LexVid is honored to unveil the recipients of our 2024 Faculty Awards, recognizing exceptional legal educators who have redefined the standards of continuing legal education through their dedication, expertise, and innovative contributions. This year’s awardees exemplify excellence in providing attorneys with the tools and knowledge to thrive in a dynamic legal landscape.
Honoring Excellence in Legal Education
The annual LexVid Faculty Awards recognize instructors who have gone above and beyond to create engaging, practical, and forward-thinking CLE courses. These individuals have demonstrated:
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Expertise in their Practice Areas: Sharing up-to-date, specialized knowledge to help attorneys navigate complex legal challenges.
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Innovative Teaching Methods: Utilizing creative approaches to make learning accessible, engaging, and impactful.
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Commitment to the Legal Community: Providing valuable insights and practical skills that empower attorneys to better serve their clients and communities.
2024 Award Recipients
This year, we are proud to honor the following educators:
Best New Faculty
Isabel Gram, Constant Counsel
Isabel passionately believes in building a progressive law firm that delivers quality legal services to businesses on a flat fee basis and a world where attorneys don’t track their hours. She brings 19 years of experience as a practicing attorney to her clients. She has represented hundreds of business owners throughout the years in business sales, commercial contracts, real estate matters and as a “fractional” corporate counsel. She proudly served as Chief Counsel and a senior executive at a multi-honored, Inc. 5000 fastest growing company from 2013 to 2018 before starting Constant Counsel. Isabel lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband Ken and two daughters. She is originally from Ottawa, Canada and moved to Arizona in 2004 in search of sunny skies and palm trees. When she’s not obsessing about serving business owners and growing companies, she is running to basketball and karate practices, going on date nights and spending time in the red rocks of Sedona.
Marlo Lyons, Marlo Lyons Coaching
Marlo Lyons, a California licensed attorney, and globally certified executive, career, and team coach, has spent the past two decades providing expertise in professional and leadership development for companies and law firms alike. Drawing from her background as a lawyer and former business and HR executive in industries from insurance and entertainment to tech and MedTech, Marlo brings a multifaceted perspective in coaching executives to unlock their potential. Her extensive experience and legal background uniquely positions her to understand the intricacies of leadership challenges within the legal profession. Marlo is not only an acclaimed author and public speaker but also a sought-after expert on topics crucial to the legal profession, such as aligning career paths with personal values, combating burnout, fostering resilience, managing stress, achieving work-life balance, and prioritizing overall well-being. Through her transformative approach, Marlo equips lawyers and law firms with the tools needed to navigate the complexities of the legal landscape while thriving both personally and professionally.
Top Rated Faculty
Justin Clark, J. Clark Law Firm
Justin Clark’s practice focuses on trademark law and how businesses and individuals can create and protect their brands. In this capacity, he helps clients prepare and prosecute trademarks, enforce trademarks, and license their marks to maximize value and exposure. He has prepared numerous trademark applications, responded to office actions, and represented clients before the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Jeffrey Cunningham, Cohen Vaughan
Jeffrey Cunningham focuses his practice on counseling and defending attorneys, accountants, and other industry professionals in a wide range of professional liability matters. With nearly 10 years of experience, Jeff draws on a broad background in civil litigation including commercial disputes, malpractice claims, directors and officers (D&O) liability, employment and labor law, catastrophic personal injury, premises liability, and product liability. He has extensive experience in both state and federal courts and in all phases of litigation, including conducting depositions, hearings, arbitrations, mediations, and trials.
Prior to entering private practice, Jeff was a legal intern for the Queens District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted misdemeanors and violations in Queens Criminal Court under the supervision of assistant district attorneys for Fordham Law’s Prosecution Clinic. He also spent time as a legal intern with the U.S. Attorney’s Office South District of New York Criminal Division.
Steven R. Fox, Fox Law
Steven R. Fox brings the title “counselor” back to the legal profession. His clients quickly recognize that they need more than legal advice – they need business and personal guidance during a time of financial crisis. Although Mr. Fox limits his legal practice to bankruptcy and reorganization matters, he frequently counsels business owners on how to avoid bankruptcy court proceedings and, instead, use other strategies to turn their businesses around and make them prosper. It is also not unusual for the media to seek out his opinions on reorganization and bankruptcy topics.
