Brief Encounters

Gaëlle Bastien, steering committee member of the D.C. Bar Early Career Lawyer Community, sits down with D.C. Bar President Sadina Montani, Partner at Crowell & Moring LLP. The two discuss law school misconceptions, imposter syndrome, and advice they wish they had known when starting their 1L years. Register Here for our free Back to Law School Mixer on September 9 at the D.C. Bar Headquarters!...

In this episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, joins William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, for a timely conversation with Michelle Heisner, Partner at Baker McKenzie LLP and a member of the Firm's Global Corporate and...

In the latest episode of the series, "Intersections: Energy and Environmental Issues in Law and Tech," Cathy Pagano of the Women's Bar of Association of D.C. (WBA) interviews Cindy McCabe, Director of Renewable Energy Programs at the Montgomery County Green Bank, located in Maryland. Cindy explains all about Green Banks, and she shares her office's efforts to accelerate energy ef...

In this episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, joins William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, for a timely conversation with Kate Ring, Chief Compliance Officer at Stash Financial. Stash is a fintech platform serving over 1....

In this episode of Season 2 of the Securities Regulation and Enforcement Series, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association chat with Hollie Mason, Esq., Managing Director at Secretariat Advisors. Hollie i...

Financial regulation expert Art Wilmarth calls on Congress to reject the proposed GENIUS Act’s misguided approach to regulating stablecoins. He would require all issuers and distributors of stablecoins to be FDIC-insured banks. The GENIUS Act would pose great dangers to our financial system by allowing nonbanks to issue stablecoins without the protections provided by federal deposit insurance and...

The Second Chance Amendment Act of 2022, as enacted in March 2025, amends D.C.’s outdated record-sealing laws to align them with contemporary record relief laws in other states. Succinctly stated, the Act provides a comprehensive framework for expunging and sealing certain records. In doing so, it can help remove the stigma of past convictions and make it easier for eligible individuals to get a j...

In the fifth episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association continue to discuss SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ key priorities now that he has begun his term. Valerie and William discuss key SEC de...

Enlightening insights from following a non-traditional path toward becoming an energy and environmental lawyer.

In this fourth episode of Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, discuss the Senate confirmation of Paul Atkins and what priorities Atkins will be focusing on. Valerie and William also discu...

Episode 3 of Season 2 picks up where the kickoff episode https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/dcbar/episodes/Securities-Regulation-and-Enforcement-Series-Insights-on-SEC-Transition-and-Policy-Priorities-with-Pete-Driscoll-e2tps9i/a-abo6453 with Pete Driscoll left off. A few weeks after the Presidential Transition A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securit...

Join D.C. Affairs Community Co-Chair Angela Parsons and Kathryn Ray, librarian, historian, and past president of the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia, as they discuss the early 20th century leadup to the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished voting discrimination on the basis of sex. The conversation highlights luminaries of the American Womens’...

In celebration of International Women’s Day, the Human Rights and Immigration Subcommittee of the International Law Community is spotlighting exciting recent developments in international women’s rights. Among other topics, our conversation will explore historic efforts to hold the Taliban, the de facto authorities in Afghanistan, accountable under international law in connection with the extreme...

In Season 2 Episode 2 of this series, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale and Leader of the firm's Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, speak with veteran securities litigator, Daniel Sommers, Partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, about the Priva...

Join D.C. Affairs Community Co-Chair Austin A.B. Ownbey and D.C. Public Service Commissioner Ted Trabue as they discuss the history of Fort Reno Park and the Chevy Chase neighborhood. Built on ground that was once farmland, briefly a Civil War military fort, and then a thriving predominantly Black, working-class community, today Fort Reno Park is an expanse of open grass, sports fields and the Ali...

In the exciting kickoff to Season 2, A. Valerie Mirko, Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, chat with Pete Driscoll, Partner at PwC and former Director of the SEC’s Division of Examinations. Drawing on Pete’s unique...

In the fourth episode of the Intersections in Law and Tech series, Cathy Pagano of the Board of the Women's Bar of Association of D.C. (WBA) and D.C. Bar EENR Community member Kathryn Caballero interview Sadina Montani, President-Elect of the DC Bar, Past President of the WBA, and Partner at Crowell. Sadina discusses the impact of new technologies in legal practice, with a focus on the hot topic o...

Arthur Wilmarth argues that we must revive the wisdom of the New Deal era Glass-Steagall Act and again separate banks from the securities markets and commercial ventures. Federal bailouts of failing entities must be limited in the future to banks conducting a traditional banking business, rather than bailouts that extend broadly to protect securities activities and commercial ventures. Continuing...

As part of the D.C. Bar International Law Community’s historic year of elections* initiative focusing on global principles and standards for national elections, Brief Encounters hosted Thomas Garrett and Tova Wang, global democracy experts to discuss how this historic year of elections is now transitioning into a historic year of governance in the United States and around the world. We considered...

In episode 8 of Season 1 of the Securities Regulation and Enforcement Series, A. Valerie Mirko, a Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, continue to chat about the 2025 Presidential Transition and discuss the nominatio...

In episode 7 of this series, A. Valerie Mirko, a Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, chat about the 2025 Presidential Transition with Sara Crovitz, a Partner at Stradley Ronon and Co-Chair of the firm’s Investment M...

As part of the D.C. Bar International Law Community’s historic year of elections* initiative focusing on global principles and standards for national elections, Brief Encounters hosted Dr. Beata Martin-Rozumilowicz and Julia Brothers, experts in the democratic elections and governance sector, to discuss international standards and leading-edge European legislation on democratic elections, includin...

D.C. Bar Environment Energy and Natural Resources Community co-chair, Lisa Anne Hamilton, interviews Julius M. Redd, Principal and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Practice Group at Beveridge & Diamond. Julius shares his insights about the rapidly evolving legal developments driving the enforcement of state and federal environmental justice law.  The conversation addresses the recent pe...

As part of the DC Bar International Law Community’s historic year of elections* initiative focusing on global principles and standards for national elections, Tzili Mor interviews Patrick (Pat) Merloe, renowned global elections expert and DC Bar member, who elucidated the evolution, progress, and current concerns about elections and human rights globally and in the United States. In addition to ex...

In episode 6 of this series, A. Valerie Mirko, a Partner at Armstrong Teasdale LLP and Leader of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Litigation Practice, and William Nelson, Director of Public Policy and Associate General Counsel at the Investment Adviser Association, chat about the SEC’s recent off-channel communications settlements. The episode focuses on the history of these settlements, recen...