Speakers:

Samita Ali-Khan, Partner, Foley Hoag 

Samita Ali-Khan is currently a Partner at Foley Hoag, previously having been an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis and at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Samita primarily represents companies, private equity sponsors, and investment banks in a variety of equity and debt transactions in the capital markets. She also counsels her clients on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and other financial transactions, as well as compliance, reporting and governance matters, including in the evolving worlds of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and legal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consulting. Samita has helped companies in aggregate raise over $30 billion in capital and restructure over another $10 billion in debt, often with market-leading terms in Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Fizza Alam, Associate, Wiggins and Dana, LLP

Fizza Alam is Muslim and Pakistani-American attorney. She is an associate at Wiggin and Dana LLP. At Wiggin she focuses predominantly on Commercial Defense and Medical Malpractice Defense litigation. Fizza also serves as an Executive Board Member of the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut (SABAC).

Fizza received her J.D., summa cum laude, in 2024 from the University of Illinois College of Law where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif. Fizza received her B.A., summa cum laude, in political science and economics from the University of Connecticut with a minor in human rights.  

During law school, Fizza competed in negotiation and moot court competitions placing as the champion of the annual Anderson Center Negotiation Competition and as a Finalist in the ABA First Amendment Diversity Moot Court Competition. As a law student, Fizza worked in the Illinois College of Law Immigration and Intellectual Property clinics where she assisted clients with asylum and trademark applications.

She was also actively involved with numerous organizations including as Founder and President South Asian Law Students Association and President of Muslim Law Students Association.

Fizza is especially passionate about mentorship, and in November 2024, was a panelist for Quinnipiac School of Law’s MLSA and BLSA “Women of Color in Big Law” event. Before law school, Fizza served as a Director of Be (A)Part, a nonprofit which arose in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, through which she helped Waterbury high school students prepare materials for college and job applications. In 2021, Fizza was acclaimed as one of three “Heroes of Our Time” by UConn Early College Experience Magazine.

Amrita Mahabaleswara, Chief Legal Officer, Merus Global Investments

Amrita Mahabaleswara is a Managing Director and Merus’ Chief Legal Officer, with responsibility for Legal, Non-financial Risk, Compliance, and Human Resources.

Prior to her current roles, Ms. Mahabaleswara spent over a decade at the Goldman Sachs Group, most recently serving as the lead for the US Banking Regulators at the Office of Regulatory Engagement where she oversaw the firm’s team that represented Goldman Sachs in regulatory examinations, meetings, and reviews conducted by the FRBNY, NYSDFS, FDIC, and other prudential regulators.  Previously, Ms. Mahabaleswara held several other roles within Goldman Sachs Compliance including, coverage of the US Financial Sponsors Group, Asia Pacific Banking Derivatives and Structured Products, as well as regulatory examinations and inquiries conducted by the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, NFA, and other non-prudential regulators.

Before moving in-house, Ms. Mahabaleswara was in private practice in New York, focusing on securities litigation matters. Ms. Mahabaleswara is an active member of the New York Women’s Bar Association and serves on several of its committees. Ms. Mahabaleswara received her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, and her B.A. from The George Washington University.