About Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez & Sachs

Firm Résumé

Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez & Sachs, LLP is a professional corporation organized to practice communications law before the Federal Communications Commission, state utility commissions, and the federal courts. The firm has broad experience in all areas of communications law, including the representation of wireless telecommunications companies, telephone companies, electric companies, cable television system operators, wireless cable operators, broadcast companies, equipment manufacturers, specialized mobile radio operators and private carrier paging companies.

As an adjunct to its communications law practice, the firm provides engineering consulting services to its clients through its in-house engineering staff. The firm's consulting engineers are experienced in the design of radio paging, mobile radiotelephone and cellular radio telecommunications systems, multipoint distribution and point-to-point microwave systems, and various other telecommunications systems.

Biographical sketches of the firm's partners, principals, associates, and engineers follow:

RUSSELL D. LUKAS, Partner, received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and has been practicing communications law in Washington, D.C., for over 30 years. He was a founder of Becker, Gurman & Lukas, P.C., and the senior member of Lukas, O’Brien & Raiser, Chartered. e-mail

DAVID L. NACE, Partner, received his law degree from The American University in Washington, D.C. Since 1976 he has represented telecommunications companies in regulatory matters before the Federal Communications Commission. He advises public and private companies on regulatory issues and business matters including contracts, transactions and litigation. e-mail

THOMAS GUTIERREZ, Partner, received his law degree from the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America, and his Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland. His communications legal career started with the Federal Communications Commission in 1979. For much of his tenure with the Commission he was the chief staff attorney for cellular radio telecommunications and was directly involved in the formulation of the FCC’s cellular radio rules. He specializes in regulatory and transaction matters associated with all forms of telecommunications, including wireless. e-mail

ELIZABETH R. SACHS, Partner, received her law degree from The American University. She specialized in communications law as an attorney in the Office of Government Relations at Motorola, Inc. in Washington, D.C., and then as associate with the firm of Dempsey and Koplovitz. She has been the General Counsel for the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, Inc. since its inception, and represents a variety of commercial and private wireless operators. e-mail

DAVID A. LaFURIA, Partner, received his law degree from the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America and a B.A. from Temple University. Since 1985, he has practiced before the Federal Communications Commission and numerous state public utility commissions, specializing in wireless telecommunications. He advises public and private companies in administrative proceedings, compliance matters, and transactions. e-mail

PAMELA L. GIST, Principal, received a masters of law degree (LL.M. in Corporations) from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a law degree from the University of Arkansas. She specializes in wireless telecommunications and cable television law, and handles intellectual property matters before the United States Copyright Office and the Patent and Trademark Office. e-mail

TODD SLAMOWITZ, Principal, received his law degree in 1994 from the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America and graduated in 1988 from the University of Wisconsin, where he majored in communications. From 1996-1999, he was an attorney-advisor in the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, specializing in narrowband PCS and paging matters. He is a member of the bar in Maryland, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. e-mail

BROOKS E. HARLOW, Principal, has practiced telecommunications law for over 25 years before the FCC, numerous state utility commissions, and Federal and state courts. He represents and advises wireless and wireline telecommunications carriers, cable networks, Internet application service providers, VoIP service providers, and trade associations on regulatory, policy, transactional, and litigation matters. He has worked with a number of start-up clients developing and deploying new technologies in telecommunications and smart grid applications.

Mr. Harlow is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), serving on its Executive Committee from 2000-2002, and 2006-present. He received the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award for 2001-2002 and represents the FCBA as a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Harlow received his J.D., cum laude, from the Cornell University Law School in 1981. His bar admissions include: U.S. Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Washington State Bar Association, and the Oregon State Bar Association. e-mail

TODD B. LANTOR, Principal, primarily focuses on federal and state regulatory, transactional and litigation matters on behalf of an array of telecommunications service providers and serves as Regulatory Counsel to the Rural Cellular Association.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Lantor worked in the Government Affairs department of Sprint Nextel Corp. following its acquisition of Nextel Partners, where Mr. Lantor served as Chief Regulatory and Assistant General Counsel.