Mr. Fox has counseled businesses and individuals facing financial challenges since 1988. He is highly experienced in the complex areas of bankruptcy law and Chapter 11 Reorganization. Reorganization is not simply a group of statutes. Reorganization calls for understanding the rhythms of businesses, understanding why creditors do what they do, identifying strategies which either frustrate the goals and aims of creditors who seek to harm the debtor businesses or strategies which allow debtor businesses and their creditors to prosper, understanding why other players in the bankruptcy arena act in certain ways and getting the judges to yes.
As the principal of The Law Offices of Steven R. Fox, Mr. Fox represents businesses and individuals in and out of court in all aspects of the insolvency and reorganization process.
Mr. Fox is active in professional organizations relevant to his practice and is a leader in legal community. He chairs the Bankruptcy Section of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association where he is known for presenting timely and compelling programming. He is a member of the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. In the early 2000s, recognizing a need for new attorneys practicing consumer bankruptcy law to have a forum to learn and to grow in their field, Mr. Fox became one of the founders of the Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Association in Los Angeles.
Jeffrey S. Gard, Gard Law Firm
For the last two decades, Jeffrey S. Gard has litigated hundreds of cases, many through trial, in both state and federal courts. He also successfully litigated and argued cases before the Colorado Court of Appeals and the Colorado Supreme Court.
Jeff was one of the pioneers in the field of marijuana law and worked with the Colorado legislature to pass the statutes that govern the Colorado marijuana industry. Since the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized adult possession and cultivation of marijuana in Colorado, Jeff has been working with federal, state, and local officials in developing regulations for the retail marijuana industry and was appointed by the state to participate in the rule-making progress. He now shares his knowledge and experience with other attorneys and has taught numerous legal seminars in the topic of marijuana business and law. Jeff co-authored a book on Marijuana Law titled “Medicolegal Aspects of Marijuana: Colorado Edition,” published March 2015. Jeff’s firm, Gard Law Firm, was voted the Best Law Firm in Boulder numerous times. Jeff has also been named a Colorado Top Lawyer in the field of Marijuana Law by 5280 Magazine.
Darshan Kulkarni, Kulkarni Law Firm
Darshan Kulkarni has more than two decades of experience helping companies regulated by the Food and Drug Administration to develop, protect and distribute their products and innovations. Having been a pharmacist for more than 10 years, he has substantive technical experience that makes him uniquely equipped to assist clients across all stages of the product development process, including regulatory strategy, clinical trial, genericization, manufacturing and FDA reviews and compliance benchmarks. Additionally, Darshan advises on advertising requirements for FDA regulated products including drugs, cosmetics, foods and medical devices.
As a thought leader in his field, Darshan has authored chapters on federal regulatory laws surrounding drug advertising, medical devices, pharmacy compounding and reimbursement for several publications by the American Bar Association. He has taught courses on regulatory documents, bioethics and the promotion of biomedical products for medical writers at Philadelphia’s University of the Sciences and he is currently a Visiting Professor at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado where he lectures on clinical research issues.
Darshan has served as global corporate counsel for an international pharmaceutical holding company where he spearheaded engagements with the FDA. He was also a Vice President of Regulatory Strategy & Policy for a global venture-backed consulting company and General Counsel/Chief Compliance Officer for a venture -backed health technology company.
Michael R. Overly, Foley & Lardner LLP
Michael R. Overly is a partner and intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP where he focuses on drafting and negotiating technology related agreements, software licenses, hardware acquisition, development, disaster recovery, outsourcing agreements, information security agreements, e-commerce agreements, and technology use policies. He counsels clients in the areas of technology acquisition, information security, electronic commerce, and on-line law. Michael is a member of the Technology Transactions, Cybersecurity, and Privacy and Privacy, Security & Information Management Practices.
Michael is one of the few practicing lawyers who has satisfied the rigorous requirements necessary to obtain the Certified Information System Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP), Certified Risk and Information System Controls (CRISC), and Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP) certifications.
