Alumni Mentors
As a graduate of AUWCL, we are pleased to provide you with resources, networks, programs, and individual counseling to assist you in your lifelong pursuit of career and professional development. WCL Alumni Mentors serve a critical role in this regard by helping students and fellow alumni grow their networks and solicit career advice. With nearly 1,000 WCL Alumni Mentor participants, you can Search the Database to enhance your network and Join the Database to share your expertise.
Mentor of the Month
Name: Louis Leibowitz, WCL 2000
Employer: Montgomery County Circuit Court
Title: Associate Judge
Practice Area: Judicial / Civil and Criminal Litigation
Louis Leibowitz was appointed to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland in 2022. On the Circuit Court, Judge Leibowitz handles a wide variety of family, civil, and criminal cases. He loves going to work where he serves his community every day.
Originally from Wayne, NJ, Judge Leibowitz graduated from Tufts and then WCL. He clerked for (now retired) Judge Gerald Fisher in DC Superior Court. Judge Leibowitz then served as a public defender in Montgomery County where he provided legal representation to over 5,000 indigent defendants and was honored with the Outstanding Public Defender award.
Judge Leibowitz left the Public Defender’s Office to work as an attorney at a large law firm in Montgomery County where he focused on civil litigation. Thereafter, he operated a solo practice for nearly 11 years before becoming a judge. He had a varied private practice that also included a wide assortment of criminal, civil, and family matters. As an active WCL Alumni Mentor, Judge Leibowitz embraces the opportunity to connect with WCL students and fellow alumni to assist in promoting their professional development.
Past Alumni Mentors

Pamela Deese
Pam’s intellectual property representation includes counseling patent pools and other IP owners in developing and maintaining strategic licensing programs and maintaining IP portfolios. Her work also includes advertising review and litigation for consumer products companies. She provides counsel with respect to the creation, negotiation and enforcement of licenses and related agreements, management of worldwide IP rights, as well as representation involving counterfeiting issues, privacy, sweepstakes and promotions, celebrity endorsements, and litigating related business disputes. Pam also teaches IP Licensing as an Adjunct Professor at WCL.
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Pooja Krumenacker
Since graduating WCL in 2003, Pooja enjoyed a diverse legal practice before segueing into the legal recruiting and career coaching industries. In 2010, she launched Balanced Legal Solutions—a woman-owned minority business that for the past 12 years has focused on providing advice and services to attorneys and law students to help them navigate the myriad of legal career options.
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Amigo Wade
Amigo has spent his entire legal career in government service. He began with the Division of Legislative Services in 1997, and then as Manager of the Finance, Government and Administration Section and Deputy Director. In 2021, he was appointed as the Division's Director. Amigo is an award-winning instructor with the National Certified Investigator Training program of the Council on Licensure, Enforcement & Regulation and has instructed in over 120 programs held throughout the US and Canada.
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Hannah Pagán
Hannah Pagán is Corporate Counsel on the Slack commercial legal team. She negotiates sales contracts with customers for subscribing to the Slack communication and productivity platform and associated services. Prior to Salesforce and Slack, she was Counsel at CoStar Realty Information, Inc., supporting sales contracts for their many products. Before landing in commercial contracts, Hannah also worked in house at Wellstat, a biopharmaceutical firm in Rockville, MD, and at Obsidian Analysis, a government consulting firm in downtown DC.
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Rebecca Geller
Rebecca is an award-winning attorney, a philanthropist, a trailblazer, and a passionate advocate for equality and human rights. She’s also a devoted wife, mom to three young kids + a dog, and community leader. In 2011, Rebecca formed The Geller Law Group with a business model that makes sense for working parents and embraces new roles both women and men are taking in their homes and communities. The firm has been featured in The NY Times and DC Bar Magazine and as among the Best 100 Places to Work in the DC area.
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Ryan Gofus
Ryan is the co-founder of Rampart Real Estate Partners, a veteran owned real estate investment firm focused on acquiring industrial real estate. Prior to Rampart, Ryan worked as an Associate attorney at Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP where he represented institutional investors and individual owners in a wide range of commercial real estate transactions, including the acquisition, disposition, leasing, and financing of office buildings, hotels, warehouses, and mixed-use development projects. After graduating from Georgetown University and WCL, Ryan served in the Army as a Judge Advocate (JAG) where he represented Soldiers and advised Commanders.
