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Zuberi Williams

Retired Judge Zuberi “Judge Zu” Williams transforms conflict into clarity. As Chair of Bayard’s Business Alternative Dispute Resolution practice, he brings judicial insight, practical strategy, and a people centered approach to high stakes disputes. His philosophy is simple: the most durable outcomes occur when parties actively participate in and take ownership of their resolution.

Judge Zu leads an innovative ADR platform designed to resolve complex matters with speed, dignity, and lasting impact. Over the course of his career, he has conducted hundreds of mediations and settlement conferences across commercial, civil, employment, and government disputes. Clients and counsel consistently praise his even keeled demeanor and his ability to make complex cases manageable.

Before joining Bayard, Judge Zu served for a decade on the Maryland bench, first as an Administrative Law Judge and then as a Maryland District Court Judge in Montgomery County. Appointed at age 36, one of the youngest judicial appointments in Maryland history, he served from 2015 until retiring in 2025. While on the bench, he chaired the District Court’s ADR Sub Committee, modernizing programs and training judges statewide. He is widely respected for guiding high conflict disputes with neutrality, clarity, and momentum. His leadership has been recognized with honors including the Peacemaker Award from the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County.

Prior to his judicial service, Judge Zu was an Administrative Law Judge at the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings and an Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Earlier in private practice, he worked in Washington, D.C., at an AmLaw 100 firm in its White Collar Crime and Investigations group and at a prominent Baltimore intellectual property boutique firm.

Judge Zu clerked for Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of Maryland’s highest court, then the Court of Appeals and now the Supreme Court of Maryland, and for the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, widely known as the Rocket Docket for its swift timelines and complex civil caseload.

A dedicated educator, Judge Zu serves on the faculty at Georgetown University Law Center and American University Washington College of Law, where he has taught trial advocacy, torts, and his popular Law and Popular Culture course. He also teaches nationally through the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the National Association of Attorneys General, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. He regularly speaks at judicial roundtables and conferences across the country and internationally.

Karen Vicks

Karen Y. Vicks earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Temple University’s James Beasley School of Law. Prior to earning her law degree, Karen Y. Vicks attended Howard University graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Karen Y. Vicks is licensed to practice in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Affiliations

Attorney Vicks is a member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimant Representatives (NOSSCR). She has lectured for the Organization on Social Security Disability Law at national conferences. She is also a member of the National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA), the Delaware Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Attorney Vicks is also a volunteer Attorney Guardian Ad Litem for the Office of the Child Advocate.

Service

Attorney Vicks has developed a specialized practice that caters specifically to Delaware’s disabled population. She has successfully represented hundreds of claimants before the Social Security Administration who have been unjustly denied their right to Social Security disability benefits. She prides herself on representing her clients and serving her community with expertise, compassion, and commitment.

History

Karen Y. Vicks worked as an auditor for the New York City Comptroller’s Office and the Delaware Department of Transportation after completing her undergraduate studies at Howard University. Upon completion of her law degree, she clerked for Judge Walrath of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware after which, she joined a local law firm where she worked for an extensive number of years as the senior associate for the downstate Social Security practice. Karen Y. Vicks has since opened her own practice with a team of paralegals serving clients who have been unjustly denied their rights to government disability benefits. She has lectured at local and national conferences educating individuals and groups on matters pertaining to disability law. She has served as an adjunct professor at Delaware State University lecturing on constitutional law and criminal justice.

Dami Omotunde

Dami Omotunde represents clients in complex commercial disputes before state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings. Her practice spans shareholder challenges, breach of contract, business torts, corporate governance, product liability and other high-stakes issues. Dami’s experience extends across industries including financial services, life sciences and health care, technology, and consumer products and retail. Prior to joining Faegre Drinker, Dami practiced in the Wilmington office of one of the world’s largest law firms.

Corporate Litigation

Dami counsels clients on disputes arising under Delaware corporate law. She advises boards, executives and shareholders on fiduciary duties, mergers and acquisitions, and shareholder rights. Dami regularly handles litigation involving challenges to mergers, stockholder derivation actions, books and records demands, appraisal proceedings, and contested board or deal terms. 

She has drafted pleadings, managed discovery in high-value disputes, and prepared motions in multimillion-dollar shareholder and corporate governance cases. Her experience also includes advising on pre-litigation strategy to mitigate risk and protect shareholder value.

