With two decades of experience in government affairs, Amirah serves as a Government Relations Advisor to a diverse group of companies drawing upon her strategic skills leading the development and implementation of legislative and regulatory strategies on a wide-range of domestic and foreign affairs issues, including higher education, financial services, homeland security and healthcare. Amirah is recognized for her substantive knowledge in policy development, advocacy and third-party engagement. She has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor to Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, including the Congressional Black Caucus.
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King & Spalding LLP
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Andy Bayman serves a wide range of clients in life sciences and healthcare, including pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, as well as automotive and other manufacturers and retailers in product liability and toxic tort cases. He is a partner and the leader of the Trial & Global Disputes practice group. Mr. Bayman is a trial lawyer who has tried over 20 cases in state and federal courts around the country. Previously, Andy led the Life Sciences & Healthcare area of focus. With more than 300 lawyers and professionals across eleven practice groups – including over 30 M.D.s, Ph. Ds, and others with advanced medical, scientific, and technical degrees – this area of focus serves every segment of the life sciences and healthcare sectors.
Chilton Varner focuses on product liability, business torts, contract and other commercial disputes. As a partner in our Mass Tort and Toxic Tort practice, Chilton defends corporate clients in a range of commercial litigation. With 30 years of experience as a trial lawyer, Chilton represents clients in mass tort litigation, class actions and multi-district litigation. She has served as trial and appellate counsel for a number of the country’s largest pharmaceutical, medical device and automotive manufacturers. Chilton was appointed to the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee by Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2004 and reappointed by Chief Justice John Roberts in 2007, where she participated in drafting amendments governing electronic discovery and changes to the rules governing summary judgment, expert discovery and information-gathering from third parties and corporate executives. In 2012-13, Chilton was President of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She is currently President of the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Dan Donovan specializes in congressional, state attorneys general and parallel government investigations. A former Chief Investigative Counsel in the Senate, Dan is a partner in our Government Advocacy and Congressional Investigations practices. Dan has two decades of crisis management experience with government investigations, involving significant legal, public relations and political risks. Mr. Donovan represents leading companies, individuals, trade associations, and nonprofit entities and provides effective crisis management counsel. He works at the forefront of controversial and politicized national and state policy issues that frequently lead to investigations and litigation, including congressional, multi-state and federal agency enforcement actions.
Dan Hettich focuses his career on assisting hospitals and health systems across the country with complex, multimillion-dollar Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement issues. A partner in the Healthcare practice, Dan advocates his clients' interests before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Congress and federal courts, and assists his clients in dealing with fraud and abuse concerns. Mr. Hettich has a truly national practice and regularly counsels his clients on various aspects of Medicare reimbursement and related issues.
Senator Dan Coats is a senior policy advisor in the Government Advocacy and Public Policy Practice Group. Senator Coats joined King & Spalding after serving as Director of National Intelligence from 2017 to 2019. A former member of Congress, Senator Coats represented Indiana in the United States Senate from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2017. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988, and as U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 2001 to 2005.While in Congress, Senator Coats was a member of several high-profile committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He also was a member of the Senate leadership, serving as Midwest Regional Whip. In the Senate, Senator Coats focused on national security, health care, education and human resources issues. He was a strong advocate of a bipartisan approach to national security issues, and joined with Democrats such as Senator Joseph Lieberman in pursuing several defense reform and transformation initiatives.
Hall of fame
Doak Bishop specializes in international arbitration, with a focus on Latin America. A partner in the International Arbitration practice, Doak represents companies in arbitration and litigation of disputes in the oil and gas, energy, construction, environmental and foreign investment sectors. With extensive experience in litigation and international arbitration, Doak has served both as an arbitrator and counsel. He represents clients in disputes concerning oil and gas and energy, foreign investment, construction and environmental matters. Mr. Bishop has served as Chairman of the Institute of Transnational Arbitration and as a Director of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). He is also a member of the U.S. delegation to the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes.
Associate
Hall of fame
Edward Kehoe specializes in business arbitration and litigation. He is the Managing Partner of the New York office, co-head of our International Arbitration practice and a member of the firm's management committee.With more than 25 years of experience in business arbitration and litigation, Edward represents clients in the energy, mining, construction, professional services, finance and banking, pharmaceutical, and insurance sectors. He has been lead counsel in many international arbitration matters and trials (both jury and bench), with successful outcomes for his clients.
