Lecturer Bios
Lewis Tesser, Esq.
Lewis Tesser is a senior partner in the New York law firm of Tesser, Ryan & Rochman, LLP, concentrating his practice in litigation and mediation, representing licensed professionals and professional practices, administrative law and commercial law. Lew Tesser is Vice-President of the New York County Lawyers’ Association and Director of its Ethics Institute.
Prior to private practice, Mr. Tesser was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. In that capacity, he represented various agencies of the United States government in litigation in the United States District Court and United States Court of Appeals. Mr. Tesser also served as a Judge Advocate in the United States Army where he prosecuted and defended criminal cases and was the chief legal advisor to the Commanding General of the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He also has served as an Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, New York City Civil Court, a Judge for the Environmental Control Board of the City of New York and a lecturer for various Bar Associations and New York area law schools.
Mr. Tesser, who was admitted to practice in 1971, is a 1970 Honors graduate from the National Law Center, George Washington University, a Masters graduate from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania (l974) and a graduate of the Harvard Law School Program of Instruction for Lawyers. He is a past President of Congregation Sons of Israel, Nyack, NY.
Vanessa Barboni
Vanessa Barboni is CEO and founder of Pride of Lions, a new sustainable womenswear line and multibrand e-commerce company launching in 2019. Vanessa is also an active investor in early-companies with values-aligned missions. Prior to starting Pride of Lions, Vanessa was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, where she has held a number of sales and trading leadership roles in the emerging markets business over fifteen years, most recently as Head of Sales for Emerging Markets and Head of Trading for Latin America ex-Brazil in the Fixed Income Division. While at Morgan Stanley, Vanessa served on the Board of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and previously chaired the Fixed Income Philanthropy Committee, where she initiated and subsequently led the firm’s mentoring program with East Side Community High School, a public school in the East Village of Manhattan, in partnership with PENCIL.org. In addition to WVFC, Vanessa serves on the Trust For Public Land’s New York Advisory Board and as a Director on the Board for Ripple Effect Images. Vanessa holds a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.
Deanna Clark-Esposito, Esq.
Deanna Clark-Esposito is the founder of the Clark-Esposito Law Firm, P.C. with nearly 15 years of legal experience in the areas of international trade (imports/exports), transportation, maritime and administrative law in the areas of fashion, vape/tobacco, hemp and others. Prior to starting her own law firm, Deanna headed up the global trade compliance regulatory division of a New York City based 3PL, and worked at a well respected international trade law firm where she exited as a Partner. Deanna and her team represent clients, both foreign and domestic, on matters from implementing operational solutions to the resolution of imminent problems. . She is an Executive Member of Fashion Group International (NY) and the President of the New York chapter of the Organization of Women in
International Trade. She teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology and is an avid presenter with several organizations, including the US Small Business Administration. Deanna is a native of San Francisco and resides in New York City. She earned a J.D., Tulane University School of Law, an M.A., Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta and a B.A., University of California, Berkeley. She is also the author of author of A Practice Guide to Fashion Law and Compliance (Fairchild Publications).
Olivera Medenica, Esq.
Olivera is a Principal at Medenica Law PLLC. Her practice focuses on both transactional and litigation issues faced by businesses in a variety of industries from media, hospitality, and fashion to consulting, retail and telecommunication. She regularly counsels her clients on trademark, copyright, IP licensing and social/digital media content. In her litigation practice, she counsels her clients on contentious matters such as copyright and trademark infringement, trade secrets, unfair competition, breach of contract, fraud, right of publicity and privacy, defamation, and shareholder and business owner disputes in closely held businesses. In her trademark practice, Olivera handles risk evaluation for trademark use and registration, prosecution, policing, enforcement and a national and international portfolio of trademark rights. Under her leadership, Medenica Law PLLC recently won a competitive bid to represent the National Endowment for the Arts on select intellectual property matters.
Olivera has lectured in a variety of venues on issues dealing with intellectual property, business ownership and disputes, social media, and law firm management issues. Lecture engagements have included Lawline.com, the Federal Bar Association, New York County Lawyers’ Association, the New York City Bar, the New York State Bar Association, Harvard Law School, Brooklyn Law School, New York Law School, South by Southwest Interactive, Cardozo Law School, the School of Visual Arts, Manhattan School of Music, Direct Marketing Association Conference (Geek-End), and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
She has also written articles for a variety of publications including the New York Law Journal, National Law Journal, Ecommerce Law and Strategy, Brooklyn Journal of International Law, Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, and Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review and the Internet Law Journal. She also co-authored the American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Fashion Design, and Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore, Inside the Minds, 2015 Edition of Navigating Fashion Law.
Olivera is an Advisory Board Member of the New York Law School Innovation Center for Law and Technology, Fashion Law Initiative. Olivera is also the founder of an annual national Fashion Law Conference hosted by the Federal Bar Association, in both New York and Paris. The conference draws an international audience and was featured in the Huffington Post, Forbes and Intellectual Property Watch, a Geneva, Switzerland based publication.
Olivera served as President to the Southern District of New York Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (2014-2015) and was recently elected as the Federal Bar Association's Second Circuit Vice President. She was also a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Association Board of Directors, and has chaired the Small Law Firm Committee at the New York City Bar and the Entertainment, Media, Intellectual Property and Sports Section at NYCLA.
Olivera is admitted in both New York and New Jersey.
