OCS Keep

Nicole Simon ’10 is an investment management attorney in the New York office of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP. In this podcast, she gives an overview of the practice area, how she found her way to the practice area, and encourages students to explore this practice area even if they do not have a finance or business background.

Why would you want to clerk? What do clerks actually do? How does the job vary by type of court and judge? Why and how should you research judges in advance? What does the application process look like from the inside? How can you make the most of a clerkship once you have one? Hear the answers to these questions and more from recent clerks.

Merritt Baer '10, Principal Security Architect for Global Accounts at Amazon Web Services, is a cloud security expert who advises Amazon’s largest customers on technical security questions to create ecosystem-level improvements.

Join HALB and OCS for a conversation with Billy Gonzalez ’04, Senior VP at Audax Group. Learn how to make the jump from law school…

Learn about how to build a career in capital markets and leveraged finance in Europe, from attorneys from the London office of Latham & Watkins.

HALB and OCS present Careers in Investment Banking, your opportunity to learn more about what investment bankers do, the recruitment process and timeline, and special concerns and issues for J.D. students seeking to break into i-banking and finance.

Ameek Ponda '92 and Amy Sheridan '05 are partners in the tax department of Sullivan & Worcester in Boston, MA. In this podcast, they give a high-level overview of tax practice, including the types of skills that are necessary to be successful. Ms. Sheridan advises tax-interested students to take advantage of relevant coursework at HLS, saying that the "attorneys who think of the principles of the code and how the [tax] code should work find the practice incredibly interesting and are also good tax attorneys."

Noelle Reed ’96 is the head of Skadden’s Houston litigation practice. She works across a number of areas including white collar investigations, securities litigation, and general commercial litigation.  Prior to joining Skadden, Noelle was a trial attorney with DOJ’s Terrorism and Violent Crime Division as well as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of Texas.

Giselle Joffre is a partner in Foley Hoag's Litigation Department, specializing in white collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, and compliance consulting for clients in the healthcare and financial services industries. Prior to joining Foley Hoag, Giselle was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston, where she specialized in the prosecution of healthcare fraud. Giselle began her career at Ropes & Gray in Boston. She says that one of the rewards of white collar litigation is getting to the advocate on the substantive issues quickly and conducting internal investigations that allow you to shape the narrative of the case.

Mythili Raman is co-chair of Covington’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice. She spent the first part of her career at the Department of Justice including most recently as the head of DOJ’s Criminal Division.

Edward Manheimer ’03 is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley working in Power & Utility M&A. Before transitioning to investment banking, Eddie worked as an Associate at Proskauer Rose in New York for 3 years.

Thinking about alternatives to practice at a large law firm, now or in the longer term? Listen to alumnae Megan Siddall '09, Ruth O'Meara Costello '06, and Sharon Lincoln '02 and learn about their practices at smaller firms. Ms. Siddall represents clients in white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation matters at Demeo; Ms. O'Meara Costello represents clients in Title IX, criminal defense and employment law matters at Zalkind, Duncan, & Bernstein; and Ms. Lincoln advises clients on tax issues as part of the Nonprofit Organizations Practice Group at Casner & Edwards, Each of them took different paths from HLS to their current positions, and will share their stories and advice with you.

Atif Azher is a partner in Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s Palo Alto office. Atif’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, and he has been recognized as a rising star for his work representing private equity clients. His representations involve software companies, internet retailers, and pharmaceutical giants, among others.

Jonas Blank ’04, Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at NBCUniversal Media, LLC. After law school, Mr. Blank practiced at Skadden Arps in…

“Data privacy law” is one of the hottest areas in private practice right now. But what exactly does the work entail? And where and how…

Prokauer partner Jeffrey Neuburger is co-head of the firm’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group in New York. Jeff advises companies on a myriad of issues ranging from use of social media, technology acquisitions, to blockchain and crypto currencies. He also represents companies in privacy and data security matters. In addition, Jeff also teaches E-Commerce at Fordham University Law School and is the co-author of two books on business, law and technology, as well as editing and writing for the firm’s New Media and Technology blog and the firm’s blockchain blog: blockchainandthelaw.com.

Dan Chung ’03 is a litigator and partner in the Washington, DC office of Gibson Dunn. He worked as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York and has a specialty as a trial litigator. Though not his only practice, a big part of what he does is securities litigation. When thinking about what you want to do in private practice, Dan advises law students to “start to think about ‘how can I be a counsellor or an advisor’ apart from being a lawyer… think about the skills or demeanor [needed in this respect].”

Lisa Haddad ’96 is co-head of Goodwin’s mergers & acquisitions practice and a partner in the firm’s Boston office.  Lisa has been with Goodwin since the start of her career.  In this podcast, she helps parse out the differences between “private M&A” and “public M&A” (Lisa explains that the distinction hinges on how is the buyer or seller in the transaction.)   Lisa also says that “if you have an interest in this area, you should pick up the Wall Street Journal or business sections of other newspapers – there’s a lot of interesting stories about mergers and acquisitions and market dynamics and how that might be playing into whether, and what type, of deals are getting done.”

John Gildersleeve is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. His practice focuses on securities and complex commercial litigation in state and federal court. He started his career in litigation at Cravath in New York following a clerkship with a federal judge in the U.S. District Court, Southern District. When it comes to being a strong and successful litigator, he says “first of all, you need to enjoy writing, very much; maybe not to the extent of an appellate lawyer, where it’s the primary thing you do, but among trial court litigation practices, [securities litigation] tends to be fairly focused on writing.”

David Kafafian ’18 will start as an associate with JP Morgan in the Fall of 2018 and serves as President of the Harvard Association for Law and Business. David spent his 1L summer as a summer associate in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis and his second summer at JP Morgan. Prior to law school, David worked as a consultant at IBM.

Virginia DeMarchi ’93 is a Partner in the Litigation Group at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley. Virginia represents technology and life sciences companies in patent litigation and in litigation involving other forms of intellectual property.