Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Amanda is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin’s New York office and is a member of the firm’s healthcare industry team. Amanda represents healthcare and tax-exempt organizations on a wide range of transactional, regulatory and business matters. She advises clients in connection with complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and structuring value-based healthcare arrangements. In addition, Amanda routinely advises clients on matters relating to corporate governance, federal, state and local tax exemption, fraud, waste and abuse, Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement, voluntary disclosures, the corporate practice of medicine, and other regulatory and compliance matters. Amanda’s clients include for-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as hospitals, academic medical centers, managed care organizations, integrated healthcare delivery systems, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, rare disease organizations, independent practice associations, physician practices, management companies, and charitable and religious organizations. Amanda began her career as a litigator, and she brings this experience to her transactional and regulatory practice. In that regard, Amanda counsels clients on legal, strategic and practical matters involving both actual and potential disputes, and defends healthcare and tax-exempt organizations before federal, state and local government agencies in connection with audits and investigations. Amanda has also represented clients in business and commercial disputes in federal and state court, bankruptcy proceedings, and arbitration. Amanda helped establish and co-leads Sheppard Mullin’s Women in Healthcare Leadership Collaborative and serves on Sheppard Mullin’s Women Lawyers Group National Leadership Council.

Amit Kalra

Amit Kalra, PC is a partner in the Tax, Employee Benefits and Trusts and Estates Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Chicago office. Amit concentrates his practice on tax controversy and partnership taxation, with an emphasis on partnerships and pass-through entities that own and operate assets entitled to significant federal income tax benefits. Amit is frequently involved in the structuring and formation of partnerships that own and operate alternative energy resources. His experience includes the pricing of partnership investments through the preparation of pro forma economic models that incorporate relevant federal income tax assumptions and constraints to accurately determine the expected after-tax return on a partnership investment. Amit is also actively involved in the emerging market for financing other alternative energy resources, including: ethanol, biodiesel, biomass, solar and fuel cell facilities. His partnership practice includes all forms of direct investments in partnerships and pass-through entities, including private equity fund formation and investment. In addition, he counsels clients in private equity and venture capital portfolio investments. Amit represents clients before the IRS Appeals Office on numerous federal income taxation issues, including the defense of purported tax shelters and their related penalties, the characterization of true lease transactions, the tax consequences of complex debt workouts and the treatment of sophisticated financial products.

Amy Tranckino

Amy Tranckino is a partner in Sheppard Mullin's San Diego (Del Mar) office and Practice Group Leader of the Tax, Employee Benefits and Trusts and Estates Practice Group. As a seasoned deal lawyer, clients appreciate Amy's creative, solutions-oriented approach to complex business matters, including mergers and acquisitions, tax credit financings and partnership ventures. Business Law & Taxation Amy advises clients ranging from family owned businesses to public companies in many diverse industries such as organic food and beverage, healthcare, consumer goods, energy, professional services and real estate. Qualified Opportunity Funds Amy closely follows developments in the opportunity zone space and frequently advises developers, investors and sponsors on structuring opportunity zone transactions. Her experience includes structuring numerous qualified opportunity funds and related investments in qualified opportunity zone businesses throughout the country. Tax Credit Deals Amy advises developers, investors and lenders in connection with affordable housing, historic, energy and new markets tax credit projects (primary responsibility for over $800 million in tax credit equity financings). Deal Experience Formation and restructuring of qualified opportunity funds Mergers and acquisitions of both private and public companies Cross-border transactions Distressed company M&A transactions, including in bankruptcies Tax credit transactions and structures, including flip transactions, sale-leasebacks, inverted leases and capital leases, among others Complex "corporate divorces" through redemptions and dissolutions Numerous private placements of equity and debt securities Joint venture(s) and strategic alliances Negotiation of numerous complex business and financial relationships

Andrew Ratts

Andrew Ratts is a partner in the Tax Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Chicago Office. Andrew's practice focuses on federal income taxation, advising various clients on tax issues relating to business formations, acquisitions, divestitures, debt reorganizations, executive compensation, investments, financings, operating joint ventures, leasing, public and private debt/equity offerings and derivatives. Andrew is frequently involved with tax-advantaged direct investments; private equity and hedge funds; investment funds; real estate and energy credit syndications; project finance; leveraged leasing; mergers; lending; and sales and exchanges. He is particularly experienced with the federal income taxation of pass-through entities, such as partnerships; limited liability companies; S corporations and grantor trusts; and of financial instruments and derivatives.

Anne Perry

Anne Perry is a partner and former Practice Leader of the Governmental Practice in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. Anne concentrates in the areas of government contracts law and litigation and is a lecturer and author in the area. Her experience in government contracts includes, for example: bid protests before the U.S. General Accounting Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; complex litigation in connection with the False Claims Act; claims litigation before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals; counseling and litigation in the areas of: export control software and technical data rights cost allowability, and cost allocability mergers and acquisitions subcontracts and teaming agreements Foreign Military Sales and Foreign Military Financing Truth In Negotiations Act and defective pricing suspension/debarment appropriations socioeconomic programs Before entering private practice, Anne worked for the U.S. General Accounting Office handling bid protests.

Bevin Newman

Bevin Newman is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. Bevin is a strategic adviser to clients in cutting-edge affiliations and collaborative arrangements. She focuses much of her practice in the healthcare industry, bringing over 20 years of experience advising and defending globally renowned health systems, academic medical centers, providers, payers and pharmaceuticals companies undertaking significant transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, intellectual property licenses and innovative alliances, as well as on conduct matters. She represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice and state attorneys general on complex antitrust matters. Bevin also has extensive experience coordinating the merger-control, foreign direct investment (CFIUS) and regulatory reviews of multi-jurisdictional transactions for U.S. and foreign clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, technology and energy industries. She is one of the most experienced Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act) practitioners in the country. She has advised on multiple antitrust matters for Caremark, Cigna, UPMC, Duke University, Yale-New Haven Health System, Centura, SSM Health, UnityPoint, Abbot Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharmaceuticals and Bon Secours Mercy Health. Bevin frequently writes and speaks on antitrust and competition issues, particularly in the healthcare field. Her publications include Antitrust Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions (BNA Corp. Practice Series) and "An Overview of Federal Antitrust Laws and Enforcement Policies" (CCH Health Care Compliance Professionals Manual). She served on the editorial board for the ABA's Antitrust Compliance and is a member of the Antitrust and Health Law Sections of the ABA and Antitrust Section of the American Health Lawyers Association. Outside of her antitrust practice, Bevin maintains an active pro bono practice, representing refugees seeking safety for themselves and their children.

Brent Horstman

Brent Horstman is a partner in and former Leader of the Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin’s Los Angeles office. Brent practices commercial law with a specialty in real and personal property, secured financings and workouts. He represents lenders, corporate borrowers and private equity sponsors. Brent’s practice encompasses a wide range of debt financing types, including single-lender and syndicated credits; senior-secured; second-lien; mezzanine; unitranche; FF&E financings; merger and acquisition financings; recapitalizations and working capital loans; cross-border loans; and problem loan restructurings. He has worked on transactions involving industries that include a significant number of transactions in the hotel, gaming and leisure; media entertainment; mortgage banking; and healthcare industries.

Brian Anderson

Brian Anderson is a Partner in Sheppard Mullin’s San Francisco office. He leads the Firm’s Advertising and Sports Practice. Brian represents brands, teams, leagues, companies, and investors as their chief legal strategist, managing various matters, ranging from commercial partnerships, sponsorships, media rights, naming rights, and licensing transactions to complying with advertising laws and data protection regulations. He mainly focuses on issues arising from using new technologies and business models, such as blockchain (NFTs, digital assets, etc.) and interactive entertainment (metaverses, virtual worlds, esports, etc.).

Brian Weimer

Brian Weimer is a corporate partner in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office and Leader of the firm's Telecom Team. Brian is recognized by Chambers and is consistently selected for inclusion each year in Best Lawyers in America in the Communications Law category. Brian provides transactional and regulatory advice to clients in the telecommunications industry, with particular emphasis on satellite, wireless and media companies. He acts as corporate counsel to telecommunications companies in M&A and financing matters and also advises on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory issues presented by these transactions. Brian represents FCC licensees on a wide range of issues at the FCC, including rulemaking, licensing and enforcement matters. He also advises foreign and domestic clients on international telecommunications issues such as satellite landing rights, cross-border M&A transactions and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). Brian frequently speaks and writes on telecommunications-related matters at industry events. He is also actively involved in the Federal Communications Bar Association, where he has served as co-chair of the International Telecommunications Committee, the Transactional Practice Committee and the Wireless Committee. He is also a member of the Washington Space Business Roundtable (WSBR).

Brittany Walter

Brittany Walter is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's San Diego (Del Mar) office. She is the associate co-lead of the firm’s Blockchain and Fintech Team as well as the firm’s Technology & Commercial Transactions Team. She is also an active member of the Sports Team, Advertising Team, and the Privacy and Cybersecurity Team. Brittany’s practice focuses on technology and commercial transactions involving intellectual property and commercial partnerships. She routinely advises clients on legal strategy for technology, commercial and corporate transactions, as well as compliance strategies for advertising and data protection regulations. She has a special focus on blockchain-based products and services, including non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”), metaverses, virtual worlds, and games. Technology and Commercial Transactions. Brittany advises on, drafts and negotiates, agreements involving intellectual property licensing, software development, SaaS, marketing services, sourcing and distribution agreements, sponsorship agreements, stadium and venue projects, media rights agreements, and other commercial and transactional matters. Brittany also drafts terms of service for websites and mobile applications. She has significant experience drafting and negotiating NFT agreements, including but not limited to minting agreements, brand and content agreements, joint IP development agreements, auction agreements, marketplace Terms of Service, and End-User License Agreements. Advertising. Brittany advises clients in conducting advertising campaigns, contests and sweepstakes, and brand marketing campaigns. She also counsels clients on compliance with e-mail, telephone and SMS marketing regulations. Privacy and Data Protection. Brittany counsels clients on compliance with domestic and international privacy laws and regulations. She helps clients with drafting privacy policies and developing and implementing comprehensive privacy compliance programs. Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin, Brittany served on Active Duty in the U.S. Air Force. She currently serves as the lead associate of Veterans at Sheppard, and has an active pro bono practice.

Bruce Grabow

Bruce Grabow is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Bruce represents independent power developers and owners and merchant generators, electric power marketers, merchant electric transmission companies, electric utility companies, investment and private equity funds and wholesale and retail customers in regulatory compliance and transactional matters pertaining to the electric energy industry. His practice focuses on matters regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA), Energy Policy Act of 2005, including the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005 (PUHCA) and Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). Bruce advises clients on: Generation interconnection throughout the Nation Reactive power compensation Regional transmission organization (RTO)/independent system operator (ISO) market tariff rules and policy Mergers, acquisitions and corporate reorganizations Market-based and cost-based power sales Transmission infrastructure development Transmission rate recovery Negotiation of interconnection, transmission, operation and maintenance agreements Exempt wholesale generator and qualifying facility status Rulemaking proceedings Affiliate transactions Securities issuances Standards of conduct compliance

Camille Vasquez

Camille Vasquez is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's Orange County office. Areas of Practice Camille Vasquez specializes in high-profile litigation and complex legal disputes. With a reputation for her tenacity and strategic acumen, Camille has built a notable career handling high-stakes cases, crisis situations and providing exceptional legal counsel to her clients. Throughout her career, Camille has been recognized for her outstanding advocacy skills and her ability to navigate complex legal landscapes. Her practice encompasses a range of areas including commercial litigation, entertainment law, and defamation. Camille is particularly known for her adept handling of cases involving media exposure and public scrutiny, where her strategic approach and persuasive abilities have consistently achieved favorable outcomes for her clients. Fluent in Spanish, Camille brings an added dimension to her practice, enabling her to serve a diverse client base and effectively manage cases involving Spanish-speaking individuals and entities. In addition to her litigation practice, Camille is a sought-after speaker and commentator on legal issues, frequently contributing for NBC, participating in industry panels and speaking at engagements around the world. Her commitment to the legal profession extends beyond the courtroom, as she actively mentors young attorneys and serves as a Foundation Trustee for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Christine Clements

Christine Clements is a partner in the Governmental Practice in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s Healthcare Team. With more 25 years of experience in managed care law issues, Christine's practice includes federal healthcare government contract programs such as the Medicare Advantage Program, the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and Medicaid managed care. She advises health plan clients on the issues most important to them, including contract applications and service area expansions; responses to requests for proposals; rate development and bidding; medical loss ratio and other financial and reporting requirements; risk adjustment; Star ratings; sales and marketing strategies and compliance; benefit design; employer/union group offerings; provider and vendor contracting and payment; internal audits; fraud and abuse, including the discount, managed care and group purchasing organizations safe harbors; and compliance programs. Christine advises clients undergoing government audits and investigations. She also represents clients in administrative appeals including appeals of Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services application denials, assessments of civil money penalties and Star rating/quality bonus payment determinations. Christine also counsels health plan and other healthcare industry clients on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security issues. She advises clients on permitted uses and disclosures under HIPAA and security breaches and business associate agreements, and she assists clients with other HIPAA compliance issues. In addition, Christine advises clients on state law requirements such as insurance and HMO licensure requirement, net worth and other financial requirements, market conduct and other audits, state mandates and extraterritoriality requirements. Further, Christine advises healthcare providers and suppliers including accountable care organizations and pharmacies, as well as intermediaries such as management service organizations. She also advises healthcare industry clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and joint ventures, value-based contracting matters, and other strategic planning issues. Previously, Christine served as Chief Medicare Counsel at Aetna Inc., where she was responsible for the company's Consumer Segment. In this role, she was the lead attorney for the company's Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit businesses, Medicare Supplement products and other retiree plans. Christine has written and presented on the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit programs, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, value-based contracting arrangements and the HIPAA Privacy Rule, among other topics.

Christine A. Kolosov

Chris Kolosov is a partner in the Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance Team in the firm's Los Angeles office. Chris concentrates her practice in energy project development, financing, sales and acquisitions, and in regulatory matters before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Chris represents developers and owners in the negotiation of power purchase agreements, renewable energy credit purchase and sale agreements, engineering, procurement and construction agreements, equipment supply agreements, operations and maintenance agreements, shared facilities agreements, and development services, construction management and asset management agreements, and she oversees project document diligence on behalf of financing parties. She represents buyers and sellers in the acquisition and disposition of development stage and operating energy generation and storage projects. She also regularly represents investor-owned water utilities in regulatory proceedings before the CPUC.

