Roberta (“Bobbi”) Liebenberg is a senior partner at Fine, Kapan and Black in Philadelphia and also a principal in The Red Bee Group, a women-owned consulting group that uses data-based strategies to attain DEI objectives. She focuses her practice on antitrust, class actions, and complex commercial litigation, and has been appointed by courts to represent classes in many class actions. She is now Lead Counsel for the End Payer Class in the Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, the largest pending antitrust MDL in the country. She was also one of trial counsel for the class in the Urethanes Antitrust Litigation, where a $1.06 billion judgment was entered against Dow Chemical Company after a four week jury trial. That was the largest price-fixing judgment ever. The judgment was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit and, during Dow’s appeal to the Supreme Court, it settled for $835 million, the most ever obtained from a single defendant in a price-fixing case. She has also defended Fortune 500 companies, including Southwest Airlines, and Temple University in class actions and other complex commercial litigation. She has written and spoken extensively about many issues of importance to women lawyers and has chaired numerous organizations devoted to gender equality in the profession, including the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, the ABA Gender Equity Task Force, the ABA Presidential Initiative on Achieving Long Term Careers for Women in Law, DirectWomen (the only organization devoted to increasing the number of women attorneys on corporate boards), the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations’ respective committees on women in the profession, and the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness. She has received many awards and honors, including induction into the American Antitrust Institute Private Enforcement Hall of Fame, the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, the Lynette Norton Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Sandra Day O'Connor Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association, and the Florence K. Murray Award from the National Association of Women Judges. She was named by former Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell as a "Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania,” and The National Law Journal named her as one of the “50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America” and also one of the “Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar.”

Sophia Lee
Blank Rome

Sophia Lee received her B.A. from Cornell University and her J.D. and LL.M. in Trial Advocacy from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was a member of the Temple Law Review and the Moot Court Honor Society. Prior to rejoining her current firm, Blank Rome, Sophia served as chief litigation counsel at Sunoco, Inc.; in the litigation department of an Am Law 100 firm; and as a federal judicial law clerk to the late Honorable James McGirr Kelly, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. During law school Sophia interned in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and served as a federal judicial clerkship clinical intern to the Honorable Jerome B. Simandle, U.S. District Judge for the District of New Jersey. In her practice Ms. Lee handles complex commercial, constitutional, environmental, products liability, and mass and toxic tort litigation matters, and advises on environmental, governance, and other regulatory concerns. She represents a wide range of institutions, including public and privately-held companies, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies and officials. As Blank Rome’s chief diversity and inclusion officer emeritus, Sophia has significant experience in directing the strategy and execution of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives. She helps lead Blank Rome’s service capabilities in DEI and with environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) matters, advising clients on business-aligned and holistic approaches to advancing DEI and ESG objectives within their organizations, including designing and implementing strategic plans, advising boards of directors and executive leadership teams on strategic alignment and risk assessment, and providing customized leadership development and educational programs. Sophia is a sought-after thought leader and speaker on matters concerning DEI, ESG, professional responsibility and ethics, and litigation and information management concerns for businesses and legal organizations. She teaches DEI in the Legal Profession as an adjunct professor of law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.

Sara Austin
Austin Law Firm LLC

Sara A. Austin is a graduate of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William & Mary. She is a former partner at Blakey, Yost, Bupp & Rausch, LLP, and Countess Gilbert Andrews. Austin served as Law Clerk for the Honorable Ross W. Krumm, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, W.D.Va. In these positions, she has handled cases in Employment and Labor, Bankruptcy and Corporate Law and General Civil Litigation. Among various other activities, Austin was the 2016-17 President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, serves on the Board of Directors of York Day Nursery, and is a Past-President of the York County (PA) Bar Association, Leadership York, and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and a past board member of Community First Fund. Sara is frequently recognized by her peers through Super Lawyers. Sara was first recognized as a Rising Star in 2005. She was also recognized in 2009 and then every year since 2012 in the employment law area. Sara has also been recognized numerous times by Best Lawyers® in Harrisburg for employment law.

This Virtual Speaker Series is free to members of WOL and their Guests.  Non-Members who are not guests will be charged a $20 registration fee.

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