Litigation Management: Managing Your Outside Resources and Costs

Laina Hammond is Investment Manager and head of the Validity Finance Houston Office which has had a presence in Texas for almost three years. She is also a former partner at Shipley Snell. Laina and her Validity team work on the cutting edge of commercial litigation funding – investing in both individual cases and law firm case portfolios.? In her role, Laina handles everything from finding the right cases to structuring the financial terms of Validity’s investment and monitoring the case through the course of litigation.

Laina’s more than sixteen years as a trial lawyer representing businesses and individuals in complex commercial and energy litigation uniquely position her to identify and work with talented lawyers with strong cases and great clients.? Armed with that experience, Laina and her team are able to quickly evaluate case merits and structure deals that provide companies and law firms the capital they need to pursue worthy cases without financial constraints.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas Plan II Honors Program, Laina earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was an associate editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. ?After law school, she served as Law Clerk for the Honorable John D. Rainey of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.

?Before joining Validity, Laina was a Principal at Shipley Snell Montgomery, LLP, a premier Houston commercial litigation boutique, where she gained significant first- and second-chair trial experience

Ariel is Senior Counsel for Litigation and Claims at Bechtel, a global construction, engineering, and project management company. In this role, she is responsible for managing complex commercial and construction disputes for Bechtel worldwide, both at the corporate level and for each of the global business units.

Previously, Ariel worked at the international law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where her practice focused on commercial litigation, including securities, contract, and other commercial disputes, as well as international arbitration. Before joining Quinn Emanuel, Ariel clerked for Judge James I. Cohn in the Southern District of Florida.

Ariel is an active member of the Board of Directors for The George Washington University Law School Alumni Association and of the Associate Board of the Anti-Defamation League in Washington, D.C. She holds a B.A. and a J.D. from The George Washington University. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she now lives in North Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and two young daughters.

Jacqueline (“Jaci”) Lee represents America’s largest franchisee in a wide range of commercial, real estate, employment, and tort disputes for over 2,300 restaurants nationwide, and provides the Company with strategic counsel on contract, risk management, corporate development, intellectual property, and employment issues. She is an experienced trial lawyer who has managed all aspects of litigation and has played a lead role in jury and bench trials, as well as arbitration.

Jaci has written and spoken extensively on litigation strategy, intellectual property protection and enforcement, and diversity in the legal profession, and her contributions have been recognized by a number of legal publications, including The Legal 500 United States and Northern California Super Lawyers. In 2015, Jaci was named to Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2015 “Women of Influence” list.

Prior to joining Flynn Restaurant Group in 2018, Jaci was a partner in Jones Day’s Silicon Valley office.