Mr. Lantor also worked as an associate at the Washington, DC-based law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, where he specialized in the telecommunications and e-commerce law and at the Personal Communications Industry Association. Mr. Lantor began his legal career working in the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

Mr. Lantor received his law and master’s degrees from Boston University and undergraduate degrees from The University of Michigan. e-mail

STEVEN M. CHERNOFF, Associate, has represented cellular and PCS companies in matters before the FCC and state public utility commissions involving universal service, tower siting, E-911, intermodal local number portability, and other aspects of communications law since 2001. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Chernoff was an associate in the telecommunications practice of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Washington, D.C., where he represented local exchange carriers, wireless companies and cable providers. While in law school, Mr. Chernoff conducted a comprehensive study of Russian telecommunications law and interned at Bell Atlantic Corporation in Boston, where he assisted in-house counsel on local competition matters in the wake of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Mr. Chernoff received his law degree in 1998 from Boston College Law School in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1991 from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, where he majored in Government. He is fluent in French and Russian, and is proficient in Spanish. e-mail

KATHERINE PATSAS NEVITT, Associate, received her law degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in 2006. She also received a certificate from the Communications Law Institute and served as President of the Entertainment Law Society. While in law school, Ms. Patsas interned with the Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division of the Federal Communications Commission and with the Telecommunications Industry Association. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Maryland at College Park. Ms. Patsas is a member of the District of Columbia bar. e-mail

ALI KUZEHKANANI, Director of Engineering, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at George Washington University. He has more than twenty years of experience in licensing and design of wireless systems, has been involved in the design, construction, and testing of cellular radio, microwave, paging, conventional mobile telephone, and PCS systems. In addition, he has been school-trained by several cellular system manufacturers, including Lucent, Nortel, Motorola and Telesciences. e-mail

LEILA G. REZANAVAZ, Senior Engineer, received a Bachelor of Science degree from George Mason University in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1989. For the past fifteen years, she has worked on the initial design, licensing, construction, frequency planning and coordination, and optimization of the various cellular, PCS, and other types of wireless networks in the United States and international markets. Additionally, she has managed RF design teams in producing national designs for cellular licensees in European and South American countries, using Global System Mobile (“GSM”) as well as U.S. digital cellular standards employing both Time Division Multiple Access (“TDMA”) and Code Division Multiple Assess (“CDMA”). e-mail

GEORGE L. LYON JR., Of Counsel, received his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe Law School of the College of William and Mary. Since 1979 he has specialized in the practice of communications law with emphasis on the areas of broadcast, wireless, transactions and litigation. e-mail

LEONARD S. KOLSKY, Of Counsel, received his LLB from Boston University Law School and his LLM from Georgetown Law School. He holds a B.A. degree from Amherst College. Most of his career was with Motorola, Inc where he directed regulatory activities both in the U.S. and around the world. He served as a U.S. delegate at World Radio Conferences. Prior to joining Motorola, he worked for the Federal Communications Commission, and prior to joining this firm, he was Of Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson LLP. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. e-mail

JOHN CIMKO, Of Counsel, received a law degree from Harvard University, and a B.A. from the School of Government, American University. He served at the Federal Communications Commission from 1983 to 1999, where he held several management positions in various bureaus regulating wireless and wireline communications. Before joining the FCC, he worked as an Assistant Counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives. He entered private practice in 1999, specializing in domestic and international communications, related information technology issues, and administrative law. e-mail

J.K. HAGE III, Of Counsel, received his law degree from Albany Law School and studied romance languages at New York University and the University of Madrid in Spain. He maintains offices in Utica, New York as well as in Washington D.C. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association committees on Public Utility Law, and Trusts and Estates. He advises private, closely-held communications clients, and others, on business organizations, new ventures, transactions, and succession and estate planning.

JOHN J. McAVOY, Of Counsel, received law degrees from the University of Idaho (LL.B.) and Yale School of Law (LL.M.). From 1963 to 1995 he practiced as a litigator with White & Case, where he was a senior partner in that firm’s Washington office. He has represented cellular telephone companies and their principals in a variety of litigation and dispute resolution proceedings.

TAMARA DAVIS BROWN, Of Counsel, has almost 20 years of experience in wireless communications and broadband law. She primarily focuses her practice on representing private wireless carriers, local and state governments, public safety agencies and prepaid calling card telecommunications providers in a number of regulatory issues before the Federal Communications Commission and before all 50 state regulatory commissions. She was instrumental in providing the regulatory solution to allow the first energy utility, Southern Company, to convert its wireless telecommunications system from a private system to a common carrier system. She has negotiated and drafted numerous agreements relating to the sale and acquisition of telecommunications properties nationwide, and has lobbied Congress and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on a number of telecommunications issues.

