Representative Experience
Experienced in general corporate counseling, contract negotiation, and development of business, legal and regulatory strategies for media, telecom, and entertainment clients. Experienced in all aspects of media transactions, including corporate governance, venture capital financing, and acquisitions and sales, due diligence and regulatory and business strategies for investments in digital media, mobile entertainment, and cable programming businesses. Experienced in the full range of day-to-day cable network production, commercial, and regulatory issues.

Prior Experience
Partner, Cole, Raywid & Braverman LLP, 1983-1993, 1999-2006

BET Holdings, Inc. (owner of the popular BET Cable Network and other media properties targeted at African Americans), 1993-1999

• Senior Vice President, Network Programming and Operations/Executive Vice President, BET Networks, 1995-1999
  
  Oversaw east and west coast programming and production operations for the BET Cable Network and BET Jazz (now BET J) and other start-up digital feeds (BET International, BET Japan, BET Gospel); collective budgetary oversight of in excess of $50 million.



• Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, 1993-1995
  
  Provided legal oversight over day-to-day corporate governance and compliance matters affecting business operations and new business ventures for the then- rapidly-growing public company whose stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Areas of oversight included labor and employment, overall corporate and SEC compliance, as well as legal oversight for various new business ventures in the cable television, film production, television syndication, publishing, and merchandising businesses. These new business ventures included joint ventures with Microsoft, Blockbuster, and Starz!Encore.

Publications and Presentations
Member, Practising Law Institute (PLI) Faculty, 2005-2008

• Co-author/faculty member, “FCC Regulation of Cable Programming: Update on Indecency, TV Ratings/V-Chip, Children’s Programming, and Closed Captioning Regulations,” from the book Cable Television Law 2007: Competition In Video, Internet & Telephony, January 29-30, 2008, New York, NY
• Presented on the following subjects: Indecency, Children’s TV/KidVid; Closed Captioning; A La Carte; Commercial Leased Access, and other programming-related regulatory matters

Panelist, Microsoft's Fourth Annual IP Law Summit and IP Diversity Conference, Washington, DC, Sept. 2007

Presenter, “Lexis/Nexis Customized In-house Seminar on Digital Rights Management and Satellite and Cable TV Regulations,” Chicago, IL, Sept. 2007

Moderator, “Lexis/Nexis Women and the Law” teleconference, Washington, DC, Oct. 2007

Panelist, Black Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA), Cancun, Mexico, Oct. 2007 (panelist on the Cable Programming Networks panel with in-house counsel from Comcast, TV One, and Univision)

Panelist, “ABA Consumer Protection Update” teleconference, Feb. 2007 (participated on a teleconference with colleagues on current developments in advertising and consumer protection case law)

Guest speaker, American University, “Film Finance and Marketing” (graduate level course taught by Artist-in-Residence Professor Russell Williams), 2004-2008

Panelist, Georgetown University‘s "Opportunities for Minority Students in the Law" and Patrick Healy Fellows Law Panel 2004, 2008

Past Speaking, Publications and Presentations:

Regular speaker/moderator, DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) on the following panels: “Producing Fundamentals for Feature and Documentary Filmmakers,” “Legal Aspects of Film and Documentary Filmmakers,” “What the Networks Want,” and “Successful Producers,” 2004-2006. Register online at www.dciff.org.

Panelist, International Diversity Film Festival, “The Art of Distribution and Acquisition,” 2006

Co-author and co-panelist of the “Annual Entertainment Law in Review” survey, sponsored by the D.C. Bar, Arts, Entertainment & Sports/Intellectual Property Law Section and the Copyright Committee of the Intellectual Property Law Section, 2003-2005

Moderator, National Association of Multi-ethnicity in Communications' (NAMIC) East Coast Creative Summit, “Holding the Strings and Funding Your Project,” film and television finance panel, 2005

Panelist, "Traps of the Trade: Protecting Your Entertainment Clients," presented by Georgetown University Law Center's Sports and Entertainment Law Society, 2003

Guest speaker/co-panelist, "Unions and Contracts for the Arts,” American University, Graduate Arts Management Program, 2003

Co-panelist, “Clients and Contracts in the Entertainment Industry,” co-sponsored by the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, and the DC Bar’s Arts, Entertainment, & Sports Law Section and the Washington Area Musicians Association (WAMA), 2002

Panelist, "The Changing Face of Pay-Per-View and Cable," sponsored by the Motion Picture and Television Committee at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries, 2000

Memberships and Activities
District of Columbia Bar

State Bar of Michigan

Recipient, 2005 Distinguished Alumnae Award, Georgetown University Law Center’s annual Women’s Law Forum (one of four recipients)

Member, American Bar Association

Member, Federal Communications Bar Association

Member, National Bar Association

Member, Women in Cable and Telecommunications

Member, NAMIC

Current Board Memberships:

Vice-Chair, African American Scholarship Endowment, Georgetown University Law Center

Board Member Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center, National Law Alumni Board

Board Member, Daniel Alexander Payne Community Development Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation affiliated with Metropolitan AME Church

Board Member/court-appointed trustee, Mt. Zion/Female Union Band Historic Memorial Park in Georgetown, District of Columbia (historic site, part of Underground Railroad)

Past Board Memberships:

Board Member, Georgetown University Law Center, National Law Alumni Board, 1999-2005; Alumni Committee Chair, World of Choices Committee (annual Career Day)

Hearing Committee Member, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Board of Professional Responsibility

Board Member, D.C. Bar, Arts, Entertainment & Sports/Intellectual Property Law Section, Television and Motion Pictures Committee

Chair, Business Advisory Board, McKinley Tech Senior High School’s School of Communications

Executive Committee Member, Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA)

Board Member, FCBA Foundation

Board Member, Broadcast Capital Fund, Inc. (venture capital company)

Board of Directors, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts

Board of Directors, Washington Tennis and Education

Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1981

B.A. in Communications, Michigan State University, 1977