PARTNER PLACEMENTS

Jim Kousoulas, Leader of Bryan Cave’s U.S. Real Estate Finance Practice has joined Alston & Bird’s real estate practice in Los Angeles. Throughout his career Jim has been recognized by Legal 500 and The Best Lawyers in America for his work in Real Estate. He is a trusted advisor and counselor to financial institutions and other corporate clients in connection with commercial lending and transactional real estate matters. Jim has experience with complicated commercial loan transactions, including securitized loan transactions, mezzanine financings, secured and unsecured real estate and asset-based borrowing facilities, letter of credit facilities, and secured and unsecured revolving lines of credit. Jim will be joined by partner James Litwinovich, who also represents clients in a wide range of other financial services matters within the real estate and banking industries. 

Koren (Kori) Bell has joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher as a white-collar litigator and trial lawyer in their Litigation Department.  Kori is a nationally recognized litigator and has been lead counsel in some of the country’s most complex and highly publicized trials and appeals.  Her practice is focused on white-collar defense matters, complex commercial litigation, and government and internal investigations.  She joins from Larson LLP.

Chad Ehrenkranz has joined Sidley Austin as a partner in its growing Healthcare Transactional Practice in New York and Miami.  Chad focuses on private equity transactions with an emphasis on regulatory and enforcement matters. Chad has represented healthcare clients in structuring and negotiating acquisitions and joint ventures as well as in advising on compliance matters, investigations, employment, and consulting arrangements.  He is experienced in healthcare regulatory and licensure and routinely advises on the corporate practice of medicine, and state and federal fraud and abuse laws.  Chad joins from Kirkland & Ellis, LLP.

Jake Schtevie & Brad Laken have joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher as partners in the Debt Finance practice in Chicago. Jake focuses on corporate lending and finance – representing clients in connection with a range of financings and other complex commercial transactions. Brad represents commercial banks, investment banks, direct lenders and others as agent and lead arranger in a wide array of secured lending transactions. They join the firm from White & Case.

Dotun Obadina has joined Paul Weiss in New York in the M&A group. He joins from Jones Day. Dotun advises public and private companies on transactional and corporate law matters, including public company representations, domestic and cross-border M&A, joint ventures and other strategic transactions. He has advised top Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, General Mills, and Medtronic, among others, on a variety of transactions. Dotun is a two-time Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow. In 2021, he was also included in The Deal's list of "Top Rising Stars" and named to Bloomberg Law's "They've Got Next: The 40 Under 40."

Michiel Visser has joined Sidley Austin as a partner in the M&A and Private Equity practice in New York. He joins from White & Case where he worked in the firm’s New York, Doha, Dubai and Paris offices. Michiel’s practice focuses on companies and investors based in the Middle East on matters related to M&A and general corporate counseling. His strong relationships throughout the Middle East include various sovereign wealth funds, government-related entities, family offices, and corporations. He is dual-qualified in New York and England and has wide-ranging experience in cross-border transactions.

Former King & Spalding Healthcare partners Leslie Murphy and John Barnes have joined Davis Wright Tremaine in Sacramento. They join as partners in the firm’s Healthcare practice group. Leslie specializes in representing healthcare entities in managed care and healthcare-related disputes. She regularly serves as lead counsel on behalf of hospital systems and healthcare providers in managed care disputes with health plans, and counsels clients on complex medical billing, coding and reimbursement matters. John specializes in managed healthcare arrangements. John advises clients on the structuring of risk-based managed care contracts (including capitation and shared savings arrangements), as well as traditional fee-for-service arrangements. He also advises clients on contract terminations, network access disputes, and revenue cycle practices. He often works with healthcare providers and provider combinations in managed-care risk arrangements, helping them to develop efficient, legally compliant business and operational structures.

