Mary Ellen Kleiman is the Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Disability:IN, a leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide. Prior to joining the Disability:IN team, she served as Senior Counsel for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and advised its related charitable foundation. She also serves as the current President of the Women’s Bar Association Foundation. Before joining NACDS, she was an associate in the Washington, DC office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, [...]

Jacqueline Cadman is a Partner with Brown Goldstein & Levy.  Her practice areas include Criminal Defense & Investigations, Civil Rights, Wrongful Convictions & Police Misconduct. She began her career in Pennsylvania at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. During her time there, she represented people charged with all types of criminal offenses, ranging from DUIs, gun and drug offenses and assaults to armed robberies, kidnapping and attempted murder charges while also teaching Criminal Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law [...]

Kendra Wiley is an attorney with a background in public service, energy and sustainability policy, and real-estate-adjacent legal work.  She recently launched her own practice focused on helping organizations navigate compliance and strategy in real estate. Born and raised in Texas, she now calls Washington, DC home. After several years in private practice, she pivoted into consulting and most recently served as a public servant at the local and federal levels in the District, including as a Legislative Director in [...]

Leah P. Levi is Special Counsel in the Office of Chief Counsel within the Division of Trading and Markets at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In her role, she contributes to the Commission’s mission of protecting investors, promoting fair and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation. Her work is informed by a sophisticated understanding of financial regulation, corporate governance, and the operational realities of major market participants. Leah’s path to the SEC reflects a breadth of experience across [...]

Oluwaremilekun (Remi) Mehner is a counsel at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. She received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and her law degree from Harvard Law School. As a healthcare and life sciences regulatory counsel, she assists clients on a range of regulatory, enforcement, and policy matters within the healthcare and food and beverage sector. She focuses on food law, provider reimbursement, and fraud and abuse compliance and counseling. Outside of work, she loves reading and writing fiction [...]

Victoria Hamscho is a senior associate at K&L Gates LLP.  Victoria is a dedicated attorney and government relations professional. She is a Senior Associate in the Public Policy and Law Practice of K&L Gates, where she advocates on behalf of clients before Congress and the Administration. In this role, Victoria works closely with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC). She is an Advisory Council Member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), an organization dedicated to developing the next generation of [...]

Laura Schwendeman is an associate at Kleinfeld Kaplan & Becker, LLP.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. While in law school, administrative law stood out as her favorite course (shoutout to Professor Miriam Seifter), but, unsure how to translate that area of law into a career, she chose to pursue opportunities that interested, her without a traditional career path in mind. Laura's first legal experience [...]

Lisa Park is a pro bono attorney at the DC Bar Pro Bono Center.  She has extensive experience in finance, including securitization (affordable housing), tender option bonds, crossborder transactions and capital markets. Her client and transaction portfolio spans multiple jurisdictions and industries, including shipping, energy, and infrastructure. Lisa is trilingual in German, Korean, and English, and brings a cross-cultural perspective to legal and financial transactions.  She received her LL.M. from The George Washington University Law School, with a focus on [...]

Consuela Pinto is a partner at PintoBrown PLLC. She has been in practice for almost 30 years, and her experience includes representing employers on a nationwide basis in compliance reviews before the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and systemic investigations initiated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Consuela counsels clients on pay equity matters, conducts DE&I audits, and trains employees and managers on workplace compliance matters. Prior to moving into private practice, Consuela was the Deputy Associate [...]

Sasha Hodge-Wren is an accomplished attorney and WBA Board Member. In addition to her service on the Board, Sasha has served as the Co-Chair of the WBA Executive and Judicial Endorsements Committee and Treasurer of the WBA. In her professional life, she serves as Counsel at Miles & Stockbridge, P.C. where her practice focuses on a combination of criminal defense, civil commercial business litigation and labor and employment litigation matters.  Throughout her career in private practice, she has also assisted [...]

WBA celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by celebrating AAPI members of our community. Dr. Nudrat E. Piracha is an accomplished arbitrator, mediator, and legal scholar with over two decades of experience in international arbitration, investment law, and dispute resolution. Her career has been shaped by my passion for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and cross-border litigation, and she has represented high-profile clients in sectors such as telecommunications, construction, energy, and infrastructure. Her journey has been marked by significant [...]

Emily Lagan is an Associate Attorney at Regan Zambri Long PLLC. Emily represents victims who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries, as well as families who are seeking justice in wrongful death cases. She joined Regan Zambri Long straight from law school after two summer clerkships with the firm. Since joining the firm, she has represented individuals injured in automobile and pedestrian collisions, gas explosions, premises accidents, and in medical malpractice cases throughout DC, MD, and VA. Emily says, “Our clients [...]

