News and Events

Board of Directors

Hugo Barreca

Hugo Barreca is a financial and legal specialist focusing on business planning, contract and deal negotiation, and legal affairs. His corporate experience includes senior positions with Time Inc., The New York Times, Proclivity Systems, and National Standard Finance, where is currently serves as its President. As the past CFO of two publicly traded companies as well as of several privately held companies, he has been involved in the structuring of complex business arrangements, advising on company formation and operation, financial control, business plans, mergers, acquisitions, loans, equity investments, and general management issues. He is the co-author of two books, "The Entrepreneur's Internet Handbook," and "The Business Owner's Guide to the Internet." He also serves as the President of a non-profit foundation based in New York City and serves on the boards of several other non-profit organizations. He holds an MBA from New York University, an MA in Public Policy from City University of New York, and a JD from Fordham University School of Law. He is a member of the New York and Connecticut bars.



Doug Davis

Doug Davis is the founder and owner of The Davis Firm, PLLC. The Davis Firm, PLLC is one of the most prominent and fastest growing music, entertainment, and sports law firms in the country. The Davis Firm focuses primarily on the music industry’s most successful artists, record producers, songwriters, executives, as well as television production companies, video game companies, clothing/brand companies, actors, and some of newest trend making painters. In 2009, Mr. Davis fulfilled a lifetime dream and became a licensed NBA player agent and is now successfully representing new and veteran players. Known in the entertainment business as one of the pre-eminent networkers, Mr. Davis is also the producer of the legendary annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala. Mr. Davis received a J.D. from Fordham Law School and B.A. from the prestigious Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He has been a featured speaker at events for the UJA, ASCAP, Brooklyn Law School, the Copyright Society of the USA (CSUSA), and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and sits on boards of the UJA of New York, Music For Youth Foundation, and the Forum on Law, Culture & Society. He also has a great sense of humor.



Helen Herman

Helen Herman is the former Vice President, Treasurer, and Executive Producer of the Forum on Law, Culture, and Society. She produced the Forum Film Festival and Conversations from the Forum’s inception in January 2006 through June 2012.

Helen has over 25 years of experience in creating exceptional public programs that serve diverse audiences. She is a skilled non-profit administrator, committed to social justice and public service. Her memberships include the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Association for Continuing Legal Education.

She currently serves as Director of the Office of Public Programming and Continuing Legal Education at Fordham Law School. She founded the Office in 1996 to provide high quality academic programs through collaborative efforts with other law schools, the judiciary, bar associations, law firms, corporations, government agencies, and related entities affecting the law and legal policy. She established and supervises the education program for legal professionals (CLE) to exchange ideas and acquire new skills.

Helen is a jazz flautist, and performed as a professional musician in New York City for over twenty years.



Robert Hollweg

Robert Hollweg is the retired General Counsel for Weight Watchers International, Inc.



James Leitner

James Leitner grew up in Germany and Turkey. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Yale in Economics with an emphasis on Russia and Eastern Europe. He also holds a Masters Degree from Columbia University specializing in International Finance and Russian Studies and a JD from Fordham University Law School.

Mr. Leitner worked as an FX trader at Morgan Guaranty, Chief Dealer at Bank of America International, Vice President for proprietary trading at Shearson Lehman, and Managing Director at Bankers Trust. Since 1991, Mr. Leitner has been managing absolute return portfolios at Falcon Management Corporation.

Mr. Leitner serves on the Dean’s Planning Council and the advisory board of the Leitner Center. He is also a Fellow of Yale’s Pierson College, a member of the Dean’s Council of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, and a member of the Manhattanville Ad Hoc Committee. In 2009, he received the Columbia University Alumni Medal for his distinguished service on behalf of SIPA, and during the 2010 Fordham Law Diploma Ceremony he was honored with the Eugene J. Keefe Award, which is given to the person who had made the most important contribution to the Fordham Law community. In 2010, he received the Yale Medal which is the highest award presented by the Association of Yale Alumni, conferred solely to honor outstanding individual service to the University.