Misty Sanford, Karen Lorang, and Aimee Contreras- Camua have joined Willkie Farr as partners in the real estate department. Misty will serve as chair of the West Coast real estate practice. Misty has a broad-based real estate and land use transactional practice involving all aspects of real estate, with an emphasis on purchase and sale, finance (representing borrowers in development, construction and permanent loans for all asset types), portfolio investments, leasing and environmental issues. Karen’s real estate and land use transactional practice includes purchase and sale, finance, leasing, land use and environmental issues. Together, they represent a wide range of clients, including institutional investors, developers, multi-national corporations, REITs, nonprofits, public entities and individual entrepreneurs. Misty and Karen will be joined by their RE team who will also be based in Los Angeles.

Chris Garcia and Rachel Kellert join Latham & Watkins white collar defense and investigations practice in New York from Weil. At Weil, Chris served as the Co-Chair of their White Collar Practice. He focuses on defending companies and individuals in connection with regulatory and criminal investigations, conducting internal investigations, and litigating securities class actions in state and federal courts across the U.S. Chris has also represented General Electric Company and several of its senior officers in connection with securities class action litigation in the Southern District of New York relating to statements made concerning GE’s dividend, access to the commercial paper markets, and exposure to subprime and noninvestment grade debt. Other representative clients include Morgan Stanley, Aeropostale, AIG, DIRECTV and Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Chris also previously worked as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York. Raquel counsels boards and their committees, c-suite executives, and in-house counsel on risk assessment and mitigation, investigative findings and related remediation, and employment law, corporate governance, cybersecurity, disclosure (including in securities filings), and regulatory issues.

Rob Emerson has joined Goodwin in New York from Kirkland & Ellis. He will be a partner in the Private Investment Funds practice, further strengthening their secondaries bench. Rob advises private equity firms and their senior management on a wide variety of legal, compliance, and business issues. He counsels clients on fund transactional projects, having led numerous secondaries and strategic transactions on both the buy-side and sell-side in connection with portfolio companies, co-investments, and sponsor level transactions. Rob also has extensive experience advising sponsors in their fundraising efforts having raised both domestic and foreign based products that span from smaller emerging managers to well-established sponsors with offerings in excess of $15 billion.

Matthew Schernecke has joined Hogan Lovells from Morgan Lewis as a partner in firm’s New York office. Matthew has a broad debt finance practice with extensive experience working with private credit funds and other non-bank lenders, as well as with borrowers, on direct lending, distressed/special situations lending, cross-border acquisition financings and ESG and impact investment financings. He works across industry sectors including financial services, life sciences and tech and telecommunications.

Alan Epstein, Michele Mulrooney, and Alex Weingarten launched the opening of Willkie’s Los Angeles Office. All three partners join from Venable LLP. Alan Epstein is a highly-regarded transactions attorney in entertainment and media, Michele Mulrooney is a leading estate planning partner, and Alex Weingarten is a nationally recognized entertainment and business litigator. They will be joined by additional lawyers who will also be based in Los Angeles. Together they bring market-leading experience representing major companies, investors, individual clients in corporate and M&A transactions, private wealth, trusts and estates, and litigation. Alan Epstein represents a vast array of clients in entertainment and media, including production companies and studios, content library owners and financiers, high profile talent, producers and influencers, technology companies, talent/management companies, bon on domestic and international matters. His practice focuses on corporate matters including M&A, joint ventures, financing transactions and executive compensation, and complex tax planning. Michele Mulrooney focuses her practice on estate planning for high-net-worth individuals and their companies and non-profits. Michele has been recognized by several publications as a top woman lawyer in Los Angeles as well as one of the nation’s leading Trusts & Estates practitioners. Alex Weingarten has a broad commercial litigation practice representing clients in areas of entertainment, probate, restructuring and business litigation. Alex has been recognized by multiple publications, including as one of the top 50 trial lawyers in Los Angeles and one of the top entertainment litigators in the nation.

