Promoting Women as Lead Counsel – Agenda & Speakers

Networking and Registration
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (lunch provided)

Welcome
12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Linda Bray Chanow, Executive Director, Center for Women in Law

Hon. Sherry Radack, Chief Justice, First Court of Appeals

Hon. Kem Frost, Chief Justice, Fourteenth Court of Appeals

Lunch Presentation: Surveys on Women Lawyers as Lead Counsel and Trial Counsel in Complex Litigation
12:15 p.m. – 1:05 p.m.

Stephanie Scharf, Ph.D., J.D., Scharf Banks Marmor LLC and Co-Author of First Chairs at Trial Report

Dana Alvare, Temple University Beasley School of Law

Benefits of Female Trial Counsel: Views from the Box
1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.

Erin Copeland, Fibich, Leebron, Copeland, Briggs & Josephson (Moderator)

Hon. Alfred H. Bennett, Southern District of Texas

Kathy Patrick, Gibbs & Bruns

Women Lawyers as Lead Counsel: How In-House Counsel Are Making a Difference
2:15 p.m. – 3:05 p.m.

Julie Hardin, Reed Smith (Moderator)

Elizabeth Matthews, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA, Inc.

Rachel Giesber Clingman, Vice President Legal, General Counsel, BHP Billiton Petroleum and Minerals Americas

Teresa Garcia-Reyes, Senior Counsel, Litigation, GE Oil & Gas

Dana O’Brien, General Counsel, Centerpoint Energy

Cisselon Nichols Hurd, Senior Litigation Counsel, Shell Oil

Getting Real World Experience: Advancing from Within
3:20 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Marcy Hogan Greer, Alexander Dubose Jefferson & Townsend LLP (Moderator)

Claudia Wilson Frost, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Robert Jewell, Andrews Kurth

Shelley Hutson, Clark, Love, Hutson

Shauna Johnson Clark, Norton Rose Fulbright

Participation from the Bench: How Judges Can Impact the Advancement of Women as Lead Counsel
4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

Hon. Sylvia Matthews, Harris County District Courts (Moderator)

Hon. Gregg Costa, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

Hon. Vanessa Gilmore, Southern District of Texas

Hon. Jane Bland, 1st Court of Appeals

Hon. Debra Ibarra Mayfield, Harris County District Courts

Insights and Observations
5:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Closing remarks provided by Hon. Keith Ellison, Southern District of Texas

Networking Reception
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.