Law School
Innovation Program

Elise M. Bloom is widely hailed as one of the nation’s top employment lawyers and one of the most creative and effective wage and hour, class/collective action and trial lawyers. She is particularly well-known for handling high profile, bet-the-company matters on behalf of significant national employers. Elise is the former co-chair of Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Department, co-head of the Class & Collective Actions Group and previously served as a member of Proskauer’s Executive Committee for two terms.

Connie Brenton is a legal industry pioneer. She founded and was the former CEO of CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium) and has helped define the role of Legal Operations. Connie serves as Vice President, Strategy, Technology and Operations at NetApp. Connie helped create an innovative and award-winning legal department that is recognized internationally for its pioneering work in the areas of strategic planning and digital optimization, leveraging data in every aspect of service delivery. Along with global experts, she released the industry Legal Metrics Portal. She is a co-founder and President of LegalOps.com, a platform where Legal ecosystem members come together to learn and flourish. Connie publishes on the topics of collaboration, the changing legal ecosystem and legal operations. She speaks internationally on the topic of “Running Legal Like a Business.” Her awards include Women in Influence Lifetime Achievement award, GC Power List, Corporate Counsel's National Women in Law, 100 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley and the Top 10 Deputy General Counsel.

Kim has spent her career leading change within the legal industry in meaningful, profound ways. She’s been a tireless advocate and leader for modernization and systemic improvements of legal operations and legal service delivery. She is a recognized pioneer breaking ground and pushing the status quo by introducing and embedding project management and lean six sigma into legal teams and organizations. Kim has been recognized by clients and competitors alike for her groundbreaking achievements and has received several awards for driving innovation within the industry. She is the co-founder of Bold Duck Studio, a business design agency that specializes in legal service innovation and strategy. She has consulted with and trained hundreds of lawyers and business professionals from BigLaw, Mid and Small Law, Inhouse Legal Teams, Legal Ops, as well as Legal Aid Organizations and law schools. Kim is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMI) and Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering).

David is the Chief Innovation Officer of global law firm Reed Smith. He guides the firm in thoughtful review of modern legal service delivery models, working to create a firm that is driven by the value it can measure and provide to its clients and employees. He is helping to define how a firm should evolve and tune itself to meet the broadening business and risk expectations of GCs. He is currently growing the team to design and lead long-term initiatives in data-driven decisions, business process re-engineering, workforce optimization, and client services.

He is also the founder of Legal Metrics, a tech company automating and benchmarking data-driven ‘legal ops’ and diversity metrics, which is now led by Sara Lord and team. He has interviewed over 100 legal department and law firm leaders to maintain a broad and unique understanding of the business performance, value, and diversity expectations for the future of the legal market.

He was previously the CIO of Winston & Strawn, where he was responsible for creating and sustaining a competitive edge with technology, data, and improved processes. Before joining Winston, he was a Managing Director of Hildebrandt Baker Robbins (now HBR Consulting), leading the technology strategy and risk practices. Over 20 years, he worked with 200 US and UK/European firms.

Ronald Flagg was appointed President of the Legal Services Corporation effective February 20, 2020, and previously served as Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel since 2013. He previously practiced commercial and administrative litigation at Sidley Austin LLP for 31 years, 27 years as a partner. He chaired the firm’s Committee on Pro Bono and Public Interest Law for more than a decade.

Flagg served as president of the District of Columbia Bar in 2010-2011 and currently serves as Chair of the Bar’s Pro Bono Task Force and on the Board of the DC Bar Foundation. He previously also served as Chair of the Board of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, Chair of the District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Center, Chair of the Board of the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, and as a member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, the Board of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission.

Flagg graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and cum laude from Harvard Law School. He began his career as a law clerk to Judge Myron L. Gordon, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and as attorney-advisor in the United States Department of Justice, Office of Intelligence Policy.

Judy Perry Martinez served as president of the American Bar Association in 2019-20. After graduating from the University of New Orleans and Tulane Law School, Judy started her legal career as a commercial litigator at Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn in New Orleans and went on to practice there for 21 years, as a partner and served as a member of the governing committee.

Judy joined Northrop Grumman in 2003, where she served as assistant general counsel for litigation, before being named Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer. Judy also was appointed to the company’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council.

Judy retired from Northrop Grumman in 2015 to become a Fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard, where she spent a year in residence. Following her time at Harvard, she returned to New Orleans and rejoined her former firm as Of Counsel, to continue a career in pro bono and public service.

