Litigation Triage Fire Drill

Andowah Newton is Vice President, Legal Affairs and Litigation Counsel at LVMH Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessy, Inc., where she manages litigation and legal disputes for approximately 25 luxury brands including Benefit Cosmetics, Bulgari, C?line, Fendi, Dior, Givenchy, Guerlain, Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Thomas Pink. Ms. Newton directs legal strategy and advises senior executives and general counsel in the United States, Europe, and Asia on legal disputes involving consumer class actions, advertising and marketing, product and environmental claims, breach of contract, personal injury, intellectual property, regulatory and internal investigations, indemnification, and debt recovery.

Before joining LVMH, Ms. Newton spent eight and a half years litigating complex commercial cases, including successfully arguing motions and appeals, while practicing at top law firms in New York City. She began her legal career as a judicial clerk for the First Vice President Judge of the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands. Before becoming a lawyer, Ms. Newton earned her CPA and worked for four years as an auditor and internal controls analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers and The Est?e Lauder Companies.

Ms. Newton earned her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and dual law degrees in U.S. and French law from Cornell Law School and The Sorbonne. Ms. Newton is a member of NY Choral and served on its Board of Trustees. She currently serves as a mentor and coach for high school and law school students in the Legal Outreach and Inroads programs.

Vaishali is currently the Vice President, Associate General Counsel for IP Litigation at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She leads the team that handles all of HPE’s IP litigation, including patent, copyright, IP licensing and trade secret claims. Just last year, Virginia Lawyers Weekly named her as one of the “Influential Women of Virginia.” This awards program recognizes the outstanding efforts of women in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is given to individuals who are making notable contributions to their chosen professions, their communities and society at large.

Additionally in 2015 and 2016, Managing Intellectual Property named her a “Corporate IP Star.” The Federal Circuit Bar Association invited her to be a Federal Circuit Global Fellow in October 2014. The Federal Circuit Bar Association selects 26 lawyers from around the world to attend two weeks of seminars in Washington, DC and Munich, Germany. The fellows are selected as up-and-coming IP lawyers who have achieved recognition as potential future leaders.

Prior to joining HP in June of 2011, Vaishali was an associate at Jones Day and Pennie & Edmonds. Vaishali earned her J.D. in 2000 from American University's Washington College of Law, and her B.S., in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Joanne Zimolzak's diverse practice focuses principally on complex business litigation. Her experience also extends to assisting companies with regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and fraud reporting.

In addition to her role as practitioner, Ms. Zimolzak serves as the co-managing partner for Dentons' Washington, DC and Tysons offices. In this position, she manages the operations of the office and spearheads plans for the offices' strategic growth.

Ms. Zimolzak has had extensive experience handling a wide range of complex civil litigation matters before state and federal courts throughout the country, both at the trial and appellate levels. The representation of multi-national insurance carriers is a particular focus of Ms. Zimolzak’s business litigation practice. Her experience includes representing insurance companies in all types of coverage disputes, with emphasis on matters involving bad faith allegations and significant potential exposures. Ms. Zimolzak also routinely provides counseling to insurers concerning coverage and risk management issues and other aspects of their business, including emerging liability risks, new product development, and regulatory compliance. Ms. Zimolzak has authored numerous articles and publications and is a frequent speaker at seminars on insurance-related topics.

Ms. Zimolzak has extensive experience assisting government contractors with obtaining and/or successfully preventing the release of sensitive business information under federal and state Freedom of Information Act provisions. She also has particular experience in procurement fraud matters and in conducting related internal investigations. Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Ms. Zimolzak has worked to assist health care industry clients in developing proactive compliance strategies, avoiding violations of federal and state laws and regulations, and defending their interests in audits and investigations.

Cheryl LeeVan is a Vice President and founding member of TM Financial Forensics, LLC. Recently, she was a Managing Director at Navigant Consulting and Vice President at Tucker Alan Inc. Ms. LeeVan has more than 20 years experience consulting on various cost and claims issues in public contract matters. Ms. LeeVan has consulted on contract administration, change order pricing, termination claims, false claims and allowable cost issues in a variety of disputes involving public entities. Her industry expertise includes aerospace, shipbuilding, avionics, manufacturing and general construction. Ms. LeeVan has analyzed damages in hundreds of commercial contract disputes. She has provided accounting and financial consulting such as reviews of fraud allegations and SEC investigations on behalf of company management, committees of the board of directors and individuals. Ms. LeeVan has testified as an expert in arbitrations and has presented her analysis of damages issues in other settlement forums. She has presented to universities, companies, outside counsel and industry groups such as the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the American Bar Association.