Business Law Section & Corporate Counsel Section

Paul Bond, Esq.

Partner, Holland & Knight, LLP New York, NY

Paul Bond is a litigation attorney who focuses his practice in the areas of data security and privacy. He defends clients from tech- and data-related class actions that often arise following cyberattacks, such as ransomware. Mr. Bond also defends website operators against claims brought under federal and state laws such as the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and federal and state wiretap prohibitions. He defends clients in major cyberse

curity and hacking litigation in the business-to-business and employment contexts.

Mr. Bond counsels company founders, senior management and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and households in hardening their defenses against identity theft and responding to identity theft emergencies. Mr. Bond serves on the board of directors of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a national nonprofit dedicated to assisting victims of identity theft, and is the chair of their Governance Committee. He is also a Certified Identity Protection Advisor, as certified by the Identity Management Institute (IMI), and is an adviser to the firm on the legal aspects of data protection.

Additionally, Mr. Bond is an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law School, teaching Privacy Law Essentials for Corporate Counsel and Internet Law. He is the program chair for the Practising Law Institute’s Cybersecurity Best Practices for Lawyers. He served as an instructor of Information Security Law in the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Executive Education and Certification Program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College.

After law school, Mr. Bond served a clerkship for the Honorable Peter G. Verniero of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Francesco Conti

Solving Milan, Italy

Francesco has developed specific expertise in real estate law, with particular focus on contractual activities, and in data processing and protection law, including personal data.

For over ten years, he has assisted national private companies, including regulated ones, and multinational corporations in significant investment transactions involving real estate assets for retail, hospitality and leisure, student housing, industrial, and logistics purposes, as well as in their ordinary business activities.

He also provides consultancy on data processing and protection, including personal data, to leading Italian and international companies active in the real estate, investment management, entertainment, and cybersecurity sectors.

Ash Costello, Esq.

Partner, Gunnercooke LLP New York, NY

Ash is a Data-Privacy and Funds lawyer, advising on US and UK Data-Privacy laws including GDPR, CCPA, cookies and digital marketing, biometrics, artificial intelligence (AI); and on UK Funds laws specialising in property funds.

Dual-qualified in New York and England and Wales, Ash advises on the data-privacy laws of both jurisdictions, including online behavioural analytics and targeted advertising, consent management, AI privacy risks, negotiating and drafting terms and conditions including data processing agreements, and consulting on data-privacy related aspects of litigation, employment, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial, corporate and technology transactions.

Ash helps clients comply with US and UK data-privacy obligations across all aspects of their business: starting from designing and delivering compliant products and services; through implementing privacy management programmes; finishing with day-to-day compliance including website privacy notices, cookie policies, data subject and consumer rights, policies and procedures, risk assessment and management, AI incorporation, data mapping, accountability, and governance.

As a recognised authority on emerging technologies and encryption, she was appointed to the Expert Panel of the European Commission’s “European Blockchain Observatory and Platform’ (EUBOF) and was voted in as Co-Chair of the Privacy Working Group of the ‘International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications’ (INATBA). She is also part of the Editorial Board of Citywealth’s Crypto Report.

Ash’s property funds work involves advising clients on regulated and unregulated property holding structures, launching funds and non-fund structures, day-to-day queries, co-investment and re-investment rounds, advising on loans to funds, carried interest, and drafting agreements including the IMA, LPA and administrator agreements. Familiar with many structures including: joint-ventures, limited partnerships; Property Authorised Investment Funds; Co-Ownership Authorised Contractual Schemes; Long Term Asset Funds; UK-Real Estate Investment Trusts; Jersey Property Unit Trusts; UK Unauthorised Exempt Property Unit Trusts; Luxembourg SICAVs and FCPs; and Guernsey PCCs and ICCs. She was included in Citywealth’s “Top 30 Irish Private Client and Family Advisors” in 2025.

Taa Grays, Esq.

NYSBA President-Elect, former Fortune 50 Vice-President & Associate General Counsel – Information Governance

Taa Grays has worked on behalf of the New York State Bar Association on issues from police reform to strategic planning and corporate governance throughout the past 20 years. Those leadership roles have given her a rich background of experience that she can draw upon in her president-elect role.