Mr. Overly was recognized as a 2023 Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer after being nominated as an outstanding lawyer by his clients as part of Thomson Reuters' global research with in-house counsel. In 2010 - 2015, The Legal 500 recognized Mr. Overly for his information technology work in the U.S. In 2005, he was selected for inclusion in the Southern California Super Lawyers® list and also was honored by Los Angeles Magazine for this recognition. In addition, Mr. Overly was recognized by Chambers USA for his IT & outsourcing work (2013 - 2016).
Lisa L. Pittman, Pittman Legal
Lisa is the founder of Pittman Legal, a Texas firm specializing in representing companies and people across the cannabis supply chain on operational, corporate, regulatory, licensing, and litigation issues, such as partnership disputes, breach of contract, and product liability.
Risk management and mitigation are the name of the game in cautiously scaling a business in an environment of the unknown involving constantly evolving laws and policies.
From the inception of the Texas Compassionate Use Act of 2015, Lisa has advocating for patient access and representing businesses in competitive medical marijuana licensing, investment, corporate structure, contracts, compliance, marketing strategies, FDA labeling guidance, governmental and overall proactive risk prevention strategies to prevent incurring law enforcement or administrative action and lawsuits.
Lisa spent two years in Colorado under the predecessor 2014 Farm Bill Pilot Program, and thoroughly learned the entire cannabis industry in one of the most mature state legal markets while obtaining her Colorado Bar License. She worked to help get Texas’ Hemp Act passed in 2019, and in 2020, was appointed to the Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner’s Industrial Hemp Advisory Council. That year she was also appointed to Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy’s Drug Policy Program as a Non-Resident Fellow. In 2020 Lisa earned the National Law Journal 2020 Trailblazer Award for Cannabis Law, and the Texas Lawyer Trailblazer Award.
Scott D.H. Redman is a Chicago corporate attorney with over thirty years of experience in various highly regulated industries such as banking, gaming and food manufacturing. Scott, a native of Illinois, and graduate of University of Illinois (BA 86, JD 89 magna cum laude), has been successful in guiding his clients through transactions and business opportunities by utilizing his ability to focus on the key aspects of a situation and distilling them to understandable and resolvable elements. His clients include Chicago-area financial institutions and food manufacturers, U.S. and international hotels, resorts and casinos and their management companies, and a variety of high-tech ventures in fields such as telecommunications, chemical generation and application, and oil and gas exploration.
Scott is a frequent speaker on various topics within his expertise and has written presentation materials that attendees often refer to for years. He is regularly asked by clients and industry participants to present or train on key topics.
Scott is also the founder of Recann Advisory Group, LLC, a Chicago-based adult use cannabis license application consultancy that focuses on assisting clients in preparing responsive, engaging and compliant Illinois adult use cannabis license applications. Recann’s multi-disciplinary approach includes not only Scott’s experience, but also the knowledge and talents of cannabis professionals, award winning writers and editors, and LEED® accredited architects and sustainability experts.
Top Live Faculty
Michael DeBlis III, DeBlis Law
Michael is a trial lawyer. He graduated Cum Laude from The Thomas M. Cooley Law School and Summa Cum Laude from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law with his Masters of Law in Taxation. Michael is known for his charismatic personality and his unyielding dedication to his clients.
Michael spent the first five years of his legal career as a public defender in the NJ Office of the Public Defender cutting his teeth on some of the most serious felony cases to pass through the state courts of New Jersey. He then joined his father's law practice, DeBlis Law, expanding the practice into civil tax controversies and international tax compliance.
As a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College, Michael has trained under some of the best-known criminal defense attorneys in the country. That experience has taught him that justice for a person accused of a crime is only won through a full understanding of the client and the case.
When he's not in the courtroom, you can find Michael on stage. As a professionally trained actor, Michael's passionate about helping trial lawyers harness the power of persuasion and positive communication in the courtroom in order to connect to the jury on a human level. Michael's training as an actor allows him to combine a unique blend of left-brain thinking with right brain artistry to make even the most dull and abstract areas of the law come to life.
