Harvard Law School Association Women's Alliance Network

Board Members

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  Dorothy DeWitt '94

  IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
  Dorothy D. DeWitt is an attorney with Davis Polk. Her career has focused on investment management and financial regulation. Dorothy currently advises broker-deal and investment management clients on financial regulation and regulatory change. Previously, she worked for S&P and JP Morgan, where she advised on financial regulation and oversaw major regulatory change initiatives. Prior to that, Dorothy spent a decade as a portfolio manager, Director of Research and analyst at Global Asset Management (GAM) in London, Cadogan Management and ING Furman Selz in NY, respectively, specializing in arbitrage and event driven investment strategies. Dorothy later served as General Counsel of Cadogan Management, an investment firm with $8B in assets under management. Dorothy began her career as an associate at Davis Polk, following a federal judicial clerkship in the Southern District of New York. Dorothy received a J.D. from Harvard Law School (cum laude) and a B.A. (Plan II) from the University of Texas at Austin (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).

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  Maria Stearns '02

  PAST PRESIDENT
  Maria Stearns is a Partner at Rutan & Tucker, LLP in Orange County, California, where she represents employers in all aspects of the employment relationship. Maria is passionate about using her role as a leader within the firm, the legal community and the HLSWA to encourage and support the advancement of women in the legal profession. Maria believes that, with the proper support system, it is possible to have it all, recognizing that “all” differs by person and life/career stage.

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  Charu Chandrasekhar '04

  Charu Chandrasekhar graduated from HLS in 2004. She is currently an Assistant Regional Director with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. Prior to government service, Charu worked in private practice at WilmerHale LLP and clerked on the Second Circuit for the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor‎.

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  Shannan Stamper ’97

  Shannan Stamper is Associate General Counsel at the University of Kentucky, serving as primary in-house counsel for the University's wide range of business and finance matters, including complex health care business transactions, employee benefits, endowment investments, real estate, procurement and athletics. Prior to joining the University in 2013, Shannan practiced in a wide variety of public and private practice settings, including large law firms in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati, a three-attorney firm in southeastern Kentucky, a federal judicial clerkship, and in the general counsel's chair at a state government agency. Having spent most of her career outside large metropolitan areas, Shannan enjoys the opportunity HLSWA gives her to build relationships with HLS alumna across the nation and world, and wants to extend that opportunity to other HLS alumna working and living in smaller cities, towns and rural areas.

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  Britanie Hall '10

  Britanie Hall is a Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells in Washington D.C. Britanie counsels companies on myriad aspects of their privacy, cybersecurity, and information practices and on a wide variety of topics, including the public policy, Internet of Things, e-commerce, facial recognition, social media, AdTech, incident response and preparation, health privacy, children's privacy, and financial services.  Britanie has represented clients in consumer protection and class action litigation and in investigations by various government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights, and state Attorneys General. She is designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) by the International Association of  Professionals. Britanie's pro bono experience includes promoting women's rights, ensuring minors' rights to confidential healthcare in  health information, and advising nonprofit organizations on their privacy and cybersecurity practices.  While in law school, Britanie served as a student lawyer in the Legal Aid Bureau, as managing editor and production editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, and as a 2010 Class Marshal.  Britanie won the Dean's Award for service to Harvard Law School and a certificate for 1,000 hours of pro bono work.  Britanie currently is a co-chair of the DC of the Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance.”

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  Patricia Lopez Aufranc '85

  Patricia Lopez Aufranc has been a partner with Marval O’Farrell & Mairal in Buenos Aires since 1987. Her practice focuses on corporate matters, M&As, finance and a wide range of business contracts. She has been singled out as a leading lawyer in banking, capital markets and international trade by Euromoney Publications, Chambers, Global Counsel 3000 and Latin Lawyer. More recently she has focused on leadership development and in particular women's leadership. She was awarded the First Edition of the Diversity Award granted by Latin Lawyer for her work towards the advancement of women lawyers in Latin America.

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  Johanna Bracy Dyer '08

  Johanna Bracy Dyer serves as vice president of California’s association of union mechanical contractors. Prior to her current role, Johanna was an environmental and public health advocate in government and public interest organizations. She is passionate about helping the community of HLS women connect to build community and advance their careers.

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  Stacey Austin '04

  FOUNDING PRESIDENT

  Stacey Austin is a Partner at Wang Kobayashi Austin, LLC, an employee benefits and executive compensation boutique law firm in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to joining WKA she practiced in the employee benefits and executive compensation group at Winston & Strawn LLP. Stacey is  a past president of HLSWA and previously served as Vice President of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Law School Association.

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  Michelle Sicula '92

  U.S. CHAPTERS LIAISON
  Michelle Sicula is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, (Lic. 90053) with a private practice in Berkeley and San Francisco, CA.  Michelle provides individual therapy, couples therapy, and reproductive counseling to a diverse array of clients.  Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, Michelle practiced law for more than 20 years working as an associate, and later contract attorney, with Saltzman & Johnson, Law Corp., in San Francisco, CA; a Career Law Clerk to the Honorable Wayne D. Brazil with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; and an associate with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, LLP, in San Francisco, CA.  In addition to her work with HLSWA, Michelle volunteers on the Inclusion and Anti-racism Task Force for the Mental Health Providers subgroup of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.  Michelle also is a past Board Chair for the Northern California Community for Emotionally Focused Therapy (NCCEFT).

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  Anne Weisberg ‘85

  Anne Weisberg has dedicated her career to advancing women in the professions, and is currently the Women’s Initiative Director at Paul, Weiss. Anne directed the seminal research, Women in Law: Making the Case, at Catalyst, then went to Deloitte to head its Women’s Initiative and BlackRock to design its women’s leadership program, before joining Paul, Weiss. Having co-founded the Alumnae Committee of the Harvard Law School Association, Anne is thrilled to be working with the fantastic alumnae of HLS to accelerate the rate of change for all women in law.

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  Jeanine McGuinness '92

  Jeanine McGuinness is counsel in Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP’s Financial Institutions Group and the economic sanctions and national security practice. She practices in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, where she concentrates in U.S. trade and investment laws applicable to cross-border transactions, focusing on U.S. economic sanctions, anti-money laundering laws, anti-boycott laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and transaction reviews by U.S. national security agencies, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

   

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  Paavani Garg ‘18

  Paavani Garg is an associate in the Business, Finance, and Restructuring group at Weil, Gotshal, & Manges. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School '18 where she served as President of the Women's Law Association.

Natalie Vernon '17

Natalie Vernon is an associate at Cooley LLP, where she focuses on mergers and acquisitions and represents strategic and financial buyers and sellers in public and private transactions across a range of industries. Prior to joining Cooley, Natalie was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York and clerked for the Honorable Michael J. Melloy of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.