Directors and Staff!
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Meredith Ragains, Esq.Executive Director
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Kelly Bray, Esq.Director of Legal Services
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Jayma Leath, Esq.Staff Attorney
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Shayla Jordan
About Meredith
Prior to her work at GLA, Meredith was a litigator for 12 years at Robins Kaplan where she was in the Commercial Litigation practice group. In 2009, the State Bar of Georgia awarded Meredith its Pro Bono Project Award for her outstanding work with pro bono clients.
Meredith graduated from Emory University and Mercer Law School. After law school, Meredith clerked for the Honorable G. Ernest Tidwell of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. In addition to her work at GLA, Meredith is an adjunct professor at Emory Law School where she teaches contract drafting, and she regularly guest lectures at the Georgia State University College of Law on intellectual property-related topics.
About Kelly
Kelly oversees the Georgia PATENTS program and manages GLA services. Kelly obtained her LLM from Vanderbilt Law School in 2016 and was the recipient of the Scholastic Excellence Award in Copyright Law. In 2016, she also attended the 17th International Copyright Law Summer Course at University of Amsterdam, Institute for Information Law. Kelly received her JD from Dalhousie University and her MBA from the University of Toronto.
Kelly has over 10 years’ experience in the film and television industry having worked for producers and international distributors of live action and animated productions. She has independently produced two feature films, both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her experience also includes six years with a boutique branding, research and valuation company.
About Jayma
Shayla Jordan
About Shayla
Legal Fellows
Benjamin Middleton
About Ben
Ben became a percussionist at an early age. As a percussionist, Ben performed in symphonic and marching bands throughout his college years at South Carolina State University where he became a member of the Marching 101 Band and graduated with a B.S. in Psychology. Ben received his J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law. Before law school Ben worked as a software test engineer during the day and spent his nights as a budding music producer and songwriter. As a Broadcast Music, Inc. member Ben continues to engage the creative process through music production. He now lives
in Smyrna, GA with his wife, Andrea, and two daughters, Jeneen and Lana.
Xiaotong Shan
About Xiaotong
Legal Externs!
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Anson CrumPatents Extern
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Erinn JohnsonArts Extern
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Shelly KurlandArts Extern
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David RestucherArts Extern
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Mailia StokesPatents Extern
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Shreeps ZalaArts Extern
Anson Crum
Anson is a Patents Extern for Georgia PATENTS. Anson was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. After serving a full-time, two-year mission for his church in Singapore, he graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Genetics and Biotechnology and a minor in Chemistry. During undergrad, he participated in diabetes and fly gut metagenome labs, publishing one paper on the latter.
Since graduating, Anson worked for the Fortune 500 medical technology company Becton Dickinson and as an optometric technician before joining Emory Law School’s class of ’22. He has enjoyed his IP studies and hopes to work in patent litigation. He happily lives in Midtown Atlanta with his wife and two whippets.
Erinn Johnson
Erinn is an Arts Extern for Georgia Lawyers for the Arts. Erinn graduated cum laude from Kennesaw State University majoring in Business Management with a certification from the Joel A. Katz Music & Entertainment Business Program and is a rising 3L at Mercer University School of Law. As the Vice President of Mercer’s Technology & Intellectual Property Society (MTIPS), Erinn worked closely with faculty to rebuild the program and garner more interest in this field of law and encouraged those in the practice field to develop relations with MTIPS and Mercer. Outside of law school, Erinn enjoys the performing arts, being active in his local community, and serving as a worship leader at his church.
Shelly Kurland
Shelly is an Arts Extern for Georgia Lawyers for the Arts. She graduated from Rollins College in Florida and is currently a rising 2L at Emory Law. Shelly is pursuing a legal career in copyright law, trademark law, and transactional law, and is President of the Emory Entertainment Alliance. She is a singer who enjoys surfing and attending concerts and has always been determined to help artists understand and utilize their rights.
David Restucher
David grew up in Southwest Louisiana and graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in International Relations. He received his Master’s degree in International Policy at the University of Georgia and began working at the International Rescue Committee. David then decided to pursue a legal career and joined the Georgia State University College of Law’s class of ’22. He hopes to work in the entertainment legal field and currently lives in East Atlanta.
Mailia Stokes
Mailia is a Patents extern for Georgia PATENTS. Mailia graduated from Southern Polytechnic State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering Technology and is currently a rising 3L at Mercer University School of Law. Prior to law school, Mailia worked for several years as an industrial engineer, a process engineer, and a lean engineer. In her free time, Mailia enjoys both taking and teaching dance classes.
Shreeps Zala
Shreeps J. Zala is an Arts Extern at Georgia Lawyers for the Arts. Shreeps graduated from Emory University in 2003 and then attended the Atlanta Institute of Music (Guitar, 2007). After a decade of working in the Atlanta music and acting communities, Shreeps decided to enroll in law school. Shreeps is a current 2L at Georgia State University College of Law. He serves as President of the Sports & Entertainment Law Society and still performs on a weekly basis.