2024-03-25 David Sanford’s Thank You Note re The Firm’s 20th Anniversary Partner Retreat

The Firm held its 20th Anniversary Partner Retreat last month for four days in New York City. Our 26 partners were joined by some of our more senior attorneys (Kate MacMullin, Alok Nadig, and Michael Lockman), Of Counsel (Bob Sullivan, Kristi McGregor, Paul Knight, and Scott Sullivan), senior staff (Alec, Khali, Lori, Erika, Kiara, and Paul Brownfield), two of our fellows (Emma Stanton and Elias Shultz), who presented with Jeremy on wage and hour issues, Luciano Marsalli and his friend, Amanda Kengor, who provided musical accompaniment at our kickoff dinner, our fabulous four De Niro matter Legal Assistants (Jamila, Alex, Annabelle, and Yuwen), and many of our attorneys and staff who joined remotely for some sessions.

Along with long days of substantive sessions, we had great meals at Delmonico’s, Katz’s Deli, Locanda Verde, and the Beekman Hotel, where we stayed and held the retreat’s meetings. We also had 5 days of videos, superbly accomplished by the Scorpion team led by Tyler Parkinson, and an entire day of photography for new website headshots.

Throughout the retreat, we held 25 presentations led by 72 presenters (some presenting more than one time). The presenters included many of our dearest friends who have supported the Firm in so many ways throughout many—and in some cases all—of the Firm’s 20 years of existence. We want to thank those friends here:

• Marty Scheinman, mediator extraordinaire who has assisted parties in conflict around the country for decades and has done that work at the highest level of the profession.
• Bob Sullivan, my father-in-law whom I love dearly and former partner at Polsinelli for decades, who is a great legal mind and an even better person.
• Scott Jacobson, our insurance guru, who treated me to a Knicks game before the retreat and a sushi feast with Martha Stewart before the game (it was only during the Knicks game when Stewart was presented on the jumbotron courtside did we realize we sat next to her, spoke with her for over an hour, and had no clue who she was).
• Paul Knight, our Firm’s ethics muse since 2005, and who just this month has joined our Firm as Of Counsel.
• Hy Hetherington, one of our Firm’s great overall supporters, who regaled us with his thoughts on creativity and presence.
• Michael Hardy, our Firm’s technology expert and overall wise person, who works closely with Alec every day of every year to keep our Firm safe and operating better today than yesterday.
• Jenifer Rajkumar, former Firm associate, star Democrat, current member of the NY State Assembly for the 38th District, and first Indian-American woman ever elected to a NY State Office.
• Cristina Yanucci and Jamie Wozman, the Firm’s superb outside counsel, who represent the Firm with magical powers and legal brilliance.
• Professor Scott Sullivan, my brother-in-law whom I love dearly and who, like his father (and his two sisters), is a brilliant lawyer.
• Lee Zeidman, who helped Chase Robinson prepare for trial against De Niro and who understands emotional intelligence and is an expert in teaching clients how to tap into theirs and use it.
• Paul Zukowski, who has been with us since day 1 of the Firm and helps manage the Firm’s financial operations behind the scenes.
• Ray McLeod and Maria Obregon, our go-to trial consultants and guides.
• Trisha Costa, who works with FindLaw and assists Lori in all of our marketing efforts.

We were also joined by some clients, who kindly agreed to be filmed for Firm testimonials:

• Mo Lovett, currently a partner at King and Spalding and who was in-house counsel at her former Firm when we settled gender discrimination claims against that firm.
• Elly Rosenthal, former CFO of Proskauer who brought a successful gender
  discrimination and retaliation matter in the S.D.N.Y.
• Donna Kassman, lead counsel in our successful gender discrimination class action against KPMG.
• Enrichetta Ravina, former Columbia Business School professor who won her gender discrimination case at trial in the S.D.N.Y.
• Jackie de Vegvar, who we helped settle a gender discrimination matter.
• Chase Robinson, former executive assistant to Robert De Niro who won her retaliation lawsuit at trial in the S.D.N.Y.

Special thanks go Jamie Moss, without whom we still would have had the retreat in New York and with whom and because of Jamie we accomplished everything we set out to accomplish and did so without a hitch. Jamie worked virtually full-time for over one month leading up the retreat to coordinate with all of the vendors (hotel, catering, transportation, videographers, photographer, staff, restaurants, and so much more). She is already working on the next partner retreat, which will likely be held next year in Scottsdale, Arizona.

If I left out anyone from this extraordinary list of friends, I apologize. To everyone who helped make our retreat so successful, we cannot thank you enough.