PracticePro

Date: Friday, March 19, 2021

Location: Virtual, log-in information will be sent after registration

Do you want to gain the knowledge and the exact formula for lining up a great summer associate or post-graduate career? Master the substantive and soft skills, and competencies required of you during your summer internships to deliver stellar work product, build a fantastic brand, and receive a permanent employment offer? Would you like to be part of an exclusive group of students to participate in recruiting opportunities with PracticePro’s law firm partners?

CONFERENCE STRUCTURE

The West Coast Career Conference is a half-day virtual conference on March 19, 2021 taught by speakers and instructors from top law firms and corporate legal departments. Conference attendees will also be invited to participate in:

• Summer webinar series and virtual workshops focused on business frameworks, professional branding, strategic career planning, advanced networking and interviewing techniques, and other topics this summer. The webinars will be conducted on Saturdays and will also be available for on-demand viewing. 
• Exclusive (virtual) recruiting and networking receptions with our law firm partners this spring and summer.
• (Virtual) job fair. 

Early registrants also receive a complimentary customized career/OCI coaching session (regularly $350).

SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES TOPICS (June-July 2021)

• Strategic Job Search and Career Planning 
• Professional Branding and Advanced Networking Workshop 
• Advanced Interview Workshop 
• Beyond the Case Law: Business Frameworks and Project Management 

The webinars will be conducted on Saturdays this summer and will also be available for on-demand viewing to conference registrants.

LAW FIRM NETWORKING RECEPTIONS AND JOB FAIR

We plan on holding a series of exclusive virtual networking events with our law firm partners, exclusive to conference registrants, this summer.

We will also host our second annual virtual job fair this summer. (PracticePro’s law firm partners will consider your law school’s pre-OCI rules and regulations, if any, in considering the time for interviews and callbacks.)

TUITION & PRICING

Tuition includes the Career Conference, the summer webinar series, networking receptions, and the virtual job fair. 

Early Registration (ends March 5, 2021) = $299

Regular Registration = $399

You can register on our website here or on the Eventbrite page here. (Once you register, you will receive the log-in information for the virtual conference. We will also send you information on the summer webinar series and how to sign up for your free coaching session.) 

INSTRUCTORS & SPEAKERS

Niki Khoshzamir, PracticePro 

Niki Khoshzamir is the Founder and CEO of PracticePro and leads all business and legal aspects of the organization including product development and strategic partnerships. Niki speaks at law schools and law firms nationwide on a variety of skills topics, including professional branding, habits of highly effective associates, networking, advanced interviewing techniques, and diversity as a business asset. She also consults with law firms and corporate legal departments to strengthen talent development and diversity programs, including helping diverse and first-generation associates to succeed as attorneys. She is a regular contributor to Above the Law, American Bar Association, and PracticePro Journal.

Niki is also a lecturer at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Berkeley Law), where she teaches The Junior Litigation Associate, a course she designed for Berkeley Law in 2011. She also regularly guest lectures Advanced Legal Writing and Advanced Legal Research courses.

Prior to founding PracticePro, Niki practiced law at the international law firms of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP and Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. She focused her practice on intellectual property litigation, high stakes commercial disputes, and trade sanctions compliance. She successfully represented clients throughout the United States during all phases of litigation, including trial. She also practiced before the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on U.S. trade sanctions compliance and licensing matters.

Niki has been recognized as one of the top “40 under 40” professionals by Silicon Valley Business Journal. She is also the recipient of Minority Bar Coalition’s Unity Award and Iranian American Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award. Niki currently serves on the national advisory board of the Iranian American Bar Association (IABA), and is the former president of the Northern California Chapter, which she founded in 2006 and grew to one of the largest and most active chapters of the organization. She also serves on the Leadership Council of Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and judges the Excellence in Writing Competition of the Continuing Bar Education. 

Niki obtained her B.S. in Biology, summa cum laude, from Texas Southern University, and her J.D. and certificate in Law and Technology from Berkeley Law. 

We will be announcing this year’s amazing speakers soon. To get an idea of the caliber, check out the bios of our instructions and speakers from the 2020 conference below. 

 Ola Adekunle, Google

Ola Adekunle is a Patent Counsel on Google’s Patent Transaction Team focused on mitigating IP risks and supporting the company’s objectives through strategic third party engagements by leveraging Google’s patent portfolio. 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 and HP, Ola worked as a patent attorney at firms in the DC area and TX. As an in-house counsel, Ola has successfully developed and managed patent portfolios to achieve business objectives.

