Â鶹ֱ²¥ & Lardner LLP has elected 19 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective February 1, 2021.
“We are pleased to announce the promotion to partnership of this exceptional and diverse group of lawyers,” said Jay Rothman, Â鶹ֱ²¥ Chairman & CEO. “Each of our new partners has demonstrated excellence in his or her legal practice, leadership within the firm and a commitment to superior client service. We congratulate all of our new partners on their well-deserved achievement and wish them continued success in the next phase of their careers at the firm.”
The new partner class is 53 percent diverse*, which aligns with Â鶹ֱ²¥’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The firm’s new partners include:
Dovi Adlerstein, Business Law, Dallas
Dovi is a member of the Transactions Practice. He has experience in a broad range of transactional and corporate matters such as structuring, negotiating and implementing all phases of mergers and acquisitions, corporate recapitalizations and private equity transactions, many with intellectual property or technology-related components, including in the pharmaceutical, medical device, technology, insurance, oil and gas, restaurant and hospitality industries. Dovi has acted as lead counsel in transactions ranging in size from $500,000 to almost $30 billion, including numerous complex, multinational deals.
Christopher J. Babcock, Business Law, Dallas
Chris is a member of the Transactions Practice Group and the firm’s Private Equity Leadership Team. He has significant experience representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies, as well as public companies, privately held companies and nonprofits in such matters, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and portfolio company governance. In addition, Chris successfully represents clients across a broad range of corporate governance and capital market matters, including tender offers, public exchange offers, advising special committees on disclosure requirements, representing companies in communications with stakeholders, and representing activists in successful campaigns to change the direction of public companies.
Joseph P. Derrigo Jr., Business Law, Washington
Joe is a member of the Transactions Practice Group and the Technology, Sports and Cannabis Industry Teams. He represents established and emerging companies at all stages of the business life cycle, from formation through funding, expansion and exit. Joe leads cross-disciplinary teams in the negotiation of complex mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. In the emerging company space, Joe represents venture capital and other strategic investors placing growth capital, and he counsels operating companies on formation, governance, financing and commercial matters.
Kyle Y. Faget, Business Law, Boston
Kyle is a member of the Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Groups and the FDA and Telemedicine & Digital Health Industry Teams. She advises clients on state and federal laws applicable to telemedicine practice, and on regulatory and compliance matters involving the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the AdvaMed Code and the PhRMA Code. Kyle’s practice includes assisting companies in structuring, developing and implementing corporate compliance programs suitable for pre-commercial and commercial-stage pharmaceutical and medical device companies. She also regularly drafts and negotiates agreements required to develop and commercialize pharmaceutical and medical device products such as License Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements, Collaboration Agreements and Clinical Trial Agreements.
Thomas B. (T.J.) Ferrante, Business Law, Tampa
T.J. is a health care attorney and member of the Health Care Transactions and Telemedicine & Digital Health Industry Teams. He focuses his practice on telemedicine, digital health, remote patient monitoring and virtual care, as well as a wide range of transactional and related regulatory issues for health care industry clients. T.J. has considerable experience in structuring and negotiating transactions for technology-enabled health care providers nationwide, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic affiliations and financings.
Rebecca L. Hays, Intellectual Property, Madison
Rebecca is an intellectual property attorney and member of the Chemical, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Practice. She counsels clients on a wide range of biotechnologies, including novel therapeutic and diagnostic platforms. Rebecca received her Ph.D. in molecular biology, cell biology and genetics from Northwestern University, where she earned a pre-doctoral fellowship award from the Northwestern University Lurie Cancer Center. After receiving her Ph.D., Rebecca did postdoctoral research in the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis.
William R. Hughes, Business Law, Milwaukee
Will is a member of the Estates & Trusts Practice. He counsels individuals and families that have achieved uncommon success on thoughtful wealth-transfer planning in a tax-efficient manner. Will has extensive tax and estate planning experience, including life insurance planning with beneficiary designations and irrevocable life insurance trusts; planning for retirement accounts to minimize income and transfer taxes; estate administration for complex estates with illiquid and hard-to-value-assets; fiduciary income tax planning for estates, trusts and beneficiaries; and planning for closely-held business owners for business succession, buy-sell agreements and deferred compensation arrangements.
Christina M. Kennedy, Litigation, Orlando
Christina is a member of the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution. She represents clients throughout the U.S. in high-stakes business and complex commercial litigation, including the defense of class actions, primarily in the health care, financial services, retail and manufacturing industries. Christina has extensive experience litigating disputes from inception through trial and appeals. She has litigated disputes in all aspects of the health care industry, including those concerning securities class actions, consumer class actions, payors and claims administrators against lawsuits related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and various commercial and labor and employment claims. In addition to her commitment to pro bono legal services, Christina is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida Inc.
Susan Poll Klaessy, Litigation, Chicago
Susan is a member of the Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization and Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practices. She focuses on corporate restructuring and insolvency matters, fiduciary liability, debtors’ and creditors’ rights, corporate dissolution, fraud, corporate governance disputes and complex business litigation. Susan has represented debtors, creditors and other stakeholders in various in and out of court reorganizations. Additionally, she is an experienced trial counsel and has litigated numerous business disputes, including class action cases, arbitrations, appeals and other high-stakes corporate disputes across a wide range of industries.
Sara P. Madavo, Litigation, New York
Sara is a member of the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Labor & Employment Practices, as well as the Health Care Industry Team. She focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and has represented large companies, small businesses and individual clients across various industries through all phases of litigation. Sara is co-chair of the firm’s Black Attorneys Affinity Group and a member of the Diversity Fellowship Committee.
