Lecturer Bios
Hon. Manuel J. Mendez
Hon. Manuel J. Mendez is a judge of the New York City Civil Court who also serves on the New York County Supreme Court, Civil Term in the 1st Judicial District and has been designated the New York City Asbestos Litigation Coordinating Judge. He attended Fordham University College of Business, Fordham Law School Foreign Lawyers Program and Universidad Central Del Este School of Law.
Jaipat S. Jain, Esq.
Mr. Jain represents domestic and international technology and other clients in corporate, securities and commercial transactions. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions of private business entities; private securities transactions and regulatory compliance, including exempted offerings; choice, organization and governance of business entities; data protection and privacy law issues; blockchain regulatory compliance; and a wide range of business contracts that includes waterfall and agile software development, licensing of intellectual properties, employment law issues, distribution and supply agreement, working capital and asset-based lending, commercial mortgage lending, leasing and conveyance of commercial real estate, international trade and trade financing, including complex letters of credit.
Mr. Jain regularly assists clients in cross-border transactions, especially between India and the United States where, in addition to assisting clients in corporate matters, he also works with them in dispute resolution. He has successfully represented clients in state and federal commercial litigations and arbitrations and in ICC arbitrations. Similarly, he has worked with U.S. corporations with transactions and dispute resolution involving India.
Mr. Jain is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of various New York, national and international bar associations and professional organizations. These include the New York City Bar (member of the Council on International Affairs, the Information Technology and Cyber Law Committee, former Chair of the Asian Affairs Committee), the American Bar Association (member of the Legal Opinions Committee, Business Law Section, and the Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions), the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and the International Technology Law Association.
Mr. Jain has in the past served for several years as the executive chair of the board of trustees and president of Siddhachalam, a preeminent Jain institution and pilgrimage place in North America. He has also been a member of the board of directors of the South Asian Bar Association and TIE, a community of entrepreneurs. He is a frequent speaker at business and law conferences in the U.S. and abroad and has chaired continuing legal education programs for the New York City Bar on Blockchain for Lawyers (2018) and Doing Business in India (2013 and 2014).
Ksenia Portnoy
Ksenia Portnoy is general counsel and chief compliance officer at Mizuho Alternative Investments LLC, She received her LLM from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
Daniela Paez, Esq.
Daniela Paez is an associate at Herbert Smith Freehills in their New York office specializing in dispute resolution in the fields of oil & gas, mining and infrastructure. Daniela is qualified to practice law in Ecuador and the State of New York. She speaks Spanish, English and is proficient in French. Daniela graduated summa cum laude and second of her class from San Francisco de Quito University. She obtained an LLM from Harvard Law School in 2015.Daniela currently serves as assistant editor for Latin America for Kluwer Arbitration Blog. Prior to joining Herbert Smith Freehills, Daniela worked as an associate in the Ecuadorian law firm Pérez Bustamante & Ponce. She has local experience working in Latin America and dealing with clients from Europe, the U.S. and Asia looking for business opportunities in the region. Apart from acting as counsel in commercial and investment arbitrations, Daniela's practice is focused on advising clients doing business in Latin America on the protection of their investment and potential avenues to enforce its rights as foreign investors under international law.
Francesca Ciarrocchi
Francesca Ciarrocchi is a compliance attorney at the Municipal Credit Union. She received an LLM from Brooklyn Law School, a law degree from University of Bologna and a Diploma di Ragioneria from Istituto Tecnico Commerciale G.B. Carducci.