Konrad Trope, Managing Shareholder, Trope Law Group, P.C.

Konrad Trope is the Managing Shareholder of Trope Law Group, PC. The firm specializes in federal court litigation involving patents, trademarks, entertainment properties, and copyrights, as well as protecting trade secrets and prosecuting cybersecurity data breaches. Mr. Trope also represents clients in a variety of new technologies, including Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Smart Phone Internet Application, and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

For the past 30 years, Mr. Trope has successfully litigated many cases involving design patents, mechanical patents, motion picture distribution rights, music licenses, and copyrights for interactive websites, along with defending trademarks for entertainment industry clients. He has appeared before Federal Courts across the country, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Trademark Trial and Appeals Board and U.S. Court of Federal Claims, where Mr. Trope has consistently obtained successful verdicts and favorable settlements.

Nick Huskins, Senior Corporate Counsel for IP, Amazon Studios

Nick Huskins is Senior Corporate Counsel, Intellectual Property (IP) at Amazon. He joined Amazon in 2017 and supports several of Amazon’s media and entertainment divisions, including Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video, Amazon Music, Wondery, Twitch, and Amazon Games. His practice involves counseling his business, legal, and public policy partners on a wide range of IP-related issues covering copyright, trademark, right of publicity, defamation, content protection, and artificial intelligence. Nick also represents Amazon in its participation with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the world’s leading entertainment anti-piracy coalition, and regularly volunteers with both the Washington Lawyers for the Arts and California Lawyers for the Arts to provide pro-bono client counseling.

Prior to joining Amazon, Nick was an intellectual property litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of the California-based law firm Glaser Weil, where he handled federal copyright and trademark litigation matters for corporate and entertainment clients. He received his law degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and his undergraduate degree from the University of San Diego.

Heidi Keefe, Partner, Cooley LLP

Heidi is a partner at Cooley LLP and a member of the firm’s board of directors. She is a first chair trial lawyer with two decades of experience representing some of the hottest tech companies in the world in complex patent litigation. A former astrophysicist and registered patent attorney, Heidi easily understands a variety of technical disciplines, from software to medical devices. 

Heidi has 260+ patent cases under her belt and regularly leads Markman hearings and trials in district courts across the US, as well as briefings and oral hearings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). She is recognized as one of the top lawyers at the PTAB by Docket Navigator. Heidi also represents clients before the Federal Circuit and the International Trade Commission. She has handled 50+ Federal Circuit patent appeals in recent years – the majority as appellee – and played a lead role in securing winning jury verdicts in each of Facebook’s two patent trials to date. Her clients include Absolute Software, Box, CoolIT Systems, Meta Platforms, Niantic and Snap. 

Nedeen Nasser, Principal, Nasser Law

Nedeen Nasser is the Principal at Nasser Law which is dedicated to helping small and medium sized business develop brand, taxation, and contractual strategies.

Ms. Nasser provides legal guidance to her clients on intellectual property transactions, prosecutes trademarks, and has appeared in complex inter partes proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.  She is increasingly interested in ethical issues surrounding artificial intelligence and how they relate to the practice of law.

Before opening her practice, Ms. Nasser honed her experience in IP by working as General Counsel for DPx Gear, Inc. in San Diego. During her tenure, she played a key role in developing the company’s trademark and patent portfolios both domestically and abroad.  Most recently, Ms. Nasser sat as a Panelist on the USPTO’s Roundtable for the Study on Non-fungible Tokens and Related Intellectual Property Law Issues in January 2023 and is the current Co-Chair of LAIPLA’s small firm committee.

She earned a JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Linda Quigley, Senior Level Attorney Advisor, OPIA, USPTO

Linda Quigley is the Senior-Level Attorney and Team Lead of the Copyright Team in the Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) where she works on a variety of copyright policy and legal matters, including issues related to Artificial Intelligence. Prior to joining OPIA, Linda has held a variety of positions in the federal government, including on the Innovation and Intellectual Property team at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Before entering government, Linda worked in private practice focusing on intellectual property and technology issues. Additionally, Linda taught as an adjunct professor of law at William & Mary Law School and worked in the law school’s Center for Legal and Court Technology and Institute of Bill of Rights Law. She received her J.D. from William & Mary Law School and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame. 

Conner Schenk, Founder and NIL Consultant – Knights Table Collective (Southern Virginia University) 

Conner Schenk is the General Manager of the Knights Table Collective, the NIL Collective for Southern Virginia University. Conner is also the founder and President of Constant Sports, a full-service sports marketing and valuation agency. Through Constant Sports, Conner provides NIL Collective Management services, weekly sports-related newsletters, and sponsorship services. He is a seasoned professional in the sports business sector who brings a unique blend of strategic insight and analytical expertise to every partnership. Conner has a proven track record of securing and optimizing marketing deals, business valuation, and entertainment. He is passionate about helping athletes and businesses maximize their brand potential and achieve long-term success. Conner holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Utah Valley University and a Master’s in Sports Law and Business from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Debbie Spander, Founder of Insight Sports Advisors 

Debbie Spander is founder and CEO of Insight Sports Advisors, a boutique agency focused on media, coaches, executives, influencers and NIL athletes. Debbie’s experience and deep connections throughout the sports world provide an unparalleled platform to help clients build their personal brands and maximize their careers. Debbie is a fierce advocate for her clients and is passionate about getting them the best deals possible.

Debbie was previously an agent at Wasserman Media Group, where she rose to Senior Vice President of its Broadcasting and Coaching Division representing high profile talent, coaches and executives. Through her understanding of the rapid changes in the sports industry Debbie positioned clients to benefit from the convergence of media and technology. She was a founding member of Wasserman’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council.

Ed Stewart, Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director, University of Southern California 

Edward Stewart, a veteran intercollegiate athletics administrator with 27 years of experience, enters his third season as the Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Southern California. In this role, Stewart is a member of the executive staff, serves as a sport administrator, and leads strategic initiatives for the athletic department.

Stewart is recognized for his proficiency in guiding large institutions and conferences through complex transitions and alignments. His experience in this area was instrumental in USC’s transition to the Big Ten Conference. This builds upon his previous work at the Big 12, where he played a key role in conference realignment efforts.

Craig Wagner, General Counsel, Executive Vice-President, Business Affairs, Paradigm Talent Agency 

Craig Wagner serves as Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel for the Paradigm Talent Agency. Paradigm represents over 2,000 clients in motion pictures, television, theater, books, film sales and branding.

Craig joined Paradigm in 2005 and has overseen the motion picture and television business affairs department since that time. During his tenure at Paradigm, Craig has negotiated countless agreements for motion pictures and episodic series on behalf of screenwriters, directors, producers, actors and authors, and has been involved as a negotiator in numerous projects including The Masked Singer on FBC, Stranger Things on Netflix, NCIS on CBS, Black-ish on ABC and many other film and television projects.