Our Board
The Orange County Coalition for Diversity in the Law (OCCDL) is a collaborative effort of professionals from leading Orange County law firms and other community partners committed to achieving cultural diversity in recruiting and retaining law students and attorneys in Orange County.
– Our Mission Statement
Mike Olsen
President
Mike Olsen is an Associate Attorney at Kading Briggs LLP, where he exclusively represents management and employers in litigation before state and federal agencies, courts, and in arbitration—including class actions, individual claims of discrimination and harassment under civil rights laws, and trade secret disputes.
Mike has provided a wide range pro bono legal services, including representing foster parents in adoption proceedings, preparing an amicus brief on behalf of the Family Equality Council, obtaining immigration relief for juvenile immigrants in a class action suit against the federal government, preparing an amicus brief filed before SCOTUS in support of upholding DACA and serving at various legal clinics supporting low-income individuals.
Since 2018, Mike has served on the Board of Directors and as an officer of the Orange County Lavender Bar Association, Orange County’s LGBTQ+ bar association, and he presently serves as its President.
Andrea Levenson
Vice President
Andrea Levenson handles complex civil litigation matters and trials for Haynes Boone, particularly those involving intellectual property issues. Her practice focuses on complex patent litigation before U.S. district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and on appeal before the Federal Circuit. Andrea has stand-up jury trial, evidentiary hearing, and appellate argument experience in multiple forums, including United State District Courts, the International Trade Commission, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She regularly represents clients involved a wide array of technologies including solid state memory, computer networking, mining technology, medical devices, underground asset mapping, and many more.
In addition, Andrea has litigated a variety of other commercial matters, including trademark infringement, copyright infringement, trade secret, and general commercial disputes in district courts throughout the country and on appeal.
Andrea also maintains a robust pro bono practice, including civil rights/prisoner rights litigation in California and Louisiana, defense of unlawful detainer proceedings for indigent clients, and coordinating the office’s involvement in the federal pro se clinic for pro bono representation in the Central District of California.
Edward Dailo
Treasurer
Edward P. Dailo, Senior Counsel at Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, specializes in defending cases involving catastrophic injuries, including brain injury and wrongful death. His expertise extends to commercial auto, commercial general liability, premises liability, and products liability cases.
Edward earned his Juris Doctor from the University of La Verne College of Law and Public Service, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California.
His diverse legal experience includes working in-house as an attorney for a major global property and casualty insurance carrier, where he handled complex litigation matters such as trucking and automobile liability, premises liability, general liability, product liability, and subrogation matters.
Edward is committed to the legal community, and currently serves as the Treasurer for the Orange County Coalition for Diversity in the Law. He also serves on the California Lawyers Association’s Committee for Diversity, Inclusion & Outreach. Additionally, he is a Regional Governor for the National Filipino American Lawyers Association, and serves on the Board of Directors for the University of La Verne College of Law and Public Service Alumni Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board for the Cabrillo Academy of Law and Justice.
His prior leadership experience includes serving as president for the USC Alumni Club of the Inland Empire and as a board of director for the Philippine American Bar Association. In 2017, Mr. Dailo co-authored an article entitled “Filipinos on the Bench and Challenges and Solutions for Today and Tomorrow’s Generations,” which was published in the 2017 Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession Review and the 22nd Volume of the Asian Pacific American Law Journal.
Melissa Mikail
Secretary
Melissa Mikail is an associate at Sheppard Mullin in the Business Trial Practice Group. She serves on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, Sustainability Committee and is a member of OC’s Diversity & Inclusion Working Group.
She represents clients in a range of commercial and business litigation matters. She has litigated claims in both state and federal court involving breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition, class action, data breach, false advertising, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, and trademark and copyright disputes. Her securities litigation practice includes shareholder derivative claims, class actions, SEC enforcement actions and internal investigations. Melissa provides comprehensive litigation services for every stage of the litigation, including pre-lawsuit advisement and negotiation, discovery, law and motion, settlement, mediation and pre-trial preparation.
