Demystifying Discovery: Fundamental Tools and Tactics for Law Clerks and New Lawyers (Presented by the Federal Bar Association’s Judiciary Division/FJLCC)

Matthew P. Allen is a Principal at Miller Canfield and leads the firm’s securities litigation team. A business litigator and trial lawyer with broad courtroom experience spanning Detroit’s criminal courts to bet-the-company securities and international intellectual property disputes, Matt has also conducted sensitive internal investigations for corporations and universities involving export controls, national security, espionage, international securities fraud, and sexual abuse and assault. He is a court-certified mediator and complex commercial arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association, and has tried an international arbitration in Stockholm, Sweden under the Swedish Arbitration Act, in addition to litigating FINRA securities arbitrations and AAA commercial matters. Matt is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America — an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society limited to fewer than one-half of one percent of American lawyers — and has been consistently recognized in Best Lawyers in America, Michigan Super Lawyers, and Leading Lawyers. He earned his B.A. in Political Science and English from the State University of New York College at Fredonia and his J.D. from Wayne State University Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Wayne Law Review and clerked for the Chief U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Christina Dines is currently serving as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Adalberto Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Her clerkship experience is exceptional in breadth: she previously clerked for the Honorable John L. Sinatra, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York and for Justice John D. Couriel of the Florida Supreme Court. In addition to her three clerkships, Christina brings substantial litigation experience from her prior role as a senior associate in the Miami office of Baker McKenzie LLP, where she was a member of the Litigation & Government Enforcement Practice Group, representing clients in complex civil disputes, internal and external investigations, and federal civil RICO matters across multiple state and federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School, was a Division I coxswain, and serves on the Notre Dame Monogram Club Board of Directors. She also serves on the Federal Bar Association’s Federal Judicial Law Clerk Committee.

Debra M. Strauss is a Professor of Business Law at Fairfield University’s Charles F. Dolan School of Business, where she teaches international law, business law, and applied ethics. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School, she clerked for the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, before practicing commercial litigation at Rogers & Wells (now Clifford Chance LLP). Professor Strauss is the author of Behind the Bench: The Guide to Judicial Clerkships (West Academic Publishing, 3rd ed. 2023) — a leading practitioner and student resource on the courts — and previously served as the founding Director of Judicial Clerkship Counseling and Programs at Yale Law School. She authored the National Judicial Clerkship Study for the American Bar Association and the National Association for Law Placement, and is a founder and officer of the Connecticut Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She serves as Co-Chair of the Federal Judicial Law Clerk Committee of the FBA Judiciary Division.

Anoosheh Shaikh is an Associate in Duane Morris LLP’s Miami office, where she has developed a well-rounded litigation practice focused on complex commercial disputes, securities matters, and employment litigation. She is well-versed in end-to-end litigation strategy, including managing discovery, drafting motions, and preparing for trial. Prior to joining Duane Morris, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Embry Kidd of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Anoosheh is a 2022 cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, where she served as Vice President of the Charles C. Papy Jr. Moot Court Board and was a member of the International and Comparative Law Review. She was inducted into the Order of Barristers National Honors Society for excellence in oral advocacy and brief writing. She is also a cum laude graduate of The George Washington University.

Kaitlin Farrell is a Partner at Haug Partners LLP in New York, where her practice focuses on patent litigation and pre-lawsuit investigations in matters involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, chemicals, cosmetics, food and beverage, automotive, and consumer products. She is a registered patent attorney who leverages her life sciences background — a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Anthropology from Fordham University — to develop results-oriented strategies for clients seeking to maximize the value of their patent assets. Kaitlin has litigated major patent disputes before the PTAB, the ITC, and patent venues across the country, and has represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She was elevated to partner as of April 2022 and was named among the top intellectual property attorneys for 2024 by Attorney Intel. She earned her J.D. from Notre Dame Law School (2017), where she was President of the Women’s Legal Forum and completed an externship at the USPTO Office of Patent Legal Administration, and received the ABA/Bloomberg BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law.

The Honorable Marty Fulgueira Elfenbein was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Florida on March 11, 2024, and is based at the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse in Miami. Before joining the federal judiciary, Judge Elfenbein served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida from September 2018 to March 2024, prosecuting cases in the Major Crimes and Economic and Environmental Crimes Sections. In her final year as a federal prosecutor, she served as Chief of the Collateral Litigation Section, overseeing all post-conviction litigation and filter reviews on a district-wide basis. Prior to her AUSA tenure, she clerked for the Honorable Beth Bloom in the Southern District of Florida. Before her government service, she was an associate and later a partner at Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A. from 2006 to 2016, where her federal and state practice focused on aviation law, products liability, premises liability, and insurance defense. She earned her B.S. in Newspaper Journalism and her J.D. in 2002 and 2005, respectively, both from the University of Florida.