Craig Cardon

Craig Cardon sits on Sheppard Mullin's Executive Committee and serves as Leader of the Privacy and Cybersecurity Team. He also serves as the International Liaison for the firm’s China offices. Craig enjoys a broad advertising, data privacy and ecommerce focused practice. He primarily represents brands, retailers, ad agencies, ad networks, technology platforms and other business involved in advertising, marketing and the data associated with it. Craig provides regular advertising review for some of the largest retailers and consumer product manufacturers in the country. He regularly litigates false advertising and privacy class actions (including breach-related litigation), competitor comparison claims and trade secret claims. Craig has defended numerous landmark privacy and advertising class actions, including defeating cases of first impression under California’s Shine the Light law, Anti-SPAM law, the Club Card Act, gift card laws and Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. He has represented dozens of brands in cases around the country related to the collection of data and targeted advertising. He has defended FTC advertising enforcement actions through trial and regularly appears before the NAD (National Advertising Division). Craig and his team handle data transactions, ecommerce fulfillment deals, international brand licensing and distribution arrangements. He has particular expertise in assisting retailers and brands in establishing and managing retail and distribution relationships in China and elsewhere in Asia. Outside of the advertising context he has advised the Japanese government on anti-counterfeiting legislation, represented the Motion Picture Association and advised film studios on the intellectual property implications of new technologies. Much of his practice is devoted to disputes over media content and media distribution technologies. His content litigation experience, in addition to state and federal court litigation, encompasses domestic and international arbitrations, including IFTA arbitrations. Craig has created and overseen international anti-grey market and anti-counterfeiting programs for some of the world’s largest consumer product manufacturers and best known fashion brands.

Daniel Schnapp

Daniel E. Schnapp is a partner in the Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's New York office and Team Leader of the firm's Technology Transactions Team and Esports & Games Industry Team. Daniel provides strategic counsel and transactional support for multinational corporations, as well as midcap and startup companies, in connection with a wide range of legal and policy issues arising out of the convergence of technology, advertising, entertainment and media, electronic commerce, intellectual property (IP), privacy, data breach, information security, and compliance and risk management, including: Digital video and music content licensing and distribution, and related audiovisual broadcasting initiatives on all new media platforms Mobile device and online app development and licensing and distribution of social media and networking services and applications Cloud-based content distribution models and enterprise cloud computing initiatives Video games and interactive entertainment development, publishing, merchandising, promotion, distribution and licensing Digital and traditional advertising, sponsorships, product placements and promotional arrangements User-generated content ingestion, distribution and syndication Strategic alliances and joint ventures "offshore," "near shore" and domestic information technology, call center, manufacturing and business process outsourcing Wireless device and network application Electronic publishing and distribution Viral marketing, contextual advertising and brand management Promotions, sweepstakes and contests compliance Record retention and disaster recovery/contingency planning compliance Stored value and smart card application development Digital signatures and public key infrastructures Electronic payment systems and solutions and internet banking Software/hardware procurement, development, licensing, distribution and export Systems integration and facilities management Data warehousing and mining Domain name trademark disputes Application storage and service provider transactions Website hosting and development Technology and data export compliance Patent and trademark licensing Intellectual property audits Dan was selected in 2008 as one of the "Top 50 IP Attorneys Under 45" in IP Law and Business magazine. Dan writes and lectures extensively on new developments in the areas of digital content distribution and syndication, cloud-based content distribution models, end user-generated content and social networking initiatives, outsourcing, electronic commerce, electronic payment systems, privacy and information security.

Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group and Office Managing Partner of Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. He is also the partner in charge of lateral recruiting for Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. Dave's national practice handles matters in the telecommunications and broadband communications industries, as well as in the cyber and data security sectors. His practice focuses on the deployment and operations of competitive wire-based and wireless networks and services, with a particular emphasis on the mesh of federal, state and local regulations surrounding broadband networks in matters involving network operations and security, local franchising, rights-of-way and infrastructure. During his more than 25 years as counsel to the nation's top cable and broadband companies, cable and telecommunications trade associations and other business organizations, Dave became a nationally recognized authority on utility and telecommunications infrastructure, pole attachments, rights-of-way, federal, state and local broadband and telecommunications regulatory and communications plant deployment issues and public utility law. He has worked on cases in approximately 40 states. Dave handles a wide range of regulatory, litigation and transactional matters involving telecommunications providers, broadcasters, satellite communications, federal, state and local licensing and permitting, data security and privacy and spectrum use. He litigates before the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), numerous state public service commissions and federal and state courts. In addition to those bodies, he regularly appears before state legislatures and county and municipal governments. A frequent speaker at communications and utility industry conferences, Dave has published works on a variety of domestic and international industry issues, including cyber and data security, new technology, infrastructure and use, network deployment and spectrum use and allocation.

David Ulich

David Ulich is a partner in the Tax Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office. He is also Team Leader of the firm's Nonprofit Sector Team which was named Nonprofit Sector Law Firm of the Year in California. David provides business, corporate and tax advice to educational, public and religious charities and foundations such as the American Film Institute, The Annenberg Foundation, Childhelp USA, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Mission Without Borders, Foundation for Global Sports Development and others. David has expertise in public private partnerships between foundations and public agencies, including dealing with tax, regulatory and planning issues. His work includes: (i) preparing applications on behalf of these Not-for-Profit entities for tax exemptions and nonprofit status under federal and state tax guidelines; (ii) helping nonprofits to joint venture on projects with other nonprofits as well as for profit entities; (iii) dealing with excess benefit and private inurement issues; (iv) drafting donation and sponsorship agreements; and (v) providing guidance on nonprofit governance and appropriate director and officer conduct, including compliance and disclosure issues. David is President of a nonprofit organization, Foundation for Global Sports Development, that works closely with the International Olympic Committee and a variety of International Sports Federations on global sports development projects. He was also actively involved in researching the use of performance-enhancing substances by former East German athletes and contributed to a book on the subject called Faust's Gold. David has extensive experience in the structuring of corporate reorganizations, including mergers, stock for stock exchanges, corporate spin-offs and shareholder redemptions, as well as the tax treatment of "S" corporations. He has handled all aspects of partnership and limited liability company law including formation and dissolution of partnerships and LLC's, drafting partnership and LLC agreements, merging of partnerships and tax treatment of partners, and LLC members in transactions with their companies.

David Garcia

David Garcia is a partner in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office. He is an antitrust litigator and counselor with a broad background in complex litigation and merger investigations for major U.S. companies, which includes extensive class action and multidistrict litigation experience. His practice focuses principally on litigation and counseling with particular emphasis on healthcare related transactions of all sorts, the entertainment industry and the intersection between antitrust and intellectual property. David counsels and litigates extensively in the healthcare space on joint ventures, vertical and horizontal mergers and competitor collaborations and affiliations of all sorts for a broad range of hospitals, doctor groups, health insurance carriers and private equity investors throughout the U.S. including second requests and divestiture negotiations with both the FTC and DoJ. David's antitrust litigation experience includes price fixing cartel defense, patent related monopolization claims and representation of clients in connection with civil and criminal investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice. His broad ranging antitrust litigation background also includes major matters involving standard setting, state action immunity, and contested mergers. He also counsels and litigates in a variety of distribution situations, including dealer termination, vertical pricing restrictions, franchise termination disputes, non-competition agreements and counseling and litigation involving multilevel marketing organizations. Clients for whom he has worked include: Sisters of Charity Leavenworth Health Systems, Arcadian Medicare Advantage Insurance, Blue Shield California, Legacy Healthcare, a broad variety of physician groups and for profit and non profit hospital systems throughout the U.S., The Secure Content Storage Association LLC, The Digital Cinema Initiative, LLC, Kaiser, Lending Tree, Samsung, Epson America, China Mobile, Sprint, Carrier Airconditioning, Herbalife, Amgen, Barnes & Noble, Warner Home Video, Playboy Enterprises, Inc. and Reynolds & Reynolds, Inc.

David Douglass

David Douglass is a partner in the Governmental Practice. He defends companies in criminal and civil investigations and litigation. David is a leader of Sheppard Mullin's Organizational Integrity Group. He is the former Managing Partner of the firm's 100-lawyer Washington, D.C. office. For more than three decades, David has drawn on his criminal and civil trial experience to advise and represent healthcare and life sciences companies, government contractors and other highly regulated business in government investigations, litigation and, of course, trial. David is often lead trial counsel in federal courts, including Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and New York. He defends companies and individuals in criminal and civil, False Claims Act (whistleblower), investigations and litigation. Highly regulated companies face special challenges when confronted with a government investigation. The regulatory flexibility that characterizes administrative law clashes sharply with the rigid standards of civil and criminal laws, especially fraud laws. A practice that is well understood and recognized in the regulatory arena can become challenging to recreate and prove in response to a whistleblower action or a grand jury subpoena. David is experienced in developing the evidence companies need to demonstrate their legal compliance, in intent and in fact. David draws upon his experience to partner with his clients to develop and implement cost-effective and practical compliance and risk management programs. When investigations or litigation arise, however, his prosecutorial and trial experience enables him to diagnose the nature of the investigation, triage the immediate needs, and develop a sound litigation plan based on the company's resources, needs and business objectives. David is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the U.S. and Canada. Fellowship is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. David also leads complex, high-profile government investigations. In 2013, David was appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana as deputy federal monitor over the New Orleans Police Department to guide and monitor the department's compliance with a Consent Decree obligating the department to transform its policing practices. In 1994, he served as executive director of the White House Security Review, which resulted in the closing of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. In 1993, he served as assistant director of the Treasury Department's investigation of the raid on the David Koresh compound in Waco, Texas. David also served as a DOJ Trial Attorney in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division. Prior to that, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. David taught Advanced Evidence as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School and Trial Advocacy at Harvard Law School. He has written and lectured on government enforcement issues as they affect healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. David serves on the Board of the Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, which deploys the best legal talent to fight discrimination, repair the damage of racial inequity and break down barriers to opportunity. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, a organization comprised of corporations, law firms and attorneys devoted to driving real progress toward creating a more inclusive legal profession through comprehensive outreach and original programming to replace barriers with bridges between legal, judicial, professional, educational and governmental institutions. He previously served on the Board of Appleseed Foundation, a nonprofit network of 17 public interest justice centers in the U.S. and Mexico dedicated to building a society in which opportunities are genuine, access to the law is universal and equal, and government advances the public interest.

David Sands

David Sands is a partner and Leader of the Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Team. He is also the former Practice Leader of Sheppard Mullin's Corporate Practice Group. David splits his time among the Firm's Los Angeles, Orange County, and Century City offices. David handles major strategic and institutional transactions involving corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. David concentrates on the representation of companies involved in the media, entertainment and technologies industries and companies involved in the creation and distribution of financial products and financial services in a wide variety of key strategic transactions, including formation planning and initial capitalization, executive compensation structures, Internet and e-commerce arrangements and institutional capital transactions and other forms of equity and debt offerings (public and private), strategic alliances and partnerships, and merger and acquisitions (including take private transactions). He has extensive experience in providing counseling and providing strategic planning for the Firm's clients.

Douglas Svor

Drew Svor is a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s Telecom Team. Drew’s practice is focused on technology, media and telecommunications, with an emphasis on satellite, wireless and new technologies. Drew counsels companies on all aspects of communications law and regulations. He also represents companies in matters before the Federal Communications Commission, including rulemaking, licensing and enforcement matters. He counsels clients with respect to international telecommunications issues, including frequently representing companies before the “Team Telecom” Executive Branch agencies, as well as the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Drew frequently speaks and writes on telecommunications matters, including at events hosted by the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) and the ABA Space Symposium.

Douglas Yeager

Douglas Yeager is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Houston office. Areas of Practice Doug represents owners, investors, tenants, and developers in the acquisition, development, financing, leasing, and disposition of commercial real estate. He focuses his practice on leases (office, industrial, retail, build-to-suit, ground, and sale/leaseback), acquisitions and dispositions (office, industrial, hotel, retail, multi-family, and mixed-use), and financing (interim, construction, and permanent). He has also worked extensively in the loan workout, distressed asset, and debt areas, including restructuring and bankruptcy transactions and foreclosures. Doug’s practice is national in scope, and his clients include some of the largest and most sophisticated players in the commercial real estate industry in the United States. Doug regularly handles complex real estate matters for private equity firms, real estate funds, financial institutions, special servicers, owners, and developers. He also represents both landlords and tenants in commercial leasing of downtown and suburban office buildings, retail projects, and industrial warehouses. Being in Houston, he routinely assists energy companies, oilfield service companies, midstream companies, and others in the energy industry with their real estate transactions. Doug is known for his ability to get deals done while looking out for his client’s interests. An efficient and effective attorney, Doug works quickly and breaks things down for his clients.

Drew Svor

Drew Svor is a partner in Sheppard Mullin’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s Telecom Team. Drew’s practice is focused on technology, media and telecommunications, with an emphasis on satellite, wireless and new technologies. Drew counsels companies on all aspects of communications law and regulations. He also represents companies in matters before the Federal Communications Commission, including rulemaking, licensing and enforcement matters. He counsels clients with respect to international telecommunications issues, including frequently representing companies before the “Team Telecom” Executive Branch agencies, as well as the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Drew frequently speaks and writes on telecommunications matters, including at events hosted by the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) and the ABA Space Symposium.

Dylan Price

Dylan Price is a partner in the Business Trial and Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Practice Groups in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office. Dylan practices in the areas of entertainment, intellectual property and commercial litigation. Dylan’s broad entertainment practice includes the representation of studios, producers, managers and media companies in connection with various types of claims, including those relating to motion picture distribution rights, content licensing, music rights, participation accounting issues, residual allocation claims, final cut rights, partnership disputes and breach of contract claims. He represents entertainment clients in both state and federal court, as well as in arbitrations before the Independent Film & Television Alliance (“IFTA”) arbitration tribunal. Dylan’s intellectual property practice includes representing clients in disputes involving copyright, trademark and right of publicity claims. He helps intellectual property owners police their intellectual property rights and has secured a number of pre-litigation settlements for his clients through his aggressive representation. Dylan also counsels filmmakers and producers on intellectual property clearance issues and risk mitigation strategies, including the analysis of fair use defenses under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act, and provides guidance to new media clients in navigating the contours of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), including the DMCA’s take down and counter notice procedures. Dylan also represents various corporate clients involved in business, tort, insurance and consumer class action litigations. He represents foreign clients challenging personal jurisdiction in actions based on both contract and the so-called “stream of commerce” theory, and has obtained dismissals on behalf of multiple clients based on the lack of “minimum contacts” under the federal due process standard for jurisdiction. Dylan has also represented a number of national retailers and fashion companies in consumer class actions involving consumer privacy statutes and false advertising claims relating to outlet store pricing practices.

Edward Tillinghast

Edward Tillinghast, III is a partner and Practice Group Leader of Sheppard Mullin's Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Group. He specializes in U.S. and cross-border insolvencies, particularly involving Asia, Latin America, and other emerging and developing markets, and related creditors' rights litigation. His broad bankruptcy and creditor’s rights litigation and appellate experience, and his understanding of business realities, is helpful in creating and implementing business solutions to complex financially-driven problems and resulting opportunities, regardless of whether they involve structuring a business deal or litigating related issues. Edward specializes in corporate reorganizations, cross-border insolvencies, creditors’ rights and related litigation, distressed acquisitions including ESG-related opportunities, and insolvency-related opinions. He advises clients in many jurisdictions throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, Russia, South America and the United States, and has been lead counsel for parties in cases in many courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, et al. v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, et al., Chase Manhattan Bank v. Traffic Stream (BVI) Infrastructure, Florida v. Nixon, and Rasul v. Bush) and cases in the Second and Third Circuit Courts of Appeal as well as many bankruptcy and district courts. He has represented ad hoc and official committees, debtors, distressed asset purchasers, equity holders, funds, indenture trustees, and institutional lenders.

