within the legal industry, she felt excited to be able to help make a positive difference for those pursuing a legal career or currently in the legal profession.
In her spare time Heather volunteers as a co-leader of a support group aimed at helping single household families recover and heal from emotional and legal trauma. She also enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends.
Kyndall Smith – Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement Specialist
Kyndall Smith is a 3L at Emory University School of Law. At Emory, she serves as one of nine Dean’s Teaching Fellows, a select group of high-achieving 3Ls chosen to provide academic counseling to their peers. Kyndall also holds the role of Co-Director of Academic and Professional Success for Emory’s Black Law Students Association.
Before law school, Kyndall graduated magna cum laude from Florida State University with a major in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Following her undergraduate studies, she gained practical experience during a gap year by working at two law firms.
Outside of her academic pursuits, Kyndall enjoys walking on the Atlanta Beltline and exploring new restaurants.
As a former PracticePro 1L Diversity Scholar, Kyndall is passionate about giving back to the PracticePro community and helping other diverse law students thrive in the legal profession. She credits PracticePro not only with providing her practical tools but also with instilling the confidence and offering the opportunities to apply those tools as she begins her legal career.
Advisors
Ola Adekunle, Google
Ola Adekunle is Sr. Patent Counsel and Head of Engagement Readiness at Google. As a member of Google’s Patent Transaction Team, Ola focuses on mitigating IP risks and supporting the company’s objectives through strategic third party engagements and leveraging Google’s patent portfolio to achieve business goals. Prior to joining Google, Ola was Senior Patent Counsel & IP Strategist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Hewlett Packard Company from 2012-2017. Before starting his in-house career at HPE/HP, Ola worked as a patent attorney at firms in the DC area and TX.
Ola is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal profession and tech space. Ola is one of the founding members of Google’s Legal Summer Institute (LSI) and sits on the LSI Steering Committee. Google LSI aims to improve access to in-house careers at tech companies by expanding opportunities and removing barriers for talent historically underrepresented in the legal industry. Ola is also a co-founder and co-lead for Google’s Street Law program, a program that mentors and introduces high school students from diverse backgrounds to careers in the law and helps them develop practical skills useful in real life and in the corporate world.
Ola earned his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law, his MBA from West Virginia University, and his B.S. in Computer Engineering from West Virginia University. Ola currently serves on the WVU Foundation Board of Directors (Vice-Chair of the Nomination and Governance Committee) and served on the WVU College of Law Visiting Committee from 2012-2017. Outside of work, Ola enjoys spending time with his two sets of twins (twin boys and twin girls).
Robert Berring, Berkeley Law
Professor, dean, librarian, scholar, and mentor to countless students, Robert Berring, Jr. is a noted and beloved figure in law. He has been a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) for over three decades and served as the law school’s interim dean from January 2003 to June 2004. Professor Berring has taught a number of graduate and undergraduate courses, including contracts, advanced legal research, courses covering Chinese law, and seminars about law and cognitive studies. He was awarded UC Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and has been named to the Walter Perry Johnson Chair.
Professor Berring is also a pioneer in the profession of law librarianship. He served as the director of the Berkeley Law Library for 23 years, and is the former dean of the School of Library and Information Studies. He has authored several groundbreaking texts on legal research – including Finding the Law and Legal Research Survival Manual – and is the creator of the award-winning video series Legal Research for the 21st Century. Professor Berring was named the author of the most influential work on the profession of law librarianship in 50 years (1957 to 2006), by the Academic Law Libraries section of the American Association of Law Libraries.
Professor Berring has an unparalleled dedication to mentoring and inspiring students. From those enrolled in his courses, to those seeking him out for advice by email or in school hallways, he always takes time to listen and guide his students to pursue their dreams. For years, Professor Berring has also written an advice column under the pseudonym “Uncle Zeb.” Claiming to be an ectoplasmic entity, Uncle Zeb has helped thousands of Berkeley Law students. The law school’s cafe was named after Uncle Zeb by popular vote.
Professor Berring received his B.A. from Harvard University and his J.D. and M.L.S. from the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife and enjoys spending time with his two children and granddaughter.