Melissa is a committed pro bono attorney and has an extensive record of giving back to her community. She represents parents in adoption proceedings, handles asylum cases, and volunteers at the Federal Pro Se Clinic in Santa Ana, California, providing legal advice to individuals representing themselves in federal civil actions.
Melissa also serves as an adjunct professor of law at Chapman University School of Law where she teaches civil procedure lab to first year law students.
Tiffany Aguiar Brennan
Director At Large
Tiffany Aguiar Brennan is an associate in Crowell & Moring’s Antitrust and Competition and Advertising and Media groups.
Tiffany represents clients in matters related to investigations brought by the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General. She is also a litigator with a practice that focuses on representing Fortune 500 companies across various industries in complex antitrust litigation.
In addition, Tiffany maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients in consumer law matters and assisting individuals experiencing elder abuse.
Tiffany received her J.D. from the University of California, Irvine School of Law. While in law school, she was a judicial extern to the Honorable Christina A. Snyder. Tiffany maintained an active role on campus and served as a research assistant, co-founded the Christian Law Student Association, served on the executive board of the LatinX Law Student Association, and competed as a finalist in UC Irvine’s 2019 Moot Court Competition.
Prior to law school, Tiffany worked in the Los Angeles fine dining industry and collaborated with former college classmates to teach a hospitality curriculum for international high school students. Tiffany received her B.S. in hotel administration from Cornell University, where she was awarded the Joseph Drown Prize award for academic excellence and a strong commitment to community service. She remains actively involved in the local Cornell Hotel Society alumni organization.
Jesse Maxwell
Director At Large
Jesse Maxwell is a Partner at Everett Dorey. His practice focuses on the defense of municipalities, businesses, and property owners in complex civil litigation with an emphasis on general liability and public entity liability.
Jesse received his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, with a concentration in corporate law. While at Loyola, he was a member of the Transactional Negotiation Team and finished as a semi-finalist in Loyola’s Negotiations Tournament. Jesse attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Jesse served as a Committee Member for the Veteran’s Legal Institute from 2021 – 2024.
Arash Pia
Director At Large
Arash Pia focuses his practice on providing patent prosecution and litigation services for his clients at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, LLP.
Arash received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles while he was working full time as a Civil Engineer. At law school, he worked as a mentor for incoming law students. He also worked as a mentor for the award-winning Judge Stephen O’Neil Trial Advocacy Mentoring Program.
Arash received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. He later received his Master of Science degree also in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering in Los Angeles. Before joining the firm, Arash worked on a variety of multi-million-dollar civil design and construction projects, including port facilities, educational buildings, and gas transmission systems. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of California.
Matthew Troncali
Director At Large
Matthew Troncali is a counsel for Crowell & Moring and a part of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Group. Matt pursues and maximizes recoveries on behalf of a broad range of national and international clients in complex antitrust settlements.
For six years before joining the firm, Matt focused on business-related transactions and litigation in state and federal courts, using his multidisciplinary experience in law, business, and technology to comprehensively counsel clients. He represented both plaintiffs and defendants in technology, trust, construction, real estate, appellate, and general-liability insurance matters, including cases involving construction defects, premises liability, product defects, and intellectual property. His experience touches on all aspects of litigation, dispute resolution, pre-trial preparation, and arbitration.
Matt graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in communication from Cal Poly Pomona, where he was selected as a President’s Council Scholar as one of the University’s top students. He was accepted by Pepperdine University School of Law as a Dean’s Scholar.
During law school, Matt also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Robert N. Kwan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California and as a law clerk at the California Department of Corporations, the Screen Actors Guild, and in the Appellate Division of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. Today, Matt serves as a board member and is a former president of the Orange County Lavender Bar Association, which is a professional organization for LGBT attorneys, judges, and allies.