Emily Anderson

Emily D. Anderson is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's New York office. She is also a member of the firm's Construction, Energy and Transportation industry teams. Emily has extensive experience litigating construction and real estate-related claims on behalf of contractors, developers, owners, subcontractors and sureties. She has been involved in numerous matters involving breach of contract issues, public-private partnerships, energy issues, delay damage claims, suretyship, mechanic’s liens, trust fund diversion claims, construction lending issues, disputes about neighboring access and support, prevailing wages and construction defects. Emily also drafts and negotiates various construction agreements for contractors and owners, including agreements for construction management, general contractors, subcontractors, design, consulting and building services, licenses, access and easements. Emily interned with Justice Saliann Scarpulla of the New York State Supreme Court of New York County prior to her elevation to the New York Appellate Division, First Department and the Legal Department of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Before attending law school, Emily worked as a sales representative in the elevator industry.

Eric Klein

Eric Klein is Team Leader of the 200+ attorney national healthcare practice, which was named three times in the last seven years (2021, 2017, 2014) as Law360 U.S. Health Care Practice Group of the Year. He is a partner in the Century City office of Sheppard Mullin, a full service AmLaw Global 100 law firm with offices throughout California, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, London, Brussels, Seoul and Shanghai. With over 35 years of practical legal and business experience, his multi-sector practice focuses on healthcare transactions and regulation, the current industry trends of population health management, global risk bearing entities, consolidation, convergence and payor/provider alignment, the transformation to value and risk-based reimbursement systems and private equity. Known in the business community for his creative solutions and deal-making ability, Eric uses deep industry knowledge, entrepreneurial solutions, sophisticated negotiation skills and effective legal process to meet the complex business and legal needs of both established and emerging companies. Eric is one of the nation’s most active physician group, health plan and hospital M&A and joint venture lawyers, having advised on over 85 hospital merger, acquisition and/or joint venture projects, over 85 health plan merger and acquisition projects, and many of the largest physician services transactions nationally, including a majority of all major managed care physician group transactions in the Western U.S. in the past ten years. Eric is one of the most experienced lawyers nationally in population health management, physician alignment and global risk transactions. Eric has been nationally recognized as a leading healthcare lawyer: Chambers USA Guide to Leading Lawyers: Eric Klein "is particularly strong in large transactions" and "has an excellent knowledge base and a huge breadth of experience." Sources say: "In addition to his wonderful grasp of the law, he understands the medical issues and the business aspects - this is a real gift." He is "a sophisticated transactional lawyer" who is "really knowledgeable and really understands the law because he has done a lot of deals," and "He is singly the most talented healthcare lawyer that I have encountered. He is brilliant but practical. He will offer solid, clear recommendations and will make it happen just the way he says." Legal 500 Guide: He is "a wonderful negotiator, creative, experienced and skillful." Eric is "extremely well versed in healthcare law, and an excellent strategist." He "has the skills necessary to get the deal done" and is "one of the best M&A lawyers in the industry." Law360: Twice named as Healthcare Law National MVP 2020 The Deal - Healthcare, Pharma & Biotech Dealmaker of the Year (Middle Market Short List) 2020 and 2019, The Daily Journal – Top Health Care Lawyers National Law Journal 2018 M&A Trailblazer Scope of Practice Eric represents physician groups, hospitals, health plans, ancillary service providers and private equity and strategic investors. He works with publicly traded and privately held companies across the country and advises both for-profit and non-profit clients on mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and joint ventures, operational and contracting matters, strategic planning, HMO licensing and compliance, regulatory matters and information technology transactions. Physician Organizations: Eric is known as one of the leading physician organization lawyers in the country. Eric works on both middle market and multibillion dollar transactions. In some of the largest physician organization transactions in recent years, he represented Cigna in its 2021 acquisition of telehealth company MDLive, the SPAC Alkuri Global Acquisition Corp. in its 2021 merger with multinational virtual care provider Babylon Health, New York’s CareMount Health Solutions in its 2020 affiliation with UnitedHealth’s Optum, and Summit Medical Group in its 2019 merger with Warburg Pincus’s CityMD. His clients have included many of the largest and most well-known physician groups, independent practice associations (IPAs), accountable care organizations, CINs and management services organizations (MSOs). He represents physicians organizations in all lines of business, including fee for service, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial. Eric has been advising on CMMI Medicare Direct Contracting programs and assisting clients with these and other innovative payor contracting, including “pathway to risk” and value-based contracts. Eric generally forms between 10-15 management services companies per year and is considered one of the nation’s experts on corporate practice of medicine issues, affiliations between medical groups and MSOs and the regulatory, accounting and tax issues that arise in these structures. He acts as a strategic advisor to physician organizations to help them with regional and national expansion, payor/provider partnering and moving to professional, full and global risk. Eric and his team represent many of the nation’s leaders in population health and coordinated care, including Agilon Health, Aledade, Alignment Health, CareMore, CareMount, ChenMed, Evolent Health, Iora Health, Landmark, Lumeris, Prospect Health, VillageMD and WellBe Senior Medical. Health Plans and Health Insurance: Eric has helped to create, acquire, joint venture and operate multiple health plans across the country, including for Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, commercial and Marketplace products. He has led 85+ health plan merger and acquisition projects in recent years. Eric also has been working on innovative payor/provider initiatives to create downstream global risk bearing entities in multiple states for multiple clients. Eric works closely with multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield plans on their strategic growth and population health management initiatives, including (i) advising Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina in their 2021 joint venture with private equity fund Deerfield Capital to provide support to the North Carolina physician community through a new management company, investment, transition to value-based care and acquisitions; and (ii) advising Blue Shield of California in its 2019 launch of its physician initiative, Altais Health, to support the independent physician community in California and in its affiliation with 2,700 physician IPA Brown & Toland Physicians. Eric has helped multiple national health plans with improving their IPA and other provider template contracts. Eric is working on multiple Knox-Keene applications and we represent half of all currently licensed restricted Knox-Keene HMO license holders in California, and obtained a majority of all restricted Knox-Keene health plan licenses granted in California in recent years. He obtained a Knox-Keene license for a new vision services plan in nine months, one of the fastest licensure processes in the history of the Department of Managed Health Care. He has assisted Knox-Keene plans with licensure issues, compliance and corrective action plans, restructuring, acquisitions and disposition of plans, holding company structures and credit facilities. Eric has worked for, among others, Blue Shield of California, Cambia Health Solutions, Cigna, Delta Dental, Molina, Premera and other regional, national and Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. Hospitals and Health Systems: In the hospital sector, Eric has led 80 hospital purchase/sale and joint venture projects and has worked on health system affiliations, physician alignment initiatives, shared services joint ventures, hospital networks, conversion of non-profit hospitals into for-profit hospitals, creation of clinically integrated networks (CIN), partnering with private equity funds, payor contracting (including value-based and risk-based contracts), credit facilities for hospitals, establishment and acquisition of outpatient treatment centers, outsourcing of hospital departments, revenue cycle management contracting and outsourcing, and hospital syndications. He also has assisted with payor contracting and disputes, governmental investigations and licensing, and hospital-physician contracts and joint ventures. He also has assisted academic medical centers and health systems in the rationalization and improvement of physician compensation systems, community/faculty practice plan alignment mechanisms and establishing and improving Medicare Advantage HCC-RAF risk adjustment programs. Eric represents national health systems, leading regional health systems, community hospitals, children’s hospitals and academic medical centers, as well as private equity funds investing in health systems and hospitals. Private Equity: Eric and his team have developed a leading healthcare multi-sector private equity practice. Selected private equity clients include Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, TPG Capital, General Atlantic, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, H.I.G. Capital, Varsity Healthcare Partners, Amulet Capital, Havencrest Capital Management and Blue Mountain Capital. Eric and his team helped launch OneOncology for General Atlantic, a leading oncology provider and services company, Kadiant for TPG in the field of applied behavioral analysis for autism, agilon health for Clayton Dubilier & Rice in the Medicare Advantage downstream global risk market, US Digestive Health for Amulet Capital, and Orthopedic Care Partners for Varsity Healthcare Partners with the acquisition of The Orthopedics Institute and The Steadman Clinic. Eric and his team can provide transactional, healthcare regulatory and financing legal services for both platform companies and additional growth/tuck-in acquisitions. Recent sectors have included primary care, multi and single specialty physician organizations, hospitals, behavioral health, dental and vision, MSOs, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid HMOs and health plans, palliative care, healthcare information technology, laboratory and ancillary services. Eric also lectures nationally on negotiation skills and has trained many business leaders, investment bankers, lawyers and entrepreneurs in basic and advanced negotiation techniques. He is a frequent lecturer and has been a featured speaker at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association National Summit, America’s Physician Groups annual meeting, Health Plan Alliance, Alliance of Community Health Plans and other trade associations.

Eric Newsom

Eric A. Newsom is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's San Francisco office. Eric’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investment transactions, complex domestic and international joint ventures, and corporate governance and compliance matters. He has represented buyers, sellers, investors and intermediaries in scores of business combination, buyout and investment transactions, with particular emphasis on the technology and healthcare industries. In his healthcare and health technology practice, Eric focuses on mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, joint ventures and private equity investment and disposition transactions involving health plans, multi-hospital systems, physician groups and ambulatory and other specialty service providers, as well as startup and growth-stage companies in the healthcare information technology sector. A significant portion of Eric’s practice involves advising clients in connection with cross-border transactions, whether engaging foreign counsel to assist domestic clients in managing offshore assets, or representing foreign clients in sales to, or joint ventures with, U.S.-based businesses.

Erica Kraus

Erica Kraus is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Erica represents healthcare entities in regulatory compliance matters. She advises clients on reaching their goals in compliance with federal and state fraud and abuse laws, assists clients in responding to government investigations, and represents clients in False Claims Act litigation. Erica also assists clients with regulatory due diligence in transactional matters, and through advocacy with federal and state regulators, and leverages her background in health policy to help clients maximize opportunities in the changing healthcare landscape. Representative matters include: Assisting in internal investigations of reported potential regulatory non-compliance Responding to government Civil Investigative Demands Representing defendants in False Claims Act litigation Advising clients in preparation for and during transactions in evaluating regulatory compliance and making related strategic decisions Advising clients on compliance with the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, Stark Law, and Anti-Kickback Statute Drafting and submitting self-disclosures through CMS’ Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol Assisting clients with CMS Innovation Center model participation and compliance with applicable waivers Assisting clients in developing value-based compensation and support strategies and care coordination initiatives in compliance with applicable laws Advising clients on HCC strategy and compliance Preparing CMS Hearing Officer appeals of Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan application denials Appealing Medicare Administrative Contractor claim denials Advising clients on the implications of drug pricing reform Preparing filings with the Provider Reimbursement Review Board Advising clients on regulatory waivers and compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic Advising clients on the evolving MACRA implementation landscape and transition toward value-based care Prior to joining the firm, Erica acted as a Perspective Reports intern for the New England Journal of Medicine, where she reviewed and summarized health law and policy news, and worked as an intern for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, focusing particularly on employment law projects, including preparing for EEOC, MSPB and federal district court litigation. Erica currently serves as an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at American University’s Washington College of Law, teaching on the False Claims Act in the Healthcare Industry.

Erinn Contreras

Erinn Contreras is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's San Francisco office and leader of the firm's Multifamily Housing Team and Chambers-ranked Construction Team. She was named by the Daily Journal as one of 2021’s “Top 40 Under 40” lawyers in California. Erinn is a seasoned construction and real estate attorney who primarily represents owners, developers and investors in all stages of construction projects. She negotiates and drafts a variety of construction contracts, including design-build contracts, EPC contracts, professional/consultant agreements and modified AIA contracts. Erinn regularly counsels clients on issues that arise during the course of construction and provides strategic business advice to minimize risks. Erinn also has extensive experience litigating construction-related claims, including construction defect, delay, cost overrun, mechanic’s lien, quiet title and products liability claims, as well as a variety of real estate disputes, including failed real estate transactions, lease disputes, misrepresentation, non-disclosure and encroachment issues. She works collaboratively with clients, consultants, expert witnesses and opposing parties to resolve disputes economically and efficiently. When early resolution is not possible, she vigorously litigates on behalf of her clients.

Frank Bacelli

Frank Bacelli is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office and Leader of the Private Equity Team. Frank is also the former Leader of the Aerospace, Defense & Government Services Team and a member of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions and Emerging Growth/Venture Capital Teams. Frank focuses his practice on private equity, mergers and acquisitions and venture capital matters. His practice involves corporate transactions such as leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations, mergers and acquisitions, venture and growth equity financings and joint ventures. Frank often serves as lead counsel, representing portfolio companies of sponsor funds in add-on acquisitions, dispositions, corporate governance and day-to-day legal and commercial matters. He also regularly provides legal and strategic advice to emerging companies on formation, structuring, financing and corporate governance matters.

Ira Schulman

Ira M. Schulman is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group and leader of the Construction Team in Sheppard Mullin's New York office. Ira has more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of construction law with a particular emphasis on dispute resolution and contract negotiation. He has tried numerous complex construction disputes in jury and bench trials in state and federal courts and before arbitration panels on behalf of owners - both public and private - contractors, subcontractors, sureties and school districts. Ira also has participated in many mediations and has successfully represented clients with construction contract award issues before various city agencies. Additionally, he regularly drafts construction contracts and agreements for owners and contractors. Ira is frequently appointed as an arbitrator by the Construction Industry Division of the American Arbitration Association, of which he is a member. He also is often chosen as a mediator for construction disputes, and has successfully mediated numerous complex construction claims. Ira is known as an industry leader in the construction space and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA and Legal 500 US. Notably, Legal 500 US said Ira “is praised for his ‘sage guidance that is delivered effortlessly.’" Mr. Schulman is often asked to speak before various bar, civic and trade associations on issues related to construction law.