Kirby Drake, Kirby Drake Law
Kirby Drake is experienced in all areas of intellectual property law, including trade secret, patent, trademark, copyright and confidential information matters. She focuses primarily on intellectual property litigation and patent prosecution, addressing a broad range of technologies, including chemical, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, aerospace, and computer-related matters. Kirby has a wide range of litigation experience, largely focused on patent litigation, having been an integral part of trial teams working on matters from the initial filing phase through trial, both on the plaintiff as well as on the defense side. She also has significant experience in electronic discovery in various types of litigation matters, including managing various e-discovery platforms; she also regularly writes and speaks on the subject and recently taught a law school course on Principles of E-Discovery. Kirby has experience handling inter partes reviews and other post-grant proceedings in the Patent Office. She also has experience evaluating patents in patent due diligence for freedom to operate prior to launching a new product or technology, as well as in the context of corporate transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions where patents are involved. Kirby earned a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in chemistry from Duke University.
Daya Naef, Daya Naef, LLC
Daya J. Naef, Esq. is a third-generation member of the Construction and Real Estate industries. At an early age she gained experience working with her family’s residential construction company and was in close contact with relatives working as realtors, brokers, interior designers, developers and commercial contractors. When she decided to pursue her legal career, specializing in construction was a natural fit. Since 1999 she has represented general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, owners, developers, condominium associations, property managers, design professionals, agencies, associations and municipalities/non-governmental organizations.
Daya has a stellar reputation for seeing a job through from start to finish. She is proficient in drafting and reviewing construction contracts, preparing and filing liens/releases and bond/insurance claims. In addition, Daya can handle business formations, office and site set-ups, real estate transactions, title opinions and reviews, compliance audits, municipal and state taxing issues, board complaints and multi-party mediation.
Anne Marie Schubert, Schubert Strategies
Anne Marie Schubert is the founder and President of Schubert Strategies, a Sacramento based firm, specializing in a wide variety of consultation services. Anne Marie is a nationally recognized public safety leader, having spent 32 years as a career prosecutor and Elected District Attorney. While Anne Marie may be best known for the successful investigation, arrest and conviction of the Golden State Killer, Anne Marie’s passion, persistence and determination in the pursuit of justice led her to become one of the nation’s most respected and effective public safety and policy advocates.
As an Elected District Attorney and career prosecutor, Anne Marie developed an impeccable reputation both in the courtroom and in the community. Her decades of experience in forensic DNA and cold cases has gained her international recognition. Her experience in high profile cases, crisis management and public speaking has resulted in leaders across the globe seeking her consultation.
Using her experience, leadership, and deep relationships, Anne Marie brings strategic solutions to a wide array of clients, including public safety and business ventures.
Cari Sheehan, Taft Law
With over 15 years of legal experience in civil litigation, conflicts of interest, and professional responsibility, Cari serves as the Assistant General Counsel at Taft Law. In this role, she advises firm attorneys with respect to ethics compliance, risk prevention, and conflicts of interest. In addition, she assists in the review and negotiation of outside counsel guidelines, conflict waivers and engagement letters, and other items with ethical implications. In addition, she assists in providing ethical training and education within the firm to its attorneys and staff.
Cari is an Adjunct Professor at the IU Robert H. McKinney School where she teaches Professional Responsibility. She is also a former Assistant Clinical Professor of Business Law and Ethics at the Kelley School of Business. She is passionate about promoting ethical awareness, integrity, and professionalism in the legal and business fields and contributing to the advancement of knowledge and practice in these domains.
Cari is a frequent presenter and author on ethics and professionalism in the legal industry. She is a reoccurring author with the Res Gestae regarding the Ethics Curbstone and has been quoted in publications for her knowledge on ethical topics. Cari is also an avid speaker having given over 200 seminars on ethics and professionalism for various local and national platforms. Her primary area of research is regarding the ethics of AI and how it affects the legal and business community
Looking Ahead
At LexVid, we remain committed to supporting the professional growth of attorneys through high-quality CLE programs. Our faculty members are at the heart of this mission, and we’re honored to work alongside such talented educators.
Congratulations to all our 2024 award recipients! Your dedication inspires us and the legal community to reach new heights.