Ms. Brown was the contributing author/editor to the “The Telecommunications Act of 1996: Ushering in the Information Age, a Practical Guide to its Impact on the American Electronics Industry.” She is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and served as vice president of the Women’s Wireless Network, an organization affiliated with the Wireless Communications Association International that promotes women executives in the wireless communications industry.

Ms. Brown is the former legislative aide to the late Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and was a legal intern for former FCC Commissioner Andrew C. Barrett. She is a graduate of Baylor University and Howard University School of Law. She is a member of the District of Columbia and Texas Bar Associations. e-mail

JEFFERY A. MITCHELL, Of Counsel, specializes in federal and state universal service issues with a focus on compliance and rural broadband investment. While an attorney at the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) from 2003-2010, Mr. Mitchell handled universal service contributions matters including appeals, audits, FCC enforcement referrals, contributor delinquencies and bankruptcy. Mr. Mitchell was the first director of beneficiary compliance audits at USAC and directed the broadband infrastructure investment program known as the Rural Health Care Pilot Program. Mr. Mitchell received his J.D. degree from the Georgetown University in 1997 and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1993. e-mail

ROBERT S. KOPPEL, Of Counsel, has over 25 years of experience representing telecommunications and technology companies before the FCC, the Administration, Congress and state utility commissions. Bob has significant expertise in the regulatory and operational aspects of various telecommunications sectors, including wireless, satellite and broadband services. After graduating from law school, Bob worked on telecommunications regulatory and transactional matters for 7 years as an associate at a prominent Washington, DC law firm. Subsequently, Bob served in senior regulatory and legal positions at MCI WorldCom, Texas Instruments, and WildBlue Communications (a satellite broadband provider). During his tenure at Texas Instruments, Bob co-founded and served as the initial Executive Director of the High Tech DTV Coalition, a central player in the successful effort to obtain legislation setting 2009 as the deadline for TV broadcasters to terminate analog transmissions, thereby freeing up the 700 MHz band for auction and for use by mobile wireless service providers. Bob received his B.A., cum laude and with distinction in all subjects, from Cornell University and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. e-mail