Partner
Hall of fame
A partner in the Environmental practice with a focus on energy, Granta represents companies in a range of regulatory and enforcement matters. With training as a nuclear engineer and more than a decade of experience as a practicing engineer and technical manager, Granta represents clients with products or services regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), along with state government agencies such as the California Air Resources Board. He defends companies in enforcement actions and litigation involving regulations and rate proceedings, and represents their interests in agency rulemakings and Congressional matters.
Jim Woolery is head of the firm’s M&A and Corporate Governance practices. He draws on his unique background of legal, investment banking and hedge fund experience to counsel c-suites, boards and general counsels across the full spectrum of corporate and strategic matters, including mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, activist defense and other complex transactions. Throughout his career, Mr. Woolery has been widely recognized as one of the country’s leading M&A advisors and he has advised on over $1 trillion in M&A transactions, including serving as a lead advisor on two of the largest leveraged buyouts in history: the $24.9 billion acquisition of Dell by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners and the $48 billion acquisition of TXU by KKR and TPG.
Jan K. Schäfer is a partner at King & Spalding in Frankfurt and heads the dispute resolution practice in Germany.
Special matters and governement investigations
He has more than 20 years experience representing governments, corporations and high-net-worth individuals in over 140 international arbitrations. These include many corporate, construction, energy and investment treaty disputes, with an emphasis on the oil & gas and power sectors. Mr. Savage’s cases have involved a variety of applicable laws, venues, rules and subject matters.
John Bowman specializes in disputes involving the oil and gas industry. A partner in the International Arbitration practice and leader of our Upstream Oil and Gas practice segment, John represents international energy companies in commercial and investment disputes. He was chosen by the Institute for Energy Law to receive its Lifetime Achievement in Energy Litigation Award, given to one energy litigator each year whose achievements “have won the admiration of his or her peers,” at its annual energy litigation conference in November 2017. In 2014–2015, he served as President of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. He teaches International Energy Arbitration at Georgetown University Law Center, and is also an Honorary Lecturer at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, in Dundee.
Counsel
John Hooper defends multinational companies in complex litigations, including a variety of commercial, product liability, financial services, false and misleading advertising and other consumer class actions where he has served as national, regional and/or strategic counsel. He provides clients with all-inclusive strategic litigation management and counseling services to mitigate the reputational and financial risk associated with high exposure, viral and bet-the-company litigations.John's advises companies to create and execute litigation and strategic resolution options in some of the largest, most complex class actions, commercial litigations and mass torts in federal and state courts. Hooper's experience ranges from trials and arbitrations to mediations and settlements, and all stages of a case, from prelitigation to appeal. John's clients include some of the world's largest manufacturers of automobiles, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, building materials, tires, sporting goods and apparel as well as retailers, railroads, hedge funds, life insurance companies, private equity firms, banks and other financial services institutions.
Hall of fame
Jay Harris focuses on healthcare industry transactions as well as general corporate matters. As a partner in the Healthcare practice, Jay represents healthcare providers, investors and other organizations in a variety of transactions. Jay represents clients in the transactions surrounding the formation of new entities and structures for delivery of healthcare services. He is experienced in acquisition and divesture transactions for many types of healthcare providers, including hospitals and health systems; home health and hospice agencies; long-term care facilities; ambulatory surgical centers; physician practices; dialysis and diagnostic imaging providers; dental services companies; and pharmacies.
Dr. Jonas Schwarz is a counsel in King & Spalding’s Frankfurt office and member of the firm’s Private Equity practice.
Hall of fame
Kenneth Steinthal specializes in litigating matters in the intellectual property/media sector. His practice is focused on copyright, DMCA and antitrust/rate-setting cases involving the distribution of audio and audiovisual content, and includes counseling companies regarding the licensing implications of their product offerings. Ken has more than three decades of experience litigating matters spanning the IP/media sector, in jury and bench trial settings and before copyright tribunals in the U.S. and internationally. Ken’s practice is focused on copyright, DMCA and antitrust/rate-setting cases involving the distribution of audio and audiovisual content. His cases typically involve the defense of copyright infringement claims and the establishment of structures and rates for the exploitation of musical works and sound recordings in both traditional (e.g., cable, satellite, broadcast) and new media distribution environments.
Martin Wolff is a counsel in King & Spalding’s Frankfurt office and a member of the firm’s Tax practice.
Moritz Heidbuechel is a counsel in King & Spalding’s Frankfurt office and a member of the firm’s Corporate, Finance and Investments practice.