Ola is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, particularly in the legal profession. Ola is one of the founding members of Google’s Legal Summer Institute, an educational leadership program for underrepresented law students. Ola is also the 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 and served on the WVU College of Law Visiting Committee from 2012-2017. Outside of work, Ola enjoys spending time with his wife and two sets of twins (twin boys and twin girls).

Dannia Altemimei, Balyasny Asset Management

Dannia Altemimei is the Deputy General Counsel at Balyasny Asset Management L.P. (BAM Funds), an investment management firm with global offices. She advises on a number of legal issues relating to all aspects of the investment management and hedge fund business, with a focus on trading/financing documentation and private equity investments. Dannia also handles a range of employment matters for the firm, as well as a wide variety of general corporate and transactional matters. In her role, Dannia also manages day-to-day relationships with a number of external law firms.

Prior to joining Balyasny, Dannia was an associate at Levenfeld Pearlstein, in the firm’s Corporate and Securities group, where she advised clients broadly on corporate matters, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. Dannia began practicing law at the Chicago offices of Sidley Austin LLP in the Investment, Funds, Advisers and Derivatives Group, serving investment management clients.

Dannia received a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law, Urbana-Champaign.

Brooks Beard, VMware

Brooks Beard is the Vice President & Deputy General Counsel – Litigation, Employment, Cybersecurity, and Regulatory Compliance at VMware, where he oversees a global team of legal professions covering subject matter areas such as litigation, government inquiries and investigations, employment law issues, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and VMware’s Dawn Raid Program. He is also a member of VMware’s Cybersecurity Response Team, Emergency Response Team, and Crisis Management Team. Brooks previously served for a year as the interim lead of VMware’s global Ethics & Compliance Team. Brooks joined VMware in 2014 after spending 18 years in private practice, including 17 years at Morrison & Foerster in its San Francisco office, where he became a partner in January 2005. While at Morrison & Foerster, Brooks had a broad-based litigation practice representing clients in state and federal court, as well as before state and federal administrative agencies, focusing on intellectual property (patent, trademark, and trade secrets), false advertising, environmental, breach of contract, trade secret, white collar criminal, and civil rights matters, among other types of matters. In addition to being admitted to practice in several Federal District Courts, Brooks is admitted to practice before the Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and Federal Circuit U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.

In October 2007, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Mr. Beard to serve as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board—a position he held until 2013. And from 2009 until 2014, Mr. Beard sat on the Eco-Entrepreneurship Advisory Council and the Council of Legal Advisors at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science Management, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mr. Beard received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, his J.D., cum laude, from Vermont Law School, and his LL.M., with distinction, from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Brian Cabrera, Former AUSA

Mr. Cabrera is a senior tech industry executive from Silicon Valley. He has most recently served as Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Northern California federal prosecutors office investigating and prosecuting federal crimes on behalf of agencies such as the FBI, Secret Service, ATF, and NCIS. Prior to this appointment Mr. Cabrera was the Senior Vice President & General Counsel for NVIDIA, a Fortune 500 company synonymous with graphics, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. He left NVIDIA having helped the company grow from $15B to $100B in valuation.

Mr. Cabrera has been honored with a Legend in Law award as one of the nation’s top ten general counsel by the U.S. Library of Congress Burton Awards in conjunction with the American Bar Association. He has been named one of the Top 25 Leading General Counsel in California by The Daily Journal, and has been recognized by the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley with its Innovation Award.

Mr. Cabrera joined NVIDIA from Synopsys, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for eight years. Prior to that he was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Callidus Software Inc., where he took the company public in 2003. Prior to Callidus, Mr. Cabrera was Chief Operations Counsel for PeopleSoft and Senior Counsel at Netscape. He has also worked at Silicon Graphics Inc., Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon, and the California Attorney General’s Office.

Mr. Cabrera has been a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Advisory Committee as well as President and Executive Committee member of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. Mr. Cabrera holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Southern California, as well as a Juris Doctorate from the USC Law School.

Christin Hill, Morrison & Foerster

Christin Hill is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office and a member of the Securities Litigation, Securities Enforcement, and Investigations + White Collar Defense practice groups. Christin has extensive experience representing clients in securities class actions, derivative actions and other complex civil litigation in both federal and state courts, as well as in government and internal investigations.