Commercial Litigation

Dami also represents clients in a range of commercial disputes. She has handled matters involving breach of contract, fraud claims, product liability and other business torts. She has worked on all phases of litigation, from drafting dispositive motions and discovery requests to preparing for hearings and arbitrations. Dami assists clients with early dispute strategy, risk assessment and settlement negotiations.  

Representative Experience

Personal Interests

In her free time, Dami enjoys cooking, listening to podcasts, spending time with family and friends, and traveling.

Doneene Damon

Doneene Damon is President of Richards, Layton & Finger, where she also serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Business Department and Chair of the Corporate Trust and Agency Services Group. She is widely recognized for her extraordinary leadership and depth of experience in complex commercial and financial transactions.

Ms. Damon focuses her practice on formation and operational issues relating to Delaware statutory trusts and Delaware and New York common law trusts. She represents issuers, underwriters, investors, trustees, banks, and trust companies across a broad range of commercial and capital markets transactions. Her work includes advising clients on common law trusts, statutory trusts, owner trusts, master trusts, series trusts, and titling trusts.

Her corporate trust and agency practice includes representing financial institutions in their roles as trustee, collateral agent, verification agent, custodian, master servicer, depository agent, securities intermediary, paying agent, registrar and transfer agent, and exchange agent under Delaware and New York law. Ms. Damon also represents health-care clients in transactional matters, including the purchase and servicing of health-care receivables and the issuance of tax-exempt bonds.

Ms. Damon has played a leading role in innovative and first-to-market transactions, including serving as primary Delaware counsel in structured finance transactions utilizing blockchain distributed ledger technology.

Her transactional experience spans a wide range of asset classes and structures, including asset-backed securities (auto loans and leases, credit cards, student loans, consumer loans, residential mortgages, home equity loans, equipment leases, litigation settlements, insurance policies, and intellectual property), collateralized loan obligations, cross-border leasing transactions, project finance, defeasance transactions, royalty trusts, liquidation trusts, voting trusts, private equity funds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds.

Ms. Damon is consistently praised by clients and peers and has been described as “terrific” and “experienced, careful, smart, and very personable” by Chambers USA. In 2021 alone, she was named among the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Diversity Leaders in Business, the News Journal’s Most Influential Delawareans, Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers, and a Women, Influence & Power in Law Managing Partner of the Year.

Education

Recognition and Honors

Bar Admissions

Samuel Pratcher, III

With over a decade of personal injury and workers' compensation experience, Mr. Pratcher has forged a great reputation as a trial lawyer. He has represented thousands of victims injured in motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall incidents, workplace accidents, or cases involving medical negligence. Mr. Pratcher’s commitment to obtaining just compensation for his clients sets him apart from other attorneys.

Before focusing on representing injured individuals, Mr. Pratcher worked for a regional defense law firm representing insurance companies. This experience gives him unique insight into the tactics insurers use to minimize the value of claims, allowing him to better advise his clients and secure fair compensation for their injuries.

Attorney Pratcher has received recognition from his peers as a top personal injury lawyer in the State of Delaware, including listings in Delaware Today Magazine’s Top Lawyers for 2013, 2016, and 2019–2021. He has also gained national recognition from the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys, being selected as a Top 10 Personal Injury Attorney in Delaware from 2013–2022. Super Lawyers recognized him as a Rising Star in 2017 and 2018, an honor awarded to no more than 2.5% of Delaware attorneys, and later as a Top Personal Injury Attorney in 2021 and 2022. Mr. Pratcher has also received the AVVO Personal Injury Client’s Choice Award from 2019–2022.

Mr. Pratcher focuses his law practice on plaintiffs’ personal injury, workers' compensation, and medical negligence cases. His exclusive dedication to representing injured clients allows him to remain current with changes in the law and provide highly effective representation. With Mr. Pratcher, clients have a trial attorney who is not afraid to litigate to secure the recovery they deserve. He is admitted to practice in Delaware, New Jersey, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Education

Awards and Recognitions

Professional & Bar Memberships

Client Testimonials

Clients consistently praise Mr. Pratcher for his professionalism, responsiveness, and results. Testimonials highlight his ability to communicate clearly, mediate and settle cases effectively, and provide dedicated legal guidance during difficult times.