James Gatto

Jim Gatto is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. He is Leader of the Blockchain & Fintech Team, Social Media and Games Team and Open Source Team. For more than 30 years he has been a thought leader and has provided strategic advice on all aspects of intellectual property and technology law, especially ones driven by new business models and/or disruptive technologies. His practice focuses on blockchain (including blockchain games, cryptocurrency/NFTs); interactive entertainment (metaverses, virtual worlds, games, AR, VR, fantasy sports, esports); digital art, AI and online gambling. He advises clients on IP strategies, development and publishing agreements, licensing and technology transaction agreements and tech regulatory issues (securities, gambling, AML). Mr. Gatto has been involved with blockchain since 2012 and has been recognized as a thought leader by leading organizations including Best Lawyers in America 2021-2022; Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Fintech Trailblazer, The National Law Journal, 2018; and Thought Leader on Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies, National Law Review, 2018. Jim's practice is national and international and encompasses a full range of IP and technology issues, including: patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret litigation; counseling and technology transactions; developing and implementing IP strategies to protect and to monetize IP assets; creating and implementing corporate IP programs; conducting IP audits; conducting complex patent prosecution, including patent appeals, interferences, inter partes review (IPRs), reissues and protests; handling patent enforcement issues, including licensing and litigation; negotiating and drafting technology agreements; conducting IP due diligence in and negotiating IP aspects of mergers, acquisitions and financings; rendering opinions concerning the infringement, validity and enforceability of patents; handling trademark prosecution, domain name, copyright and trade secret matters; handling IP aspects of employment issues; advising clients on legal issues associated with open source software, including open source patent issues, licensing, open source compatibility issues, indemnity issues and developing and implementing corporate policies on use of open source software; advising clients on the legality of cutting-edge internet business methods and technology; and advising clients on computer law issues such as computer fraud and abuse and SPAM-related issues.

Jay Gerzog

Jay Gerzog is a partner in Sheppard Mullin's Corporate Practice Group and leads the New York Office’s healthcare team. Jay is recognized nationally as a leading healthcare and nonprofit corporate attorney with over three decades of experience. His practice focuses on representing both tax-exempt institutions and for-profit companies primarily in the healthcare sector. Jay has served as deal counsel in many of the consolidation transactions and strategic alliances that have transformed the New York metropolitan healthcare landscape over the past. Jay routinely advises clients on a wide range of transactional matters, including complex corporate affiliations and disaffiliations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructuring, operational and contracting matters, and strategic planning. Jay's healthcare clients include integrated healthcare delivery systems, hospitals, academic medical centers, ambulatory surgery centers, managed care organizations, private equity and strategic investors, management companies, scientific research organizations, payers, physician groups, and other healthcare providers and tax-exempt organizations. In the nonprofit and tax-exempt organization area, Jay routinely assists clients with obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt and public charity status and with compliance with state nonprofit laws and federal tax law for tax-exempt organizations. He advises nonprofit clients on the development and implementation of corporate governance, fiduciary duties, conflict of interest, ethics, audit and executive compensation best practices, compliance programs and policies, including on management structures and internal control systems to prevent and detect violations of law. Jay’s experience includes representing nonprofit managed care plans in the sale and dissolution of their operations and the related complex state regulatory approval process. He is uniquely experienced in the conversion of nonprofit entities, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans and various healthcare facilities, to for-profit status. Jay recently led the representation of the corporate members of Fidelis Care, New York's largest Medicaid managed care plan, in its $3.75 billion asset sale to Centene Corporation, the nation's largest Medicaid managed care plan provider. The proceeds of the sale have been used to create one of the largest healthcare grantmaking foundations in the country.

Jeffrey Smith

Jeff Smith is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Houston office. Areas of Practice Jeff concentrates his practice on complex commercial real estate transactions related to the acquisition, development, and disposition of industrial, multi-family, build-to-rent, office, retail, and hospitality properties. He represents a wide array of developers, private equity funds, net lease providers, investors, and large corporations in complex real estate transactions. His extensive real estate experience includes an emphasis on the representation of net lease providers, investors in office properties, landlords and tenants in office, industrial and retail leasing, acquisitions and dispositions of commercial properties, including industrial facilities, apartment complexes, and large ranches for commercial operations, and the representation of developers and equity investors in joint ventures. He has also represented purchasers of distressed loan portfolios, receivers in commercial real estate matters and borrowers and lenders in secured commercial lending transactions ranging from construction to permanent financing workouts, foreclosures, troubled asset disposition, and note purchase and sale transactions.

Jeffrey Parker

Jeff Parker is a partner in Sheppard Mullin's Los Angeles office, where he specializes in complex commercial, products liability, and environmental litigation through trial and appeal, as well as environmental law. Although based in Los Angeles, he routinely handles matters throughout California and works out of the firm's many offices. Jeff’s clients range from family-owned businesses to multi-national corporations in diverse industries such as energy, petroleum, chemicals, aerospace and defense, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, real estate, construction, asphalt and aggregate production, financial services, high-tech, computer manufacturing, consumer goods, in-store and online retail, food and beverage sporting goods, and transportation. Jeff has extensive experience in complex commercial, environmental, and tort litigation and environmental counseling. His commercial litigation experience includes actions involving ownership of intellectual property, rights of first refusal, shareholder disputes, challenges to mergers, corporate dissolution, breach of contract, injunctions, and allegations of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). His environmental and tort litigation experience includes dozens of products liability actions in California state and federal district courts and multi-district litigation proceedings in the Southern District of New York that arise out of MTBE contamination of drinking water aquifers, as well as actions brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), California Proposition 65, the Clean Air Act, the California Hazardous Substances Account Act, and various state and federal criminal laws, environmental laws, and tort doctrines. He also advises clients in connection with PFAS issues, including regulatory compliance, response to CLRA notices, and litigation. Jeff is experienced in all aspect of litigation, including discovery, motions, settlement negotiations, mediation, arbitration, trial, appeal, and writ practice. He helps clients develop Prop 65 warnings programs and guides clients through evaluating and responding to pre-lawsuit notices of intent to sue under various state and federal statutes. He has also advises clients with respect to the California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District variance proceedings, Regional Water Quality Control Board permit proceedings, and resulting writs of mandate. He has 25 years of experience advising on voluntary and agency mandated investigation and remediation of contaminated land, response to agency orders, handling of hazardous substances, and evaluation of potential human exposure to chemicals. Recent Trial and Litigation Experience In 2019, Jeff defended Exxon Mobil Corporation and ExxonMobil Oil Corporation in a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Orange County Water District v. Unocal, et al., a product liability and nuisance lawsuit that was initially part of a Federal multi-district litigation matter in the Southern District of New York, then remanded to California for trial. The plaintiff initially sought hundreds of millions in damages, but the case settled very favorably after the defendants’ opening statements. Earlier in the case, Jeff obtained a major summary judgment victory in the Southern District of New York, disposing of most of the claims asserted by the plaintiff. In 2013, Jeff obtained summary judgment on 4 of 5 claims in City of Merced Redevelopment Agency v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, et al., a Federal multi-district litigation matter in the Southern District of New York. In 2015, after transfer to the Eastern District of California for trial, he prevailed on a second motion for summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff’s remaining claim for cost recovery under the Polanco Act. In 2013, Jeff obtained summary judgment on all claims in Orange County Water District v. SABIC Innovative Plastics, et al. The case involved a claim for tens of millions of dollars in purported future damages associated with alleged groundwater contamination in Orange County asserted against approximately 40 property owners and manufacturers. In 2013, Jeff obtained a TRO and preliminary injunction against the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, enjoining an order shutting down Exide Technologies’ lead recycling facility in Vernon, California. He was also co-lead trial counsel in a related administrative trial against the Department of Toxic Substances Control. In 2011-2012, Jeff was lead trial counsel for Exxon Mobil Corporation in City of Merced v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc., et al., a 4½ month products liability jury trial in Merced Superior Court. He obtained dismissal or directed verdict of punitive damages and millions of dollars in claimed compensatory damages, followed by a favorable jury verdict. In 2010, Jeff tried the case of Sullins v. Exxon Mobil Corporation in the Northern District of California, obtaining a jury verdict for the defense in July 2010 and a bench trial judgment for the defense on the remaining claims in January 2011. In 2010, Jeff obtained summary judgment in D&H v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, which was affirmed in full on appeal in 2011. Appellate Experience Jeff's significant appellate victories include the landmark environmental decision Consumer Advocacy Group v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, 104 Cal. App. 4th 438 (2002), in which the California Court of Appeal held that "passive migration" or "continued presence" of chemicals in soil or water did not constitute a "discharge or release" under Prop 65. Other significant appeals include: Consumer Defense Group v. Shell Oil Company, et al., Cal. Ct. of Appeal, 4th App. Dist. Case No. G034935 (2006 (unpub.)) (same issue as Consumer Advocacy Group v. Exxon Mobil Corporation); Kashani v. Tsann Kuen China Enterprise Co., Ltd., 118 Cal.App.4th 531 (2004) (defined summary judgment burdens of proof on affirmative defenses of illegality and violation of public policy in matter involving contract for export of computer technology from Taiwan and China to Iran by US citizens); and Mylan Laboratories Inc. v. Soon-Shiong, 76 Cal. App. 4th 71 (1999) (established that a non-party can simply file a motion to assert a privilege in a pending action without intervening to become a party). He also obtained California Supreme Court review in D.J. Nelson v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, Cook Endeavors v. Superior Court, 179 Cal. App. 4th 633 (2009); reviewed granted (2010) (addressing the effect on punitive damages of a transfer of the claims on which such damages are sought; case settled before oral argument). Representative Environmental Regulatory and Proposition 65 Experience For over 25 years, Jeff has advised clients with respect to conducting environmental and health safety investigations and remediation, as well as associated community and governmental relations issues. Examples include: preparing responses to California Water Code § 13267 and § 13304 orders issued by the Regional Water Quality Control Board; and working with client personnel and outside consultants on complex and comprehensive investigation and remediation projects and related regulatory submissions, as well as interacting and negotiating with community groups, neighbors, Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the DTSC, local oversight program agencies, and State and County prosecutors. Jeff's Prop 65 experience includes development of Prop 65 warnings programs, advice on product reformulation, response to pre-lawsuit notices, and defense of lawsuits filed by the California Attorney General, County District Attorneys, and private enforcers related to alleged groundwater contamination and alleged exposure to chemicals in consumer products and occupational settings. Examples of matters alleging groundwater contamination involve industrial properties, refineries, bulk storage facilities, and service stations. His consumer product cases have involved alleged exposure to numerous listed chemicals, including chromium in leather goods; diesel emissions from school buses; phthalates in cosmetic bags/cases, eyewear and accessories, and dozens of other consumer products; titanium dioxide in makeup; phenolphthalein and radionuclides in consumer water-testing products; benzene from using propane cooking appliances; toluene from manufacture of window coverings; numerous chemicals in hot mix asphalt, floor coverings, and new homes; and lead in cookware, computer power and other cords, electronics, and artificial turf.

Jeralin Cardoso

Jeralin Cardoso is the Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. She is a partner in the Del Mar (San Diego) office of Sheppard Mullin, a full service AmLaw Global 100 law firm with offices throughout California, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, London, Brussels, Seoul and Shanghai. She is also a member of the firm’s Healthcare, Private Equity, and Emerging Growth/Venture Capital Industry Teams. Healthcare Jeralin has worked with a broad range of healthcare clients in California and nationally, including physician groups (single-specialty, primary care and multi-specialty groups), hospitals, ancillary service providers and private equity and strategic investors. Jeralin has a deep understanding of the business and strategic needs of medical groups and healthcare organizations. She has skillfully represented her clients while navigating complex healthcare regulatory requirements and working collaboratively with all parties to structure mutually beneficial transactions. General Corporate Jeralin also represents public and private companies in a variety of industries. Her practice encompasses general corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing, venture capital, business formation and structuring, public securities offerings and general corporate governance.

Jill Pietrini

Jill Pietrini is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's Century City office. Jill's practice encompasses the full breadth of intellectual property law, with focus on: Trademark, dilution, trade name, trade dress, copyright, right of publicity, violation of persona rights, unfair competition, and patent litigation and appellate practice; Registration and maintenance of trademarks before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and copyrights before the United States Copyright Office; Prosecution and defense of more than 700 Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings in the U.S.; Opposition and invalidation proceedings outside the U.S.; International registration and maintenance of trademarks; Registration and enforcement of Internet domain names, including ICANN arbitrations; Procurement and negotiation of licenses and intellectual property transfer and securitization agreements; Management of 7,500+ portfolios and trademarks; and Strategic counseling in the intellectual property area. Jill is a sought-after expert source for the media, including major print publications and national broadcast outlets, and has testified as an expert witness on trademark law in federal court. A powerhouse litigator, portfolio manager and trademark attorney, she would appear on any short list of the top intellectual property lawyers in the state. The cutting-edge nature and impact of Jill’s work crosses many industries for a diverse client roster in the entertainment, insurance, music, apparel, farming, promotion, and e-commerce industries. Representative Trials Tried a celebrity persona claim under the Lanham Act for the Estate of Bob Marley in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, based on the use of Bob Marley's image and song and album titles, but not his name, winning a jury verdict, monetary award, and permanent injunction. Obtained a preliminary injunction enjoining the use of TWILIGHT for magazines relating to Summit Entertainment's successful Twilight motion pictures. Obtained another preliminary injunction enjoining a documentary about Summit Entertainment's blockbuster Twilight motion pictures. Successfully tried a copyright infringement action relating to the use of photographs of Marilyn Monroe for the first auction of Marilyn Monroe personal items since her death. Obtained summary judgment against a clothing manufacturer using a key art image of Bella from the Twilight motion pictures together with the trademarks BELLA and TWILIGHT. Successfully defended a summary judgment motion directed to the use of a trademark in plant patents. Tried a trademark infringement and dilution case for Mattel's iconic SEE N' SAY product to a jury verdict resulting in a finding of willful dilution, trademark infringement and unfair competition, an award of profits, attorneys' fees, and increased damages.

John Carroll

John D. Carroll is a partner in the Antitrust & Competition Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office. John’s practice focuses on civil and criminal antitrust matters, including mergers & acquisitions, strategic counseling and compliance, and global cartel investigations, where he represents clients before the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Trade Commission, and international and state antitrust enforcement authorities. Prior to private practice, John was in the Mergers I Division of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition for several years. While with the FTC, he investigated, challenged, and negotiated settlements in a number of potentially anti-competitive business combinations in the aerospace, technology, consumer products, defense, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries and received an Award for Meritorious Service for work on merger litigation. John frequently speaks and writes on antitrust issues and has held leadership positions in the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law (formerly the Vice-chair of Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Committee and currently a Vice-chair of the Media & Technologies Committee) and the American Health Lawyers Association Antitrust Practice Group (former Social Media Chair).

John Chierichella

John Chierichella is of counsel in the Governmental Practice in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. John's practice focuses on government contract matters, including claims and appeals, cost and CAS issues, compliance reviews and internal investigations, qui tam and other False Claims Act litigation, bid protests, teaming disputes and GSA's Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program. John has been nationally recognized by Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, and most recently by Who's Who Legal, noting that he "is one of the most instantly recognizable names in government contracts law." John is a prolific author and frequent lecturer, and co-authored the leading book on the MAS Program. He also served as attorney/adviser to the Secretary, Office of the General Counsel, Department of the Air Force, in the area of procurement law from 1973 to 1975.