She co-chaired the association’s Strategic Planning Committee, the Task Force on Racism, Social Equity and the Law, and the Task Force on Racial Injustice and Police Reform. She is a member of the Business Law, Corporate Counsel and Women in Law sections, was the vice president of the First Judicial District on the Executive Committee and chaired the New York State Conference of Bar Leaders and the Committee on Women in the Law (now the Women in Law Section).

Grays previously served as vice president and associate general counsel of information governance at MetLife Legal Affairs. As the lead of information governance, Grays was responsible for the strategic management of MetLife’s global Information Governance Program. She led a seven-person team that developed, implemented and managed the information governance strategic plan.

She started with MetLife in 2003 in the litigation section and served as the chief of staff to the general counsel from 2010 to 2015. Prior to MetLife, Grays was an assistant district attorney with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office in its rackets bureau for five-and-a-half years.

Grays was honored with the State Bar Association’s Diversity Trailblazer Award in 2008.

She was also recognized as one of 100 Leading Women Lawyers in New York by Crain’s New York Business in 2017, a Visionary Leader in Litigation by Inside Counsel in 2016, one of the Most Influential Black Lawyers in 2015 and named Ready to Rise to become a general counsel in 2013 and 2015.

Within the legal community, the New York City Bar Association recognized Grays as a Diversity Champion in 2015.

The Metropolitan Black Bar Association acknowledged her dedication and leadership to the bar in 2010 by honoring her with its inaugural Bar Leaders of the Year Award.

Grays earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

Sophie Kletzien, Esq.

Associate, Holland & Knight, LLP New York, NY

Sophie Kletzien is a privacy attorney and class action litigator in Holland & Knight’s New York office.

Ms. Kletzien handles a range of litigation matters with a focus on defense of consumer class actions involving data security and privacy claims. She has represented a wide variety of organizations from healthcare institutions to media companies to financial service enterprises in lawsuits relating to data breaches, automated website data collection, unfair business practices, call recording and wiretap claims.

Ms. Kletzien advises clients on federal, state and international data protection and privacy laws, including the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). She also assists clients across many industries with data breach response protocols and crisis management, regulatory compliance, information governance strategy and compliance with industry security standards and frameworks. Ms. Kletzien is a Certified Information Privacy Professional in the United States (CIPP/US) with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

While in law school, Ms. Kletzien worked as a federal judicial intern in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, as well as a legal extern at the University of Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel. She served as a mediator in the Penn Law Mediation Clinic, where she handled cases involving personal injury, contract law and employment discrimination. She was also an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, as well as the publicity chair of University of Pennsylvania’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA).

Prior to attending law school, Ms. Kletzien served as a judicial intern in the Superior Court of New Jersey, as well as a legal intern in the Special Federal Litigation Division of the New York City Law Department.

David Lallouz, Esq.

Partner, Chief Legal Officer and Head of M&A Sandy Hill Investors

David R. Lallouz is the Chief Legal Officer and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Sandy Hill Investors, and chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee of the Business Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Lallouz leads the structuring, negotiation and implementation of Sandy Hill’s acquisitions and other corporate transactions.

Prior to joining Sandy Hill, Mr. Lallouz spent two decades in law firm practice, most recently as partner at a prominent New York City law firm, handling well over a hundred M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions throughout that time, across a broad range of industries, on both the buy-side and sell-side.

Mr. Lallouz’s practice has been heavily focused in the life sciences, financial services, consumer products, and technology industries.

Luca CM Melchionna

Melchionna PLLC New York, NY

Luca CM Melchionna has 25+ years of experience in both private practice and academia, in Italy and in the United States. He is a transactional attorney with a focus on regulatory, compliance, and M&A/tax. Mr. Melchionna currently represents and assists multinational companies and institutional entities in a variety of corporate, commercial, and tax law matters. He assists buyers and investors in the formation and/or acquisition of U.S. companies, local assets, and international business transactions. He also assists and represents clients before numerous federal and/or state authorities and institutions. Mr. Melchionna is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and before the following courts: US District Court of Southern District of New York; US District Court of the Eastern District of New York; US District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan; US District Court of the Western District of Michigan. He has been appointed chair of the Venture and Technology Committee of the Business Law Section of NYSBA and member of the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence of NYSBA.