Among other leadership roles in the American Bar Association, Judy served as chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates all prospective Article III nominees to the federal bench, as the ABA lead representative to the United Nations, and as a member of the ABA Task Force on Building Public Trust in the American Justice System and the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. She served as the chair of the ABA Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services and is a member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American and Louisiana Bar Foundations. She currently serves as vice-president of the World Justice Project which through its annual Rule of Law Index, assesses the state of the Rule of Law in over 140 countries across the globe. Among other recognitions, in 2021, Judy was inducted into the Warren E. Burger Society of the National Center for State Courts.

Rishi Varma serves as General Counsel and oversees Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s legal department globally. Rishi and his team handle, among other things, HPE’s corporate governance, strategic acquisitions, divestitures and investments, litigation, intellectual property, commercial contracting, sales and supply chain issues, securities law compliance and disclosure, treasury and financing transactions, and certain other corporate transactions and restructurings, bankruptcy, credit and collections matters and employee compensation and retiree benefits. From 2013 – 2017, Rishi served as Deputy General Counsel overseeing HPE’s corporate, securities and M&A practice.

Before joining Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Rishi served as general counsel for two different publicly traded companies from 2005 to 2013 – TPC Group, Inc., a petrochemical company, and Trico Marine Services, Inc., a global subsea service provider. During his time at Trico, Rishi also served in additional management roles including chief operating officer and president. Prior to these companies, Rishi served as securities counsel and director of investor relations for EGL, Inc., a publicly traded global freight forwarder (2002 – 2005), and as a business associate in the New York office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, LP (1998 – 2002).

Over the course of his legal career, Rishi has advised public company boards as outside counsel and as in-house counsel on a variety of matters including financial planning, M&A transactions, corporate governance and shareholder activism.

Rishi oversees HPE’s nationwide pro bono campaigns and has worked with Tahirih’s Houston office on various matters including visa and asylum cases. In addition to serving on the Tahirih board, Rishi serves on the board of the Texas Asia Society, the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the West.

Abigail Gampher is a Legal Analyst on the Corporate Analysis Team, focusing on compliance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters. Abigail is licensed in the District of Columbia. During law school, she served as Editor-in-Chief to her law review and worked at D.C. Superior Court, in crime victim legal services, and international election law. She received her B.A. in International Relations from Hendrix College and J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.

Denaya Holland is a Legal Content Specialist on the Litigation Team with a focus on labor and employment matters. Prior to joining Bloomberg Law, Denaya developed experience in employment law, corporate law, and government contracts. She received her B.A. in Political Science from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law.

Abena Opong-Fosu is a Legal Analyst in Bloomberg Law’s fellowship program. Previously, she worked as a Legal Research Assistant for the Legal Information Institute in New York and practiced as an Associate Attorney in Accra, Ghana where her practice focused on commercial and securities litigation, supporting corporate transactions and counseling multinational companies on local law. Abena received her LL.M in Corporate, Finance and Securities Law from Cornell Law School and her LLB from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Stephanie Pacheco is a Legal Analyst on the Data, Legal Analytics & Business Team, focusing on legal technology and legal operations. Stephanie is a licensed attorney in her home state, South Carolina. While in law school, she was a member of the Moot Court Board and interned with The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Stephanie earned a Dual B.A. in Criminal Justice and Philosophy from the University of South Carolina and her J.D. from Charleston School of Law.

Bridget Roddy is a Content Specialist participating in Bloomberg Law’s fellowship rotation program. Previously, she clerked with the Chicago History Museum’s in-house counsel and worked as a legal research assistant for the Antiquities Coalition’s Financial Crime Task Force. Bridget received her B.A. in Journalism from Cleveland State University, her J.D. from DePaul College of Law, and her LL.M in International and European Business Law from Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICADE.

Mary Shields is a senior content specialist on the Data, Legal Analytics & Business and ABA/BLAW Manual on Professional Conduct teams, focusing on legal ethics. She has been with Bloomberg Law since 2016 and previously worked on labor and employment law. She is a licensed attorney in Washington, D.C., and New York. She earned a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from the University of Iowa.

Susan Swihart is the Assistant Team Lead on the Data, Legal Analytics & Business team. Her team develops Practical Guidance and data-driven analysis relevant to legal operations and legal ethics. She is also responsible for producing the ABA/Bloomberg Law Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct, published in partnership with the American Bar Association’s Center for Professional Responsibility. Susan received her B.A. from Georgetown University and her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School.