Lecturer Bios
Hon. Stewart D. Aaron
Hon. Stewart D. Aaron was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States
District Court for the Southern District of New York on December 1, 2017. Before joining the
Court, he was a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP, where he served as the Managing Partner of
the New York Office (2012-2015) and the Administrative Partner of the New York Office (2005-
2012). Judge Aaron had litigated commercial and civil rights cases in federal and state court, as
well as other tribunals, for over 30 years.
He is a past President of the New York County
Lawyers Association. Judge Aaron also has served on the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid
Society. He was graduated summa cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law, and
received his Bachelor of Science from Cornell University
Elena Paraskevas-Thadani, Esq.
EPT Legal, LLC was founded by Elena Paraskevas-Thadani, an experienced employment attorney with
over 20 years experience in the legal profession, specializing in resolving workplace challenges and
disputes.
Elena is an experienced trainer having conducted and developed hundreds of Equal Employment
Opportunity trainings on professional conduct, nonharassment, diversity, litigation avoidance and other
employment compliance topics. Elena brings over two decades of litigation experience to her
compliance trainings, and develops and delivers fun, educational, interactive and customized programs
for her clients.
Elena has worked with hundreds of companies to conduct sensitive workplace investigations involving
allegations of discrimination, harassment, misconduct or wrongdoing against C-Level and other
executives. Elena is an Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH) and is
licensed by New York State as a Private Investigator.
Elena is an experienced arbitrator and mediator certified by the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York and by the New York Peace Institute. She specializes in mediating prelitigation matters when parties are still in the workplace and employment cases such as wage and hour
disputes, discrimination, whistleblower, restrictive covenant and class action lawsuits. She serves on the
United States District Court Eastern District of New York mediation and arbitration panels.
In addition to her experience in private practice, Elena served as a law clerk to two federal judges, The
Honorable Andrew J. Peck, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
(2000-2002) and The Honorable Nicholas Tsoucalas of the US Court of International Trade
(1997-1999), and a student law clerk while in law school to United States District Court Judge Frederic
Block and Magistrate A. Simon Chrein. During her tenure in the courts and in private practice
Elena worked on hundreds of hearings, trials, arbitrations and mediations.
As a certified and experienced executive coach, Elena has assisted company leaders, C-Level
executives, law firm partners and service professionals manage their teams more effectively, build their
influence in their field, and increase their business development success. Elena is an adjunct coach with
Skillful Means Marketing, LLC, voted the #1 coaching service for attorneys in a recent New York Law
Journal survey, among other awards and accolades.
Elena previously practiced plaintiffs’ and defendants’ general commercial litigation and employment
law at Katten Muchin Rosenman (2002-2005) and Seward and Kissel LLP (1999-2000). She worked
for Kaplan Fox, a plaintiffs’ class action law firm as a summer associate in 1996.
Elena is a former equity partner of the law firm Littler Mendelson, the largest global employment and
labor law practice in the world. She is a graduate of Fordham College (’95) and Fordham Law School
(’97). While at Fordham Law, Elena founded the Fordham Law Chapter of the Unemployment Action
Center, through which she provided pro bono advocacy to unemployment insurance claimants, and also
worked as a student advocate at the Northern Manhattan Improvement Center, where she provided
services and representation to public assistance applicants and recipients. Elena also served as an intern
with EDNY Judge Frederic Block (1995), EDNY Magistrate Judge A. Simon Chrein (1996) and the
EDNY US Attorney’s office (1996-1997). She is admitted to practice in New York Connecticut and the
District of Columbia.
Marijana Matura, Esq.
Marijana Matura is a co-founder of Kessler Matura P.C.
Ms. Matura’s practice focuses on representing individuals in employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and wage and hour class and collective actions. She also negotiates executive and professional employment contracts and severance agreements. Ms. Matura has litigated and successfully settled many cases involving a variety of workers including those who were “misclassified” and paid a salary by their employers and denied overtime pay as well as highly compensated professionals. Notwithstanding her extensive litigation experience, Ms. Matura also understands that with effective negotiation and appropriate counseling, extensive litigation may be avoided and tailors her tactics on a case by case basis in order to achieve the most favorable outcome for her clients.
Ms. Matura received her law degree from St. John’s University School of Law, where she was an executive board member of the Moot Court Honor Society. Ms. Matura also holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University where she majored in Industrial and Labor Relations. Ms. Matura is a member of American Bar Association Labor & Employment’s Section on Employment Rights and Responsibilities, the National Employment Lawyers Association of New York, and the New York State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. Ms. Matura has been selected by her peers as a New York Super Lawyer in the area of Employment Law in 2012 through 2019. Ms. Matura also fluently speaks both Spanish and Croatian.
Outside the office, Ms. Matura is an avid skier and also enjoys cooking, gardening, and boating with her family.