Victoria Weatherford has joined BakerHostetler from Gibson Dunn as a partner in the San Francisco office. She will be a member of the firm’s litigation group and its commercial litigation practice team. Victoria is an experienced trial lawyer, who has particular expertise representing companies in the technology and consumer products industries in class action and government investigation matters. Her practice also includes counseling clients on a wide range of issues related to consumer protection, unfair competition and false advertising. Victoria has been honored as a Top 40 Young Lawyer by the American Bar Association.

Alice Hsu, a capital markets partner with a SPAC focus, has joined Orrick as a partner in New York. Alice’s practice focuses on capital markets and corporate governance matters, the firm said, with a particular focus on the energy and financial services sectors. Recently, she advised Starboard Value Acquisition Corp on its 3.4B merger with Cytera Technologies and CIIG Merger Corp. on its 5.4B merger with Arrival. She acts for boards of directors, issuers, underwriters and investors on a broad range of transactions, including public offerings, private placements of equity and debt securities, and mergers and acquisitions. Alice has been recognized by The Deal under Top Women Dealmakers - Private Equity in 2021.

James joins Goodwin’s private equity practice from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel’s, where he served as co-chair of the Corporate practice. James represents middle-market private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, as well as buyers in acquisitions and sales, leveraged buyouts, growth equity financings, recapitalizations, joint ventures, and management equity arrangements, with a focus on education technology and financial services. Over the course of his career he has represented firms like Quad Partners, Shamrock Capital, and Stone Point Capital in a variety of transactions, including Quad’s recent investment in The Gardner School and Education Growth Partners in its recapitalization of higher ed online program manager All Campus.

Marcela Robledo has joined Baker McKenzie in their San Francisco office and will serve as a Partner in the firms Intellectual Property & Technology practice group. Marcela has significant experience handling all intellectual property, data and technology aspects in a wide range of corporate and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, licensing, collaboration agreements and joint ventures. Her practice focuses on technology transactions, and routinely advises public and private clients from all types of industries on the intellectual property, privacy and cybersecurity aspects of a wide range of corporate matters. She joins the firm from Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett LLP, where she led the IP aspects of some of their largest technology M&A transactions.

Josh is a widely recognized finance lawyer who has built a deep practice in leveraged finance. He has advised many of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions and borrowers on complex financing matters. He focuses his practice on acquisition financings and other leveraged lending, which includes leveraged buyouts, tender offers and other going private transactions.

Rick and Sarah join Latham as partners in the Corporate Department and members of the Capital Markets and Public Company Representation Practices. They formerly practiced at Goodwin, where Rick was co-head of capital markets. Rick and Sarah bring formidable experience in the tech sector, representing a full range of corporate clients on a wide variety of matters, including company formations, venture financings, M&A transactions, capital markets deals, and corporate governance matters, as well as significant experience advising boards of directors. They have also represented a number of banks in securities transactions.

Jeewon Kim Serrato , Norton Rose Fulbright's U.S. Head of Data Protection, Privacy and Cybersecuity has left to join Baker Hostetler in their San Francisco office. She wills serve as a partner and co-head of the Digital Transformation and Data Economy group. She advises global companies, financial services institutions and public entities on cutting edge issues at the intersection of technology and law. Globally recognized for her unique background having served in both government and business positions, Jeewon is regularly called upon by her clients to assist in the design and execution of complex global compliance programs, negotiation of cross-border M&A deals, and advice in high-stakes investigation and dispute matters. Jeewon helps companies create enterprise-wide privacy programs from the ground up, assists in testing critical vulnerabilities and performs risk assessments. Having handled and managed hundreds of data breach incidents and internal investigations, she also works with companies to prepare crisis management policies and data breach response plans. In addition to her product, regulatory compliance and transactional experience, Jeewon has handled over 600 data security incidents over the course of her career and has experience designing and implementing consumer disputes processes for companies globally. She has extensive experience helping her clients with proactive cyber risk management, drafting crisis management plans, and testing incident response protocols.

