Diversity Fellows

Diversity Fellowship Program

Eric Banks

Eric Banks (St. Louis): Mr. Banks is a well-rounded trial attorney and mediator with extensive experience representing individuals and companies in high-stakes litigation. He represents businesses when claims or lawsuits are brought against them before administrative agencies and state or federal courts. Most of his successes have come from favorable settlements or through motions for summary judgment. Mr. Banks has first-chaired approximately 85 jury trials in federal and state courts throughout the United States, and he has first-chaired nearly 300 bench trials.

Erica Bristol

Erica Bristol (Los Angeles): Ms. Bristol is an intellectual property attorney and commercial mediator, specializing in intellectual property-related disputes. She is the principal of EB Mediate, a mediation service provider in Encino, California. She received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1999. She served as in-house counsel for a corporation and its technology affiliates for over 11 years, and she has been a commercial mediator since 2006. Ms. Bristol currently serves as a panel mediator for the United States District Court for the Central District of California and the Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

Bridget L. Halquist

Bridget L. Halquist (St. Louis): Ms. Halquist is a partner at Summers Compton Wells in St. Louis, Missouri, where she focuses her practice on contract disputes, employment law and general business litigation. She is an active member of the St. Louis County Bar Association, the Lawyers’ Association of St. Louis, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Women Lawyers Association. Before entering private practice, she served for four years as a federal judicial law clerk to Hon. Henry Edward Autrey, a U.S. District Court judge in the Eastern District of Missouri. In 2014, Ms. Halquist was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to serve the Missouri Board of Law Examiners as a bar exam grader, where she continues to serve today.

Jason Marsili

Jason Marsili (Los Angeles): Mr. Marsili is a partner at Rosen Marsili Rapp LLP and the founder of Marsili Mediation Inc. His practice focuses on class and collective wage and hour litigation involving violations of the FLSA and state law. Additionally, je handles matters concerning medical leaves, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, executive compensation, labor-management relations and Title IX. He is an adjunct professor at USC Gould School of Law, teaching courses in negotiation theory and mediation advocacy. Mr. Marsili also serves as vice-chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association and is the immediate past chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Maurice Q. Robinson

Maurice Q. Robinson (New York City): Mr. Robinson is the assistant director of workforce diversity and equal employment opportunity compliance for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, where he is responsible for directing the Offices of Workforce Diversity and Equal Employment Opportunity. He is also an adjunct professor in ADR at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and New Jersey City University, as well as faculty emeritus at the Seton Hall University School of Law Conflict Management Program. He has served as an approved mediator for the New York Peace Institute and the Manhattan Civil Court, Housing Court and Small Claims Court. Mr. Robinson has also participated in arbitrations and mediations with the EEOC, FINRA and other private organizations.

Asha Smith

Asha Smith (New York City): Ms. Smith is an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus. She teaches a course examining the intersectionality of race, gender and the U.S. criminal legal system. In addition to her Juris Doctor from New York Law School, she holds two Masters of Arts in media studies and a Master of Science in teaching from The New School. Currently, Ms. Smith advises a number of clients within the artistic realms on contractual matters and ensures their best interests are served and their rights are protected.

Michael Zuckerman

Michael Zuckerman (Chicago): Mr. Zuckerman is an ADR professional and principal of Zuckerman Dispute Resolution LLC and has conducted hundreds of mediations and arbitrations. He has served as a judicial law clerk for judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Seventh Circuit, in the Eastern District of New York and in the Northern District of Illinois. Beyond his clerkships, he was a lawyer at Jones Day in the elite Issues & Appeals practice group, where he focused on complex trial and appellate matters. Mr. Zuckerman additionally has served as a full-time law professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he taught communication and legal reasoning. He is a member of many professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Illinois Bar Association, the Association of Attorney-Mediators, and LAGBAC, Chicago’s LGBTQ+ bar association.