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The New Jersey State Bar Association is proud to announce a talented class of 21 fellows for the Association’s 2024–2025 Leadership Academy. 

The fellows represent an accomplished assemblage of attorneys, spanning diverse practice areas in the private and public sectors. Through the academy, the group will attend a year of programming to develop leadership skills, including a wide array of classes on topics such as improving communication, the legislative process, public-sector law, issues confronting the profession, the New Jersey business landscape and more.

“Each year, the NJSBA is fortunate to welcome an exemplary class of lawyers who are ready to take the next step as leaders in the profession. The academy will elevate their already bright careers as they gain invaluable career planning, networking and educational experiences through this program,” NJSBA President William H. Mergner Jr. said. 

The class is expected to graduate in May at the NJSBA Annual Meeting and Convention in Atlantic City. 

The NJSBA 2024–2025 Leadership Academy fellows are:

	Jonathan I. Amira, a special deputy attorney general and acting assistant prosecutor for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office. Amira is also an adjunct instructor at Rutgers Law School. In the NJSBA, he is a member of the Young Lawyers Division, the Legal Education and Government, Public Sector and Public Interest Lawyers Special Committees, and the New Jersey Lawyer Editorial Board.
	Alyssa A. Bartholomew, an associate in the family law department at Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi. Bartholomew dedicates her practice to litigation matters, focusing exclusively on matrimonial issues. She serves as a trustee for the Middlesex County Bar Association and the Middlesex County Bar Foundation.
	Bria S. Beaufort, an associate in the employment and labor law group at Gibbons P.C. Beaufort focuses her practice on management-side employment litigation and counseling. Along with her involvement in the NJSBA, she is a trustee of the Young Lawyers Section for the Essex County Bar Association.
	Crystal L. Cochren, an assistant deputy public defender with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender. Cochren has been a practicing attorney for more than 20 years.
	Joshua Cohn, an attorney at Holland & Knight with a practice focused on construction matters. Cohn practices across a gamut of industries, including real estate, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, education, public infrastructure and energy. He served as a deputy attorney general for the state Attorney General’s Office.
	Steph Kozic, an assistant deputy public defender with the Camden County Office of Law Guardian. Kozic represents minors whose parents or guardians are involved in litigation with the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency. He was also a deputy attorney general with the state Attorney General’s Office.
	Deirdre Laws, an assistant prosecutor with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Laws has worked in various sections in the prosecutor’s office since 2016, including grand jury, trial and the Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Unit. She currently serves as the Atlantic County representative to the NJSBA Young Lawyers Division’s Executive Committee.
	Maximilian J. Mescall, a partner at Mescall Law, PC, where he primarily handles plaintiff personal injury and worker’s compensation claims. Outside of his practice, he serves as the secretary of the Brennan-Vanderbilt Inn of Court.
	Joseph A. Natale, an associate in the litigation department of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP. Natale focuses his practice primarily on business, real estate, construction and professional liability disputes. Within the NJSBA, Natale serves on the Executive Committee for the Young Lawyers Division and co-chairs its Membership Committee.
	Gigio K. Ninan, the co-founder and chief executive officer at Shankar Ninan. Ninan practices in business and employment counseling and litigation. He is currently a director of the Asian American Bar Association of New York.
	Megan A. Oduyela, an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Newark. Oduyela’s practice encompasses contracts and legislative law. She is an active member of the Perth Amboy community, serving on the city’s zoning and school boards.
	Roshni H. Patel, an associate at Norris McLaughlin, P.A. Patel concentrates her practice on estate and tax planning and administration. Her practice also encompasses long-term care planning and advocacy, fiduciary representation and public benefits, including Medicaid and guardianships.
	Erica Antonya Parlavecchio, an associate in Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC. Parlavecchio practices in the firm’s real estate and redevelopment, land use and zoning groups.
	Maralee Sanders, an associate with Hartmann Doherty Rosa Berman & Bulbulia LLP. Sanders provides employment counseling for both employers and individuals as part of the firm’s trusts and estates group, focusing on trust and estate administration and elder law. She is an active volunteer in the NJSBA and serves as a trustee of the Somerset County Bar Foundation.
	Lee D. Schaer, an assistant prosecutor in the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Schaer is currently the chief of the Grand Jury Section. She also serves as a legal advisor to several police departments in Bergen County.
	Lynne Seborowski, section chief of the Special Victims Unit in the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. Seborowsk oversees investigations and prosecutions into allegations of sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence offenses, Megan’s Law and the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICAC). She has been an assistant prosecutor for 15 years.
	Carly Rothman Siditsky, business litigator at Troutman Pepper. Siditsky represents clients in finance, insurance, energy and higher education sectors in state and federal courts. She is part of the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court advocacy team and serves as a regional pro bono liaison and women’s network liaison.
	Melanie Ozuna Silletti, an assistant prosecutor at the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Silletti serves as the chief of community engagement and public relations, chief of recovery court and legal advisor to the Office of Victim Witness Advocates. She has a background in various legal divisions, including drug court, domestic violence and narcotics.
	Hugh A. Thompson, assistant corporation counsel/assistant section chief for the City of Newark. Thompson’s practice encompasses labor and employment. Outside of his practice, he serves as a member of the Essex County District Ethics Committee and holds volunteer positions in the City of Plainfield.
	Allison J. Vogel, of Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, P.C. Vogel represents employers in all aspects of employment litigation, including discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, wage and hour claims and employment-related torts. She also has significant experience conducting investigations as a neutral outside investigator in these matters.
	Richard “Rick” K. Wille Jr., a judicial law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Karen M. Williams. Prior to his clerkship, Wille was an associate attorney on the business and commercial litigation and white-collar crime and investigations teams at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. In the NJSBA, he serves as a trustee on the Young Lawyers Division’s Executive Committee and is a member of the Election Law Special Committee and Appellate Practice Committee.