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Chelsy Castro
After graduating with her JD/MA from American University, Chelsy practiced law as a multilingual attorney in the field of international regulatory compliance. Motivated to help her colleagues and the legal field know, feel, and do better, she pursued her clinical degree at the University of Chicago and shifted her focus from practicing law to helping other lawyers practice happier, healthier, and more productively. Prior to launching CJPC, Chelsy designed, developed, and managed clinical and outreach programs and provided psychotherapy for lawyers, judges, and law students as a Director and clinician for the Lawyers’ Assistance Program (LAP).
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Emily Livingston
Emily Livingston is a 2005 graduate from WCL. She worked as an Assistant Public Defender in Montgomery County, MD for 6 years before working in the United States Senate. Emily worked as Counsel for Senator Shaheen (D-NH) and Senior Counsel for Senator Leahy’s staff on the Judiciary Committee. She currently works as a Manager at Deloitte in their Government and Public Services practice.
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Jason Baum
Jason is the Director of Compliance in the Athletic Department at the University of Virginia where he manages aspects of the name, image and likeness program, and oversees various areas of compliance for 27 varsity sports. He had significant input in the NCAA v. Alston Supreme Court case and also provides legislative guidance to his Department. Prior to UVA, Jason worked in athletic compliance at Southern University, University of Maryland and Howard University. After graduating from WCL he served as a senior law clerk to the Honorable Michele Hotten while she was on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and the Prince George's County Circuit Court.
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Diana Santos
Diana is currently in her final semester of her MSW program at VCU. Upon graduation she intends to go into private practice as a psychotherapist helping individuals coping with anxiety, perfectionism, body image and eating concerns, career changes, and working with couples around infidelity, low desire, or those considering polyamory.
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Major Charlie Fowler
Major Charlie Fowler (WCL '11) is a Future Concepts Officer at the Future Concepts Directorate, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Charlottesville, VA, where he focuses on: the application of the law to future conflicts; developing and reviewing Army, joint, and multinational doctrine; and the design and development requirements to field a globally-responsive future JAG Corps.
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Tina Goel
With the keen understanding that immigration law is as much a human concern as a business one—with real impacts for real people—Tina Goel brings a holistic approach to her practice, employing a “big picture” assessment of her clients’ particular situations and long-term goals when developing strategies to help them navigate the U.S. immigration system and achieve success.
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Zarema Jaramillo
Zarema's practice focuses on complex antitrust matters including government investigations, M&A transactions, and complex litigation, including high-stakes class action defense. She regularly advises clients on enforcement matters before state and federal agencies and on competition issues, including refusals to deal, distribution and franchising restraints, tying arrangements, price discrimination, exclusive dealing, joint ventures, and trade association activities.
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Adam Fernandez
Adam is the Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement at Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). Adam manages L4GG's policy team building materials to help lawyers advocate for social change and the Lawyers for Racial Justice initiative's building partnerships with civil and human rights organizations to ensure equal and equitable rights, opportunities, and justice for all.
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Shaoli S. Katana
Shaoli is the Director of Member Experience and Programs at the MD State Bar Association where she focuses on digital and in-person member outreach, service, and delivery of conferences and events. Her work includes holistic member engagement to support all legal professionals.
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Kian Ronnasi
Kian has spent his professional career at the intersection of venture capital, start-ups, and alternative investments. He is a WCL and Kogod Business School alumnus who graduated in 2018 with a JD/MBA. Upon graduation, Kian served as Co-Founder and Vice President for Abaci Group, Inc. Abaci is an interactive financial technology platform that utilizes machine learning to revolutionize the private equity workflow.
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Joan M. Bondareff
In addition to serving Of Counsel at Blank Rome LLP, Joan Chairs the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority (“VOWDA”)--an appointment by Virginia Governors Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam, where she promotes offshore wind and renewable energy for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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Prietta Booker
Prietta is Associate Director, Business & Legal Affairs at 300 Entertainment, home to such artist as Young Thug, Gunna, and Megan Thee Stallion. She drafts and negotiates various agreements relating to the publishing and recorded music business, including recording and publishing agreements, synchronization agreements, sponsorship and brand agreements, and digital marketing agreements. She also counsels on business and commercial matters primarily in the areas of entertainment, intellectual property, technology and media.
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