EBA GLOBAL - Key Persons
James is a dual qualified practicing lawyer and chartered accountant and is strategic head of its Technology, Life Science and Financial Services practices. In assisting financial services clients, James regularly interacts with the Financial Conduct Authority and advises disruptive financial technology companies in the UK market. James focusses on assisting investment businesses from payment services to asset management establish themselves within the UK, EU and transatlantically. James has assisted numerous US companies entering the UK and European markets, he has a regular presence in the United States and is active in the financial technology start-up world. James sits in his capacity as General Counsel on a number of Boards. He is one of the architects of the firm's pro-bono strategy which has led to the representation of death row clients across the world and more recently victims affected by the 2005 London bombings. James is regularly consulted by both Government, the International Bar Association and other agencies.
Julene brings her spirit of professionalism and entrepreneurship to the EBA, as a Co-Founder and Executive Director. Julene's can-do spirit has resulted in dramatic transformations in organizations and the CLE industry where she was a pioneer in using live webcasts, digital on-demand courses, database-driven websites, and digital / social media marketing. She served as the Executive Director of the American Bar Association-American Law Institute (ALI-ABA), now ALI CLE, for seven years leading a complete revitalization of the organization with substantial growth in new technology-based products and revenue. Before that she was a transformational Director of Professional Development and of Texas Bar CLE at the State Bar of Texas, which achieved record revenue growth, as well as impressive increase in web presence and market share with early use of live webcasts and streaming video during her tenure. Julene shows her belief in the value of volunteerism through her own dedication to organizations she believes in. She has served in many volunteer capacities for the Association of Continuing Legal Education. In 2013, Julene was appointed to the prestigious American Bar Association Standing Committee on CLE, where she served as Chair of the MCLE Subcommittee. A passionate artist and supporter of the arts in many forms served on the board of the Inspire Community Fine Art Center in San Antonio as its Chair of Fund Raising. Julene is a licensed attorney and a certified association executive. She received her BA and JD from The University of Texas. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation, the American Bar Association, the American Bar Foundation, the American Law Institute, and the Association of Continuing Legal Education.
Job Titles:
- President
- RWR Legal 's Managing General Counsel
Richard "Rick" Ressler is RWR Legal's Managing General Counsel and has over 30 years of varied and extensive legal experience. Mr. Ressler's practice includes corporate and tax law, mergers and acquisitions, securities and financing, contract law, real estate, intellectual property over sight and licensing, and labor and employment issues, including stock and benefit plans. Mr. Ressler is an indispensable strategist and consultant as he guides clients to use law as a powerful and complex decision making tool. Richard Ressler offers clients a unique perspective because he has served both large and small companies, publicly traded and private, simultaneously as an attorney and corporate officer. This includes time working for a technology incubator. Mr. Ressler strongly feels that legal advice in a vacuum is not enough. Rather, his strategy and advice takes into consideration and directly facilitates clients' long-term business goals. Mr. Ressler has worked on over 100 public offerings and private placements, representing underwriters, issuing companies, and both large and small investors. He also has extensive experience in venture capital and other start-up investments, bank and other loan financ ings, structured financing, sophisticated leasing arrangements, and mergers and acquisitions. He has guided joint venture and financing transactions involving entities in Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and England, as well as financings for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Prior to joining RWR Legal, Richard Ressler served as Vice President and Corporate Counsel to Centex Corporation in Dallas, Texas. He also served a concurrent role as General Counsel to Centex Title and Ancillary Services, a Centex subsidiary. Previously he served as Assistant General Counsel to Union Pacific and Vice President and General Counsel to FENIX, a Union Pacific Corporation subsidiary. For nine years Mr. Ressler also worked in private practice for the prestigious law firms Sullivan & Cromwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Mr. Ressler received his Juris Doctorate cum laude from Harvard Law School and his Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Princ eton University. He is admitted to practice law in Texas, New York and Pennsylvania (inactive in Pennsylvania). Mr. Richard Ressler is AV-rated, the highest rating given for legal ability and ethics from Martindale-Hubbell.
Shari Wynne Ressler is an Austin-based entrepreneur and attorney. Shari has dedicated her life to helping people achieve their goals. She is an entrepreneurial evangelist, founding her law firm and ancillary businesses to help entrepreneurs and their companies achieve success. Shari's legal career started at the Department of Labor, Washington DC, Plan Benefits Security Division in 1988; Thereafter, she practiced at the international law firms of at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobsen, and McDermott, Will & Emery, before relocating to Austin, Texas in late 1996. Shari then co-founded her law firm, which is now known as RWR Legal, a full-service entrepreneurial law firm representing and connecting innovators, startups, high-growth companies and investors. In 2017, RWR Legal celebrated 20 years, and Shari is grateful to have been part of the development of Austin's entrepreneurial law and ecosystem. Shari's career is centered upon building ecosystems around entrepreneurs and their companies. As part of her legal practice, Shari recognized that her consumer product clients did not have the same access to mentorship and resources as her technology clients. Furthermore, it seemed to her that Austin's economy fluctuated primarily around the rise and fall of the of the technology industry. In response, she co-founded Incubation Station/now SKU, the nation's first and leading consumer product goods (CPG) accelerator coalescing the Austin CPG community around promising CPG startups. SKU is now in its 5th year, been recognized as a top accelerator and readied to become a national accelerator for the CPG industry. Shari is passionate about the Entrepreneurial Law Bar Association (EBA), and she is excited about bringing together business counsel worldwide to establish best practices for representing innovators and fostering growth in the new economy. Shari is an avid mentor, investor and active participant in the Austin entrepreneurial ecosystem, past-president of the Austin chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and RISE women. She holds a BA from UC Davis and a JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law.