HAARTS 2023

List of 4 news stories.

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  MONICA LIRA BRAVO ’99

  Founder and Managing Attorney, Lira Bravo Law
  
  

  Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Monica Lira Bravo is the founder and managing attorney of Lira Bravo Law. Her practice focuses on family-based visa petitions, citizenship, removal defense, humanitarian visas, asylum, and is expanding to employment-based immigration. She has been named to D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas in 2016-2023. She was named to Dallas Business Journal 40 under 40 list in 2020. 

   

  Monica Lira Bravo was elected to the Dallas College Board of Trustees in June 2016 and has served as Board Chair since December 2020.  During her term in office, Dallas College has increased its enrollment in critical fields and developed new high-demand programs which lead to jobs. During this time Dallas College has become more student-centric due to the development of initiatives such as Dallas County Promise, the expansion of Early College High Schools, new industry partnerships and the transition from seven colleges to one. Her district covers East Dallas, Mesquite, Pleasant Grove, Balch Springs and Seagoville. 

   

  Monica currently serves as the Board Chair of the Callejo Botello Foundation Board and is on the Dallas Arboretum Board of Directors. She is a Past President of the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, a past fellow of the inaugural class of Latino Center for Leadership Development, as well as founding chair of the Dallas Bar Association Immigration law section. Her prior service includes the State Bar of Texas, District 6 Grievance Committee; the Dallas Bar Association Board of Directors; the Hispanic National Bar Association Board of Governors; Southeast Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; City of Dallas Judicial Nominating Commission; Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico Board of Directors; and Hockaday Alumnae Board.  

   

  Monica earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in French from Southern Methodist University and her Juris Doctor from Texas Tech University School of Law.  She lives in East Dallas with her husband and three daughters.   
• 

  KATYA JESTIN ’87

  Co-Managing Partner, Jenner & Block
  
  

  As Jenner & Block's Co-Managing Partner, Katya Jestin provides clear leadership and direction for the firm, with an unwavering commitment to its core values, including its promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion.

   

  Katya's experienced and strategic guidance fosters a sense of calm and order for entities or individuals facing amajor crisis. A former Assistant United States Attorney, she represents clients in high-stakes criminal, regulatory, and congressional investigations. In addition, Katya helps companies, executives and boards conduct sensitive internal investigations on matters ranging from global compliance to culture risk. Katya represents clients before the US Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Known as a diligent and honest fact-finder, she brings credibility to her clients' dealings with government investigators and prosecutors. Outside the investigative context, clients rely on her insight when building efficient and sustainable compliance programs.

   

  As an Assistant US Attorney and supervisor in the Criminal Division of the Eastern District of New York, Katya investigated and prosecuted fraud, money laundering, and other white-collar offenses. She prosecuted leaders of three of the five Mafia organized crime families and served as co-counsel in the RICO prosecution of Gambino boss Peter Gotti and 16 co-defendants.
  
  
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  THE HONORABLE ANAR RATHOD PATEL ’00

  Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York / New York State Judiciary
  
  

  The Honorable Anar Rathod Patel was appointed on June 3, 2022, to the New York State Court of Claims by New York Governor Kathy Hochul and confirmed by the New York State Senate in a unanimous vote.  Upon her appointment, Judge Patel was designated as an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.   

   

  Prior to ascending to the judiciary, Judge Patel was Counsel in the Litigation Department of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York (2010 to 2022), where she practiced in the areas of complex commercial litigation and government and internal investigations.  She represented and advised corporate clients in connection with contract disputes, securities laws, and mergers and acquisitions, as well as multinational corporations, boards, and individuals in connection with matters of global compliance, anti-corruption, internal investigations, criminal prosecutions, regulatory enforcement actions, and related civil litigation.  Judge Patel was actively involved in the Firm’s pro bono efforts, with experience working on federal criminal cases, as well as immigration, asylum, and removal proceedings.  Judge Patel also served as an adjunct law professor at Columbia University Law School, where she taught Legal Writing.   

   

  Judge Patel received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law in 2010, where she was the Associate Editor of the Northwestern University Law Review.  She earned her Bachelor of Science, with honors and distinction from Cornell University in 2004. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable William F. Kuntz, II of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.  She also served a summer law clerk to the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn of the Northern District of Texas.  Prior to entering law school, Judge Patel worked in the investment banking industry at Lehman Brothers and Rothschild, Inc.  
  
  

  Judge Patel is an active member of the Federal Bar Council, New York City Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association of New York, Westchester Women’s Bar Association, and the Bronxville Police & Community Relations Committee.  Judge Patel was raised in Sherman, Texas and graduated from The Hockaday School in 2000.  Her parents are Drs. Kamal and Minaxi Rathod, both of whom remain active in the Hockaday community.  She lives with her husband, Sanil Patel, and their three children, Lyla (age 9), Zane (age 7), and Shay (age 5) in Bronxville, New York.   

   

   
• 

  AMBER WEBB SIMS ’03

  Assistant Vice President, Senior Legal Counsel in Litigation for AT&T
  
  

  Attorney. Speaker. Writer. Abolitionist.  As a trial lawyer with nearly 100 first chair jury trials, Amber is among the top attorneys in Texas as measured by actual cases tried. But her gift and passion are empowering people through making complicated, intimidating information understandable, engaging, practical, and fun. This passion has extended beyond the courtroom to topics such as theology, politics, and social justice. 

   

  After graduating from The Hockaday School in 2003, Amber earned a B.A. in Political Science from The George Washington University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from Texas Tech University School of Law. She worked briefly as an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas County during the tenure of Craig Watkins, the first African-American elected District Attorney in the State of Texas. Her primary field of practice is insurance defense litigation, and Amber has worked in a top insurance defense law firm as well as for three of the largest carriers in the country.  Amber is the Assistant Vice President, Senior Legal Counsel in Litigation for AT&T, and her responsibilities include handling personal injury, premises liability, catastrophic loss, wrongful death, and commercial dispute cases in the six states that make up old Southwestern Bell. 

   

  In her spare time, Amber co-hosts the Broke-ish podcast with Erika Brown, and they discuss the systemic and interpersonal impacts of racism and injustice on the Black community.  She also regularly appears on radio shows, virtual events, and churches – discussing a wide range of issues. Amber lives in Prosper, Texas with her husband, and they have a blended family of six children.