With over a decade of experience in private practice, Christin has successfully represented public companies and their boards of directors and officers in securities fraud actions, derivative actions, SEC enforcement actions, internal investigations, and general corporate counseling. She also has experience working with pre-IPO companies in complex civil litigation in both federal and state court, internal investigations, responding to government inquiries, and advising on general compliance matters.

Christin received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and is a graduate of University of California, Davis.

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.

Sahar Maali, WilmerHale

 Jennifer Martinez, Hanson Bridgett

Jennifer Martinez is a partner in Hanson Bridgett’s San Francisco office. Jennifer represents private and public employers in federal and state court litigation and before administrative agencies regarding discrimination (including race, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability), harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, wrongful termination, and numerous other types of employment law matters. Jennifer also handles complex wage and hour class action litigation (including off-the-clock claims, meal and rest period violations, exempt misclassification, and contractor misclassification) in both federal and state courts, as well as other representative and collective actions under the California Private Attorneys General Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

In addition to her litigation practice, Jennifer counsels employers on a wide variety of employment issues, such as hiring practices, employment policies, disability accommodations and leave administration, employee and contractor classification issues, employment contracts, enforceability of covenants not to compete, leaves of absence, terminations, and reductions in force. She specializes, in particular, in advising start-ups, early stage companies, and technology companies. In addition to general advice and counseling, Jennifer handles sensitive harassment and whistleblower investigations.

Jennifer also has considerable merger and acquisition experience, assisting clients in structuring corporate transactions to minimize employment-related risks and maximize the value of the transaction from an employment perspective. Jennifer assists clients with post-transaction issues as well, including integration, policy compliance, employee leveling, and restructuring.

Prior to joining Hanson Bridgett, Jennifer practiced in the employment litigation and employee mobility practices at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto. Jennifer received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and her B.A., cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles.

 Lisa Nguyen, Latham & Watkins

Lisa Nguyen is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Latham & Watkins. Her practice focuses primarily on intellectual property litigation, and it has included actions pending before the US International Trade Commission, federal district courts, and state courts. She has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in complex multi-defendant, multi-patent cases. She has particular experience obtaining successful outcomes for her clients based on innovative strategies, including victories at trial, summary judgment, and motions to dismiss. She has obtained walk aways for defendants with no payment to plaintiffs, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs awards. She serves as lead counsel for top technology companies in the areas of social networking and messaging, data storage, and blockchain.

Lisa regularly speaks and writes on patent counseling and IP issues, and co-coordinates the firm’s “Keeping Tabs on the PTAB” webcast series. Her speaking engagements include presentations at the Advanced Patent Law Institute, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Lisa is passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She serves on Latham’s Diversity Leadership Committee and the partner advisory for the firm’s Asian & Middle Eastern Lawyers Group. She has been a member of the PracticePro Advisory Board since 2017. Lisa previously served as a local leader of Women Enriching Business (WEB), a Latham committee dedicated to promoting women in business both outside and inside the firm through global and local efforts to help women create broader networks and productive business relationships, to attract top talent and to support the long-term success of women. She is also co-founder of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Women In-House Support Equality, an alliance of women attorneys in law firms and private and public companies dedicated to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the legal profession.

Lisa received her bachelor’s degree in computer science and legal studies from U.C. Berkeley and her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

 Diana Park, Cooley

Diana Park is a Senior Regional Legal Talent Manager at Cooley. With 15+ years in legal recruiting, she facilitates the firm’s initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining the best and brightest lawyers in the industry. She is responsible for the recruitment, review and retention of non-partner attorneys at the Colorado, San Francisco and Seattle offices. She joined Cooley in 2009 and since then, has managed all aspects of On Campus Interviews/Fall Recruiting, the Summer Associate Program, the 1L Diversity Fellowship and lateral attorney recruiting at her respective offices. Additionally, she partners closely with the Firm’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion and Professional Development teams in training and retention of the legal talent at Cooley. She is a liaison and resource to the attorneys on the Associates Committee, Diversity Committee, Minority Associates Group, Women’s Initiative and other attorney affinity groups within the Firm.

Before joining Cooley, Diana started her recruiting career at Fish & Richardson in San Diego and then moved to Google. An active member of the Bay Area Legal Recruitment Association, Diana has served as an Executive Board Member and Treasurer. Diana has a B.S. in Management Science from UC San Diego.

