Panelists

Thor Alden is the Associate Director of Innovation at Dechert LLP. In his role, he assists with improving the delivery of legal services to enhance client experiences, optimize attorney work product, and improve operations. Thor currently focuses on matters related to generative AI and robotic process automation. Thor was formerly a senior associate within Dechert’s financial services group. He is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B.) and the Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.).

Michael Barker was appointed Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, effective February 1, 2020. As Vice Chancellor and CIO, Mike has responsibility for Carolina’s central IT portfolio. As a member of the Chancellor and Provost’s leadership cabinets, he has a central role in implementing ITS initiatives and objectives in Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good, the University’s strategic plan. Prior to his current role, Mike served as Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Technology Officer in ITS. Mike served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Computing and Learning Technologies from 2013 to 2017, and as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Infrastructure & Operations and Communication Technologies from 2009 to 2013. Before coming to Carolina, Mike served in a variety of IT leadership roles at Florida State University. He is also appointed as Clinical Professor in the School of Information and Library Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill. Mike earned his doctoral degree in philosophy at Florida State University in 1998.

Martin Brinkley is Dean and William Rand Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor at the UNC School of Law. He began his legal career clerking for Judge Sam Ervin on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He practiced for ten years at Moore & Van Allen PLLC in Raleigh before moving to Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP in Raleigh where he specialized in corporate and commercial law. He became dean of the UNC School of Law in 2015. For four years, Martin taught an advanced course in mergers & acquisitions which he designed. He now teaches the law school’s upper-level Business Associations course and co-teaches an upper-level course in Legal History with emeritus Kenan Distinguished Professor John V. Orth. Martin was named an Honorary Master of the Bench for the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple in 2017. He also received the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award from the North Carolina Bar Association in 2017. He served as President of the NCBA 2011-12. Martin has an A.B. in Classics from Harvard University and a J.D. from UNC School of Law.

Nicole Downing is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law and the Assistant Director for Public Services at the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library. She teaches Advanced Legal Research and focuses her reference work on student services through instruction and research assistance. Her scholarly interests include legal research pedagogy and reference instruction, and her article, “The Five-Minute Exercise: A Method for Using Modified Lectures in the Legal Research Classroom”, was recently published in Legal Reference Services Quarterly. Professor Downing previously worked as the Reference and Instructional Services Librarian at the University of Miami Law Library. She earned her B.S. in Marketing Communication and Writing, Literature & Publishing from Emerson College. She then completed her J.D. at the University North Carolina School of Law. After law school, she earned her M.S.L.S. at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science and worked as a Graduate Assistant at the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library.

Jennifer Finnegan is a Senior Vice President and Executive Director with the Professional Services Practice at Aon. As a member of Aon’s loss prevention team, Jenny consults with Aon’s 275+ law firm clients on risk management and professional responsibility and liability issues. Before joining Aon in 2018, Jenny was the general counsel of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, a mid-sized, full-service law firm based in New York. Before taking on the general counsel role, Jenny was a litigation partner at Herrick, focusing her practice on civil litigation for financial institutions and for manufacturers in the pharmaceutical, consumer products, and automotive industries. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a litigator and over 12 years’ experience in defense of professional liability claims. Jenny earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. summa cum laude from The College of New Jersey.  She is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC.

Ken Hammer is the Chief Legal Officer of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions where he manages legal support for this $1B company specializing in retail technology solutions in over 68 countries. Ken began his legal career in 1984 with the IBM Corporation, where he worked primarily in the Personal Computer Division. When IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo, Ken joined Lenovo as its Deputy General Counsel and its first lawyer outside of China. Ken is the past Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and the Mentoring Subcommittee of the North Carolina Bar Association.  He is also a current Board Member of the local chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Ken is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center where he currently serves on its Advisory Board.

Chris Mammen is the Office Managing Partner of Womble Bond Dickinson’s San Francisco office and chairs the firm’s US Intellectual Property Litigation Group. He also serves on the firm’s Global Board as well as the firm’s Innovation Board. Before joining Womble Bond Dickinson in 2019, Chris practiced in the Bay Area offices of several nationally-known law firms. Additionally, Chris has held visiting faculty positions at UC Hastings School of Law, Berkeley Law School, Stanford Law School, and Oxford University. He clerked for Judge Robert Beezer on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Chris serves on the Advisory Boards for the annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute, and for the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. He is also a co-founder and Executive Board member of the global Oxford Entrepreneurs Network, and serves on the Board of Directors of American Friends of University College, Oxford. Chris received his B.A. from Trinity University, his J.D. from Cornell Law School, and PhD from Oxford University.

Peter Nemerovski joined the UNC School of Law faculty in 2017. He teaches Research, Reasoning, Writing, and Advocacy I and II. He has also taught Writing for Practice and Writing for the Bar. Peter has published articles in the Arizona Law Review Syllabus, the Nebraska Law Review, Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, the Journal of Legislation, and The National Jurist. His conference presentations have focused on the feedback and revision process, teaching professionalism, and law faculty hiring. Prior to coming to UNC, he clerked for Judge Damon J. Keith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles and Holland & Knight in Miami. He then taught at the University of Miami School of Law for seven years. Peter received his A.B. from Princeton University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan.

Lissa Broome is the Burton Craige Distinguished Professor, director of the school’s Center for Banking and Finance, faculty adviser to the North Carolina Banking Institute journal, and head of the school’s Director Diversity Initiative, which works to increase the gender, racial, and ethnic diversity on corporate boards of directors. Broome also serves as the University’s Faculty Athletics Representative to the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA. She teaches Banking Law and Secured Transactions. Broome has a degree in finance from the University of Illinois and earned a JD from Harvard Law School.

Thomas Hazen is the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Law. He teaches Business Associations and Securities Regulation and is the author or co-author of casebooks in corporations, corporate finance, broker-dealer regulation, mergers and acquisitions, and securities regulation. Tom is also the author of a widely regarded six-volume treatise on Securities Regulation, a three-volume treatise on derivatives regulation, and a two-volume treatise on broker-dealer law. He has served as an expert witness in a number of high-profile securities cases. Tom received his undergraduate and law degrees from Columbia.