Claire Marblestone, Business Law, Los Angeles
Claire is a member of the Health Care and Telemedicine & Digital Health Industry Teams. Claire advises hospitals, health systems, physician groups, digital health providers and health care businesses on a range of health care regulatory and transactional matters, with an emphasis on HIPAA compliance, corporate practice of medicine, provider enrollment, and licensure and certification. She also provides transactional counsel to health care providers, and she has drafted and negotiated documents relating to hospital acquisitions, health plan acquisitions, health care provider mergers, professional services arrangements and management agreements.
Victoria A. (Tory) Matese, Business Law, Washington
Tory is a member of the Transactions and Finance Practices, as well as the Sports, Energy and Hospitality & Leisure Industry Teams. She represents clients on domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, private equity transactions, project finance, supply chain and distribution matters, and general corporate and contract counseling. Tory also has extensive experience and business skill in drafting and negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements, including license, supply, manufacturing and distribution agreements, including for clients in the energy, medical device and health services industries.
Margaret Gembala Nelson, Litigation, Chicago
Margaret is a member of the Securities Enforcement & Litigation Practice. She represents financial service entities, corporations, private funds, accounting firms, and their professionals in government enforcement investigations and examinations and complex securities and business litigation. Margaret also conducts internal investigations on behalf of clients and advises on regulatory compliance and risk management issues. She has experience working with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Department of Justice, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and other federal and state agencies in connection with regulatory inquiries, investigations and actions.
Eric G. Pearson, Litigation, Milwaukee
Eric is a member of the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Securities Enforcement & Litigation, Tax Controversy, Appellate and Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practices. He concentrates his practice on commercial and securities litigation, focusing on representing clients in regulatory, corporate governance and enforcement matters and in complex U.S. federal and state tax controversies. Eric is a certified public accountant. He is the current chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association. Before joining the firm, Eric served as a law clerk for Judge Diane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Ruben J. Rodrigues, Intellectual Property, Boston
Ruben is a member of the IP Litigation and Electronics Practices, as well as the Technology Industry Team. He has managed litigation matters for technology companies of all sizes on cases involving software, electronics, semiconductors, medical devices, oil and gas exploration, offshore technologies, additive manufacturing, toys, construction technologies, telecommunications, gene sequencing and biochemical research tools. Ruben also represents clients in post-grant review proceedings before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and advises on general IP strategy and licensing issues.
Daniel Rose, Intellectual Property, Boston
Daniel is a member of Â鶹ֱ²¥’s Electronics Practice Group and the Technology Industry Team. He is involved in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in the areas of electronics, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, cybersecurity and telecommunications. Daniel has advised companies ranging from Fortune 1000 multinationals to basement startups in the areas of network security and cloud storage, personalized health care and big data processing, and signal processing and communications. He provides advice on domestic and international patent portfolio development, infringement and patentability opinions, post-grant proceedings before the USPTO, and IP diligence for mergers and acquisitions.
Thomas C. Scannell, Litigation, Dallas
Tom is a member of the Bankruptcy & Business Reorganization Practice. He focuses his practice on the restructuring of companies in and out of bankruptcy, debtors’ and creditors’ rights, and debtor-in-possession financers. Tom also counsels his clients on out-of-court workouts, turnarounds, and the acquisition and sale of distressed assets inside and outside the bankruptcy sale process. Since 2009, Tom has represented debtors, creditors, trustees, committees, landlords and receivers in a wide variety of insolvency-based litigation arising from commercial debtor-creditor disputes. He also defends clients in resolving preferential and fraudulent transfer challenges, along with a broad range of adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court.
Morgan J. Tilleman, Business Law, Milwaukee
Morgan is a member of the Insurance and Health Care Practices and the Health Care Industry Team. His practice is concentrated on corporate and regulatory insurance and reinsurance law and the intersection of health care and insurance. Morgan represents insurers and reinsurers in mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, reinsurance transactions, shell transactions, affiliations, joint ventures and insurance program arrangements, and he provides regulatory and business counsel to a wide range of U.S. and international insurance industry participants. Morgan also focuses on advising health insurers and HMOs regarding formation, licensure, operations, compliance, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions.
Nick J. Welle, Business Law, Milwaukee
Nick is a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice. He exclusively devotes his practice to issues impacting group health and welfare benefit plans, focusing on health care reform issues and consumer-driven health benefits. Nick advises his clients on matters concerning the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA privacy, COBRA, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, cafeteria plans, flexible benefit plans, wellness programs, health savings accounts and other health benefit issues. Nick also works with members of the firm’s Transactions Practice to advise clients on potential liabilities regarding ACA, HIPAA, ERISA and other federal laws governing group health plans.
About Â鶹ֱ²¥ & Lardner LLP
Â鶹ֱ²¥ & Lardner LLP looks beyond the law to focus on the constantly evolving demands facing our clients and their industries. With approximately 1,100 lawyers in 24 offices across the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia, Â鶹ֱ²¥ approaches client service by first understanding our clients’ priorities, objectives and challenges. We work hard to understand our clients’ issues and forge long-term relationships with them to help achieve successful outcomes and solve their legal issues through practical business advice and cutting-edge legal insight. Our clients view us as trusted business advisors because we understand that great legal service is only valuable if it is relevant, practical and beneficial to their businesses.
*women, racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ, veterans, and persons with disabilities
