Advancing Inclusivity and Accessibility in the Legal Profession and the Federal Courts

Moderator – Katherine Earle Yanes, Partner | Kynes Markman & Felman, P.A

Katherine Earle Yanes is a partner in the Tampa, Florida law firm Kynes Markman & Felman, P.A. She concentrates her practice in the areas of criminal defense, appeals, and postconviction relief and has successfully represented defendants at the trial, appellate, and postconviction phases of criminal litigation in federal and state courts, as well as in government investigations.

William Goren, Attorney | William D. Goren JD LLM LLC

William D. Goren, Esq., of William D. Goren, J.D., LL.M. LLC in Decatur, GA, has been dealing with the ADA as an Attorney since 1990. His law and consulting practice, https://www.understandingtheada.com/, as well as his blog, Understanding the ADA, (a member of the ABA Top 100 for five consecutive years, 2014-2018- there was no ABA 100 in 2019-2021), all focus on understanding the ADA so that the client understands what it means to comply with that law and related laws. In particular, he provides consulting, counseling, representation, and training services involving compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and related laws- such as the Air Carrier Access Act and the Fair Housing Act, among others. Mr. Goren also brings a deep, personal understanding of what it means to have a disability, equipping him with exceptional insight on how the ADA actually works. He is deaf with a congenital bilateral hearing loss of 65–90+ decibels, but functions entirely in the hearing world thanks to hearing aids, Bluetooth technology, and lip-reading. For reasons independent of his deafness, he also uses voice dictation technology to access his computer. He is also a frequent presenter, a trained mediator, a FINRA arbitrator (Chairperson eligible), and an arbitrator on the CPR employment panel. Finally, he is the author of Understanding the ADA, now in its 4th edition (ABA 2013), and numerous other articles on the rights of persons with disabilities. He is a member of various committees of the American Bar Association and is also a member of: the Federal Bar Association (FBA) Diversity and Inclusion committee; the FBA’s Civil Rights committee and its Governing Board; FBA’s Civil Rights Amicus committee; and the Chair of the FBA’s Working Group on Disability Best Practices, which formulated an accessibility manual for the FBA and its chapters. He is also a member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association and its lead for its Amicus committee. He has an A.B. from Vassar College, a J.D. from University of San Diego School of Law, and was one of the first in the entire country to receive the LL.M. in health law, in his case from DePaul University College of Law. Interesting fact: He trained his miniature poodle to be a hearing dog while he practices virtually.

Dora F. Kaufman, Shareholder | Liebler, Gonzalez & Portuondo

Dora F. Kaufman is an AV-rated Shareholder in the law firm of Liebler, Gonzalez & Portuondo, where she practices primarily in the areas of complex commercial litigation, banking law, creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, and debtor and creditor workouts. Ms. Kaufman is admitted to practice before the Florida Bar (1988), the District of Columbia Bar, the United States District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eleventh and Federal Circuits. She received her B.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, and her J.D. degree from Georgetown University.

Lisa Kpor, Litigation Counsel | United Airlines

Lisa M. Kpor is Litigation Counsel for United Airlines, where she provides guidance to the global Fortune 500 company on numerous matters related to disputes and litigation. Lisa graduated from Oberlin College in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in German and Politics. She then attended the University of Illinois College of Law.

After graduating from law school and passing the bar exam, Lisa worked as a Litigation and Entertainment Associate at Holland & Knight, LLP in Chicago, Illinois for nearly nine years. Her litigation experience included a broad range of legal issues, including shareholder oppression actions, financial services litigation, product liability disputes, and complex breach of contract suits. With respect to her prior entertainment law practice, Lisa represented Grammy Award-winning musicians, best-selling authors, Academy Award-nominated filmmakers, and a host of other creative individuals in contract negotiations related to film, television, and publication deals.

Lisa currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (FBA), and she was previously the Chair of the FBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is an accomplished attorney who has received several awards for her contributions to the legal profession, including the Next Gen Emerging Millennial Leader Award from the Corporate Counsel Women of Color, the Rising Star Award from the National Immigrant Justice Center, and an Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Lisa has also received recognition from The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers Magazine, and The National Black Lawyers. Even with a robust practice, Lisa continues to mentor students through the FBA’s Lift Up Leaders Mentorship Program, the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and The Posse Foundation, where she serves on its Chicago Leadership Council.

Rafael Zahralddin-Aravena, Partner | Lewis Brisbois

Rafael X. Zahralddin-Aravena is a partner in the Wilmington office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Corporate, Bankruptcy, Complex Business & Commercial Litigation, Digital Asset, and Ukraine Conflict Response Practices. He is a skilled business lawyer and litigator with significant experience advising clients in corporate and commercial litigation, insolvency, distressed M&A, compliance, corporate law and entity formation, corporate governance, commercial transactions, cyber law, regulatory actions, and cross-border issues.

