Nicole Devereaux (she/her) has spent nearly 20 years helping people engage in their most important conversations. As a certified Conversational Intelligence® coach, Nicole facilitated innovative conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion practices at public interest organizations, including the New York City Department of Health and the National Housing Trust in Washington, D.C.
Nicole was also an anti-bias trainer with AmazeWorks. In that role, she led conversations in K-12 schools about identity, differences, stereotypes, and taking action against bias-based mistreatment. Formerly, Nicole served at a women’s crisis center in Minneapolis. Initially hired to launch a material assistance program, she was inspired by conversations with clients to co-create an education program to support their parenting journeys, mental health, job readiness, and financial freedom. Nicole is also a Restorative Circle Keeper and Nonviolent Communication practitioner. She has planted non-denominational churches in Minneapolis, MN, and Brooklyn, NY, where she provided pro bono lay counseling and conflict resolution, and welcomed hundreds of neighbors around her table.
For her 40th birthday, Nicole fundraised $40,000. She donated the funds to nonprofits serving refugees, female entrepreneurs, and survivors of sex trafficking. Nicole spent two years living in a motorhome and traveling across the U.S. with her husband, two daughters, and dog before entering law school on a full tuition Public Interest/Public Service scholarship. She is interested in abolishing the prison industrial complex, protecting the civil liberties of marginalized populations, and advocating for the environment.
Gregory (Greg) Rose is the Founder, Secretary and Chief Scientist of Deckard Technologies, Inc., a company that helps local governments equitably enforce real estate related regulations. He holds a B.Sc. (honours) in Computer Science, and was awarded the University Medal in 1977 from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Previously Greg was a Senior Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, in charge of Product Security and Cryptography. He worked on cryptographic security and authentication for third-generation mobile phones and other technologies and managed other diverse research groups. He is inventor of over 100 patents for cryptographic methods and has successfully cryptanalyzed widely deployed ciphers.
Greg is a current board member, treasurer and past chair of the ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties, with experience on a number of other non- and for-profit boards.
Joey Vettiankal is a law student at Vanderbilt Law School as a member of the Class of 2024. He is an ACS Class of 2023 Next Generation Leader. Joey serves on the ACS Board of Directors as a Student Representative. Prior to joining the ACS Board of Directors, Joey served as a 1L Representative and the President of the Vanderbilt Law student chapter of the American Constitution Society. Under his leadership, the Vanderbilt Law chapter was honored as the 2023 ACS Student Chapter of the Year, an ACS Programming Award, and the 2022-2023 Vanderbilt Law Student Organization Overall Performance Award.
Ralph Sutton is an industry pioneer whose strategic and operational experience make him among the most trusted funding professionals in the industry. He co-founded Validity in 2018 with the express goal of providing fair, sustainable, and innovative funding to clients in the U.S.
Ralph’s exceptional wealth of experience includes an 18-year career as a trial attorney, and the co-founding of Credit Suisse’s Litigation Risk Strategies Group, one of the first dispute funding entities in the U.S. Ralph then launched Bentham U.S. (now called Omni Bridgeway), running its operations from 2011-17 as chief investment officer, during which time Bentham expanded to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston from its New York base.
Ralph is a champion of increased access to civil justice, and has lectured on funding and its role in reducing legal inequality at Harvard, Stanford, and other premier law schools. In 2016, he helped establish a new Civil Justice Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.
Ralph graduated from Columbia University and received his J.D. from the New York University School of Law. He served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas Eisele for two years.
Derek Ho is a partner at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel, & Frederick, PLLC. His litigation practice focuses on representing plaintiffs in high-stakes commercial cases. His litigation efforts have resulted in recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to individuals and businesses nationwide. Among other awards and recognition, Mr. Ho has been named repeatedly by Lawdragon as a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer.
Mr. Ho has an active appellate and Supreme Court practice. He has been counsel in numerous Supreme Court cases, including cases involving union dues (Janus v. AFSCME (2018)); the scope of liability under the False Claims Act (Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar (2016)); and the standards for class certification (Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo (2016) and Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans, (2013)).
Mr. Ho’s pro bono practice focuses on civil rights litigation. He has authored amicus briefs in numerous Supreme Court civil rights cases, including Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (defending race conscious admissions in higher education); United States v. Texas, (defending the Obama Administration’s “DAPA Memo” from challenge under the APA); Gloucester County School Bd. v. G.G. (defending the Obama Administration’s policies on transgender students’ rights); and Shelby County v. Holder (defending the constitutionality of § 5 of the Voting Rights Act).
Prior to joining Kellogg Hansen, Mr. Ho clerked for Chief Judge Michael Boudin, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, and Associate Justice David H. Souter, U.S. Supreme Court. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and Harvard College.
He serves on the Board of Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School and on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law.
Read more »
