SUZANNE E. HAWKINS 

FOUNDER

After graduating from Georgetown University Law School cum laude, Ms. Hawkins joined Weil Gotshal and Manges, where she represented major clients in commercial and intellectual property litigation. Ms. Hawkins’ expertise expanded by going in-house at GE where she handled contracts, litigation, arbitrations, and employee cases. Ms. Hawkins served as GE’s Senior Counsel, Legal Operations, a direct report to Ben W. Heineman Jr., the industry-renowned Chief Legal Officer. She has been named a “Legal Operations Pioneer” credited as a leader in the legal operations field.  Ms. Hawkins negotiated technology, vendor, and consulting contracts, managed high-stakes litigation, developed compliance initiatives, and led risk assessments. Her responsibilities included leadership and management of the 1200 attorney global law department, developing and driving the legal strategic agenda, outside counsel management, financial management, technology implementation, and leading the Six Sigma process improvement program. Ms. Hawkins’ business and legal expertise deepened by counseling more than 20 corporations in contract negotiation, litigation management, process improvement, financial management, and compliance. Her position as Global Senior Director of Client Value at Reed Smith LLP strengthened her strategic business acumen, leadership skills, and commitment to client service.

Ms. Hawkins is distinguished from a typical law firm leader by her unique expertise in fashion law and design. She received her Fashion Law LLM magna cum laude from the Fordham Law School Fashion Law Institute and is the recipient of the LLM Student Award for Academic Achievement. Ms. Hawkins holds a Costume Design and Wardrobe Technician Certificate from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her legal experience offers unparalleled representation to clients and supports their innovation and creativity that are critical to their business success.