Iris Chen, Airbnb
Iris Chen is a Vice President, Deputy General Counsel in the Legal Department at Airbnb, Inc. where she leads a team of 50+ attorneys and legal professionals that support Airbnb’s product, commercial and marketing functions across the company’s Product, Engineering, Marketing, Communications, Creative Production, Supply Growth, Trust & Safety, Community Support and Airbnb.org teams, as well as managing the company’s trademark and copyright matters. Prior to joining Airbnb, Iris spent over 14 years with Google as a Vice President in the Legal Department where she led a team of 145+ legal team members responsible for supporting global product development and all commercial transactions in North America and EMEA for Google’s advertising, commerce, payments, search, research, health, geo and supporting infrastructure services. Iris is experienced in leading and developing legal teams and advising executives across product, engineering, sales, business development and other functions. Before joining Google, Iris was a corporate associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (2001-2004) and then Ropes & Gray (2004-2006) as an associate in the firm’s investment management practice. Iris is a graduate of Yale College and Columbia Law School.
Iris currently serves on the board of the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose and is a member of Columbia Law School’s Alumni of Color Committee. Iris is an avid supporter of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession and has served as a PracticePro Advisor since 2017.
Ashley Vinson Crawford, Akin Gump
Ashley Vinson Crawford is the managing partner of the San Francisco office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. In her practice, Ms. Crawford represents clients in consumer class actions, financial restructuring litigation, and a broad range of insurance and other business disputes. Her clients include financial services providers, private equity and hedge funds, creditors’ committees, and other health, energy and entertainment companies. Prior to rejoining Akin Gump in 2011, Ms. Crawford served as in-house counsel for an insurance company, where she managed bad-faith and corporate litigation and regularly advised claims personnel for various lines of business. She uses the unique perspective she gained as an in-house lawyer to deliver high-quality and cost-effective services for her litigation clients.
Ms. Crawford received her B.A, summa cum laude, in economics from Louisiana State University and graduated from Harvard Law School.
Bryan Fair, Alabama Law
After earning his undergraduate degree from Duke and law degree from UCLA, Professor Bryan Fair worked as an associate with Bryan, Cave, McPheeters & McRoberts in Los Angeles. In 1987, he joined the UCLA law faculty as a Lecturer and co-directed its Academic Support Program. He served as a commissioner of the California State Bar Commission on Minority Access to the Legal Profession and as a Public Counsel legal services volunteer.
Professor Fair joined the Alabama law faculty in 1991, and was named the Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law in 2000. Professor Fair has held several administrative posts at the Law School and the University. At the Law School, from 1997 to 2010, he directed the University of Fribourg/UA Law cooperative exchange (the Swiss Program). He served as the Director of Diversity and International Programs in 2007 and 2011 and 2012, and Associate Dean for Special Programs from 2008-2010, supervising international, diversity, and public interest programs.
He is a member of the American Law Institute and has served on ABA, AALS, and LSAC committees. He has served on numerous boards and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Lindsey Higgins, WilmerHale
Lindsey Higgins is the Director of Legal Recruitment for WilmerHale. Lindsey leads the firm’s non-partner recruiting efforts and sits in the Boston office. Lindsey is a strategic & thoughtful leader with over 15 years of experience driving & overseeing Talent Acquisition, Development, Training & Management programs across multi-office organizations. Her specialties include full- cycle talent acquisition efforts, professional development programming, leading and working across teams, onboarding, integration, counseling, compensation, mentoring, diversity and inclusion, employee relations and performance management. Lindsey is a recognized talent acquisition leader and is a go to for industry professionals.
Lindsey earned her law degree from Suffolk University Law School and her B.A. in English and Gender Studies from Connecticut College. Outside of work, Lindsey enjoys spending time with her husband and children.
Tracy High, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Tracy Richelle High is a partner in S&C’s Litigation Group, a co-Head of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Law Group and a member of the Criminal Defense and Investigations practice. Ms. High’s practice focuses on representing financial institutions and other corporations in complex civil litigation, arbitration and mediation proceedings, corporate internal investigations, and labor and employment matters. She has also represented clients before a wide variety of regulatory and prosecutorial agencies, both at the state and federal levels, as well as Congressional committees and independent examiners appointed by court order.
