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Our Story
Hilary and Reem met when they were co-counsel in a large white collar joint defense group. After working together for months, they became friends and were inspired to create a networking group of women lawyers in D.C. to help build each other up and develop friendships
HLC launched in 2022 with a mission to provide accomplished women lawyers in D.C. the platform to network within a trusted community, to advocate for one another’s leadership growth, and to learn from each other’s shared experiences.
HLC’s Co-Founders Reem Sadik and Hilary Gerzhoy founded HLC out of their own experience as co-counsel in a large joint defense group where they turned their professional relationship into a friendship. Their goal is to expand on that model, fostering a professional legal network that transcends practice and helps its members grow in the legal community.
HLC launched in 2022 with a mission to provide exceptional women lawyers in D.C. the platform to network within a trusted community, to advocate for one another’s leadership growth, and to learn from each other’s shared experiences.
HLC’s Co-Founders, Reem Sadik and Hilary Gerzhoy, founded HLC out of their own experience as co-counsel in a joint defense group where they turned their professional relationship into a friendship. Their goal is to expand on that model, fostering a professional legal network that transcends practice and helps its members grow in the legal community.
HLC launched in 2022 with a mission to provide accomplished women lawyers in D.C. the platform to network within a trusted community, to advocate for one another’s leadership growth, and to learn from each other’s shared experiences.
HLC’s Co-Founders Reem Sadik and Hilary Gerzhoy founded HLC out of their own experience as co-counsel in a large joint defense group where they turned their professional relationship into a friendship. Their goal is to expand on that model, fostering a professional legal network that transcends practice and helps its members grow in the legal community.
Reem Sadik
Reem Sadik focuses her practice on white-collar criminal litigation, government investigations, corporate internal investigations, and compliance counseling. She has deep experience in both private practice and in government service. Her clients include senior executives and Fortune 100 companies, and span across a broad array of industries including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, media, and technology. Reem has experience in matters involving: life sciences criminal investigations; Congressional investigations; the False Claims Act; the Anti-Kickback Statute; financial crimes, and whistleblower cases. Her experience also includes fact development, witness preparation, motions practice, and document management issues. Reem has worked in all three branches of the federal government. She worked in the Visits division of the Office of the Chief of Protocol in the US Department of State and in the Office of Majority Whip James Clyburn in the US House of Representatives. She also is a former law clerk to Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge James R. Spencer of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Reem has been recognized repeatedly in different publications, including Super Lawyers: “Rising Stars” in the area of Criminal Defense: White Collar; Best Lawyers: “Ones to Watch;” and in Washington Life Magazine as one of Washington’s most influential people under 40. Reem believes in the importance of pro bono work. She was awarded the John Nolan Award, Steptoe’s highest internal honor for pro bono excellence, for successfully exonerating a client on death row in a case involving prosecutorial misconduct.
Hilary Gerzhoy
Hilary is a legal ethics and white collar lawyer. She represents lawyers and firms in disciplinary investigations, prosecutions, malpractice matters, and fee disputes. Hilary represents lawyers and firms in high stakes arbitrations and litigation, and she counsels lawyers and firms on all types of ethics issues including conflicts, advertising, fee disputes, the unauthorized practice of law, attorney departures, lateral moves, law firm partnership agreements, and law firm formations and dissolutions. Hilary represents clients through all stages of litigation, from the initial complaint through trial and appeal in state and federal courts and she represents companies and individuals in a range of white-collar criminal investigations. She has been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Lawdragon, and is AV Peer Review rated by Martindale-Hubbell with a 5.0 out of 5.0 rating, Highest Level of Professional Excellence. Hilary is the Vice Chair of the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee, and a member of the ABA’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, and the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Admissions and Grievances. Hilary is an adjunct law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where she teaches legal ethics, and she serves on Law360’s Legal Ethics Editorial Advisory Board. She has published more than thirty articles on developments in legal ethics and her work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg Law, Law360, the Washington Lawyer, and LexisNexis. She is regularly quoted as a legal ethics leader in publications including The National Law Journal, Law.com, and Law360.
Reem Sadik focuses her practice on white-collar criminal litigation, government investigations, corporate internal investigations, civil litigation, and compliance counseling. Reem’s clients include universities, individuals, Fortune 500 and smaller corporations, and boards across a broad array of industries including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, media, and technology. She has defended her clients in matters involving securities and accounting fraud, foreign corruption, economic sanctions, False Claims Act violations, theft of intellectual property, antitrust conspiracies, environmental offenses, and other business crimes. She represents clients before the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, OFAC, and Congress. Reem has worked in all three branches of the federal government. She worked in the Visits division of the Office of the Chief of Protocol in the US Department of State and in the Office of Majority Whip James Clyburn in the US House of Representatives. She also is a former law clerk to Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge James R. Spencer of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Reem has been recognized repeatedly in different publications, including Super Lawyers: “Rising Stars” in the area of Criminal Defense: White Collar; Best Lawyers: “Ones to Watch”; and in Washington Life Magazine as one of Washington’s most influential people under 40. She also serves as the Co-Chair of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association’s (“WWCDA”) Young Professionals Committee (“YPC”), a peer-nominated position.
Hilary Gerzhoy focuses her practice on legal ethics and malpractice and white-collar defense. Hilary represents lawyers and firms in disciplinary investigations, prosecutions and fee disputes and serves as outside general counsel to law firms helping lawyers navigate all types of ethics issues including conflicts, advertising, fee disputes, the unauthorized practice of law, attorney departures, lateral moves, law firm partnership agreements, and law firm formations and dissolutions. She has represented lawyers in front of every disciplinary body at the state and federal level in D.C. and Maryland, before the Virginia State Bar, before the USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED), and those under criminal investigation by DOJ. Hilary represents companies and individuals in a range of white-collar criminal investigations. Hilary is the Vice Chair of the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee and a member of the ABA’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee. In 2022, the Judges of the D.C. Circuit appointed her to serve as one of the six members on the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Admissions and Grievances. Hilary is an adjunct law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where she teaches legal ethics, and she serves on Law360′s Legal Ethics Editorial Advisory Board. She has published more than thirty articles on developments in legal ethics and her work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg Law, Law360, the Washington Lawyer, and LexisNexis. She is regularly quoted as a legal ethics leader in publications including The National Law Journal, Law.com, and Law360. Hilary has been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Lawdragon and is AV Peer Review rated by Martindale-Hubbell with a 5.0 out of 5.0 rating, Highest Level of Professional Excellence.