Rafael represents clients in all aspects of bankruptcy and restructuring and has extensive experience in international commercial law issues, including cross-border insolvency, federal bankruptcy court matters, assignments for the benefits of creditors, and receiverships. Rafael’s international law experience, particularly in international commercial transactions, brings a unique and nuanced approach to business issues both inside and outside of distressed situations.

He has also worked for two decades with early-stage companies and venture capitalists and private venture funds as both a transactional lawyer and a corporate litigator. He has assisted businesses in starting, selling, or buying a business, and dealing with employees and contracts, among other operational issues. This experience has been critical in the representation of both debtors and creditors committees in chapter 11. Rafael is noted for his problem-solving abilities, especially with varied constituencies on official and ad hoc committees, including trade creditors, bondholders, labor unions, and other key stakeholders in insolvency matters.

He is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which is limited to less than 1% of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction and is a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Governance Fellow, the highest level of credentialing for corporate directors and corporate governance professionals. He has been recognized as a Philadelphia Inquirer Influencer of Law by an expert panel of judges who felt he shaped, changed, and transformed the legal industry. The Philadelphia Business Journal awarded him both “Best of the Bar” and “Top Minority Business Leader” in 2020.

A Six Sigma Green Belt, Rafael is an extensive writer and lecturer and has trained both in-house lawyers and outside law firms in legal project management, lean practices, and Six Sigma application to value-added provision of legal services. He is also the co-editor and author of several chapters in the American Bar Association’s Reorganizing Failing Businesses treatise and has written an extensive number of publications for bar journals, periodicals, law reviews and trade organizations. He has also been active as a lawyer and speaker, in regard to privacy, cybersecurity, and legal issues surrounding digital assets. He successfully completed Cyber Enterprise Risk Management Cyber Security Training in 2015 with Axon Global Services and the Kogod School of Business Center for Cyber Governance.

The Delaware Bar Association’s Multi-cultural section awarded Rafael the Excellence in Community Service Award in 2016.

He has served in various leadership positions in law firms including co-founding a Delaware office, as a Managing Shareholder of an office of a regional firm, as a responsible partner, and as a practice group chair.

His distinguished career also includes serving as general counsel to the Hispanic National Bar Association. Early in his career, Rafael served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Samuel L. Bufford in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

He was a founding faculty member and Associate Professor at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. Prior to becoming a tenure track professor, Rafael was a senior writing fellow at Georgetown University Law Center.

I. Chapter Plan for Diversity and Inclusion | 11:00am – 11:15am

• The FBA will be rolling out the Chapter Plan for Diversity and Inclusion to Chapters nationwide in 2024.
• Explanation of plan
• Call to action – the assistance that will be needed from Chapter leaders
• FBA resources

II. Sections and Divisions Action Plan for Diversity and Inclusion | 11:15am – 11:30am

• The FBA began implementing the Sections and Divisions Action Plan for Diversity and Inclusion in 2023
• Explanation of plan
• Call to action – the assistance that is needed from Section and Division leaders
• FBA resources

III. FBA D&I Communications | 11:30am – 11:45am

• FBA D&I Communications
• Call to action / publication opportunities

IV. Best Practices for Disability Inclusion | 11:45am – 12:00pm

• Q&A with Bill Goren and Katherine Yanes
  • Bill, please introduce yourself and talk about why disability inclusion is a personal and professional mission for you?
  • Bill, how did you get involved with the FBA?
  • What has kept you involved with the FBA?
  • What are your goals for the Working Group you chair, the Disabilities Best Practices Working Group? Have any of those goals been achieved? Can you share any challenges you have encountered?
  • One key aspect of disability inclusion is making in-person and virtual bar events accessible to people with disabilities. Can you talk about what measures bar leaders should take to ensure their in-person and virtual events are accessible, and to ensure that they are able to address reasonable requests for accommodations?
  • Since the start of the pandemic, there have been many more virtual programs and webinars. What have been some experiences you have had with the accessibility of virtual programs, and what would you advise are the most important things organizers of virtual programs can do to ensure they are accessible?
  • What are the top points to keep in mind for in-person programming and accessibility?
  • What can bar leaders do to ensure that their websites, emails, newsletters, and other modes of communication are accessible and user friendly to those with disabilities?
  • Can you talk about what the Disabilities Best Practices Working Group is working on now regarding the accessibility of courts?