Joe Centeno's practice includes collective and class action litigation, including Fair Credit Reporting Act, employment litigation, high stakes #MeToo matters, restrictive covenants, labor relations, policies, leave, termination of employment, joint employment, diversity and inclusion strategy and planning, Title IX investigation and compliance, and C-suite executive employment agreements. Joe is frequently asked to represent public companies with named executive officers regarding claims, including Sox and Dodd- Frank, employment agreements and separation. Joe counsels employers on virtually all employment and labor-related laws and regulations. He has extensive jury trial experience and has been lead trial counsel in numerous high-profile trials and arbitrations. He also has broad experience in defending claims before state and federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, many state and city Human and Relations and Civil Rights Commissions and agencies, and the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, where he served as a Commissioner by mayoral appointment. Joe also served on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's Advisory Committee on Local Civil Rules.

Joe has been nationally recognized by Best Lawyers in America, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Philadelphia Business Journal, Minority Corporate Counsel Association and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. He co-chairs Buchanan’s Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration section, which is recognized as a national Tier 1 practice by U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms." In 2021-2023, Joe was honored as a leader in the field of Labor & Employment Law in Pennsylvania by Chambers USA. During the research process, one of Joe’s references remarked, "Joseph is a consummate partner in the truest sense - he thinks big picture, and understands what we are looking for in an attorney-client relationship." In 2022, Joe was named a 'Best Law Firm Mentor' by The Legal Intelligencer as part of the publication's Professional Excellence Awards. Additionally, Joe was recognized as a 'Best Mentor: Law Firm' finalist by The American Lawyer in 2022. Most recently, in 2023, Joe was recognized by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association as a Rainmaker of the Year honoree.

Joe also serves on Buchanan’s board of directors, the firm’s compensation committee, the firm’s hiring committee, and the firm’s nominations committee. He previously served on the firm’s promotions committee.

George Chen is a member of the global Board of Directors of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, which has 30 offices and 1,300 lawyers worldwide. He also is the leader of the Intellectual Property Practice in the Phoenix office.

George partners with long-term clients to develop, protect, litigate, and license patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. He has been recognized by (1) Best Lawyers of America as (a) the Intellectual Property Litigation “Lawyer of the Year”, (b) the Patent Law "Lawyer of the Year", and (c) the Copyright Law “Lawyer of the Year”, all in Phoenix; (2) World Trademark Review as a "World's Leading Trademark Professional"; (3) Super Lawyers as a "Top 50 Attorney" in Arizona; (4) the State Bar of Arizona as the "Member of the Year"; and (5) the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education as a “Top Pro Bono Attorney".

George has testified before Congressional committees, has appeared in the media (including on NBC News), and is a co-inventor of 4 U.S. patents. During the past 5 years, George has conducted over 30 CLE presentations and other seminars regarding intellectual property, bar leadership, and diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI) in the legal profession.

He also is a past President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), which represents the interests of over 60,000 APA lawyers and judges across the country. He also has served as the Chair of the Mentor Committee for the State Bar of Arizona, and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Maricopa County Bar Association. Furthermore, George is a Delegate on behalf of the State Bar of Arizona to the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates, and also is a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.

George earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, with a minor in economics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and he worked as an engineer at Motorola while he earned his Masters of Science in electrical engineering, with an emphasis in solid state
electronics, from Arizona State University (ASU). He also earned his Juris Doctorate with honors from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Wilson Chu focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactions, as well as related corporate governance, for clients ranging from Fortune 500 serial acquirers to private equity funds to emerging technology companies in the United States and abroad. While he has experience in a wide range of industries, his practice is heavily weighted in the technology and healthcare sectors, particularly digital health and fintech. As the creator of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) influential M&A Deal Points Studies, Wilson is widely recognized for his thought leadership that continues to shape M&A practice globally. He was a founding co-chair of the ABA’s M&A Market Trends Subcommittee, which publishes the Deal Points Studies. From 2018-2021, Wilson served as Chair of the ABA’s M&A Committee, the largest group of its kind in the world.

Wilson is founding co-chair of the University of Texas Mergers & Acquisitions Institute, the country’s leading private company M&A conference since 2005, the founding chair of the International Financial Law Review/Inter-Pacific Bar Association’s Asia M&A Forum in Hong Kong since 2005, Asia’s leading M&A law conference, and founding chair of the Mergers & Acquisitions Section of the Dallas Bar Association.

His leadership also extends to diversity in the legal profession, with a number of transformative “firsts,” including co-founding the Texas Minority Counsel Program, founding the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) Partners Committee, and co-founding the Best Lawyers Under 40 award of the NAPABA.

