ADR Considerations for General Counsel and In-House Legal Departments in the Era of Mass Filings

Ralph Carter is Senior Counsel, Litigation & Cybersecurity Legal at Workday, Inc., an Enterprise Management Cloud software provider. As a member of Workday’s Legal, Compliance and Corporate Affairs team, Ralph provides strategic guidance and counseling in matters relating to litigation, dispute resolution and cybersecurity preparedness and response.

Ralph is a certified mediator in the State of New York and is a member of the 2024 cohort of the American Arbitration Association’s Higginbotham Fellows Program.

Ralph is a committed contributor in Workday’s DEI initiatives, serving on Legal Department’s Value Inclusion Belonging Equity (VIBE) Committee and the committee for Workday’s Legal Fellows Program, which offers a direct track from law school to an in-house career at Workday.

Prior to joining Workday, Ralph served as senior associate at an AmLaw 100 law firm, where he managed complex commercial litigation and ADR matters in federal and state courts, as well as internal investigations and regulatory matters before various governmental agencies.

Ralph is a cum laude graduate of the evening program at St. John’s University School of Law, where he was a Ronald H. Brown Scholar and served as Executive Notes and Comments Editor for the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development.

Ralph is a committed St. John’s Law alumnus and member of the board of the law school’s Alumni Association; Ralph served as President of the St. John’s Law School Alumni Association from 2021 through 2022. Ralph is an ardent supporter of the law school’s pipeline programs and diversity initiatives.

Ralph also serves on the board of A Call to Men, a violence prevention organization and respected leader on issues of manhood, male socialization, and its intersection with violence, and preventing violence against all women and girls.

Robert Dunn is a Senior Director at FanDuel Group based in New York City, New York. Previously, Robert was a Director, Litigation at FanDuel Group and also held positions at Success Academy Charter Schools, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Robert received a Bachelor of Arts degree from College of the Holy Cross and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from The University of Connecticut School of Law.

Adina Storch is Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Global Industrial Company, a global wholesaler and distributor of industrial products that trades on the NYSE. Previously, Adina served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Cedar Realty Trust, an NYSE-traded real estate investment trust. Prior to her decade leading public company legal departments, Adina spent her 15-year private practice career practicing international capital markets law in Paris and culminating as a litigation partner at a large NYC firm.

Adina also serves on several boards, including the board of directors of a publicly-traded international health care company, where she has served on its Audit, and Nominating/Corporate Governance and Compensation Committees, is a director on a non-profit foundation board which supports employment of autistic youth, and was appointed to the Yale Law School Executive Committee and the prestigious Yale Alumni Fund Board.

As corporate counsel, Adina has twice won the Top General Counsel award by the First Chair organization, a peer-nominated award for “significant contributions to the legal community.” In 2023, Adina was awarded the “Women, Influence & Power in Law Award,” in the category of “Innovative Leadership” from Corporate Counsel magazine. In the past year, she has been profiled in Modern Counsel for her unique style of executive leadership and featured in the director spotlight series of Corporate Board Member for her contributions as a public company director.

Outside of work, Adina donates her time to various philanthropic causes that promote literacy and individuals with developmental disabilities. In 2022, Adina was honored as a recipient of the “Fuel Her Fire Award” by Girls, Inc., a national organization that promotes leadership development in girls from underserved communities. Adina is also a regular speaker on women in leadership panels, including moderating a panel featuring the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

While in private practice, Adina was recognized by Thomson Reuters as a New York Super Lawyer and in the New York Times as one of the Top Women Attorneys in New York in real estate. Adina has served on Legal Advisory Councils to both the industrial wholesale distribution and real estate industries.

Adina is a frequent speaker and press contributor on topics encompassing corporate governance, risk management and compliance, including as a guest on “Inside America’s Boardrooms,” an educational broadcast for public company directors.

Adina is a summa cum laude graduation of Yale College with distinction in the English major, and a graduate of The Yale Law School, where she was a senior editor The Yale Law Journal, and submissions editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review.

Paul “Tad” M. O’Connor III, commercial litigation partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres, represents private equity firms, financial institutions, major corporations and wealthy individuals in federal and state courts around the country and before arbitration tribunals in the United States and Europe. He also has significant experience handling real estate disputes related to commercial and hotel properties around the country, including the representation of real estate developers and hotel operators. He has been recognized by Chambers USA (Tier 1), Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation as one of the top litigators in the United States.