			Firm Résumé Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez & Sachs, LLP is a professional corporation organized to practice communications law before the Federal Communications Commission, state utility commissions, and the federal courts. The firm has broad experience in all areas of communications law, including the representation of wireless telecommunications companies, telephone companies, electric companies, cable television system operators, wireless cable operators, broadcast companies, equipment manufacturers, specialized mobile radio operators and private carrier paging companies. As an adjunct to its communications law practice, the firm provides engineering consulting services to its clients through its in-house engineering staff. The firm's consulting engineers are experienced in the design of radio paging, mobile radiotelephone and cellular radio telecommunications systems, multipoint distribution and point-to-point microwave systems, and various other telecommunications systems. Biographical sketches of the firm's partners, principals, associates, and engineers follow: RUSSELL D. LUKAS, Partner, received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and has been practicing communications law in Washington, D.C., for over 30 years. He was a founder of Becker, Gurman & Lukas, P.C., and the senior member of Lukas, O’Brien & Raiser, Chartered. e-mail DAVID L. NACE, Partner, received his law degree from The American University in Washington, D.C. Since 1976 he has represented telecommunications companies in regulatory matters before the Federal Communications Commission. He advises public and private companies on regulatory issues and business matters including contracts, transactions and litigation. e-mail THOMAS GUTIERREZ, Partner, received his law degree from the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America, and his Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland. His communications legal career started with the Federal Communications Commission in 1979. For much of his tenure with the Commission he was the chief staff attorney for cellular radio telecommunications and was directly involved in the formulation of the FCC’s cellular radio rules. He specializes in regulatory and transaction matters associated with all forms of telecommunications, including wireless. e-mail ELIZABETH R. SACHS, Partner, received her law degree from The American University. She specialized in communications law as an attorney in the Office of Government Relations at Motorola, Inc. in Washington, D.C., and then as associate with the firm of Dempsey and Koplovitz. She has been the General Counsel for the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, Inc. since its inception, and represents a variety of commercial and private wireless operators. e-mail DAVID A. LaFURIA, Partner, received his law degree from the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America and a B.A. from Temple University. Since 1985, he has practiced before the Federal Communications Commission and numerous state public utility commissions, specializing in wireless telecommunications. He advises public and private companies in administrative proceedings, compliance matters, and transactions. e-mail PAMELA L. GIST, Principal, received a masters of law degree (LL.M. in Corporations) from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a law degree from the University of Arkansas. She specializes in wireless telecommunications and cable television law, and handles intellectual property matters before the United States Copyright Office and the Patent and Trademark Office. e-mail TODD SLAMOWITZ, Principal, received his law degree in 1994 from the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America and graduated in 1988 from the University of Wisconsin, where he majored in communications. From 1996-1999, he was an attorney-advisor in the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, specializing in narrowband PCS and paging matters. He is a member of the bar in Maryland, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. e-mail BROOKS E. HARLOW, Principal, has practiced telecommunications law for over 25 years before the FCC, numerous state utility commissions, and Federal and state courts. He represents and advises wireless and wireline telecommunications carriers, cable networks, Internet application service providers, VoIP service providers, and trade associations on regulatory, policy, transactional, and litigation matters. He has worked with a number of start-up clients developing and deploying new technologies in telecommunications and smart grid applications. Mr. Harlow is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), serving on its Executive Committee from 2000-2002, and 2006-present. He received the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award for 2001-2002 and represents the FCBA as a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. Mr. Harlow received his J.D., cum laude, from the Cornell University Law School in 1981. His bar admissions include: U.S. Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Washington State Bar Association, and the Oregon State Bar Association. e-mail TODD B. LANTOR, Principal, primarily focuses on federal and state regulatory, transactional and litigation matters on behalf of an array of telecommunications service providers and serves as Regulatory Counsel to the Rural Cellular Association. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Lantor worked in the Government Affairs department of Sprint Nextel Corp. following its acquisition of Nextel Partners, where Mr. Lantor served as Chief Regulatory and Assistant General Counsel. Mr. Lantor also worked as an associate at the Washington, DC-based law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, where he specialized in the telecommunications and e-commerce law and at the Personal Communications Industry Association. Mr. Lantor began his legal career working in the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Mr. Lantor received his law and master’s degrees from Boston University and undergraduate degrees from The University of Michigan. e-mail STEVEN M. CHERNOFF, Associate, has represented cellular and PCS companies in matters before the FCC and state public utility commissions involving universal service, tower siting, E-911, intermodal local number portability, and other aspects of communications law since 2001. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Chernoff was an associate in the telecommunications practice of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Washington, D.C., where he represented local exchange carriers, wireless companies and cable providers. While in law school, Mr. Chernoff conducted a comprehensive study of Russian telecommunications law and interned at Bell Atlantic Corporation in Boston, where he assisted in-house counsel on local competition matters in the wake of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Mr. Chernoff received his law degree in 1998 from Boston College Law School in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1991 from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, where he majored in Government. He is fluent in French and Russian, and is proficient in Spanish. e-mail KATHERINE PATSAS NEVITT, Associate, received her law degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in 2006. She also received a certificate from the Communications Law Institute and served as President of the Entertainment Law Society. While in law school, Ms. Patsas interned with the Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division of the Federal Communications Commission and with the Telecommunications Industry Association. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Maryland at College Park. Ms. Patsas is a member of the District of Columbia bar. e-mail ALI KUZEHKANANI, Director of Engineering, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at George Washington University. He has more than twenty years of experience in licensing and design of wireless systems, has been involved in the design, construction, and testing of cellular radio, microwave, paging, conventional mobile telephone, and PCS systems. In addition, he has been school-trained by several cellular system manufacturers, including Lucent, Nortel, Motorola and Telesciences. e-mail LEILA G. REZANAVAZ, Senior Engineer, received a Bachelor of Science degree from George Mason University in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1989. For the past fifteen years, she has worked on the initial design, licensing, construction, frequency planning and coordination, and optimization of the various cellular, PCS, and other types of wireless networks in the United States and international markets. Additionally, she has managed RF design teams in producing national designs for cellular licensees in European and South American countries, using Global System Mobile (“GSM”) as well as U.S. digital cellular standards employing both Time Division Multiple Access (“TDMA”) and Code Division Multiple Assess (“CDMA”). e-mail GEORGE L. LYON JR., Of Counsel, received his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe Law School of the College of William and Mary. Since 1979 he has specialized in the practice of communications law with emphasis on the areas of broadcast, wireless, transactions and litigation. e-mail LEONARD S. KOLSKY, Of Counsel, received his LLB from Boston University Law School and his LLM from Georgetown Law School. He holds a B.A. degree from Amherst College. Most of his career was with Motorola, Inc where he directed regulatory activities both in the U.S. and around the world. He served as a U.S. delegate at World Radio Conferences. Prior to joining Motorola, he worked for the Federal Communications Commission, and prior to joining this firm, he was Of Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson LLP. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. e-mail JOHN CIMKO, Of Counsel, received a law degree from Harvard University, and a B.A. from the School of Government, American University. He served at the Federal Communications Commission from 1983 to 1999, where he held several management positions in various bureaus regulating wireless and wireline communications. Before joining the FCC, he worked as an Assistant Counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives. He entered private practice in 1999, specializing in domestic and international communications, related information technology issues, and administrative law. e-mail J.K. HAGE III, Of Counsel, received his law degree from Albany Law School and studied romance languages at New York University and the University of Madrid in Spain. He maintains offices in Utica, New York as well as in Washington D.C. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association committees on Public Utility Law, and Trusts and Estates. He advises private, closely-held communications clients, and others, on business organizations, new ventures, transactions, and succession and estate planning. JOHN J. McAVOY, Of Counsel, received law degrees from the University of Idaho (LL.B.) and Yale School of Law (LL.M.). From 1963 to 1995 he practiced as a litigator with White & Case, where he was a senior partner in that firm’s Washington office. He has represented cellular telephone companies and their principals in a variety of litigation and dispute resolution proceedings. TAMARA DAVIS BROWN, Of Counsel, has almost 20 years of experience in wireless communications and broadband law. She primarily focuses her practice on representing private wireless carriers, local and state governments, public safety agencies and prepaid calling card telecommunications providers in a number of regulatory issues before the Federal Communications Commission and before all 50 state regulatory commissions. She was instrumental in providing the regulatory solution to allow the first energy utility, Southern Company, to convert its wireless telecommunications system from a private system to a common carrier system. She has negotiated and drafted numerous agreements relating to the sale and acquisition of telecommunications properties nationwide, and has lobbied Congress and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on a number of telecommunications issues. Ms. Brown was the contributing author/editor to the “The Telecommunications Act of 1996: Ushering in the Information Age, a Practical Guide to its Impact on the American Electronics Industry.” She is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and served as vice president of the Women’s Wireless Network, an organization affiliated with the Wireless Communications Association International that promotes women executives in the wireless communications industry. Ms. Brown is the former legislative aide to the late Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and was a legal intern for former FCC Commissioner Andrew C. Barrett. She is a graduate of Baylor University and Howard University School of Law. She is a member of the District of Columbia and Texas Bar Associations. e-mail JEFFERY A. MITCHELL, Of Counsel, specializes in federal and state universal service issues with a focus on compliance and rural broadband investment. While an attorney at the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) from 2003-2010, Mr. Mitchell handled universal service contributions matters including appeals, audits, FCC enforcement referrals, contributor delinquencies and bankruptcy. Mr. Mitchell was the first director of beneficiary compliance audits at USAC and directed the broadband infrastructure investment program known as the Rural Health Care Pilot Program. Mr. Mitchell received his J.D. degree from the Georgetown University in 1997 and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1993. e-mail ROBERT S. KOPPEL, Of Counsel, has over 25 years of experience representing telecommunications and technology companies before the FCC, the Administration, Congress and state utility commissions. Bob has significant expertise in the regulatory and operational aspects of various telecommunications sectors, including wireless, satellite and broadband services. After graduating from law school, Bob worked on telecommunications regulatory and transactional matters for 7 years as an associate at a prominent Washington, DC law firm. Subsequently, Bob served in senior regulatory and legal positions at MCI WorldCom, Texas Instruments, and WildBlue Communications (a satellite broadband provider). During his tenure at Texas Instruments, Bob co-founded and served as the initial Executive Director of the High Tech DTV Coalition, a central player in the successful effort to obtain legislation setting 2009 as the deadline for TV broadcasters to terminate analog transmissions, thereby freeing up the 700 MHz band for auction and for use by mobile wireless service providers. Bob received his B.A., cum laude and with distinction in all subjects, from Cornell University and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. e-mail