JoAnn Luehring

JoAnn Luehring is a partner in the law firm of Roberts & Holland LLP in New York City, where she concentrates her practice on the representation of public charities and private foundations in all aspects of their operations, from creation and securing tax exemption through general operations, special ruling requests, development and donor advice, limitations on activities, lobbying, opinion letters, excise taxes, distribution requirements, mergers and dissolution. She also guides persons who are undertaking charitable endeavors, including with respect to structures, contributions, pledges, charitable trusts, fiduciary duties, testamentary planning, and similar subjects. She serves as a director and officer of a think tank and a private foundation, and lectures on topics related to exempt organizations. An inductee into both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, she received an M.A. and B.A, summa cum laude, from Kansas State University, and her J.D., with honors, from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), where she was a Law Review editor, a member of the Order of the Coif, and a John Motley Morehead Fellow. Her memberships include the American, New York State, and New York City Bar Associations. She also leads a book group, writes fiction and takes voice lessons.



Brett A. Paul

Brett A. Paul has served as the Executive Vice President of Warner Bros. Television—the division of the Warner Bros. Television Group that produces scripted dramatic primetime television programming for each of the five broadcast networks—since July 2008.

As the second-highest-ranking business executive in the division, Mr. Paul works closely with the top-ranking executive, WBTV President Peter Roth, and is directly involved with all aspects of the division’s strategy and operations. He is charged with direct oversight of the division’s physical production, financial, business/legal affairs, and administrative departments. Additionally, Mr. Paul serves Mr. Roth in an advisory capacity covering similar issues for Warner Horizon Television, the division that produces scripted dramatic primetime programming for various cable networks, as well as reality programming for both broadcast and cable.

In his role, Mr. Paul has structured and/or overseen some of the studio’s highest-profile licensing, producer, and talent agreements, covering current on-air series including Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, Fringe, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, and The Closer, as well as The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and, most recently, The Voice. Mr. Paul was also instrumental in structuring the co-production and licensing arrangement for a new primetime animated series of The Flintstones, targeted for initial broadcast in 2013. Mr. Paul has been intimately involved in the structuring of overall deals with producers J.J. Abrams, Chuck Lorre, Jerry Bruckheimer, John Wells, David E. Kelley, Michael Patrick King, Max Mutchnick & David Kohan and Josh Schwartz, as well as the talent agreements of Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer on Two and a Half Men, Kathy Bates on Harry’s Law, and Simon Baker on The Mentalist, among others.

Since joining WBTV in 1995 as Vice President, Business Affairs, Mr. Paul has served in multiple capacities. Prior to being named to his current position, Mr. Paul served as Executive Vice President of Business Affairs, Operations and Finance, since January 2006. Before joining WBTV, Mr. Paul was a member of the senior management team at All American Communications, a publicly traded entertainment holding company with operations including both television production and syndication. Before that, Mr. Paul worked as a corporate legal associate at both Hill Wynne Troop & Meisinger in Southern California and at Cahill, Gordon & Reindel in New York.



Paul Washington

Paul Washington is Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Time Warner Inc. He has held this position since 2006. He is responsible for working directly with the Board of Directors to shape the company’s corporate governance policies. He also oversees international, intellectual property, and regulatory legal matters.

Mr. Washington has held a number of positions at Time Warner since joining the company in 1999, including Litigation Counsel, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary; Vice President, Office of the CEO and Assistant Secretary; Vice President, Office of the Chairman and CEO, and Corporate Secretary.

Previously Mr. Washington was an associate at Sidley & Austin. Before joining Sidley, he was a law clerk for Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1995 to 1996, and then for retired Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and Associate Justice David H. Souter from 1996 to 1997 of the United States Supreme Court.

From 1989 to 1995, Mr. Washington worked at The Dime Savings Bank of New York. Before entering the private sector, he held a variety of positions in government. From 1987 to 1989, he served as the policy assistant to New York State Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine; from 1985 to 1986, he was a legislative assistant and correspondent to U.S. Representative Stan Lundine. In 1984, he was the assistant to the mayor, Office of the Mayor of Hamden, CT; later that year, he was the director of scheduling and advance for U.S. Representative Bruce A. Morrison.

Mr. Washington serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, where he teaches a class on Corporate Governance and is a member of the Dean’s Planning Council. In a volunteer capacity, he served as Chairman of the National Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals, President of the New York Chapter of the Society, and as a member of the NYSE Commission on Corporate Governance. He currently serves on the boards of other nonprofit organizations, including the Legal Aid Society, Wilderstein Historic Preservation, and Maverick Concerts.

Mr. Washington received his J.D. magna cum laude from Fordham Law School, and his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale College.



Pro Bono Counsel

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP