Women in the Law
Featured in Best Lawyers
Bio Deborah Chang, one of the founding members of Athea Trial Lawyers, has won record-breaking verdicts and settlements in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases across the country. As if this wasn’t enough, she’s also a partner at Los Angeles firm Chang | Klein LLP. As a trusted advocate at two powerhouse firms, Deborah has made a name for herself as an attorney capable of fighting complex and high-profile cases. At Athea Trial Lawyers, Deborah has been involved in some of ...
Joanne E. Romanow handles high-conflict disputes in family law. Her practice encompasses all aspects of domestic relations and probate litigation, including divorce, custody, modification, child support, paternity, guardianship, and will contests. Joanne handles a variety of litigation involving asset division, complex business valuation, inheritances, custody disputes, domestic violence and non-traditional family structure. She has been appointed as a guardian ad litem by the Probate and Fam...
Judi Curtin was born in New York City, New York in 1951, and has been an Orange County resident since 1979, following her graduation from law school and admission to the California Bar Association in 1978. She is married and has three children (Jessica is a lawyer, Jordan is a clinical social worker, Jillian is a second-year student at NYU and has her black belt in Shaolin Kempo). Judi is a Certified Family Law Specialist, admitted to the US Supreme Court, and has been rated AV by Martindale ...
Kathleen Carothers Paone, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been an Orange County resident since 1980. She and her husband, Tim Paone, have 3 adult children. Ms. Paone graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, (cum laude, 1977) and received her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University (J.D., 1980). While in law school, she was a member of the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 1980 (and the Northern, Central and Southern Fe...
Sarah F. King is one of Chicago’s rising medical malpractice lawyers at the firm and one of the most hard-working, intelligent attorneys one can find. She works tirelessly to investigate and prepare complex medical malpractice cases to achieve justice for those who have been harmed by medical negligence. She works with dedication and tenacity to get to the bottom of what actually happened and what proper practices should have been used to prevent injuries related to medical care. It is ...
Susan Capra, a partner at Clifford Law Offices, P.C., has spent her entire professional life serving others in times of difficulty and crisis, first as a nurse and currently as an attorney. Susan knew from an early age, through the example of her parents, that her mission in life was to serve others. After graduating from college with a nursing degree, Susan worked at Children’s Memorial Hospital, now known as Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The majority of Susan’s nur...
Featured in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
Known for maintaining grace under fire, Allison Siebeneck brings a common-sense approach to seemingly impossible challenges. Whether Allison is defending corporate clients in complex commercial class actions or seeking justice on behalf of wrongfully convicted individuals, clients rely on her versatile experience to get the job done. Allison’s perspective is born of her experience on both sides of the bench, as a skilled litigator and trusted law clerk. During her tenure as a federal di...
Named a Rising Star for each of the past four years, Ariel Wilson has made a name for herself in the legal world early in her career. Her accolades follow her outside the courtroom, where clients turn to Ariel for her attention to detail, persuasive writing, winning oral arguments, and her unwavering and reassuring advocacy of their interests. Ariel is a litigator and feels at home in a courtroom. She has handled all aspects of litigation, from counseling clients, developing case strategy, an...
A professional problem solver with strong investigative, analytic, and communication skills, Erin Gasparka helps clients distill any dilemma down to its essence, whether it be developing nuanced defenses to undermine white collar allegations or analyzing a company’s business and cultural profile to create a robust compliance program.
A versatile commercial litigator with experience that ranges from counseling employers on policy matters to appellate advocacy work, Jasmine Morton brings an outstanding work ethic, skill, and commitment to team work to every client she serves. Jasmine focuses her practice on complex civil litigation, including False Claims Act cases, government enforcement inquiries, employment disputes, automobile liability, personal injury, general tort/negligence, and premises liability claims, and commer...
Insurance-industry clients count on Lauren Abendshien to produce the smart, well-written briefs and other documents that lead to successful resolutions in complex and difficult coverage disputes. Lauren focuses her litigation practice on representing domestic and international insurers. With a professional background that includes work in the hard sciences, business consulting, and three years of judicial clerkships, Lauren approaches her work with intellectual rigor, attention to detail, and...
Lauren Jaffe serves clients in matters from discreet internal investigations to large-scale class actions, leveraging experience as a paralegal for the Department of Justice, a student representing federal criminal defendants, a federal judicial law clerk, and an attorney working alongside an in-house compliance team. Lauren helps clients navigate a wide variety of matters, with a particular focus on commercial and white collar cases. She also handles class actions, internal and government in...
Featured "Lawyer of the Year" Honorees
Jacqueline A. Whisnant, born in Burbank, California in 1960, has been an Orange County resident since 1985. She and her husband, Bruce Whisnant, have two children. Ms. Whisnant graduated from California State University, Northridge (B.A., 1984) and Loyola Law School of Los Angeles (J.D., 1987). While in law school, she was a member of the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Honors Program and held the position of judicial extern for the Honorable Allan E. Broussard of the California Sta...
Paula J. Swensen, who was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1955, has been an Orange County resident since 2000 after relocating to California from New England. Ms. Swensen lives in Trabuco Canyon and has three children. She is an avid sports fan, supporting any and all teams from the Boston area. Ms. Swensen graduated from the University of New Hampshire (B.S., Behavioral Science, highest honors, 1996) and Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D., 1999; M.A., Intellectual Property). Between her second a...
Shannon McNulty is a Chicago personal injury lawyer and wrongful death attorney who comes to Clifford Law Offices with a wealth of professional experience from previous employment. Having worked for 10 years with the administration of the Chicago Police Department, she served as the Director of Administration in the Bureau of Operational Services. In this critical role, she was Chief of Staff to the First Deputy Superintendent. She not only became familiar with the inner workings of this comp...
In her representation of Silicon Valley’s high earners or their spouses, Jennifer Crum draws upon nearly 20 years of experience untangling complex assets acquired in the unique tech economy.Jennifer combines her mastery of high-asset marital dissolutions with compassion for the emotional and personal transition her clients are experiencing. She is among an elite group of California attorneys recognized as a Certified Family Law Specialist. Jennifer is highly experienced in divorces invo...
Mary Ellen Ternes focuses her practice on environmental law, including environmental permitting, compliance strategies, enforcement defense, and state and federal litigation, as well as corporate disclosures and transactions. With a background in chemical engineering and hazardous waste remediation and combustion permitting, she specializes in air quality as well as hazardous waste issues, which experience is particularly relevant for her work with climate change adaptation and mitigation as ...
In Brief
A Beautiful Mind: Motown Beginnings, Top Dealmaker
by Sara Collin
Motown scion Farah Fakir Cook has achieved her own stardom away from the klieg lights, helping clients navigate ever-changing currents in intellectual property and technology. One crucial topic looms especially large for her in the years ahead: How current law will contend with the rise of artificial intelligence.
Crucial Alliances
by Jane E. Young
Workplaces everywhere have changed since the start of the pandemic in ways that can be highly beneficial to women. Here’s a road map for consolidating recent gains—and making the most of them going forward.
Progress and Potential
by Michele M. Jochner
Women have undeniably made great strides in our profession in recent decades, but much remains to be done. What’s the current state of the industry, what lies ahead—and what do lawyers (male and female alike) say are the most important issues going forward
Greener Than Thou
by Tanya C. Nesbitt
Litigation concerning ESG practices and environmental justice considerations is certain to increase in the years ahead. Public companies in particular: You have been warned.
Can These Walls Talk?
by Joanne M. O'Connor
Is architecture speech? A recent landmark Eleventh Circuit case raised a host of curious issues encompassing property rights, aesthetics and the First Amendment.