John Yacovelle

John Yacovelle is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group and a member of the Construction Litigation, Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance and Tribal and Indian Law Teams. John began practicing law in 1987 and represents clients in business disputes, with a special emphasis on energy (including nuclear power), construction, real estate, general commercial litigation and Native American law. He represents owners, developers, investors, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and product manufacturers in connection with private and public works projects. John provides these clients with services that include: (1) international arbitration; (2) representation in complex commercial litigation; (3) representation in private and public works payment disputes (including claims related to changed conditions, delay claims, bond claims, mechanic's lien claims and stop notice claims and early termination and breach claims); (4) the negotiation and review of engineering and construction contracts; (5) representation of developers, contractors and product manufacturers in construction defect and product liability matters; and (6) representation of developers in land acquisition disputes. In addition, John represents clients in commercial disputes, including corporate dissolution proceedings, enforcement of covenants not to compete, unfair competition, trade secret disputes, matters before the Probate Court, breach of contract disputes and products liability matters. John is experienced in trial, including representing clients in jury trials, bench trials and domestic and international arbitrations.

John Hempill

John Hempill is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's New York office. John is counsel to a number of companies in various industries. He has extensive experience in private and public finance, ranging from representing private emerging growth companies, venture capital funds and strategic investors in seed rounds and later stage private financings, to representing public companies and investment banks in public offerings, as well as 144A and PIPE financings. John is also an experienced mergers and acquisitions lawyer for both public and private companies. He has advised clients in both acquisitions and dispositions of companies and lines of business, as well as in other types of negotiated business combinations. John also has extensive experience with reorganization matters. He has represented numerous debtors in Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court workouts. His debtor clients have spanned a variety of industries, including investment banking, airlines, consumer products and real estate, and have been both domestic and international companies. John is one of the leading experts on the corporate aspects of bankruptcy cases, including sales of assets under Section 363 and securities issuances under Section 1145. In addition to his debtor representations, John has represented Chapter 11 trustees, creditors (both in Chapter 11 cases and out of court workouts), and significant shareholders. John has represented venture capital and other funds in their formation and capitalization. His practice also involves negotiating and documenting strategic alliances and joint ventures. He regularly counsels corporate boards and committees in transactional and high-profile as well as routine corporate governance matters.

Jonathan Aronie

Jonathan Aronie is the Leader of Sheppard Mullin's Governmental Practice Group and is a former Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office. Jonathan also is a founding member of the firm's Organizational Integrity Group, a cross-disciplinary team of litigators, regulatory specialists, federal monitors, and ex-prosecutors with extensive experience helping organizations prevent and defend against challenges to their organizational integrity. Jonathan counsels and represents large and small clients in some of the country's most prominent classified and unclassified government contracts matters, including bid protests, claims, self-disclosures, internal investigations, Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, and False Claims Act investigations. As the co-founder and co-leader of the firm’s Organizational Integrity Group, Jonathan also spends significant time working with clients to identify and mitigate known and unknown risks before those risks become problems. Jonathan’s experience includes litigating under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, conducting early risk-based “legal pre-mortems,” developing and implementing corporate compliance programs, conducting internal investigations (proactive and defensive), and providing advice on the FAR Mandatory Disclosure Rule as well as a variety of federal regulatory and statutory matters. He frequently represents clients before the DOJ, the Government Accountability Office, the General Services Administration, and other defense and civilian agencies. Additionally, Jonathan is cleared at the highest levels (TS/SCI) and counsels and defends clients in classified matters. Jonathan has authored more than 100 articles and co-authored what is regarded by many as the leading treatise on the GSA Multiple Award Schedule Program, published by Thomson West. He is a regular speaker at national and international forums and CLE programs, including Government-sponsored symposia. He is a member of the Public Contracts section of the ABA and served on the ABA Task Force that drafted formal guidance regarding the FAR Mandatory Disclosure Rule. Jonathan's significant matters include: protest of an Air Force award of a $15 billion Combat Search & Rescue (CSAR) aircraft to the Boeing Company; defense of a Navy award of a $1.2 billion Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) contract to Northrop Grumman against a GAO protest; defense of a GSA Schedule contractor in a post-award audit and civil fraud investigation conducted by the GSA OIG Investigations Division; pursuit of a civil Court of Federal Claims suit against the Department of Interior challenging unlawful Termination for Default of a civilian contractor; implementation of a comprehensive Mandatory Disclosure compliance program for a Fortune 100 defense contractor; defense of a Fortune 100 defense contractor in a $300 million False Claims Act lawsuit pursued by the DOJ; defense of a GSA Schedule contractor in a $750 million False Claims Case lawsuit pursued by the DOJ; and defense of multiple GSA Schedule IT contractors in a False Claim Act lawsuit brought by a competitor whistleblower. As part of Jonathan's internal investigation practice, he was appointed in 2013 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana as the federal monitor over the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) responsible for reviewing, assessing, and reporting publicly on the NOPD's compliance with a far reaching federal Consent Decree. He previously served as the Deputy Independent Monitor over the Metropolitan Police Department, a position created as a result of an agreement between the DOJ and the District of Columbia.

Jonathan Stoler

Jonathan Stoler is a partner in the New York office. He serves as Global Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice and the National Non-Competition and Trade Secrets Team. He recently led the Sheppard Mullin team who were recognized in the Financial Times 2019 North America Innovative Lawyer Report for a joint project to address and remediate workplace pay disparities. Jonathan's practice encompasses a wide range of labor and employment matters, including the defense of single plaintiff and class action discrimination, wrongful discharge and wage/hour claims, in addition to employment contract, non-competition, whistleblower, sexual harassment and related claims. He regularly represents clients in labor and employment litigations in federal and state courts, in arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association and the Financial Industry Regulation Authority, and in proceedings before various administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor and state agencies throughout the United States. Jonathan has conducted numerous internal investigations and compliance inquiries for several U.S. and foreign corporations. He also represents clients in collective bargaining negotiations, labor arbitrations and all stages of the labor election process, including election campaigns and hearings before the National Labor Relations Board. Jonathan regularly counsels both domestic and international clients regarding the preparation and administration of personnel policies and provides advice to clients regarding reductions-in-force, discipline and discharge, employee disability and leaves of absence issues. He also advises management on the labor aspects of mergers and acquisitions and the extraterritorial application of U.S. laws. Jonathan is published and quoted frequently on a variety of employment law issues in major academic and business publications such as the National Law Review, The New York Law Journal, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel and Employment Law 360, and is a frequent speaker at national and international programs.

Joseph Karp

Joe Karp is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office. Joe focuses his practice on regulatory, transactional and project development matters, primarily in the Energy sector. He handles natural gas and electricity issues in the United States, represents municipal entities in wholesale electricity purchase transactions, and represents electricity generators in connection with electricity sales, fuel supply, interconnection, transmission and other areas. Karp represents developers and power purchasers in matters involving wind, solar, biomass, landfill gas, geothermal and other technologies. He regularly represents the California Wind Energy Association, natural gas fired generators and investor-owned water utilities in regulatory proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Kari Rollins

Kari M. Rollins is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group and an Office Managing Partner of Sheppard Mullin's New York office. Kari focuses on data privacy and data security, and complex commercial litigation matters. She has successfully represented clients in the financial services, audit and accounting, retail and fashion, food services, hospitality, manufacturing, and technology industries before state and federal courts, as well as in front of state attorneys general, federal regulators, and U.S. and international commercial arbitration forums. Kari serves as a trusted advisor to her clients, bringing a focused, strategic approach to complex litigation and data security matters alike. Her clients praise her ability to efficiently and effectively manage complex matters with multiple moving pieces, and to concisely and persuasively communicate the core issues of her clients’ cases to judges, regulators, and opposing counsel. These traits have enabled Kari to successfully argue critical motions, procure dismissals, and achieve successful resolutions for her clients in the context of complex commercial litigation, as well as effectively managing high-intensity incident response matters and regulatory inquiries arising from data privacy and security issues. As it relates to her data security practice, Kari offers her clients the continuity of effective assistance during all three critical stages of the data security lifecycle: (1) cybersecurity preparedness (the before); (2) data breach investigation and response (the during); and (3) data breach litigation and regulatory enforcement (the after). As part of cybersecurity preparedness, Kari assists clients in crafting their existing security and compliance practices in the context of the ever-changing data security regulations so they are as well positioned as possible in the event of the inevitable data incident or inquiry. When a data incident occurs, Kari draws on her significant litigation and internal investigation experience to manage and direct all aspects of incident response for her clients—from directing forensic investigators, to liaising with insurance counsel, to determining whether the facts of the incident give rise to a duty to notify, to overseeing notification to consumers and regulatory bodies, and to assisting with communications to Boards and responding to media inquiries. Finally, post-breach, in the event litigation or regulatory inquiries ensue, Kari draws on her significant litigation experience to offer clients strategic assistance in defending against complex data privacy litigation and/or regulatory inquiries from state and/or federal regulators. Recognizing her effective assistance in the area of data security, Kari was named to Cybersecurity Docket’s 2019, 2020, and 2021 Incident Response 30, which recognizes 30 of the best and brightest data breach response lawyers in the business who are key players in the most significant data breach responses worldwide. Crain’s New York Business named Kari as one of their Notable Women in Law in 2020, and Legal 500 recognized Kari as a Leading Lawyer in Cybersecurity in 2020 and 2021. Global Data Review also named Kari to its first annual “40 under 40” list in 2018, praising her as one of the top 40 practitioners in data privacy globally under the age of 40. Kari is also a partner in the Privacy and Cybersecurity team of Sheppard Mullin, which was recognized as a “2018 Practice Group of the Year” by Law360. Kari is invited annually to give numerous speeches and seminars on data privacy and data breaches by organizations across the country, and regularly writes articles and blog posts on emerging trends and topics in data privacy. Notably, Kari wrote a chapter on cybersecurity standards and data breach response in Volume III of The US Privacy Equity Fund Compliance Guide published by Privacy Equity International, and currently sits on the Drafting Committee of the Sedona Conference WG11 on Data Security and Privacy Liability, which is responsible for drafting and publishing the Sedona Conference WG11 Incident Response Guide, a practitioners guide to navigating the law and issues relating to preparing for, managing, and responding to data breaches. Prior to her move to New York, Kari brought her experience to the classroom as an adjunct law professor at DePaul University’s College of Law in Chicago, teaching a course on data breach law.

Katarzyna Levecke

Katarzyna Levecke is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Chicago office. Katarzyna concentrates her practice on commercial lending transactions, leasing and tax credit transactions, in each case, primarily in the renewable energy sector. She regularly represents developers, debt and equity investors, lessors and lessees in financing and leasing matters. Her experience includes the negotiation and due diligence of key project documents and the structuring and negotiation of debt and equity investment documents.

Katherine Gillespie

Katherine (Katie) Gillespie is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Chicago office and Leader of the Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance Team. Katie focuses her practice on the representation of sponsors and financing parties in connection with the development, acquisition and financing of renewable energy projects. With more than 20 years of experience, Katie has led numerous transactions involving wind, solar and other renewable energy assets. These transactions have involved all forms of financing structures, including project level debt transaction, back-leverage financings, tax equity partnership flip transactions and lease financings, as well as M&A transactions at all stages of development and operation of projects.

Keith Garner

Keith Garner is a partner and Practice Group Leader of the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's San Francisco office. Keith's practice focuses on state and federal environmental laws, land use planning and entitlement procedures, and natural resources permitting for large residential, commercial and mixed-use communities and energy generation and transmission projects, including wind and solar facilities. He provides legal and strategic planning advice to clients at every stage of the complex development process, including due diligence for land acquisition, project planning and permitting, regulatory compliance, and land use litigation. He handles a wide range of state and federal regulatory matters, including endangered species, wetlands, water quality and land use issues, environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), National Historic Preservation Act compliance, and public trust issues. Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin, Keith worked as an urban planner in Boston, Massachusetts, and as a research fellow at the Harvard University Center for Urban Development Studies, where he participated in international development and research projects in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Keith Szeliga

Keith Szeliga is a partner in – and former Practice Group Leader of – the Governmental Practice in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. He is also a member of the firm's Aerospace and Defense Industry Team. Keith represents clients ranging from small businesses to the nation's largest defense contractors in a broad range of government contracts matters, including: bid protests before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Court of Federal Claims; small business size protests and appeals before the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA); government contracts compliance, including compliance programs, reviews and counseling; mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving government contractors; audits and investigations, including internal investigations, DCAA audits and OIG investigations; suspension and debarment proceedings; subcontracts and teaming agreements and disputes; and Contract Disputes Act (CDA) claims and appeals. Keith advises clients regarding the full spectrum of statutes and regulators applicable to government contractors. Representative areas in which Keith has specialized expertise include: government contracts cost and pricing issues, including the Cost Principles, the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) and the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA); rights in technical data, computer software and patents under government contracts; personal and organizational conflicts of interest (PCIs and OCIs); revolving door and other post-government employment restrictions; Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) compliance; small business issues relevant to government contractor M&A; bribery, gratuities and kickbacks; False Claims Act (FCA) and other fraud allegations; and the FAR Mandatory Disclosure Rule. Keith publishes and lectures frequently on these and other topics of interest to the government contracts community. His articles have been cited in several court opinions and numerous law review articles.

Kelly Hensley

Kelly Hensley is a partner in the Los Angeles office and is Leader of the firm's Labor and Employment Practice Group. She specializes in labor and employment counseling and wage and hour matters. Compliance Audits. Kelly regularly conducts wage-hour and HR-related compliance audits for companies of all sizes. She helps clients create compliance programs designed to meet state and federal requirements. Employment Counseling. Kelly regularly counsels employers in California and federal employment law, including employee hiring and discipline procedures, unfair competition matters, worker classification issues, leaves of absence, wage and hour law and employee severance and termination strategies. She has substantial expertise drafting employment agreements and policies such as employee handbooks, independent contractor agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, sexual harassment policies, email and internet usage policies and employment-related forms. Kelly advocates a proactive approach, counseling employers to evaluate their employment practices to minimize liability exposure. Her client-focused counsel is tailored to serve the long-term goals of each client. Training and Investigations. Kelly frequently conducts training lectures and seminars on general human resources issues. She also assists with sexual harassment and other employment related investigations and implements effective employee discipline or exit strategies in response to those investigations. Employment Litigation. In addition to her counseling practice, Kelly regularly represents clients in wage-hour class actions and matters before administrative agencies.

Lawrence Braun

Larry Braun is the former Leader of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. In addition to his law degree, Larry holds an M.B.A. in Finance from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and has attained the New Jersey C.P.A. Certificate Requirements. He was previously a managing director of the largest private investment banking firm on the west coast. Larry is resident in the firm’s Los Angeles office, where he represents public and private companies in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities and general business. Larry is an advisor to clients ranging from family-owned businesses to multi-national corporations in many diverse industries such as high-tech and computers, healthcare, consumer goods, aerospace and defense and grocery and food service. His principal areas of practice consist of general corporate law, corporate finance and securities law, mergers and acquisition transactions, contractual matters (including licensing and distribution arrangements), healthcare transactions and general business counseling.