Wilson teaches M&A as an adjunct professor of law at Southern Methodist University School of Law. Wilson is also a member of (and has served in various leadership roles at) the New York-based Committee of 100.

Wilson is co-founder of The Alliance for Asian American Justice Inc., a national coalition of law firms and Fortune 1000 General Counsels, to stand up for victims, and prevent future acts, of anti-Asian violence.

Anna Mercado Clark, Esq., CIPP/E, CIPP/US, CIPM, FIP is a partner at Phillips Lytle LLP, a full service law firm in the U.S. and Canada. She leads Phillips Lytle’s Data Security & Privacy and e-Discovery and Digital Forensic Practice Teams and is the co-team leader of the firm’s Cryptocurrency & Bitcoin Mining Practice Team. Additionally, Anna focuses her practice in the areas of business and commercial litigation and as a former district attorney, also handles white-collar criminal matters and investigations. She regularly counsels sophisticated clients on technology solutions, risk mitigation, data protection, and compliance strategies given the constantly evolving regulatory landscape, and speaks at national and international conferences as a subject-matter expert on these issues. Ms. Clark is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham University, School of Law, teaching a course on data security and privacy, as well as fundamental lawyering skills.

Ms. Clark obtained her BA in Biology from Rutgers University and J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She was recognized in Crain’s New York Business Notable Women in Law 2022 publication, named to The Responsible 100 list and the Above & Beyond Innovators list in City & State magazine, the Lawyers of Color’s Inaugural Nation’s Best List and is a recipient of the Hon. Denny Chin ‘78 Alumni Awardee for Excellence in the Legal Profession from the Fordham University School of Law Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, among other awards. She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Most recently, Ms. Clark was named a Ponemon Institute Distinguished Fellow and an IAPP Fellow of Information Privacy.

Ms. Clark is a member of her firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, where she designs and facilitates an award-winning diversity pipeline program titled, “Peace Out!” She is a founding member of the Filipino American Lawyers Association of New York (FALA NY), for which she was the inaugural vice president. Ms. Clark is also on the Board of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) where she serves as Development Director and is the Northeast Regional Governor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).

Candice Kim is Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Trademark & Brand Management Practice Group. Her practice focuses on the clearance, procurement, maintenance, enforcement, licensing, and monetization of intellectual property rights, including trademarks, trade dress, domain names, copyrights and rights of publicity. Candice counsels clients on all aspects of the branding process. She has wide-ranging experience in trademark prosecution, licensing, enforcement, and TTAB opposition and cancellation proceedings, with an emphasis on global brand expansion and management through strategic trademark filing, protection, and enforcement programs.

John is a proven change agent, helping individuals and organizations achieve excellence through his experience as a global law firm leader, diversity professional and executive coach. He serves as Reed Smith's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Global Chair, leading Reed Smith’s efforts to sponsor and achieve diversity and inclusion in the legal community. Reed Smith is a global law firm with over 3,000 employees in 31 offices around the world. Some of the most notable accomplishments during his tenure as DE&I Global Chair: 

Jackie Park is a real estate attorney with extensive experience in leasing transactions for landlords and for tenants in office, retail and industrial settings. She is a guiding force within DLA Piper, where she is the US Co-Managing Partner and a member of the firm's governing Executive and Management Committees. Her landlord representations include institutional landlords in office buildings and retail shopping centers, such as The Ratkovich Company, Maguire Partners, The Prudential Insurance Company, Rising Realty Partners, Westport Capital, Rubicon Point Partners and Pacshore Partners. Her tenant clients have included financial institutions, entertainment companies and retail entities, with ongoing representation of The Walt Disney Company, Capitol Records and AECOM. Jackie mentors lawyers through the firm's diversity and inclusion initiatives, including the Women and Lawyers of Color Emerging Leaders programs.

Ekwan Rhow is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and name principal at Bird Marella. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he has tried to jury and won nine-figure cases throughout the United States for clients such as Samsung, FIGS, and SK hynix. His plaintiffs-side practice has included appointment as national co-lead counsel in the federal privacy class action against TikTok, where he obtained what was reported as "one of the largest privacy settlements in history." Mr. Rhow recently earned a Band 2 ranking for commercial litigators in Chambers USA 2023 (among the top ten lawyers listed and the highest-ranked boutique lawyer) and has been recognized as a National Top 100 Trial Lawyer by Benchmark Litigation. Mr. Rhow previously served as Vice President of Finance on the NAPABA Board of Directors for four years. He is also a former President of the Korean American Bar Association.