Joseph J. Centeno | Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

Joe Centeno, Executive Shareholder, chairs Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration Section, and he is a nationally recognized leader in labor and employment law. His practice includes high stakes collective and class action litigation, including Fair Credit Reporting Act, employment litigation, #MeToo claims, 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 employment issues arising from named executive officers regarding claims, including Sarbanes Oxley 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. In 2023, Joe 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."

Joe has been honored as a leader in the field of Labor & Employment Law in Pennsylvania by Chambers USA since 2021. 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. In 2023, Joe was recognized by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association as a Rainmaker of the Year honoree. Most recently, in 2024, he was named a BTI Client Service All-Star. Joe also serves on Buchanan’s executive leadership team, the firm’s compensation committee, the firm’s hiring committee, and the firm’s nominations committee.

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." Joe has been honored as a leader in the field of Labor & Employment Law in Pennsylvania by Chambers USA since 2021. 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. In 2023, Joe was recognized by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association as a Rainmaker of the Year honoree. Most recently, in 2024, he was named a BTI Client Service All-Star. Joe also serves on Buchanan’s executive leadership team, the firm’s compensation committee, the firm’s hiring committee, and the firm’s nominations committee.

Robert S. Chang | Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, UC Irvine School of Law

Professor Robert S. Chang is the executive director of the UC Irvine School of Law Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality. Prof. Chang founded the center — named for pioneering civil rights hero Fred T. Korematsu — in 2009 at the Seattle University School of Law. The center leads numerous initiatives and projects focused on research, advocacy, and clinical education. Learn more about Prof. Chang and the Korematsu Center's 

Prof. Chang is one of the nation’s leading scholars on issues of race and interethnic relations, and one of the most recognized voices on Asian Americans and the law. He is the author of “Disoriented: Asian Americans, Law and the Nation-State” (NYU Press 1999) and co-editor of “Minority Relations: Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation” (University Press of Mississippi 2017) and has two books forthcoming next year with Cambridge University Press, including “Banned: The Fight for Mexican American Studies in the Streets and in the Courts” (with Nolan L. Cabrera. He has authored more than 60 articles, essays and chapters published in leading law reviews and books on minority relations, critical race theory, LatCrit theory and Asian American legal studies. 

Prof. Chang has received numerous recognitions for his scholarship and service. He was recently honored with the King County Bar Association’s Friend of the Legal Profession Award and will be recognized this fall by the Washington State Bar Association’s Justice Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity APEX Award. Among other awards, Prof. Chang is the 2022 recipient of Seattle University’s McGoldrick Fellowship, the most prestigious honor Seattle University confers upon its faculty; the 2021 co-recipient of the Kathleen Taylor Civil Libertarian Award from ACLU-Washington; the 2018 recipient of the M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award from The Society of American Law Teachers; the 2014 co-recipient of the Charles A. Goldmark Distinguished Service Award from the Legal Foundation of Washington; and the 2009 co-recipient of the Clyde Ferguson Award from the Minority Groups Section of the Association of American Law Schools. He is also an elected member of the American Law Institute. 

Prior to joining UC Irvine School of Law, Prof. Chang held professorships at Seattle University School of Law and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Prof. Chang received an A.B. from Princeton University and holds M.A. and J.D. degrees from Duke University. 

The Honorable Leslie E. Kobayashi | United States District Court, District of Hawaii

The Honorable Leslie E. Kobayashi was nominated by President Barack Obama on April 21, 2010 by the United States Senate as United States District Judge in the District of Hawai`i on December 22, 2010.

Prior to confirmation, Judge Kobayashi served as a United States Magistrate Judge (1999-2010) in the District of Hawai`i. She was a practicing lawyer for 16 years, first serving as a deputy prosecuting attorney for the City and County of Honolulu (1983-1984), and then in private practice where she was a trial attorney and a managing partner (1984-1999), handling a variety of matters including personal injury, business disputes, labor and employment, medical and legal malpractice, and products liability.

She received her B.A. degree from Wellesley College (1979) and her J.D. degree from Boston College School of Law (1983).

Judge Kobayashi currently serves on the Ninth Circuit Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. She has served on other committees, including the Ninth Circuit Conference Executive Planning Committee, Magistrate Judges’ Executive Board for the Ninth Circuit, sub- committees for the Hawai`i Chapter for the American Judicature Society, and as a Bencher for the American Inns of Court, Aloha Inn.