Mr. Melchionna is also Counselor of Legal Affairs of the Permanent Delegation to the UN of EPLO, the European Public Law Organization, a thirty-year-old international organization dedicated to the promotion of the Rule of Law. https://www1.eplo.int/

He graduated from the University of Rome, School of Law with a Juris Doctor. He earned an LLM degree in International Business Law at the University of Rome, Business School, and – from the same educational institution – a second LLM degree in International Tax Planning (with honors). In 2001 he completed a summer program at the University of Paris (with Cornell Law School) in Comparative Corporate Law. In 2003, he graduated with a third LLM degree at Boston University School of Law. In 2005 he was a vising professor at Boston University School of Law. From 2006-2012 he was at St. John’s Law School in NYC as director of the LLM Program and adjunct professor. In 2011-2012 he was a visiting scholar in New York City at Columbia University, the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies.

Mr. Melchionna published extensively: two books; four contributions to books, and more than 50 professional and/or academic articles. He is invited regularly to conferences, symposia, roundtables, and academic lectures.

Dean M. Nickles, Esq.

Of Counsel, Cravath New York, NY

Dean M. Nickles is a member of the Investigations and Regulatory Enforcement Practice and Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Practice. He advises global companies and individual clients with respect to internal and government investigations, regulatory compliance and enforcement matters and civil litigation.

Mr. Nickles has represented clients in numerous sensitive matters, including matters concerning cybersecurity, digital assets, securities fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and commercial arbitration. His representations have spanned a wide range of clients in industries including banking, energy, financial services, fintech, gaming, healthcare, metals and mining, shipping and technology. Mr. Nickles has represented clients in matters before a number of enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice; the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights; the New York State Department of Financial Services; and numerous state attorneys general.

Mr. Nickles regularly advises clients on cybersecurity and data privacy issues. His representations include providing clients with disclosure and compliance advice related to cybersecurity and data privacy and counseling companies on various matters throughout the life cycle of a cyber incident, including revisions to cybersecurity policies and procedures, management of and response to incidents, breach notification and disclosure issues and related civil litigation.

Mr. Nickles was also part of the Cravath team that won a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that a copyright owner may recover damages under the Copyright Act for any timely filed infringement claim, regardless of when the infringement occurred.

Mr. Nickles received a B.A. magna cum laude in History from Villanova University in 2013 and a J.D. summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2016, where he received the Hoynes Prize and was the Managing Online Editor of the Law Review and the Chair of the Honor Council. After graduating from law school, Mr. Nickles served as a law clerk to Hon. Richard C. Wesley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to Hon. Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Mr. Nickles was a summer associate at Cravath in 2015 and rejoined the Firm as an associate in 2016 and again in 2021 following his clerkships. He was named of counsel in 2024.

Austin Pendleton, Esq.

Partner, Finn Dixon & Herling LLP New York, NY

Austin represents clients in private equity and venture capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and a range of other domestic and international corporate transactions. He also provides ongoing corporate advice to private companies.

Representative transactions that Austin advises on include the following:

• Leveraged acquisitions and divestitures for private equity
• Venture capital and growth equity investments across a wide array of
• Add-on acquisitions and general representation of private companies, including corporate governance, securities matters, and negotiation of customer, vendor, and other complex business agreements.

Austin’s extensive and broad experience across all types of M&A transactions and private equity and venture capital investments has allowed him to counsel clients on complex and time-sensitive transactions.

Austin played baseball at Dartmouth College, where he won the Ivy League Baseball Championship in 2009 and advanced to the North Carolina Regional of the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. He joined the firm upon graduation from law school in 2014, and became a partner in 2022.

Neil Ruben, Esq.

Partner, Finn Dixon & Herling LLP New York, NY

Neil represents a variety of equity sponsors and emerging and established companies in a wide range of transactions.

His equity sponsor clients include private equity, growth equity, and venture capital funds, and fundless sponsors and other market participants. He also represents emerging and established companies and their boards of directors.