Lawrence Larose

Lawrence A. Larose is a partner in the Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's New York office. Lawrence represents major creditors in literally every major municipal restructuring in recent memory, both in and out of court, including the Chapter 9 cases of Detroit, Michigan and Jefferson County, Alabama, the two largest municipal bankruptcies in US history. He also represented the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico, contesting the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico restructuring proposals and currently advises groups of hedge funds investing in municipal securities issued by Puerto Rico, COFINA or other instrumentalities. In addition, Lawrence represents major creditors in out of court restructurings of municipal debt issued by Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey and Hartford, Connecticut. In addition to his prominent municipal restructuring practice, Lawrence represents corporate clients in sophisticated in-court and out-of-court restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions and other financial transactions. Much of his experience involves counselling major financial institutions, including investment banks, commercial banks, financial guarantors and insurance companies. Among his most prominent cases he was the lead counsel in the restructuring of MBIA Insurance Corp., the largest financial guaranty insurer in the world, and represented parties in the restructuring of Ambac Assurance Corp., Syncora Guarantee, Inc. and Financial Guaranty Insurance Company. Lawrence has written extensively on the unique legal issues faced in municipal restructurings, including unique issues under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code, and is a frequent commentator in the press on these issues. From 2013 through 2018 The Legal 500 named Lawrence as one of the nation's "Leading Lawyers" in the municipal bankruptcy area and rated his team as "Tier 1." In 2018, he was inducted into The Legal 500 Hall of Fame for being consistently recognized as "an elite leading lawyer" by clients and peers.

Leif Cervantes De Reinstein

Leif Cervantes de Reinstein is a partner in the firm’s prestigious Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Practice Group in the Century City office. Leif also heads his group’s and office’s diversity & inclusion efforts. Leif is a leading entertainment lawyer for all business transactions related to television, digital and feature films. Over the last several years, he has been recognized as a top dealmaker by Variety, Legal 500 US and The Hollywood Reporter. Leif has a strong focus in all commercial and legal aspects of film finance, development, production and distribution, plus an expertise in “prestige” scripted TV and streamed programming. Having previously worked in corporate M&A, as a talent attorney, and in-house at Fremantle, Leif is a "go-to" outside general counsel and business operations and affairs lawyer who provides 360° advice. Film studios newly entering the television marketplace or TV companies now making motion pictures hire Leif to advise them on new content areas, particularly as the industry moves towards hybridization. Leif adds value to his clients’ businesses by providing them with commercial transactions prowess, business operations advice, risk management in a complex world, leveraging of his industry relationships, and general market strategy. Some of Leif’s major clients are Paramount, including Showtime, Awesomeness, Paramount Network, BET and MTV Entertainment Studios; his longstanding client Fremantle; 101 Studios for which he is outside head of business and legal affairs; and other prominent mini-majors like MRC, wiip, eOne, Roadside Attractions, Media Res, Escape Artists, Participant Media, Sister, Black Bear Pictures and Miramax. Leif also works closely with advertisers in the content space, including Hasbro, Peloton, The Hershey Company, influencer marketing agency Social Chain, and digital educational and learning solutions platform, Age of Learning. In collaboration with the firm’s corporate group, Leif also leads media teams on mergers and acquisitions; handles entertainment-related investment agreements and joint ventures; and negotiates groundbreaking U.S. and overseas television and SVOD licenses, co-production and co-financing arrangements. In this capacity, he has worked with Sony Pictures, Domain Capital, JTBC (South Korea), Banijay (France), and ICM Partners. Recently, Leif assisted Sony in its acquisition of the non-scripted television behemoth Industrial Media. Throughout his 25 year career, Leif has been at the forefront of digital media. He has worked with new media companies since the Internet’s inception and, while in-house, led programming initiatives for Fremantle’s digital unit. He has since parlayed that experience into advising streaming exhibitors like Paramount+, Amazon, Apple TV+ and Netflix from their earliest stages of content studio organization. Some of Leif’s current and historical small-screen projects include the following critical and commercial hits: The Taylor Sheridan universe including Yellowstone, 1883, 1932, Tulsa King, and Mayor of Kingstown, Two and a Half Men, True Blood, Six Feet Under, the CSI franchise, Mare of Eastown, Dickinson, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Power, Magic the Gathering, We Are Who We Are, UnReal, American Idol, America's Got Talent, Billions, Penny Dreadful, The New Pope, Servant, Mosquito Coast, The Rookie, When They See Us, Station 11, The L Word (both original and reboot), How I Met Your Mother, and Twin Peaks. Leif has also worked on recent feature films like Mortal Kombat, Bullet Train, Fantasy Football, Without Blood from Angelina Jolie, Finestkind, the Alien movie universe, the Scream franchise, Halloween, The War with Grandpa, Rocketman, Blood Moon, the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Under the Silver Lake, and the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise. Born and raised in Los Angeles and also a European Union citizen, Leif is a Hollywood insider and multi-lingual authority on the content business worldwide. He prides himself on informed, holistic counsel at all stages of the pipeline - from business planning and company capitalization; through to intellectual property acquisition, creative development and on-screen fruition; and in turn to counseling on entertainment product monetization strategies to help his clients achieve long-term success. Leif is a member of the firm's Out at Sheppard LGBTQ Group.

Leo Caserio

Leo Caseria is Co-Chair of both the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group and Governmental Practice and a partner in the Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles offices. Leo represents clients in complex antitrust litigation, federal and state antitrust investigations, and government merger reviews. He has favorably resolved numerous matters for defendants at an early stage of litigation, including cases involving claims of conspiracy, monopolization, and price gouging. He has represented clients in a broad variety of industries, including cement, concrete, grocery, multifamily, automotive software, consumer electronics, fashion, beauty, and apparel. He has been ranked as a leading antitrust lawyer by Super Lawyers, Global Competition Review’s Who’s Who Legal, and Legal 500. Leo also serves as co-chair for the Books and Treatises Committee of the 9,000 member ABA Antitrust Law Section, a position he has held since 2016.

Leo Caseria

Liisa Thomas

Liisa Thomas, a partner based in Sheppard Mullin's Chicago and London offices, is Leader of the firm's Privacy and Cybersecurity Team and Office Managing Partner of the firm's Chicago office. Liisa's clients rely on her ability to provide clarity in a sea of confusing legal requirements and describe her as "extremely responsive, while providing thoughtful legal analysis combined with real world practical advice." She is the author of two treatises: Thomas on Data Breach: A Practical Guide to Handling Worldwide Data Breach Notification, which has been described as "a no-nonsense roadmap for in-house and external practitioners alike;" and Thomas on Big Data, praised for being a "comprehensive and detailed analysis of the complex and rapidly changing world of privacy law." Liisa is known as an industry leader in the privacy and data security space and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Leading Lawyers Network, Chambers and The Legal 500, as well as noted by leading publications and organizations for her "broad depth of privacy knowledge." Among other honors, she was named Lawyer of the Year – Privacy and Data Security 2022 by Best Lawyers; to Cybersecurity Docket's "Incident Response 30," honoring 30 incident response professionals critical to managing data breaches, in both 2016 and 2018; recognized as the 2017 "Data Protection Lawyer of the Year - USA" by Global 100; honored as the 2017 "U.S. Data Protection Lawyer of the Year" by Finance Monthly; and the recipient of the "Best in Data Security Law Services" at Corporate LiveWire’s 2017 Global Awards. Liisa, who was born in Finland and previously lived in France, Egypt and Spain, frequently coordinates global efforts in the privacy area for her clients. Clients value her global insights and familiarity with business systems outside of the U.S. With Liisa’s assistance, her clients – which include major consumer brands, advertising agencies and consumer research companies – are able to navigate thorny data breach disclosure issues, use emerging interactive advertising techniques and create compliant security programs, all while effectively managing their legal risks. Clients praise Liisa’s ability to add real value to their businesses, and describe her as "keeping [clients] one step ahead of where [they] need to be." Liisa is an active advocate of women and minorities in the legal industry and was honored for her leadership in the legal field by the Illinois Diversity Council. She is currently an adjunct professor in Northwestern University Law School where she is the recipient of the Edward Avery Harriman Law School Lectureship. She formerly taught privacy courses at several other Chicago-area law schools, including her alma mater, the University of Chicago. Liisa is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chair of the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute Board and plays violin in the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra made up of lawyers and judges.

Linda Michaelson

Linda Michaelson is Practice Group Leader of Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Linda spent two years in the firm’s London office, from 2011-2013, and is based in the firm’s Century City office. Linda's practice focuses on the representation of companies involved in corporate transactions primarily in the entertainment and digital media, technology, fashion and apparel, renewable energy, and healthcare industries. Linda represents major motion picture studios, television networks, independent production companies, digital media companies, investors and other institutional entertainment, media and convergence clients in strategic transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and other corporate finance transactions around the world. Linda represents public and private companies in a variety of corporate transactions including formation planning, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, public and private equity and debt offerings, corporate governance, executive employment and compensation structures, and relationships among shareholders, among other general corporate matters. Linda's clients range from individuals and privately held companies to publicly-traded corporations.

Lisa Cottle

Lisa Cottle is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office, and a member of the Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance Team. Lisa’s practice focuses on energy project development and regulatory matters in the electric power industry. She is recognized by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Lawdragon, and Best Lawyers in America as a leading practitioner in these areas. Testimonials in these publications include: “She is incredibly responsive, a creative thinker, and very persistent in finding and developing the right answer;” and “She has a deep knowledge of how utilities approach negotiations and how to get power purchase agreements approved.” Lisa has extensive experience with electricity generation, storage and transmission projects, including negotiating power purchase agreements (PPAs) and the full range of project contracts, obtaining key permits and regulatory approvals, and supporting project finance transactions. Her PPA experience includes energy sales and purchases, capacity and resource adequacy agreements, tolling agreements, and storage agreements. She has experience with a broad range of projects, including solar, battery energy storage, geothermal, wind, biomass, and natural gas. She handles wholesale and retail transactions for sellers and buyers. Lisa also has extensive energy regulatory experience. She represents energy companies and project developers in regulatory proceedings before administrative agencies, particularly the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC). She represents developers of transmission projects in obtaining certificates of public convenience and necessity (CPCNs) and permits to construct (PTCs) from the CPUC and in compliance matters. She has obtained CEC certification for large thermal projects in California. Her permitting experience includes review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Lucantonio Salvi

Lucantonio N. Salvi is Chairman of Sheppard Mullin.

Lynsey Mitchel

Lynsey Mitchel is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office, a leader of the Health Plan Practice and a member of the firm's Healthcare team. Lynsey represents health maintenance organizations, managed care organizations, medical groups, hospitals, home health providers, medical device retailers and other healthcare entities and providers. Lynsey has deep expertise in managed care, including HMO regulatory matters and has assisted numerous clients to obtain HMO licensure as healthcare service plans under California’s Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act. Lynsey has represented approximately half of all currently licensed restricted Knox-Keene HMO license holders in California in their licensure process. Lynsey has worked on HMO licensure and other matters for Medicare Advantage, commercial and Medicaid health plans, including dental and vision plans. Lynsey also assists health plans with regulatory compliance matters, material modifications, growth strategies, acquisitions, training, and drafting and negotiating provider contracts, plan-to-plan contracts and pharmacy benefit manager contracts. In the managed care sector, Lynsey represents payors and providers participating in accountable care organizations (ACOs), bundled payment initiatives and other cutting edge risk-sharing arrangements, including pay-for-performance and gainsharing arrangements. Lynsey works with national and regional health plans (including full service and specialty plans), as well as large health systems and physician groups, on a broad range of matters including population health management strategies, provider employment, risk-based, performance-based and value-based payor and provider contracting, compliance, acquisitions and physician alignment strategies. Lynsey’s practice is focused on licensing and other regulatory compliance matters, business transactions, patient privacy issues including HIPAA and HITECH Act compliance, and telemedicine, as well as Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and certification. In addition, she counsels clients on state and federal fraud and abuse issues, including the Stark Law and anti-kickback and fee-splitting laws.

Malika Levarlet

Malika Levarlet is special counsel in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Malika advises international and domestic companies in connection with cross-border transactions (with a focus on U.S. and European companies), joint ventures, complex commercial agreements and corporate governance. She represents clients operating in the technology, financial services, telecommunications, aerospace, and automotive industries. Malika also counsels international and domestic clients regarding compliance with U.S. trade and antitrust laws and regulations, including those pertaining to mergers (e.g., the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act) and consumer protection (e.g., the Federal Trade Commission Act). Malika has extensive experience coordinating the merger-control, foreign direct investment (CFIUS) and regulatory reviews of multi-jurisdictional transactions for U.S. and foreign clients.

Marisa Brutoco

Marisa Brutoco is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's Orange County and Silicon Valley offices and is a Team Leader of the firm’s Technology & Commercial Transactions Team. Marisa Brutoco uses her years of experience working with some of the world's most innovative technology companies to help provide strategic legal and business advice for her clients regarding technology, commercial, and intellectual property transactions. Marisa was in-house counsel at Amazon, Google/YouTube, GoPro, and Apple. Marisa has significant industry expertise in areas including healthcare, telecom, edtech, clean tech, entertainment/digital media, news, sports, the metaverse and government contracts. Marisa negotiates deals and advises on issues and product launches related to software/software as a service, cloud computing, hardware development, mobile and online app development and distribution, procurement, services and vendor agreements, the Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR), IP licensing and assignments, and data licensing. Marisa serves on Boards for her alma maters, Stanford Law School and Stanford University, and has been a speaker at conferences and a guest lecturer at Stanford Law School. She is active in pro bono matters, is on the firm’s pro bono committee and she is a member of her office’s diversity and inclusion working group.

Marty Katz

Marty Katz is a partner based in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office. He also has oversight responsibility for the firm’s entertainment litigation. Marty's entertainment background is extensive and includes representation of studios, independent producers, gaming companies and other content providers, post-production facilities, distributors, broadcasting companies, wifi connectivity providers, talent agencies and venue builders and owners. Marty’s representation has spanned a wide variety of claims, including those relating to participation accounting, copyright and idea submission, distribution rights, music rights, interactive rights, gaming licenses, disputes with talent, executive compensation disputes, employee misconduct, vertical integration, performer injuries, wrongful death and a host of insurance coverage issues unique to the entertainment industry. Marty has received numerous honors and awards, including the CLAY Award for California Lawyer's Attorney of the Year (2008), Entertainment. Marty's insurance coverage background includes the handling of complex coverage disputes on behalf of policyholders concerning mass tort claims; product liability claims; environmental liabilities; construction defect claims; earthquake, natural disaster and other catastrophic losses; fidelity losses and other employment-related claims; aviation and aerospace claims; and insurance company bad faith, as well as risk management consulting for policyholders. Marty has extensive experience in connection with insurance placed in the London Market and has served on Creditors Committees for various insolvent London Market companies. Marty has also litigated a wide variety of business disputes, including claims for the recovery of attorneys’ fees; whistleblower claims; legal malpractice claims; construction defect claims; and disputes over CAM charges.