Ms. High is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.
James Kahn, Kahn Analytics
James Kahn has nearly 20 years experience in entrepreneurship and developing startups into mature, successful, and profitable organizations. Beyond his fluency in dozens of compiled and interpreted programming and scripting languages along with their computer theoretic and mathematical underpinnings and related platforms, Mr. Kahn has a profound knowledge and understanding of computing, software engineering, algorithms, business, and financial engineering theory and practice.
Serving throughout his career as Founder, President, CEO and CTO of numerous endeavors, he has pioneered technology-based businesses, created innovative algorithms, and provided in-depth technical and financial solutions. Mr. Kahn has extensive experience in the conception, design, development and production of technical arms of companies in various industries.
Amanda Kelly, Haynes and Boone
Amanda Kelly is the Senior Manager of Attorney Recruitment at Haynes and Boone, LLP, bringing over 15 years of experience to the team. As a member of the Attorney Recruitment Department, she focuses on entry-level hiring across all offices. She is involved is setting recruiting strategies for the firm and focuses on initiatives that drive the firm’s strategic commitment to recruit top talent. Amanda is a passionate advocate for increasing diversity within the firm and works closely with the Director of Diversity and Inclusion to help achieve the firm’s goals and vision for diversity. As such, she has served as a member of the Attorney Diversity & Inclusion Committee, a group who is dedicated to attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent.
Amanda received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Outside of work, she enjoys running and spending time outdoors with her husband and three kids.
Alison Ketabchi, Baker Botts
Alison Ketabchi is the Director of Recruiting at Baker Botts. She oversees a global team of recruiting professionals and is responsible for creating and implementing the firm’s lawyer hiring initiatives. Alison regularly collaborates with the DEI, Business Development, and Professional Development teams to hire, integrate, and develop top talent. With more than 16 years of experience in the legal industry, Alison has earned a reputation of being a thoughtful, strategic, and innovative leader.
Alison has served in leadership roles for various organizations including Co-Chair of the NALP Director’s Forum, a Board Member for Dress for Success’ Women of Wardrobe, President of Houston Association of Legal Recruitment Administrators, and as a Board Member for both the Houston and San Antonio Texas Exes Chapters.
Alison received her B.S. in Applied Learning and Development from the University of Texas at Austin and resides in Houston, TX. She is dedicated to PracticePro’s mission and helping students build their portfolio, showcase their strengths, and advocate for their future.
Brian Kwok, Haynes and Boone
A partner at Haynes and Boone, Brian Kwok helps clients build, manage, and successfully monetize patent portfolios. Brian evaluates patent portfolios and negotiates deals ranging from a few hundred thousand to many billions of dollars. He recently represented an international technology company in a multi-billion dollar patent portfolio acquisition involving thousands of patents related to wireless telecommunications, cellular systems, and consumer electronics.
Brian also counsels clients through pre-litigation conflicts to resolve assertions and licensing disputes before patent litigation ensues. When patent disputes mature into formal litigations, Brian has significant experience with patent matters before the International Trade Commission and numerous federal district courts. Brian’s practice also includes representing clients in inter partes review and post-grant review proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board as part of a comprehensive litigation strategy.
Mr. Kwok was selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition, Thomson Reuters, 2014-2016. Outside of his legal practice, Mr. Kwok is a member of the Board of Directors for Leela International, a non-profit that builds playgrounds and art education programs for children in underprivileged communities around the world.
Brian received his B.S. with distinction in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, magna cum laude.
Yasser Madriz, McGuireWoods
Yasser Madriz is a litigation partner in the Houston office of McGuireWoods. He has extensive experience handling complex, high-stakes litigation in federal and state court, and plays key roles in various multi-billion dollar cases filed throughout the United States. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants from a wide array of industries in a broad range of business, commercial, and energy litigation matters. Over the past several years, Yasser has focused his practice on cases involving technology and intellectual property disputes, trade secret theft, and unfair competition claims, but he has substantial experience handling other litigation matters. As a former transactional attorney, Yasser frequently leverages his transactional background to help clients solve complex transaction based disputes, business organization controversies, and derivative actions.
