Professional Journey Support Group
Francine Lahm
Lydia Moore-Riley, Regional Administrator, East Coast Offices, leads all aspects of business operations for Davis Wright Tremaine’s New York and Washington, DC offices. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an Am Law 100 law firm with ten offices nationwide. Our 1200+ employees are relentlessly committed to client service, which means having empathy for each client’s work and personal pressures, business objectives, and legal needs. Lydia leverages her comprehensive understanding of the “business of law” to connect individual, team and department goals with firm wide strategic objectives. Prior to her role as Regional Administrator, where she amassed more than two decades of expertise providing strategic and operational oversight, Lydia worked as administrative support in the non-profit sector before launching a career as Human Resources Manager and Human Resources Director in the investment banking, tech start-up and legal industries. As a result of making the leap from non-exempt to exempt; administrative support to leadership positions; and from non-profits to professional services, Lydia brings wide ranging experiences and insights to internal clients. When Lydia has time away from work, she enjoys international travel and the challenge of restoring a 200 year old building in Tuscany into her retirement home base.
Anna Scarpa is the Director of Human Resources at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. With more than 500 legal and business professionals across the US, Stroock is a national firm with international reach, offering clients the concierge service of a boutique and the sophistication of a mega-firm. Stroock provides strategic transactional, regulatory and litigation advice to major financial institutions, multinationals, private funds, asset managers, family offices and high net worth individuals in the U.S. and globally.
Anna is in charge of overseeing all aspects of human resources, its practices, and operations in order to meet the needs of the constantly evolving law firm business, and incorporating the firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. She prides herself on the ability to engage, motivate and retain top talent. Anna has a keen skill to coach and mentor professionals at all levels of their career and personal journeys. Her positive and strategic thought leadership is combined with her passion, energy and authenticity. Anna makes it her mission to help create meaning in peoples’ work by connecting who they are to what they want to do, while they consider how to achieve their goals in the most positive and effective manner.
Anna earned her double major graduate degree from New York University in Organizational Psychology and Business Management. She utilizes her experience and education to better understand and empathize with individuals, seeing things from their perspective. She has been a driver for reinventing the leadership role within law firms, as she has taken the approach of leading through emotional intelligence strategies. Anna also believes it is important for leaders to take the time to work on self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills in order to exhibit greatness in their career and personal life.
Rick D’Aversa has over 42 years of professional business and management experience. He has worked both in a corporate environment (IBM) and with three major law firms, Kenyon & Kenyon; Zeichner, Ellman & Krause; and Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen and Loewy. He has helped to guide these firms to accomplish their goals of greater client support, profit and growth through his skills in management and in teaching “getting the most from your team”. He has been responsible in all areas of Human Resources and Administration as well as Facilities and Office Services and Building Management.
In the area of HR Rick assisted his former firm in the rapid growth of staff (over 100% in the early 2000’s). He was in charge of sourcing staff and implementing new and more effective tools to improve productivity. He has been involved in very sensitive “personnel” conflicts and was responsible for an actual reversal of submission of a filed EEO complaint by convincing the employee to amicably drop the complaint. He has trained staff in all areas of team and self-management, as well as, understanding the correct way to evaluate staff performance. Rick has been involved in a major multi-million dollar office relocation (uptown – downtown NYC). His responsibilities not only focused on the actual move/build out/budget, but staff morale and motivation as well.
Santa Medina is a talented human resources manager who recently joined Martin Clearwater & Bell LLP and has already become an integral part of the Firm’s management team. Impressively, she has over 25 years of experience as an administrative and human resources manager responsible for recruitment, benefits and compensation, vendor relations and negotiations, staff management, and other business operations.
At MCB, Santa is involved in all aspects of the Firm’s operations, including, but not limited to: managing the recruitment and selection process; maintaining compensation and benefits programs; ensuring legal compliance in all human resource matters; managing employee relations and fostering a positive work environment; and implementing human resource programs and strategies that align with the Firm’s overall philosophy and goals.
Santa’s professional work is complemented by her diverse educational back-ground, which includes classes in statistics, macro/microeconomics, organizational behavior, strategic management, business law, employment law, business ethics, communications, and gender studies. She has also been an active member of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALANYC) in a variety of roles, including Vice President, Board member, and the Diversity & Inclusion Team Lead from 2018-2020. Presently, she mentors others and serves on the Legal Education; New Membership; Community Service; FitNYC; and Symposium 2021 committees.
Outside of work, Santa has volunteered her time both at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, boxing care packages for the underserved communities,and at the New York City Bar Association, where she conducted mock interviews and resume reviews for applicants to the Thurgood Marshall Summer Law Internship Program.
Melinda Hopkins recently retired from the position of Office Administrator for Jackson Lewis’ NYC office. Over the past twenty years, she has held the position of Office Administrator for Locke Lord and Edwards Wildman; Staff Manager for Edwards, Angell Palmer & Dodge; and Staff Supervisor for Kirkland & Ellis.
She has been a member of ALA since 2016. In 2002 she began training as a life coach, graduating from the International Coaches Training School and earned her certification in 2006 from Coaches for Transformation. She is an on-going member of the International Coaches Federation (“ICF”), and is excited to dive full time back into her work as a life coach.
Melinda can be reached at melindahopkins.com.