About

Deborah Nilson is a graduate of Syracuse University (1981, B.S. in Finance, Magna Cum Laude, Beta Gamma Sigma) and New York Law School (1984, Juris Doctor). She is a member of the New York State Bar, the Bars of the United States District Courts of the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York, and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Deborah began her career at the law firm of Richard K. Bernstein & Associates, where she practiced mainly corporate law, and polished her French while working with a French-speaking clientele. In 1989, she co-founded the law firm Rozan & Nilson LLP, where she expanded her client base. In 2006, Deborah formed her own firm, Deborah A. Nilson, PLLC.

Emily Ayoob is a graduate of Macalester College (2007, B.A. in Philosophy, Cum Laude, with minors in French and Linguistics) and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (2010, J.D. with a concentration in Corporate Law). She has gained extensive experience studying and working abroad, including in Paris, Oxford, and India. Emily was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2011.

Emily began her career with internships in French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel’s Paris and New York offices, where she worked on a variety of corporate and financial regulatory matters. She has in addition completed internships with the New York State Supreme Court and the Federal Trade Commission. She is fluent in both oral and written French. Emily joined The Nilson Law Group, PLLC as an Associate in May of 2011.

Publications: Withdrawing from Contract Negotiations under French Law: An Increased Risk, ABA Section of International Law, International M&A & Joint Ventures Committee Newsletter (Apr. 5, 2011).

Recent Development: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, 28 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 175 (2010).

Caitlin Delaney is a graduate of the University of Scranton (2010, B.A., Double Major in French and Political Science, Cum Laude) and Brooklyn Law School (2016, J.D.). While in law school, she served as the Executive Notes and Comments Editor on Brooklyn Law School’s Journal of Law and Policy. Caitlin also completed internships in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and the New York City Law Department.

Before law school, Caitlin lived, studied, and taught English in Paris and Thionville, France, where she polished her language skills. Caitlin joined The Nilson Law Group, PLLC as an intern in May of 2015, and then as an Associate in September of 2016.

Publications: Fortifying the Rights of Unauthorized Immigrant Workers: Why Employee-Focused Incentives Under the NLRA Would Help End the Cycle of Labor Rights Abuse, 24 J. L. & Pol’y (2016).

Michael Vaz d’Almeida is a French Attorney at Law, admitted to the Paris Bar in 2017. Michael is a graduate of the Fordham University School of Law (2019, LL.M. in International Business and Trade Law), of the University Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (2013, French LL.M. in Competition & Contract Law), of the University Paris X Nanterre La Défense (2012, French LL.M. in Business Law), and the University Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III (2011, French LL.B. in Law with a specialization in Business Law).

Prior to joining The Nilson Law Group, PLLC as a law clerk in August 2019, Michael worked as an attorney at law in France in a US law firm focusing on antitrust laws, business contracts and European law, and was a legal intern in several other law firms, in large groups in the US, France and Luxembourg, in the Appeals Court of Paris and the French Competition Authority.

Michael is fluent in English and has a professional working proficiency level in Spanish.

Publications: Effects of COVID-19 on Business Contracts: Force Majeure Clauses, French American Chamber of Commerce newsletter (May 6, 2020) (co-authored with Deborah A. Nilson).

Charity Gates is a graduate of Emory University (2016, B.A. International Studies and Sociology) and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (2020, J.D.). While in law school, Charity served as the Articles Editor of the International Comparative, Policy & Ethics Law Review. She also completed internships at Louis Vuitton Americas, Christie’s, the New York State Supreme Court, and a general practice law firm. Charity studied abroad at the Institut d’etudes politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) during her time at Emory and is proficient in French.

Prior to joining The Nilson Law Group, PLLC as an Associate in August 2021, Charity worked at a firm providing legal services to visual artists. Additionally, she was a rights and clearance associate at a major news organization, focusing on image rights and intellectual property issues. Charity was recently admitted to the New York State Bar.

