Plugging the Leaky Pipeline: Our Time Is Now: How to Take Charge of Your Career
Washington Women Lawyers’ Diversity and Professional Development Committees invite you to join us for a panel discussion regarding ways women can be navigate career growth through self-advocacy and self-promotion. This event is open to all lawyers, but the topic will be geared towards issues that surround women, and specifically women from diverse backgrounds. The discussion and Q&A will be immediately followed by a networking happy hour. Please join us on Thursday, September 20, 2018, at DWT: 1201 3rd Avenue, Suite 2200, Room TBD. For more information, please contact Arezou Arefi-Afshar at aarefi-afshar@securonix.com; or Jean Kang at JKang@smithfreed.com.
Opening and Closing Remarks by Arezou Arefi-Afshar (Co-chair Diversity)
As general counsel at Securonix, Inc., Arezou is responsible for the legal, compliance, and risk management aspects of the company. She also partners closely with the leadership team in driving strategic growth and operational goals. She has a background working with startups of all sizes—from seed to venture capital-funded—as well as experience in litigation, fraud, and risk management. Dedicated to issues around diversity, inclusion, and equality, Arezou serves on the board of the Washington Women Lawyers and the Washington Initiative for Diversity. She is also involved with the Association of Corporate Counsel, serving on the events committee for the Washington Chapter.
Moderated by Jean Y. Kang (VP Professional Development)
Jean is a civil litigator at Smith Freed Eberhard, handling complex litigation suits. Prior to civil work, Jean served as a criminal deputy prosecuting attorney in King and Cowlitz County.
Jean was elected to the WSBA Board of Governors in 2017 and serves as a Judge Pro Tempore at Edmonds Municipal Court. Jean also serves on the Pacific ADR Consulting panel as a Mediator/Arbitrator and serves as an arbitrator for King County Superior Court. Jean was a member of the 2017 class of the Washington Leadership Institute and currently serves on the advisory board. Jean speaks Korean fluently and volunteers in the Korean-American community. Jean graduated from Seattle University School of Law and University of Washington.
The Honorable Veronica Alicea- Galván is a 1994 University of Washington School of Law graduate. Judge Alicea-Galván took the bench in 2001 as a Judge Pro Tempore, and was appointed to a full-time judicial position as an Administrative Law Judge in 2002. In 2007, Judge Alicea-Galván was appointed to the Des Moines Municipal Court where she served with distinction, earning the Juez Excepcional award from the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington. Governor Jay Inslee appointed Judge Alicea-Galván to the King County Superior Court in December of 2014. While in Des Moines, Judge Alicea-Galván implemented the only Spanish-language Court in the state of Washington granting hundreds of litigants the opportunity to address the court directly in Spanish. She was recognized by her alma mater with the Dean’s Leadership Award in 2015 and in 2016 was recognized as a Woman of the Year by the Center for Women & Democracy, and most recently was honored with the Vanguard Award from Washington Women Lawyers. In addition to her judicial duties, Judge Alicea-Galván is a faculty member for the Washington State Judicial College where she has taught several courses including, Emerging Through Bias: Towards A More Fair And Equitable Courtroom. Judge Alicea-Galván is also an adjunct instructor at Seattle University School of Law and has lectured extensively at legal education programs.
The Honorable Judge Phelps joined the King County Superior Court bench on January 9, 2017 as the first African-American Women to win a contested election for an open seat on the Superior Court Bench. Judge Phelps’ interest in the law began at an early age. She announced her intent to become an attorney when she was eight years old, and never looked back. Judge Phelps grew up in Indiana and is the youngest of four children from a middle-class, African-American family. After witnessing the discrimination and racism her parents faced, she committed herself to helping people gain access to the legal system and find justice in unjust situations. Judge Phelps received her undergraduate degree from Butler University and studied at the University of London Law Consortium before completing her legal degree at the Indiana School of Law. From law school, Judge Phelps joined a small Seattle-based boutique family law firm and three years later moved to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Judge Phelps served two years as president of the Loren Miller Bar Association from 2010-2012. She also served three years as a Central District Trustee on the King County Bar Association Board before stepping down to run for her position with the court. Judge Phelps currently serves as a member of the King County Superior Court’s Local Rules and Uniform Family Court Committees. Additionally, she serves as co-chair of the King County Courts and Community Committee and the Superior Court Judges Association’s Equity and Fairness Education Committee. She is a proud Silver Star Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. In the community, Judge Phelps dedicates time serving on the Pike Place Senior Center and Food Bank Board of Directors and is a highly regarded keynote speaker on various legal topics including eliminating barriers to justice system.
Diankha Linear is the Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Convoy (convoy.com), a rapidly growing startup company that uses technology to efficiently connect truck drivers with loads of freight. Convoy has been named Geekwire’s 2017, “Startup of the Year” and 2018, “NextTech Titan.” Prior to Convoy, Diankha served as the Senior Director of Nordstrom’s legal department. Diankha completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington. She was subsequently commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Reserve (Airborne) and served for sixteen years as an Army Logistics officer, Civil Affairs Aide-de-Camp and Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) officer. Ms. Linear earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After graduating from law school, she began practicing law at Perkins Coie LLP. Diankha is also a licensed U.S. Customs Broker. Ms. Linear is passionate about community leadership and giving back. She has been honored with the Loren Miller Bar Association’s “Excellence in the Practice of Law” Award, the Washington State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division “Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year,” and as an American Bar Association, American Bar Fellow, an honor limited to less than one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. In addition, Ms. Linear received the PSBJ’s “Corporate Counsel of the Year,” award and, in 2015, Diankha was listed on Inside Counsel magazine’s “R3-100” list, an exclusive honor reserved for 100 women in the U.S. primed to become general counsel of a Fortune 500 company within three years. In 2017, Ms. Linear was honored as, “Woman of the Year,” by the UW Foster School’s Undergraduate Women in Business (UWiB). Diankha has served on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity Seattle/South King County (President), Loren Miller Bar Association (President), Seattle Rotary Club #4 (Vice President), Washington Leadership Institute and Washington Women’s Foundation. Ms. Linear currently serves as a board member for Rainier Scholars. Diankha is the mother of two awesome daughters.
Pam Kohli Jacobson is a registered patent attorney and a firm-wide co-chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. She concentrates her practice in intellectual property law including litigation, prosecution, licensing, due diligence, portfolio management, and counseling, with an emphasis on the intellectual property of government entities. She has handled intellectual property matters from application to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Federal Circuit, and the Ninth Circuit. She manages the patent and trademark portfolios for a wide range of clients, ranging from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies. In addition, Ms. Jacobson has assisted a wide range of clients with their technology transactions including various agreements and in the development of institutional patent, trademark, trade secret and litigation policies. Ms. Jacobson’s technical background and work experience is in applied mathematics, chemistry and molecular biology. Prior to law school, she designed computer models to assess the toxicity of chemical compounds at Honeywell International f/k/a Allied Signal. She also assessed the prevalence of certain gene markers in familial lupus erythematosus during her time as a research scientist the University of Chicago. Ms. Jacobson has been recognized by industry publications as a leading practitioner in intellectual property law. She currently teaches at the University of Washington School of Law and at its Center for Advanced Study & Research on Intellectual Property.
Event and Happy Hour Sponsored by:
Additional details: This is an informational program only; CLE credit is pending.
Telephone access will also be provided for those who would like to listen to the program remotely.