Nathan Parker is a partner in the Finance Group in Cadwalader's London office. He has worked in the City for over a decade advising on a wide range of financing transactions. Nathan’s practice focuses on acting for financial institutions and private market managers across a full range of fund finance products, including subscription facilities, NAV and hybrid products and GP and co-invest facilities. His background and understanding of the market is extensive, having previously advised exclusively on financings outside of fund finance for private sponsors in their leveraged buyout and high yield offerings, as well as direct lenders in the special situations space. Nathan is admitted to practice in England and Wales.
Peter Memminger is partner in King & Spalding’s Frankfurt office and heads its M&A/Private Equity practice in Germany.
Dr. Peter Stainer is an associate in King & Spalding's Frankfurt office and a member of the firm’s Corporate, Finance and Investments practice group.
Phil Holladay specializes in defending a wide range of clients in high-exposure commercial disputes, product liability and tort cases, class action lawsuits, and qui tam actions. A partner in the Atlanta office, Phil leads the Automotive and Transportation initiative and the Tort & Environmental practice's Transportation subgroup. With more than 30 years of experience representing clients and trying cases in state and federal courts around the country, Phil's practice today focuses on clients in the transportation, healthcare and financial services industries. He is frequently called on to handle matters for clients pending in jurisdictions that are hostile to corporate defendants, and has represented clients in cases in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Puerto Rico.
Bruce W. Baber is a senior partner and founding member of the firm’s global Intellectual Property Practice. Mr. Baber is active in all aspects of the firm’s IP practice, with an emphasis on litigation and other contested matters. . Baber participates actively on behalf of a wide variety of clients in both jury and bench trials of patent, trademark, trade dress and copyright infringement litigation matters, as well as adversarial patent, trademark and false advertising proceedings before the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Since he began practice in 1979, Mr. Baber has represented many global and nationally known companies in dozens of patent infringement, copyright infringement and trademark infringement, dilution and counterfeiting matters, as well as in a wide variety of false advertising disputes.
Bobby Meadows is an accomplished trial lawyer known for winning challenging cases. He represents clients in litigation throughout the United States, including trials in state and federal courts, international and domestic arbitrations, summary jury trials and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Bobby's trial experience includes both commercial and tort litigation. Significant commercial matters include multi-million dollar breach of contract and fraud claims arising out of failed business ventures, shareholder derivative suits, oil and gas operating agreements, leases, joint venture agreements and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts. In tort litigation, he regularly appears in court defending large corporations accused of environmental damage by plaintiffs seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for land restoration, personal injuries and remediation of municipal water supplies. His tort clients include oil and gas companies, construction/engineering companies, product manufacturers and others.
Roger G. Schwartz is a partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins. Mr. Schwartz is a member of the Finance Department. He has extensive bankruptcy and restructuring expertise and focuses his practice on representing administrative agents, secured lenders, strategic and financial buyers and sellers of stock, assets or debt primarily in the context of financially distressed situations (inside and outside of formal insolvency proceedings), creditors’ committees and debtors in Chapter 11 cases and workouts. Mr. Schwartz also represents equity sponsors, special committees of boards of directors and the United States government in connection with complex US and international bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, corporate restructurings and financial recapitalizations.
Ronni Solomon co-leads the E-Discovery practice and focuses exclusively on e-discovery issues. Ronni has significant experience managing e-discovery in crisis litigation that spans multiple regulatory, investigatory and civil matters and helping clients ensure that e-discovery does not become a costly sideshow. A certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Ronni uses her experience and skills to ensure that e-discovery activities are run cost-efficiently, defensibly and consistently. Ronni also serves as National E-Discovery Counsel for large corporations and works with clients on information governance and defensible deletion issues. Ms. Solomon is actively engaged in e-discovery thought leadership. She was a member of the Steering Committee of Working Group 1 of The Sedona Conference on Best Practices for Electronic Discovery and Records Management. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Georgetown Law Advanced E-Discovery Institute.
Rüdiger Morbach is an associate in King & Spalding's Frankfurt office and a member of the firm’s Trial and Global Disputes pracite group.
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is a partner in the Special Matters & Government Investigations practice. Sally’s deep experience, leadership and wide-ranging background provide clients with seasoned judgment in difficult times. Her practice focuses on counseling clients in complex and sensitive matters, including government enforcement and regulatory matters, congressional investigations, compliance, corporate governance and crisis management. Drawing upon her nearly three decades at the Department of Justice, she specializes in internal and independent investigations for public and private organizations and boards. As the second-highest ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and as Acting Attorney General, Sally was responsible for all of DOJ’s 113,000 employees including all prosecutorial, litigating, and national security components. She also was responsible for all U.S. Attorney’s offices and law enforcement agencies and the Bureau of Prisons. Sally oversaw DOJ’s most significant matters and was instrumental in setting DOJ’s enforcement priorities and initiatives.
