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Talia specializes in high-stakes, high-profile civil and criminal matters, particularly complex commercial and civil impact litigation and sensitive investigations. She has represented judges, universities, scholars, celebrities, startups, and enterprise-level companies in law-defining matters before all levels of federal, state, and administrative courts.
Clients across a wide range of industries have relied on Talia’s keen strategic judgment and creativity to achieve unlikely successes, regardless of the forum, posture, or area of law at issue. For example, Talia obtained a 7-2 victory on behalf of Kentucky governor Andy Beshear in emergency United States Supreme Court proceedings regarding the governor’s public health orders, despite another governor’s near-identical loss mere weeks prior. Beshear commissioned Talia into the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels for her work. Furthermore, Talia’s role developing the evidence in defense of Amber Heard against Johnny Depp’s multijurisdictional defamation onslaught resulted in a total loss for Depp in the UK. When Talia’s team represented Gigi Hadid in a federal copyright suit, their innovative approach was hailed in the press.
Most recently, Talia served as associate general counsel for Shopify, driving strategy across the full lifecycle of the company’s most important and multijurisdictional commercial, privacy, class action, financial services, and intellectual property disputes. Talia’s in-house experience offers her a unique perspective on company risk before, during, and after litigation. In addition to anticipating issues before they arise, she is adept at translating complex legal circumstances into clear, creative guidance in support of senior leadership business goals.
Talia has maintained a robust pro bono practice throughout her career, with a focus on representing LGBTQ+ clients facing steep odds against unfriendly agencies. In 2019, she secured asylum for a client facing persecution in his native Colombia despite Trump administration efforts to curtail that relief. With the same team, Talia secured a discharge upgrade for a client discharged from the Navy for homosexuality and obtained service-connected benefits for the sexual trauma and PTSD the client suffered during service.
Prior to joining Shopify, Talia was a senior associate at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP and an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP, where her practice also included extensive privacy and data security advising and #MeToo matters with sensitive publicity elements. Outside of her practice, Talia has served as a founding member of the Ali Forney Center’s Emerging Leaders Council and was named a Pathfinder by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
Talia clerked for the Honorable Robert W. Sweet of the Southern District of New York. During law school, she served as senior book reviews & essays editor of the California Law Review and worked in the Terrorism/Counterterrorism department of Human Rights Watch.