Michael Orlando

Michael Orlando is a corporate and intellectual property transactions attorney in Sheppard Mullin's San Diego (Del Mar) office. He is Team Leader of the firm's Technology Transactions Team. Michael founded a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business prior to attending law school and brings a practical, business-oriented approach to his engagements that focuses on problem solving. Clients trust and enjoy working with him because he looks to understand the business objective behind his clients’ decisions, focuses on what’s important and works tirelessly to achieve those objectives. He is responsive to his clients’ needs and keeps involved throughout each transaction. Michael advises clients on intellectual property development and licensing, outsourcing, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing and commercial transactions, including international transactions. He is particularly experienced in cross-border transactions in Europe and spent several months on secondment in Germany. He is consistently a ranked attorney in Legal 500 in the Media, Technology and Telecoms category. Michael’s cross-disciplines in both intellectual property and corporate law allow him to leverage both practice areas when structuring transactions for his clients, including the use of joint ventures and strategic alliances in the financing, development and licensing of technology. Michael’s legal practice spans across multiple industries, including software, hardware, medical devices, biotechnology/pharmaceuticals, healthcare IT, financial services, consumer products, sports equipment, apparel, telecommunications, aerospace, automotive, food and beverage, energy and real estate. Michael has extensive experience assisting companies with their intellectual property and commercial transactions, including: patent licenses, development and collaboration agreements, clinical trial agreements, and supply, manufacturing, distribution and other outsourcing agreements for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies; software and hardware technology licenses, development agreements, SaaS agreements, maintenance and support agreements, service level agreements, cloud computing arrangements, strategic alliances, joint development agreements, manufacturing and supply agreements, OEM, VAR, reseller and distribution agreements; outsourcing agreements, including information technology outsourcing (ITO), business process outsourcing (BPO), technology development, manufacturing and supply agreements; joint ventures; and offshoring arrangements; online advertising agreements, privacy policies, terms of service, website and mobile application development agreements, hosting agreements and e-commerce fulfillment agreements; and trademark licenses, merchandising agreements, distribution agreements, endorsement/sponsorship agreements, marketing agreements and sweepstakes/content agreements.

Michael Paddock

Michael Paddock is a partner in the Governmental Practice in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. Michael's practice primarily involves healthcare fraud and abuse matters, particularly those relating to civil False Claims Act, physician self-referral (Stark Law) and anti-kickback issues. He often advises clients on compliance and transactional matters, the conduct of internal investigations related to potential fraud and abuse issues and responding to and defending against government anti-fraud and abuse enforcement efforts and regulatory inquiries, including qui tam and government allegations of False Claims Act violations. Michael is an active member of the American Health Lawyers Association, serving for many years as a member of the Fraud and Compliance Forum Planning Committee, as a former Vice-Chair of the Fraud and Abuse Practice Group's Steering Committee and as a former Chair of that Practice Group's Enforcement Committee. He was named by Nightingale's Healthcare News as one of the Outstanding Young Healthcare Lawyers of 2006 and by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the Healthcare category in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He also previously served as a member of Health Law360‘s editorial advisory board and an Adjunct Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Michael Cohen

Michael is an International Competition partner in Sheppard Mullin's Washington, D.C. office. For more than thirty years, Michael has advised multinational businesses in all aspects of their cross-border competition practices and strategies, and defended those practices in global government investigations and enforcement actions spanning continents. He has successfully helped marshal multiple mergers through trial and appeal in the United States, where uniquely the government must seek court approval to stop a transaction. Michael hosts the Nota Bene podcast, a weekly series for global business executives addressing regulatory questions impacting multinationals doing business without borders in the world’s major economic markets. The Nota Bene podcast reaches listeners in more than 100 nations around the world, and has exceeded 35,000 downloads. Listeners can subscribe and listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher or the Sheppard Mullin website. Michael currently teaches Comparative International Competition Law at Washington & Lee University School of Law. He served on the University of Tokyo faculty helping teach that institution’s summer 2010 International Competition Law curriculum to students from Beijing University, Seoul University and the University of Tokyo. And he has served on the Monterey College of Law faculty, teaching Constitutional Law and Business Organizations. Michael is among a handful of professionals who helped pioneer a field forming environmental joint ventures melding industry, science, NGO communities and governments. Since its formation and founding, he has represented the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, hailed in Ted Talks and other forms of global thought leadership as a hallmark of success in this important space. Michael is also an accomplished artist and poet. His paintings and published poetry collections can be found at www.mpac.art.

Michael Chan

Michael Chan is a partner and leader of the Tax, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Los Angeles office. Retirement Plans Michael counsels employers with respect to the design, administration and legal compliance of qualified retirement plans, including defined benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, tax-sheltered annuities and defined contribution plans. His experience in this area includes: (i) advising plan sponsors (in addition to plan administrators, trustees and other plan fiduciaries) with respect to their fiduciary obligations, including reporting and disclosure requirements, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA); (ii) representing plan sponsors seeking amnesty under the Internal Revenue Service's Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System and the Department of Labor's Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program; and (iii) assisting plan sponsors with various other compliance issues that arise in the day-to-day operations of qualified retirement plans. Welfare Benefit Plans Michael also often assists employers with the maintenance and administration of welfare benefit arrangements, such as cafeteria plans (also known as Section 125 plans), medical expense and dependent care reimbursement programs, medical plans for active and retired employees, severance plans and self-funded plans involving voluntary employees' beneficiary associations (also known as VEBAs) established under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(9). Additionally, he counsels employers regarding their obligations under COBRA and HIPAA, as well as the developing regulations under healthcare reform legislation. Transactional Counseling A significant portion of Michael's practice involves advising clients with respect to the employee benefits and ERISA-related issues that arise in the context of mergers and acquisition transactions. His experience in this area includes negotiating and drafting provisions for transactional documents to reflect the division of responsibilities for employee benefit-related liabilities and the representations and warranties regarding such liabilities. Executive Compensation Michael advises clients with respect to equity and non-equity based incentive compensation, non-qualified deferred compensation, change in control and severance arrangements, including the Internal Revenue Code rules governing the taxation of such arrangements.

Mike Scarborough

Mike Scarborough is Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group and a partner in Sheppard Mullin's San Francisco office. Mr. Scarborough is a first-chair trial attorney specializing in antitrust litigation and competition-related government investigations. He has extensive experience handling international cartel investigations and litigation, class actions, high-stakes commercial disputes, consumer protection matters, and litigation and regulatory advocacy at the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law. He regularly represents multinational businesses in all phases of class action, direct plaintiff and competitor litigation, from pre-complaint investigation through trial and appeal, and frequently guides businesses and individuals through civil and criminal matters involving federal and state enforcement agencies. He has helped clients successfully manage and avoid regulatory inquiries and litigation around the world. Mr. Scarborough’s tireless and determined client advocacy garner him regular client, peer and media recognition, with nods from Competition Law360, Chambers USA, American Lawyer, Benchmark Litigation, Legal 500, Daily Journal, Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon, Acritas Stars and Super Lawyers. Clients and commentators describe the “very impressive” Mr. Scarborough as “an excellent attorney who is detail-oriented, a strong writer and a strategic thinker” and a “fierce advocate with integrity and professionalism” (Chambers USA); “a great negotiator” and “an incredible legal tactician” (Acritas); and “a tough advocate, who is also professional and fair” (Legal 500).

Moe Keshavarzi

Moe Keshavarzi is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Moe is a trial and appellate litigator and represents healthcare entities and insurers in their most complex civil disputes. He also represents and counsels clients in connection with governmental investigations and regulatory enforcement actions. Moe’s experience also includes representing clients in litigation involving challenges to statutes and regulations on constitutional grounds. In addition to his healthcare practice, Moe represents clients in class actions involving allegations of unfair competition and false advertising. In addition to representing clients in litigation, Moe also advises clients on a wide range of issues, including compliance with state and federal laws applicable to health plans and insurers such as the Knox-Keene Act and the Affordable Care Act. Moe is actively involved in pro bono work and impact litigation and serves on the boards of directors of Public Counsel and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Moe was honored with the ACLU’s 2020 Youth Justice Award for his work as ACLU Southern California’s co-counsel in connection with Sigma Beta XI v. County of Riverside, which successfully challenged the constitutionality of Riverside’s Youth Accountability Team program and its school-to-prison pipeline for discriminating against students, with a disproportionate impact on Black and Latinx youth.

Moorari Shah

Moorari Shah, a financial services partner based in the Orange County and San Francisco offices, specializes in fintech representations and is Leader of the firm’s Consumer Finance Team. Moorari combines deep in-house and law firm experience to deliver practical, business-minded legal advice. He represents banks, fintechs, mortgage companies, auto lenders, and other nonbank institutions in transactional, licensing, regulatory compliance, and government enforcement matters covering mergers and acquisitions, consumer and commercial lending, equipment finance and leasing, and supervisory examinations, investigations, and enforcement actions involving state and federal agencies. Moorari has significant experience negotiating asset- and stock purchases, bank partnership arrangements for fintech platforms, start-up company financings through IPO, payment processing and acquiring transactions, loan purchase and servicing agreements, and complex on-shore and off-shore information technology and business process outsourcing transactions. He also has experience in real estate, asset-based, and unsecured financings, as well as enforcing rights and remedies against corporate debtors in non-bankruptcy workout negotiations. His comprehensive approach emphasizes navigation of contractual, operational, and regulatory hurdles to achieve real-world business outcomes. Clients rely on Moorari’s prudent and pragmatic approach to compliance with state and federal consumer protection laws and regulations, particularly in connection with those laws prohibiting unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices (UDAP/UDAAP). His expansive knowledge of state licensing requirements and product structuring options aids companies in carefully crafting compliant solutions, taking into account reputational, operational, and enforcement risks. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), and his advisory work for clients includes implementation of programs, policies, and procedures for purposes of complying with state and federal laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulation. Moorari regularly counsels companies on California-specific financing topics, including new legislation impacting consumer and commercial lenders and lessors, and matters before the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). He is the Chair of the Legislative and Regulatory Subcommittee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), whose membership includes more than 500 manufacturers, banks, and captive and independent leasing and finance companies. Moorari started his career as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, spent several years in private practice and then worked in-house at Toyota Motor Credit Corporation for nine years, handling a range of commercial transactional and regulatory matters, before rejoining private practice in 2013. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Nancy Scull

Nancy Scull is a partner and Sheppard Mullin's firmwide Practice Group Leader for the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group. Nancy's focus is on the representation of commercial, industrial, retail and residential developers in all real property transactions. She advises lenders, borrowers, and guarantors on loan documentation, workout and loan enforcement issues. Nancy has developed a special expertise in mixed use projects, condominium projects and Bureau of Real Estate regulatory matters. She represents numerous publicly held developers, urban high-rise and mixed-use developers, and developers of master planned communities in developing and processing projects and implementing programs to minimize liability. Nancy has worked with many master developers of major communities and urban town centers; both within and outside of California, advising them with the planning, development and long-term governance of their communities and the sale of parcels for merchant builders. She also represents national, commercial, industrial and retail developers with high-rise office, commercial and industrial projects and retail shopping centers throughout the state of California and has created governing documents for major retail centers in Northern and Southern California.

Nicholas Van Aelstyn

Nicholas W. (“Nico”) van Aelstyn is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm’s San Francisco office. Nicholas has more than 25 years of environmental counseling and litigation experience. His environmental compliance counseling practice focuses on climate change, Brownfields redevelopment, sustainability and other regulatory and transactional matters. His climate change practice encompasses California’s Cap-and-Trade Program (compliance, rulemaking, enforcement and emission trading contracts) and other aspects of AB 32, as well as related state, federal and international programs and international offset projects. His climate finance practice includes handling complex offset transactions, market advice, and ESG counseling (environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities). Nico’s transactional experience also includes environmental due diligence for a wide variety of real estate and corporate transactions, with special expertise in the development of renewable energy projects. Nico's environmental litigation practice focuses on cost recovery actions, regulatory enforcement actions (e.g., administrative enforcement proceedings brought by CARB, DTSC, DPR, AQMDs, RWQCBs and other agencies), writ proceedings to challenge regulations and representation of PRPs and PRP groups at Superfund sites; he has particular expertise with contaminated sediment sites. Nico has represented clients in every lawsuit filed to date challenging California’s Cap-and-Trade Program. His broad litigation experience also includes commercial, real estate, intellectual property and appellate cases. He has handled matters in state and federal courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and various administrative fora.

Ori Katz

Ori Katz is a partner and Practice Group Leader of the Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's San Francisco office. Ori specializes in business bankruptcies and other aspects of insolvency law. He has represented debtors, individual creditors, creditors' committees, parties purchasing assets out of bankruptcy and parties involved in bankruptcy litigation. He has successfully reorganized companies in a wide range of industries, including real estate, retail, construction, biotech, telecommunications, media and the internet. He has also represented lenders in connection with receiverships, loan workouts, restructurings, foreclosures and borrower bankruptcies, and acted as receivership counsel in connection with various appointments. Ori is a frequent speaker on matters relating to bankruptcy and insolvency law.

Pamela Westhoff

Pamela Westhoff is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Los Angeles office. Pam has a broad-based and versatile transactional real estate practice, with an emphasis in acquisitions, dispositions, commercial leasing, technology and insurance issues affecting real estate. She also has extensive experience in build-to-suit, ground lease and sale-leaseback transactions, including for life science, healthcare and industrial projects. Pam has worked on all types of real estate development and lending transactions, including workouts, restructures and joint ventures. Pam represents tenants and landlords in substantial commercial lease transactions, including for global corporate headquarters. She also represents developers and equity investors in commercial developments, including hotel, condominium, retail, office, industrial, data center, entertainment venue and television and movie studio projects. She also represents owners and providers in connection with telecommunication issues affecting commercial, residential and retail properties, as well as university campuses. She has extensive experience representing radio and television broadcasters in real estate-related matters, including broadcast and communications tower licensing. Pamela currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) and is Chair of the ACREL Leasing Committee. She was recently recognized as a North America Global Elite Thought Leader in Commercial Real Estate by Who’s Who Legal, and is rated by Chambers USA as a Leading Real Estate Lawyer.

