Meet our 2019-2020 Emerging Leaders Speakers!

Miko Brown, JD
Partner, ​Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP

Miko Brown is a trial attorney who defends high-profile companies in catastrophic personal injury lawsuits nationwide, including moving vehicle accidents, product liability matters, and mass torts. She also maintains active complex commercial and intellectual property practices.

Ms. Brown’s civil rights and employment experience includes Section 1983 lawsuits and matters alleging race, gender, disability, and age discrimination, as well as sexual harassment and whistleblower actions. Ms. Brown has also advised employers and employees on non-compete clauses in employment agreements and conducted internal investigations in crisis situations.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

• The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation – Insurance; Medical Malpractice – Defendants; Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2020
•  Top Litigator, Law Week Colorado, 2019
• Barrister’s Choice “Best Class Action/Mass Tort Attorney – Defendants,” Law Week Colorado, 2018
• Colorado Women’s Bar Association Foundation, Women Lawyers Who Raise the Bar Through Systemic Reform or Innovation, 2017
• Top Lawyer, Personal Injury Defense, 2017-2019, 5280 Magazine.

 

Kenzo Kawanabe, JD
​Partner, ​Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP

Kenzo Kawanabe is a trial lawyer who represents clients in a variety of matters relating to commercial disputes, mass torts, products liability, and intellectual property. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has significant litigation experience in high-stakes cases.

Mr. Kawanabe is a fourth-generation Coloradan who engages in community service. He currently serves on the board of advisors for the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System and as board chair for the Boettcher Foundation. Mr. Kawanabe is the former board chair of The Denver Foundation, one of the nation’s largest community foundations which annually grants tens of millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations. He also served on the boards of the Sakura Foundation, Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, Community Resource Center, Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities, University of Denver Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

• National Philanthropy Day (Colorado): Volunteer of the Year (2019)
  
• Law Week Colorado Barrister's Best for Colorado's Best Commercial Litigator (2017)
• Benchmark Litigation
  
• 5280 Top Lawyer
  
• Best Lawyers® (Past Lawyer of the Year for Mass
  Tort)

Long Nguyen
Financial Services Professional, New York Life

​As a local resident and licensed Financial Services Professional, Long Nguyen has been serving his community in Denver and Colorado for more than five years. Long migrated to America as a refugee in 1977 and called New Jersey home for most of his life. He graduated both high school and college from the state of NJ and obtained a master's degree in Engineering. With an Engineering degree, Long of course was an Engineer, but he tried many things in his life and switched careers many times, including being a Production Manager of a major fashion house, VP in IT, Partner at New York Life, and Business Owner. Currently, Long is a Financial Services Professional with New York Life but can be found most of the time at Anise, Modern Vietnamese Eatery, which is a chic upscale eatery where his wife Quyen Trinh is the Owner and Executive Chef.

Patty Phan
Chief Operating Officer, Decadent Saint

​Patty Phan is the COO of Decadent Saint, a start-up winery based in Boulder and Louisville, CO. Patty received her bachelor's degree from Cornell University. She was a Lead Designer / Residential Portfolio Manager at Anderson Brule Architects, where she adapted Agile engineering practices to streamline design processes and transform the company’s management systems. After her stint as a designer, she joined Hewlett Packard’s Professional Services World Wide Strategies and Solutions Team as a Senior Program Manger and SAFe Agile expert (SPC). There, she helped develop the global curriculum for training Service Consultants in Agile methodologies and ran training courses all over the globe.

​Wishing to balance her work and life, and to locally apply Agile strategies where it can make the biggest impact, she chose to join Decadent Saint three years ago and has been happily growing the company since that time.

 

​The Honorable Neeti V. Pawar
Judge, Colorado Court of Appeals

​The Honorable Neeti V. Pawar was appointed to the Colorado Court of Appeals in March 2019. Judge Pawar’s practice over the 25 years prior to her appointment included litigation, mediation, and appellate work in the areas of family law, employment law, and criminal defense. She was a solo practitioner immediately preceding her appointment and prior to that a partner with a boutique law firm. Judge Pawar is the founding president of the South Asian Bar Association of Colorado, past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Colorado, and recipient of APABA-Colorado’s Minoru Yasui Community Service Award. She is the first South Asian American to be appointed as a judge in the state of Colorado and the first Asian American to be appointed to the Court of Appeals or higher in Colorado. In her free time, Judge Pawar enjoys dancing and teaching at an Indian dance studio and skiing in the Rockies.

​