Publications: Deaccessioning, Repatriation and a Global Reckoning, in MUSEUMSETC (22 March 2021). Who Owns African Art? Envisioning a Legal Framework for the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage, 3 INT’L COMP., POL’Y & ETHICS L. REV. 1125-56 (2020).

Nancy Maurice is a graduate of Louisiana State University (2019, LL.M. in Comparative Law with a focus on Business and International Trade), of the University Paris Nanterre (2015, LL.M. in European Business Law, Competition & Contract Law), and the University of Essex (2014, LL.B. in English and French Law with a specialization in Business Law). Nancy was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2020.

Prior to joining The Nilson Law Group, PLLC as an Associate in July 2022, Nancy worked as a litigation attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana, and as law clerk in several firms in Paris, France where she gained significant experience focusing on international commercial litigation, business contracts, and a variety of corporate matters.

Nancy is a member of the New York State Bar Association, and of the American Bar Association where she serves as an appointed Young Leader.

Nancy is a native French speaker. She is fluent in English and has a professional working proficiency level in Spanish and Portuguese.

Publications: Things Left Unsaid: Implicit Obligations Under Louisiana Law in Star Financial Services, Inc. V. Cardtronics USA, Inc., 12 J. Civ. L. Stud. (2019).

Nathalie Gast is a graduate of Mercy College (2003, A.A.S. in Information Technology, Cum Laude) and Lycée Acajou and has a Baccalaureate in Philosophy and Literature. She also attended courses at the Katherine Gibbs School (2000, Certificate in Administrative Studies with an Information Technology Focus, Dean’s List). Born and raised in Martinique, Nathalie’s native tongue is French.

Nathalie has over ten years of administrative and technology related experience. She started her career in database management and has since run offices and moderated websites. Most recently, Nathalie spent four years as a Trademark Researcher at a well-known, large intellectual property law firm, where she played an integral role with the maintenance of international trademark portfolios and brand enforcement, translated trademark descriptions and legal documents, as well as served as an interpreter. Nathalie joined The Nilson Law Group, PLLC in April 2011.

Belgian attorney, Stéphanie Pevenage is a graduate of the “Université Libre de Bruxelles” Law School (2008-2011: Bachelor of Laws – LLB ; 2011-2013: Master of Laws – LLM, Private Law).

Stéphanie was a member of the Brussels Bar from 2013 to 2018. She began her career at the law firm IUSIRIS S.P.R.L. where she practiced for five years in many areas of commercial and civil litigations, mainly in real estate, insurance and liability law. Stéphanie relocated to the US in September 2018.
Before moving to New York, she lived in San Francisco for a year where she worked for the “French American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco” and “L’Alliance Française”.

Stephanie joined The Nilson Law Group, PLLC in August 2019 as a Paralegal.

Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, Stephanie is a native French speaker. She is fully proficient in English, and has basics in Dutch.

After a bicultural upbringing (USA/France) and a Harvard PhD in Comparative Literature (French, Spanish, and Russian), Claudine Frank taught humanities and French literature at the undergraduate and graduate levels in several U.S. institutions. While living in Paris with her family for many years, she then produced two scholarly editions focused on French avant-garde 20th-century intellectuals. Most recently, since her return to New York, she has undertaken pro bono legal translation for immigration attorneys; volunteered as a tutor at City College of New York; and acquired an ABA-approved Paralegal Certificate at Long Island University. Always drawn to research and archives – whether cultural or corporate – she joined The Nilson Law Group, PLLC, as a paralegal in January 2021.

Publications: The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader (Duke University Press). Georges Ambrosino, Georges Bataille : L’Expérience à l’épreuve. Correspondance et inédits (1943-1960) (Éditions les Cahiers).

Claude Hilaire studied at the Law School of Port-au-Prince, State University of Haiti before getting a scholarship at the Louisiana State University as an exchange student in Law (2010-2011). She went back to her country to work in gender-based violence. She also volunteered in human rights grassroots organizations to give back to the community.

Claude moved to New York a few years ago to work at the Consulate of Haiti. She joined The Nilson Law Group in March 2022. She is fluent in both English and French.