Adam Bellack has joined Goodwin as a partner in their Washington, D.C. office. Adam has consistently been recognized by Law360 as Life Sciences "Rising Star" and one of the nation’s top Life Science lawyers under 40. He focuses on licensing, collaborations, and other strategic and commercial transactions for clients engaged in all aspects of the life sciences and healthcare industries. He represents a wide range of clients from startups and early-stage pharmaceutical and biotech companies to global pharmaceutical and medical device companies. He has also represented founders, venture funds, universities, and technology companies entering the life sciences and healthcare space.

Brien Wassner has joined Sidley Austin in New York as a partner in its rapidly expanding private equity practice. Brien represents private equity funds, hedge funds, infrastructure funds, and other financial institutions and institutional investors on a wide array of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions. Those included leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, divestitures, carve-outs, and other corporate matters.

Kathleen Smalley and Phillip (Phil) Hosp join Foley and Lardner, LLP in Los Angeles, as partners. Kathy has extensive background in real estate finance and development and in repositioning distressed real estate. In the development arena, she led an initiative to remediate and develop brownfields and advised clients on entitlements strategies to bring blighted or poorly zoned properties to their highest and best use. In addition, Kathy has been heavily involved in the placement of new financing. She has led teams on the negotiation of complex structured finance, again backed by multistate portfolios of real property, and on negotiating equity investments with financial investors. Kathleen Smalley and Phillip (Phil) Hosp join Foley and Lardner, LLP in Los Angeles. Kathy has extensive background in real estate finance and development and in repositioning distressed real estate. In the development arena, she led an initiative to remediate and develop brownfields and advised clients on entitlements strategies to bring blighted or poorly zoned properties to their highest and best use. In addition, Kathy has been heavily involved in the placement of new financing. She has led teams on the negotiation of complex structured finance, again backed by multistate portfolios of real property, and on negotiating equity investments with financial investors. Phil represents directors, officers, investment firms, public and private companies, family offices, and other parties in real estate litigation, mergers and acquisitions litigation, SEC investigations, and other cases involving fiduciary duties, unfair competition, and corporate law claims.

Former Venable partner Daniel Lorenzen has joined Fox Rothschild in their Los Angeles office. He will serve as a partner in the Taxation and Wealth Planning Department. Lorenzen advises clients and business owners in the entertainment, fashion, apparel, technology, real estate, biotech, oil, gas and agriculture industries on estate planning issues ranging from will and trust preparation and tax planning to business succession and family wealth transfers. Fluent in Japanese, he also counsels Japan-based businesses on various aspects of their U.S. operations, including distributorships, real estate and tax issues. He also represents trustees, executors and beneficiaries in the administration of trusts and estates and litigates and settles disputes arising between trustees and beneficiaries.

Paul Chen joins Mayer Brown from DLA Piper in San Francisco. His practice focuses on advising companies, private equity funds, and investor groups on US and cross-border corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, direct investments, joint ventures, and divestitures with a particular focus on insurance clients. He has represented clients in a broad range of industries, including financial services, technology, media, and Healthcare.

Andrew Sagor joins Baker McKenzie as the Co-Chair of Leveraged Finance in North America from Kirkland & Ellis in New York. Andrew’s practice mainly focuses on structuring and negotiating market-shaping private equity and debt financing transactions. Andrew routinely advises leading private equity firms and their portfolio companies, privately held and publicly traded Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds, alternative asset managers, lenders and other financial institutions on a wide variety of large cap and middle market financing transactions, including major leveraged buyouts, domestic and cross-border acquisitions and other leveraged financings, senior secured debt, high yield, bridge and mezzanine financings, workouts and restructurings, asset-based facilities, purchases of distressed debt and general corporate finance matters.

Al Stemp joins Proskauer from Hogan Lovells. Al represents a diverse group of clients in connection with a broad range of real estate transactions. He advises private equity funds, REITs, institutional capital sources, retail operators, developers and hospitality companies, among others, on their investments across all real estate asset classes.