As a native Nicaraguan, Yasser’s Latin American roots and fluency in Spanish have additionally enabled him to develop experience in representing Latin American clients in international and cross-border disputes.
Yasser is very active in the Houston legal community, including membership in the Houston Bar Association, Texas Young Lawyers Association, and the Houston Young Lawyers Association. His involvement with United Way earned him the designation of United Way Young Leader, and he was selected as a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow in 2012. Yasser was also selected for inclusion in Texas Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition, Thomson Reuters, from 2009-2012.
Yasser graduated with honors from McMaster University and received his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.
Lisa Nguyen, Paul Hastings
Priyank Patel, Amazon
Priyank Patel is a product and commercial counsel at Amazon in their Devices Division.
Prior to joining Amazon, Priyank was an associate at Fenwick & West and Morrison & Foerster, where he focused his practice on risk assessment and transactional matters involving intellectual property and technology, including licensing, joint development, manufacturing and supply logistics, strategic sourcing, and mergers and acquisitions.
Priyank graduated from UCLA School of Law, where he was a co-founder of the First-Generation Law Students’ Association, and helped pro-bono clients at the law school’s trademark clinic. Priyank was also a research assistant for Berkeley Law Professor David Oppenheimer on topics related to Comparative Equality law. During law school, Priyank was also an intern at Salesforce, NBC, and Rubrik. Prior to law school, Priyank was a legal specialist at Google and Apple.
Priyank is a PracticePro Diversity Scholar Program alumnus.
Meghan Pier, Jackson Walker LLP
Elizabeth Pond, Wilson Sonsini
Elizabeth Pond is the Senior Manager of Firmwide Law School Recruiting for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. She co-leads the firm’s law school recruiting efforts and is currently located in the firm’s Austin office. Her role includes overseeing the firm’s annual summer programs, as well as the firm’s fall associate onboarding and integration efforts. Bringing a wealth of knowledge from her 19 years in legal recruitment, she has served several top-tier law firms. Her expertise includes law school on-campus recruiting, summer program management, attorney onboarding, lateral attorney hiring, and professional development/mentoring
Elizabeth has a passion for helping others and has served on many committees throughout her career, ranging from the Palo Alto Lawyers Softball League Committee to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) Annual Education Conference Planning Committee.
Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is a member of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), the Bay Area Legal Recruitment Association (BALRA), and the Recruiting Administrators of Austin (RAA). When she’s not working, Elizabeth enjoys exploring new places and cultures with her family.
Bruce Ruzinsky, Jackson Walker LLP
Amie Santos, AKS Advisors
Amie is a strategic equity leader with 15+ years of demonstrated success in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) road-mapping, global change management, client service, professional development and organizational culture design spanning multiple AmLaw 100 firms. Prior to founding AKS Advisors, Amie was the architect and director of the first DEI department for a $2 billion international law firm with more than 3,000 employees where she oversaw the development of innovative strategies to increase diverse representation and weave inclusion into all areas of the business, resulting in enhanced client service, increased competitiveness, strengthened organizational culture and a more engaged and productive workforce.
As founder of AKS Advisors, Amie is strengthened by her background in organizational change management to passionately partner with business leaders, divisions and talent to build and strengthen equitable cultures. She is a proud past board member of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Leadership in Human Resources from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Business Management from Radford University. Most recently, Amie completed Harvard Kennedy School’s Promoting Racial Equity in the Workplace Executive Education program that shows leaders how to increase diversity, inclusion, and racial equity for greater organizational effectiveness.
Maj Vaseghi, Latham & Watkins
Maj Vaseghi, a partner in Latham’s Silicon Valley office and current Global Vice Chair of the firm’s Public Company and Board Representation Practice, consistently dedicates herself to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the firm and across the Bay Area legal and business community. A recognized firm leader, she has served as a Bay Area Hiring Partner and Co-Chair of the Diversity Leadership / Recruiting Subcommittee.
As part of her practice, Maj guides public companies on the interplay of compensation, tax, and disclosure requirements in benefits and compensation issues and securities compliance. She frequently writes and speaks on executive compensation, corporate governance, and tax-related issues.
Maj received her B.S. from Columbia University and her JD from Columbia University School of Law.