From 2000-2002, she was an adjunct professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law and was the co-recipient of the Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award in 2002. She is the recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Judicial Achievement Award from the Hawai`i Women Lawyers. From 2010-2011, she was the presiding judge of the pilot program for the District of Hawaii’s Reentry Court.

The Honorable Goodwin Liu | California Supreme Court

The Honorable Goodwin Liu is an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court. Nominated by Governor Jerry Brown, Justice Liu was sworn into office in 2011 and retained by the electorate in 2014 and 2022. Before joining the state’s highest court, Justice Liu was Professor of Law and Associate Dean at the UC Berkeley School of Law. His primary areas of expertise are constitutional law, education law and policy, and diversity in the legal profession. Justice Liu continues to teach constitutional law as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, and Stanford Law School. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Law Institute, and the American Philosophical Society. In 2023, he was elected Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He also serves on the Council of the American Law Institute, on the Board of Directors of the James Irvine Foundation, and as President of the Yale University Council. He has previously served on the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science, Technology, and Law, the Board of Directors of the National Women’s Law Center, and the California Commission on Access to Justice.

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Justice Liu grew up in Sacramento and attended public schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford, a masters degree in philosophy and physiology from Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, and a law degree from Yale. He clerked for Judge David Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also worked in the litigation practice of O’Melveny & Myers, served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and helped launch the AmeriCorps national service program as Senior Program Officer for Higher Education at the Corporation for National Service.

The Honorable Christy Goldsmith Romero | Commodity Futures Trading Commission

The Honorable Christy Goldsmith Romero has more than 20 years of experience as a career federal attorney, and leader in financial regulation.  She has served as a CFTC Commissioner since March 30, 2022, after President Biden’s nomination and unanimous Senate confirmation. She promotes financial stability, market resiliency, integrity, and vibrancy, while overseeing CFTC-registered banks, brokers, exchanges, clearinghouses, funds, and commodity producers. She sponsors the CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee which examines cybersecurity and emerging technology (AI, digital assets, and blockchain technology), and has issued reports on AI and Decentralized Finance.

Commissioner Goldsmith Romero previously served for 12 years at the Department of Treasury, including for a decade as the Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP), after President Obama’s nomination and unanimous Senate confirmation in 2012. There, she led a nationwide, independent law enforcement and audit watchdog office that conducted oversight over TARP. TARP was the government’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, as the government became a shareholder in more than 700 banks, and had programs in the automotive industry, insurance industry, corporate securities and derivatives markets and foreclosure relief for consumers.

Commissioner Goldsmith Romero also served for six years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including on the Executive Staff during the financial crisis, as counsel to SEC Chair Mary Schapiro and Christopher Cox. She also served in the Enforcement Division, where she investigated securities law violations, including related to financial institution fraud, insider trading, hedge funds, and retail investor fraud.

Prior to that, Commissioner Goldsmith Romero served as an associate and counsel at law firms, and served a federal judicial clerkship.

Commissioner Goldsmith Romero’s leadership has protected markets, the financial system, investors and consumers. She has testified before Congress 13 times, and meets often with Congress on policy issues related to the financial system and regulation. She reported to Congress on lessons learned from the financial crisis, and banking and housing issues. She served on a Council of Inspectors General overseeing the Financial Stability Oversight Council. SIGTARP was known for its unique ability to find fraud in financial institutions. She led SIGTARP’s investigations into bank fraud, securities fraud, violations of bank and securities laws, money laundering, corruption, mortgage fraud, and conspiracy. SIGTARP’s investigations resulted in the recovery of more than $11 billion, civil charges against large financial institutions, and criminal charges against 465 defendants (with courts sentencing to prison 75 bankers and nearly 100 bank borrowers). These landmark cases had lasting impact to make the financial industry safer. 

Commissioner Goldsmith Romero’s actions to protect markets and investors led SIGTARP to uncover fraudulent sales practices by broker dealers in mortgage-backed securities that had never been addressed by any other federal agency. These cases resulted in Department of Justice prosecutions, SEC civil enforcement actions, and widespread changes to industry sales tactics. Commissioner Goldsmith Romero has also written on, and investigated, harm to consumers. She also led investigations resulting in prison sentences for more than 100 mortgage fraudsters.

Commissioner Goldsmith Romero was also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and University of Virginia Law School.