Emmanuela Saint-Jean is a law clerk at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She is a first-generation Haitian-American and proud attorney. After graduating from law school, she had the incredible opportunity to begin her career as a prosecutor in Miami. During that time, she honed invaluable skills, built lifelong friendships, and developed a deep passion for the law. Emmanuela tell us, “While I have since explored various roles, there’s something special about your first job, and I still cherish the [...]

Jennifer C. Mika is Counsel at Crowell & Moring. She joined the WBA in 2008 when she was a 1L! She’s been involved in many WBA committees, including mentoring, young lawyers, and membership. Jennifer is a first generation lawyer who came to DC after undergrad and has made it her adult home. After 12 years in government service, where she won several local and national awards for her work addressing vulnerable populations, she recently moved to the private sector. Jennifer [...]

WBA celebrates Black History Month by celebrating the Black members of our community.  Adaoma (Ada) Okafor is a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Chief Judge Anna Blackburne- Rigsby at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Ada was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to the United States at 12, settling in Hampton, VA. She shares, “I quickly had to adjust to the cold, as I hadn’t experienced much of it before.” Ada told us about her experience at [...]

Victoria Clark is the Former Senior Deputy Associate Counsel at The White House and Oversight Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security and is currently exploring new opportunities. After years of public service, Victoria recently transitioned from the federal government, where she focused on investigations. At The White House, she worked on vetting nominees for Senate-confirmed roles, a role that allowed her to dive into diverse topics, connect with people, and identify key risks. Before that, she served as Oversight [...]

Rachel Lawrence is the Associate Director for Pro Bono & Public Interest Career Development at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. She’s been at the law school for over 8 years, including a 9-month part-time stint in 2021 while she also worked for the Internal Revenue Service. Rachel loves public service law, community service, and building community. Once a month, she work with a community on Capitol Hill to make sandwiches for the unhoused. She has organized [...]

Sarah A. James is an Associate Attorney at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. She attended law school during the evenings while working full time as a paralegal at a Boston law firm. She went on to clerk at the Land Court in Boston and trial court in Rhode Island. After landing in the DC area, she began working as a litigation associate in the commercial litigation department at Eckert Seamans. Sarah comes from a long line of attorneys. Her [...]

WBA celebrates Pride Month by celebrating the LGBTQ+ members of our community. Photo Credit: Sarah Sharaf-Eldien Sunu P. Chandy (she/her) is a Senior Advisor with Democracy Forward, supporting work across the teams including fighting attacks on DEI, and working alongside partner organizations to help build a nation that does right by all of us. She continues to have readings and events in connection with her collection of poems, My Dear Comrades, published by Regal House. Before starting at Democracy [...]

WBA celebrates Pride Month by celebrating the LGBTQ+ members of our community. Evelyn Jung (they/them) is a second-generation Korean American non-binary person working as a Recruiting Director at The Partners Group, a legal staffing firm. They completed their undergraduate degree at New York University and then received their J.D. from George Washington University Law School.” Evelyn tells us: “The part of my job that I love the most is building and establishing strong and lasting relationships between candidates and prospective [...]

Michelle Cohen is Partner at Ifrah PLLC. She spent 20 years in big law before joining Jeff Ifrah, a former colleague and friend, at Ifrah Law, where she has practiced for 12 years. Ifrah Law is a Chambers-ranked boutique specializing in gaming, government investigations, and litigation. She chairs the Privacy and Data Protection Practice and is heavily involved in the firm’s gaming practice. Michelle serves on the Board and Chair of the Governance Committee of Aspire! Afterschool, an Arlington, VA [...]

WBA celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by celebrating the AAPI members of our community. Lina Xie is a Data Forensics Manager at BDO USA in Washington, DC. She specializes in data investigations related to fraud and corruption, export control sanctions and fraud risk assessments. She works with an incredible team of professionals dedicated to promoting integrity and compliance in business practices. Lina leads forensic analysis on major compliance projects and develops robust compliance strategies. She has extensive [...]

WBA celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by celebrating the AAPI members of our community. Nina Ren is a Trial Attorney in the Office of Constitutional Torts at the U.S. Department of Justice. She handles vaccine cases before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Nina is currently preparing for her third career appellate court oral argument (her first was before the Fourth Circuit and her second was before the Federal Circuit). Nina says, “I work with an incredible team [...]

Zuka Chuka-Obah is an Attorney Advisor for the Landlord Tenant Branch of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She is a member of the D.C. Bar and also licensed in Maryland. Zuka graduated from the University of Chicago in 2011 with a BA in Political Science and is a 2014 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. She has a strong passion for helping her community and loves being actively involved in the community. Outside of work, Zuka loves being [...]

WBA celebrates Black History Month by celebrating the Black members of our community. Sonia Williams Murphy is a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was WBA president in the 2016-2017 bar year, and presided over the Association’s Centennial Celebration. Sonia joined Justice after over a decade in large, international law firms. Sonia tells us, “As a litigator, joining the DOJ was by far the best professional decision I have made to date. I have argued several cases [...]