Neil has broad experience in diverse industries such as higher education, technology, hospitality, healthcare, media, consumer products, financial services, professional services, and fashion.

He has recently advised sponsors such as L Catterton, Gridiron Capital, and Dubin Clark.

Neil’s regular engagements include:

• Acquisitions and sales
• Portfolio company add-on acquisitions
• Venture capital and growth equity and convertible note investments
• Efficient outside general counsel representation for governance, equity and other matters
• Joint ventures and “acquire-hire” transactions
• Coinvestments and SPV fundraising transactions
• Recapitalizations, restructurings, and dividends
• Corporate governance
• Dispute resolution

David Siffert, Esq.

Legal Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) New York, NY

David Siffert is the Legal Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.). Siffert also works at NYU School of Law as the Executive Director of the State Government Initiative, the Director of Research & Projects at the Center on Civil Justice, and an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law. Prior to joining S.T.O.P., Siffert was a civil litigator at Boies, Schiller & Flexner and a tax attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Siffert clerked for Hon. Robert S. Smith, Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, and Hon. Barbara S. Jones, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York and is an alumnus of New York University School of Law (’09) and the University of Chicago (AB ’06).

Avi Stadler, Esq.

Esquire Deposition Solutions, General Counsel New York, NY

Avi Stadler is General Counsel of Esquire Deposition Solutions, which he joined in May of 2014. He also serves as the Chief of Staff for the CEO.

Prior to joining Esquire, from 2010-14, Avi was counsel in the litigation department of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, where he represented the financial industry in federal and state court, arbitration, investigations, and regulatory actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the state of Georgia, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He also litigated cases involving business disputes, professional liability, intellectual property, employment discrimination, and white-collar crimes. From 2006-08, he was a partner at the firm, and from 2002-06, an associate.

Between tours of duty at Sutherland, he was the director of professional development at McKenna Long & Aldridge, where he was responsible for firm-wide training initiatives and talent management and acted as chair of the firm’s associate compensation committee as well as counseled attorneys on their career development and goals.

A former adjunct professor at Georgia Tech, Stadler served as a law clerk

for the Honorable Julie E. Carnes of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Avi graduated as the First Honor Graduate from Emory University School of Law and was the Executive Notes and Comments Editor of the Emory Law Journal. Avi is a cum laude graduate of Duke University with a degree in public policy studies.

Mitchell Thompson

Special Agent, FBI

Mitchell Thompson is the Unit Chief of the FBI Cyber Division, Global Operations and Targeting Unit, where he oversees initiatives to combat the global cyber threat and transnational cyber criminals. Prior to his current role, he built out the FBI New York Cyber Task Force with investigators from FBI, US Secret Service, NYPD and numerous other law enforcement agencies in the New York City area. The task force was responsible for investigating several high-profile cyber breaches and intrusions targeting the financial sector in New York. UC Thompson has over fifteen years of cyber investigative experience, where he has investigated intrusions, malware, botnets, financial fraud, and various internet scams. UC Thompson holds an MBA degree and prior to his appointment as an FBI Special Agent, he obtained his CPA license and practiced public accounting for a global accounting firm.

Amy Wollensack, Esq.

Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP New York, NY

Biography:

• private equity funds and their portfolio
• leads mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, divestitures, recapitalizations, joint ventures, going private transactions, PIPEs, venture capital and growth equity investments.
• represents a wide range of clients in other transactional and corporate governance matters.

Amy represents private equity and corporate clients in a wide range of complex transactions including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, divestitures, recapitalizations, joint ventures, going private transactions, PIPEs, venture capital and growth equity investments and other transactions. Amy also advises on corporate governance matters.

She has extensive experience representing clients in domestic and cross border transactions in a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including health care, life sciences, technology, entertainment, logistics, media, consumer products, food and beverage, franchise, automotive, software, manufacturing, financial services, agriculture, defense and hospitality. As a result, she can anticipate and address industry-unique issues that often arise in the transaction process and structure the transactions efficiently.

In 2021, Amy was recognized as a “Top Women in Dealmaking” by The Deal.

Prior to practicing law, Amy was a registered nurse and family nurse practitioner.