Rico Rosales, Wilson Sonsini

Rico Rosales is a litigation partner at Wilson Sonsini’s Palo Alto office where his practice focuses on employment law and trade secret matters. Rico has practiced employment law for over 35 years and has dealt with a wide range of employment-related issues including wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination lawsuits, as well as employee mobility disputes involving trade secret misappropriation, unlawful employee solicitation, and non-competes. Rico also has experience with discrimination, as well as wage and hour class action matters. He has successfully tried numerous discrimination cases, including race, sex, age, and disability cases. His trial experience also includes successfully defending cases against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). With over 30 years of experience in Silicon Valley, Rico is an expert on issues faced by technology and growth companies.

Rico is a frequent speaker on employment matters. He has also commented for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, Business Week, and legal-profession newspapers. Since 2001, San Jose Magazine has identified him as one of Silicon Valley’s best employment lawyers. In addition, he provides pro bono legal services to several Bay Area nonprofit organizations.

Rico earned his J.D. from Yale Law School and received a B.A. from Yale College.

 Bahram Seyedin-Noor, Alto Litigation

Bahram Seyedin-Noor is a strategist and trial lawyer. His record of trial victories, dismissals, arbitration awards, and successful confidential settlements is a result of a laser focus on clients’ business and litigation objectives from the outset.  Benchmark Litigation has named Bahram the San Francisco Attorney of the Year, and also nominated him for California Securities Litigation Attorney of the Year.  The National Law Journal named Bahram an Elite Boutique Trailblazer.  And the Daily Journal has recognized Alto Litigation as one of the Top Boutique firms in California.

Bahram has lectured at Berkeley Law on securities litigation, taught Civil Procedure at Hastings Law School, and taught at Stanford Law School’s trial advocacy workshop.

Bahram received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and is a graduate of Pomona College.

Deborah Stachel, Social Security Administration

Deborah Stachel is the Regional Chief Counsel for the San Francisco Region of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of the General Counsel (OGC). OGC is SSA’s national law firm and is comprised of over 750 lawyers and staff spread over 13 different offices and locations. Deborah joined OGC in 2003 as an Assistant Regional Counsel. She spent the prior 10 years in a variety of public service positions including judicial clerkships in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the New Jersey Superior Court; as a Staff Attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York.

Deborah is a passionate advocate for the many opportunities to perform interesting and important legal work through public service. While at OGC, Deborah represented the agency in a variety of significant and complex federal court litigation including class action cases, civil rights and impact litigation, and constitutional challenges to agency programs.  She serves as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in multiple judicial districts. Deborah regularly provides guidance to internal agency clients on program, policy and general law questions, and has participated in a variety of national and executive-level projects.

Since 2009, Deborah has held leadership positions of increasing responsibility within SSA-OGC. In 2016, Deborah was privileged to become San Francisco’s permanent Regional Chief Counsel and a member of the federal government’s prestigious Senior Executive Service.  In this role, she heads an office of over 70 attorneys and staff, and collaborates with other executives to lead SSA’s diverse legal practice.

Deborah graduated from Boston University, magna cum laude, and received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. She is a member of the California and New York bars. Deborah is a huge fan of PracticePro, as well as her three children and three dogs.

 Jeremy Taylor, Baker Botts

Jeremy Taylor is a partner at Baker Botts. He works closely with high-tech clients on intellectual property disputes and counseling. By developing deep relationships with technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the country, Jeremy understands the goals of his clients and works to solve IP disputes accordingly. In addition to handling active lawsuits, as a trained engineer Jeremy understands the needs of his clients and their respective industries allowing him to proactively identify emerging legal issues and minimize risks in future intellectual property disputes. In 2016, Jeremy helped open the San Francisco office of Baker Botts.

Jeremy represents clients in courts and administrative agencies across the country. His experience handling complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes through jury verdicts and appeal allows him to handle disputes as efficiently as possible while ensuring each case is trial-ready. He has helped many clients with patent litigations lasting just a few months but has also helped clients with matters through jury verdicts and subsequent appeals. His ability to effectively balance litigation costs against the need for a robust trial defense sets him apart in the legal industry. He has substantial experience in asserting intellectual property against infringing competitors as well as challenging intellectual property in the courts and patent office.

Jeremy received his B.S.E., magna cum laude in Mechanical Engineering & Mathematics from Walla Walla University. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law.