Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee

Alison J. Toumekian is an associate at the Bridgeport office of Zeldes Needle & Cooper PC in the firm’s litigation practice group. While she focuses her practice in the areas of Probate and Family Law, she also oversees a variety of cases in all aspects of civil litigation.

Mallori Deanna Thompson is a business litigation attorney at Robinson & Cole LLP and is currently the president of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association and the vice chair of the Connecticut Bar Association's Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee.

Jermaine A. Brookshire, Jr. is an attorney at the full-service law firm of Herrick Feinstein LLP in New York, NY. He is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department where he focuses his practice on corporate finance and strategic transactions, technology agreements, commercial agreements, mergers and acquisitions, debt and venture capital financing rounds, securities law compliance, corporate governance, and other general corporate matters.

Captain Robert Burnes (Cherokee Warrior-Cherokee Nation) works, alongside his family, to further Native American rights, to enforce treaties, and to dispel misinformation about Indigenous American appearance, customs, and history that is often misrepresented in the entertainment industry. After retiring from the Bureau of Indian Affairs-Office of Justice Services, Attorney Burnes created The Grey Winds Project to train and assist local and tribal police in missing persons/missing persons at-risk investigations.

Jennifer R. Rawlings is a native of New Haven and a senior contracts manager in the Office of Research Administration at Yale University. She is also a director at the Center for Indigenous Peoples Rights, a non-profit, Indigenous led organization the provides low cost and free legal services to Indigenous people and communities.