Samantha Hutchinson is a partner in Cadwalader's London office. She advises both financial institutions and private markets managers on the full range of fund finance products across all asset classes. Sam has advised on some of the largest subscription and leverage deals in the market, including a $2 billion secondary financing for a leading European secondary manager, a $1.5 billion hybrid umbrella facility and a €5 billion subscription line to a leading global primary fund. In the past 12 months, she has advised on more than 50 new fund financings exceeding £15 billion in value. Sam has been advising financial institutions and private markets managers for over 15 years, and her practice covers the full range of fund lending products, including subscription lines, primary and secondary leverage and liquidity lines, GP and executive financings and co-invest facilities delivered via a number of different structures including framework and umbrella facilities. She is admitted to practice in England and Wales.
Steven Kupka is a partner in the Government Advocacy and Public Policy group. An expert on the complexities of public policy at the federal, state, and local government levels, Mr. Kupka focuses his practice on international trade promotion, foreign regulatory issues and foreign asset recovery efforts with a particular emphasis throughout the Caribbean (Puerto Rico) and the Americas.U.S. and foreign governmental entities turn to Mr. Kupka for specialized advice on myriad topics including infrastructure projects, regulatory compliance and enforcement issues. He also advises corporations on their advocacy efforts before Congress regarding legislative and regulatory issues and on various interagency rulings issued by the Office of Management and Budget.
Susan Clare, a partner in the Trial and Global Disputes Practice, is the Co-Chair of the Automotive and Transportation Litigation Team. Susan represents clients in the automotive/transportation, life sciences, and consumer products industries in high-exposure product liability, mass tort, and other complex litigation. With experience in all phases of complex litigation, Susan represents companies in individual, class action and multi-district proceedings in federal and state courts across the country. She is skilled at handling the types of issues that frequently accompany the highest-exposure matters, such as cases involving recalled and foreign-manufactured products, media attention, government investigations, allegations of consumer fraud, jurisdictional challenges, insurance disputes, and extensive expert discovery.
Drawing upon his deep experience with the legislative process, Tom's practice includes the development and execution of Legislative and Executive Branch strategies involving issues critical to domestic and foreign interests. His practice also includes advising corporations on complying with the vast array of laws that regulate the interaction of lobbyists with state and federal government officials. As group leader of the Government Advocacy & Public Policy practice, Tom is actively involved in numerous lobbying efforts on the most pressing issues in Washington, involving tax, health, energy, defense, aerospace and appropriations. Mr. Spulak counsels clients on the full suite of political law issues. He advises clients on complying with federal and state laws that regulate and require the reporting of lobbyist activities, and counsels clients on the ethical considerations involved when corporate representatives and government officials interact.
Tracie Renfroe has a national trial practice focusing on toxic tort, environmental, product liability and commercial disputes. She has tried or litigated numerous breach of contract, conspiracy, fraud, securities fraud and professional liability cases. As Managing Partner of the Houston office and a partner in the Energy, Environmental and Product Liability practices, Tracie represents clients in the energy, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical sectors around the country. Tracie represents clients in civil jury trials, class actions and arbitrations. She tries cases in federal and state courts around the country, as well as in international arbitration of high-stakes environmental disputes. Tracie is skilled at presenting complex scientific and technical issues to judges, juries and arbitration panels. She has also tried numerous conspiracy, securities fraud, breach of contract and professional liability cases.
Ulf Grundmann is a partner in the FDA & Life Sciences practice group of King & Spalding in Frankfurt.
Viren Mascarenhas is a partner and is a member of the International Arbitration Practice Group. He is a specialist in international arbitration, focusing on both investment treaty arbitration and international commercial arbitration, public international law, and business and human rights. Viren has acted as counsel in domestic and international arbitration proceedings under the major institutional arbitral rules as well as ad hoc arbitral rules. Viren has experience across a range of industries, including chemicals, consumer products and luxury goods. He has particular expertise in disputes over natural resources. His energy experience includes investment arbitrations brought against the governments of Argentina, Ecuador, Italy, Timor Leste, and Venezuela; commercial arbitrations regarding the dissolution of joint ventures, breach of supply contracts, tax disputes, and energy-related construction disputes, in matters concerning projects in Colombia, Libya, India, Russia, and the United States; and also LNG gas pricing arbitrations.