Paul Werner

Paul Werner is a Practice Group Leader of Sheppard Mullin’s Business Trial Practice Group and resident in the Washington, D.C. office. He is currently a member of the firm's Compensation Committee as well. Paul is a seasoned first-chair litigator, whose prodigious representations over the past decade have been before diverse decision-making authorities, including all levels of courts and administrative tribunals, federal and state and arbitral tribunals, and spanned a wide range of complex litigation matters. These matters have run the gamut from “bet-the-company” commercial disputes to controversies involving statutory, constitutional, communications, energy, environmental, insurance, intellectual property, false advertising, trade secrets, privacy and administrative law issues. Paul regularly represents cable operators, telecommunications and other broadband providers in matters involving communications law issues, including local franchising, PEG programming, rights-of-way, pole attachments and infrastructure deployment and a host of other related issues. He represents providers on these issues in state and federal courts and participated in rulemakings and adjudications before the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Paul also often defends a diverse array of companies against putative class actions, particularly suits involving claims of unfair competition, state consumer protection statutes and products liability. He has represented major automobile manufacturers against putative class actions alleging design defects and other consumer protection claims. He is currently representing a named defendant in a series of putative class actions that have been consolidated in an MDL seeking billions in damages in connection with the promotion, sale and distribution of opioid medications. See In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation (1:17-md-02804). In addition, recently, Paul successfully represented an association of communications providers in defeating certification of a putative class of landowners seeking damages for alleged unauthorized “telecommunications” use of easements they had granted to an electric utility, and he is currently defending the trial court’s decision on appeal. Paul also represents diverse clients in domestic and international arbitration matters. Paul recently represented a Korean satellite telecommunications provider in complex and high-stakes international arbitration proceedings, including lengthy evidentiary hearings, stemming from a dispute that The Wall Street Journal called an “outer-space turf war.” Paul is additionally experienced in representing companies in governmental and internal investigations. He represents clients in criminal and civil investigations, including investigations arising under the False Claim Act, the Anti-Kickback Act and the FCC E-Rate program. Paul's practice includes significant trial and appellate experience. In recent years, he has tried multiple disputes to judgment. He also recently assisted with a lengthy trial in federal court involving false advertising claims that resulted in a favorable jury verdict. Paul also regularly represents clients in state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Paul’s matters are regularly reported in the media, including Law360. He is also a recognized expert and frequent commenter on communications and technology law issues. He is a professor of law at Vanderbilt University Law School and teaches in the area of technology and communications law and policy. Paul is dedicated to pro bono representations and public interest litigation. On behalf of a community organization, Paul successfully obtained an appellate decision overturning a trial court decision that had upheld a planning board's approval of a commercial water bottling operation in an environmentally-protected area with trailheads into the Catskill mountains. He is currently representing an environmental organization in federal court litigation arising under the Environmental Species Act, as well as a separate not-for-profit organization in environmental litigation arising under the Clean Water Act concerning the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska.

Phil Kim

Phil Kim is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group in the firm's Dallas office. Phil advises various types of healthcare providers in connection with transactional and regulatory matters. He counsels healthcare systems, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physician groups (including non-profit health organizations, or NPHOs), home health providers, and other healthcare companies on the buy- and sell-side of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and operational matters, which include regulatory, licensure, contractual, and administrative issues. Phil has a particular interest in digital health. He has assisted a number of multinational technology companies entering the digital health space with various service and collaboration agreements for their wearable technology. He also assists public medical device, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the investment banks that serve as underwriters involved in the public securities offerings for such healthcare companies. Phil’s client relationships are characterized by an authenticity – he communicates honestly and directly so that clients can understand issues from all perspectives and make decisions that will serve their best interests. He maintains a positive rapport with all parties to his transactions, which include: Healthcare arrangements and provider agreements of all types, including the transition of hundreds of physicians from a prior physician group to a new NPHO with a restructured employment model Professional services agreements, clinical and educational affiliation agreements, lease agreements, business associate agreements, and other services agreements between healthcare companies and various other entities in both the private and public sectors. Securities filings on behalf of public healthcare companies. On the regulatory side, clients value Phil’s ability to attend to details while also staying focused on the big picture. He regularly advises on healthcare compliance issues including: Liability exposure, the Stark law, anti-kickback statutes, and HIPAA/HITECH privacy issues State and federal healthcare laws Complex business structuring and formation issues Employment issues Matters involving various government agencies, including different state Medicaid agencies, the Texas Medical Board, and Medicare Administrative Contractors.

Rachel Hudson

Rachel Tarko Hudson is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office and the leader of the Retail, Fashion, and Beauty Team. Rachel specializes in advising retail, fashion and beauty companies, food and beverage companies, and other consumer product companies and brands. Her clients also include software and technology providers and wholesale and material suppliers. Rachel counsels her clients on all things privacy and advertising. She brings her deep subject matter and industry expertise and pragmatic approach to bear on projects ranging from review, clearance, and structuring advertising claims, programs, and campaigns to complying with the complex and ever-changing web of United States and international privacy laws. Drafting and negotiating commercial and IP agreements rounds out her practice.

Robb Klein

Robb Klein is a partner and the Practice Group Leader of the Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office. Robb specializes in all aspects of entertainment and media law, particularly film and television financing, production and distribution, merchandising and the licensing of rights and digital media. Robb has worked on the financing, production and distribution of numerous feature films, from small independent movies to studio blockbusters. He has also worked on numerous deals utilizing tax incentives around the world, and specializes in structuring international co-productions. His work for financiers includes acting for banks, institutional investors, entrepreneurs, tax funds and hedge funds, often involving secured lending and complex multi-party financing arrangements. Robb also represents studios, independent production companies, videogame companies, animation houses and rights owners and advises on chain of title and copyright issues, joint development agreements, co-financing agreements, output agreements, first-look agreements, re-make deals, rights acquisition agreements and options, negative pick-up agreements and related financing documents, format rights and television licensing agreements, sales agency and distribution agreements. He has also acted as production counsel on many films and television series. With regard to digital business, Robb advises companies on their online commercial arrangements, from terms and conditions to commercial supply and advertising agreements, and on digital content production and licensing. He has represented both content owners and creators and digital platforms. He also advises computer games developers in their dealings with publishers and on other types of software licensing. Robb has worked on the commercial side of many significant corporate deals in the media sector including IPOs and acquisitions of companies in the film, television, music, computer games, mobile and video on demand sectors. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Klein was a partner of a leading European law firm, based in their London office; and is a qualified solicitor, licensed to practice in England and Wales.

Robert Darwell

Robert Darwell is the Head of Global Media and a senior partner in the Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Century City office. 2022 has proven to be another banner year for Darwell and his team. After previously representing Hemisphere Media Group in connection with its acquisition of Lionsgate’s 75% interest in the Spanish language SVOD platform Pantaya and distribution company Pantelion, Darwell worked on its subsequent sale to client TelevisaUnivision. He represented Amazon in connection with its acquisition of MGM, Amazon’s second largest acquisition in history. The team worked tirelessly to analyze and diligence the treasured MGM library and studio assets. The transaction closed in March of 2022 and Darwell and his colleagues having been working with their in house counterparts on the integration of the revered library into Amazon Studios. Darwell also represented TelevisaUnivision in connection with its 2022 AVOD and SVOD platform launch of Vix and Vix+. On top of that, Darwell also guided Amazon Studios, Wondery, Nickelodeon, Disney, Peacock and Meta in connection with numerous high-profile movie, television, podcast and metaverse projects. Over the course of Darwell's legal career, he’s worked on the development, finance, production and distribution of hundreds of motion pictures and television productions (including personal favorites such as “Traffic”, “Brokeback Mountain”, and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). In addition, he regularly handles major newsworthy deals such as Disney’s termination of Bob and Harvey Weinstein (which garnered him the prestigious CLAY Award as California Entertainment Lawyer of the Year for Entertainment) and Disney’s subsequent sale of Miramax. Darwell also acted as lead entertainment counsel to Comcast in connection with its acquisition of NBC Universal. Darwell brought his team to Sheppard Mullin in 2003 and served as Chair of the Entertainment, Technology and Advertising practice for more than a decade as it achieved accolades such as Top Tier ranked by Chambers and US Legal 500, as well as Entertainment Practice Group of the Year by Law 360. Through the years, Darwell launched several specialty practices in the areas of advertising, fashion, and art law and has handled transactions that reflect the intersection of those verticals as well as those in sports, music, gaming, merchandising and mobile/digital areas. He represents clients in all segments of these businesses around the world. Darwell studied law at Georgetown in Washington, DC and focused his studies on international trade. While there, he worked for the Attaché de Presse at the French Embassy and for DC powerhouse law firm Wilmer Cutler (where he had the opportunity to assist Lloyd Cutler, who served as counsel to President Carter). At Georgetown, Darwell took the only entertainment course offered at that time and, following the tragic deaths of Vic Morrow and two child actors on the set of “The Twilight Zone” movie, wrote his seminar paper on the employment of minors in the entertainment industry. Its publication coincided with the birth of the first of his three children. Upon graduation, Darwell moved to Los Angeles and combined his passion for entertainment and media with his interest in international business and finance. Darwell travels and works regularly from locations around the world. Always reachable, clients praise his availability at all hours and dedication to service and excellence. Darwell is invited regularly to speak at international film festivals, including at the Toronto, Zurich, Havana, Beijing, Shanghai and Rome International Film Festivals, among others. When not negotiating and drafting, Darwell may be found in the DJ booth (on Sunset Boulevard, in Mexico City, Paris, or Zurich) or taking photos for his popular Instagram feed @TheDailyServer. Recently, Darwell completed directing his first documentary film “The 90s Club”, which strikes a hard blow against ageism. In the wisdom of the ages film, Darwell interviews a dozen diverse individuals between the ages of 90-99, who speak unflinchingly about love, life, and loss. The film screened in dozens of festivals and garnered numerous awards. His second film, “Black Uniform”, will make the rounds in 2023.

Rockard Dekgadillo

Rockard "Rocky" Delgadillo is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Los Angeles office. Rocky has more than 30 years of experience in litigation, economic development transactions, and government law and public policy. Rocky served an eight-year tenure, the term limit, as the City of Los Angeles City Attorney. As the city's chief lawyer and chief criminal prosecutor, he led more than 550 attorneys who comprise the second largest municipal law firm in the nation. Rocky was the first Latino to win citywide office in more than 100 years when he was elected in 2001. Running unopposed, he was re-elected in 2005 to a second four-year term. During his tenure as City Attorney, Rocky implemented a number of innovative programs to further his vision of a better and safer Los Angeles. His top priorities included fighting crime, improving the quality of life in local neighborhoods and reducing the city's civil liabilities. In his first term, Rocky more than tripled the number of gang injunctions, contributing to a steep decline in crime in affected areas. Throughout his tenure, he helped make neighborhoods safer by implementing the neighborhood prosecutor program and by reducing the city's liability costs to free up millions of dollars to help pay for police and other crucial city services. Prior to his election as Los Angeles City Attorney, Rocky was the Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles for Economic Development, where he attracted new jobs to emerging neighborhoods. He created an efficient neighborhood-friendly approach to business development through the creation of the LA Business Team and, in four years, helped bring in billions in private investment to the city. As Deputy Mayor, in the wake of the Northridge Earthquake, Rocky worked with the late US Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown to attract and implement the Minority Business Opportunities Committee (MBOC) in the City of Los Angeles. Initially securing nearly $6B in MBE/WBE/SBE contracts, MBOC served as the inspiration for the City’s business diversity initiatives. Rocky serves as an Owner and Executive Chairman of Los Cabos United, a new 3rd Division Futbol Club in Mexico. Rocky is the Founder, Owner and Chairman of ISMX, LLC, International Soccer Management Company. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Los Angeles United Futbol Academy (LAUFA), one of the premiere Youth Soccer Academies in the United States and part of the MLS Next Academy System. Additionally, Rocky is the Founder and Chairman of HUBcities Technologies, a start-up technology company and software developer, developing game-changing data platforms, utilizing Blockchain methodology to connect disparate data silos and provide real time data integration and analysis.

Samuel Moniz

Samuel Moniz is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's Orange County office. Areas of Practice Sam is a civil litigator with a robust trial practice and experience managing complex, high-stakes litigation matters from inception through trial. He represents a range of clients, including global companies and high-profile individuals but also small businesses and private individuals. His practice involves a wide variety of matters, including all manner of contract disputes, fraud, business torts, unfair competition, malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent transfer, partnership disputes, and defamation. Sam routinely handles all aspects of complex arbitrations and litigations in state and federal courts, including analyzing claims and developing litigation strategy; conducting depositions and written discovery; briefing and arguing discovery disputes; briefing and arguing dispositive motions; trial advocacy; and writs and appeals. In addition, his practice emphasizes reputation management, particularly in the context of sensitive or highly publicized disputes and PR crises. He is active in pro bono matters.

Scott Liebman

Scott Liebman is leader of the firm's Life Sciences team and is based in the firm’s New York office. Scott focuses on complex FDA regulatory, compliance and legal matters affecting global pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device manufacturers. He counsels clients on federal and state requirements and develops legal and regulatory strategies to help commercialize their products. Clients regularly turn to Scott and his team to support product launches; implement corporate integrity agreements; develop comprehensive training and monitor compliance programs; and handle anti-kickback, sampling and off-label investigations. Whether advising executives or training a national sales force, Scott knows that clear, thoughtful communication and practical advice are key to supporting his clients. He has worked with businesses of all sizes, from small life sciences organizations launching their first product to Fortune 500 companies in the pharmaceutical and medical products/equipment industries. His clients operate worldwide and include Europe- and Asia-based life sciences companies. Scott is passionate about understanding his clients’ challenges and is committed to learning their businesses inside and out to find solutions. He brings deep technical knowledge along with enthusiasm for his clients’ work to each client relationship.

Scott Maberry

Scott Maberry is an international trade partner in the Governmental Practice in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. Scott is a past co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group for the Washington D.C. office and serves as its representative on the firm's pro bono committee. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network, where he advises the WEF community in the areas of global risk, international trade, artificial intelligence and values. Scott is a founding member of the Sheppard Mullin Organizational Integrity Group. Scott counsels clients and litigates disputes in the areas of export controls, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-terrorism, national security, economic sanctions, anti-boycott controls, anti-money laundering (AML), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), trade remedies (including anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) matters), foreign direct investment and Customs. He also represents clients in negotiations and dispute resolution under the World Trade Organization (WTO), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other multilateral and bilateral agreements. Scott's practice includes representing clients before the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS), the Department of Commerce Import Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), federal courts and grand jury proceedings and WTO and NAFTA dispute resolution panels. Scott hosts the Nota Bene podcast, a bimonthly series for multinational businesses providing insights on international legal and policy developments. The Nota Bene podcast reaches listeners in more than 110 nations around the world and has exceeded 38,000 downloads. Listeners can subscribe and listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher or the Sheppard Mullin website.

Shaun Clark

Shaun Clark is a partner in the firm's internationally acclaimed Transactional Entertainment, Technology and Advertising Practice Group, which was recently ranked in the top tier by both Chambers USA and the Legal 500 U.S. He resides in the firm's Century City office. Shaun represents studios, major brands, independent producers, advertising agencies, and other entertainment and advertising-related entities in the acquisition of intellectual property rights and the development, finance, production, distribution, and exploitation of entertainment and branded content and related live events, merchandising, social media, and online and field marketing promotional campaigns. Shaun enjoys practicing at the intersection of content, branding, celebrity and technology. In recent years, he has worked with some of the top players in virtual reality and the podcast business. Shaun also counsels brands and individuals on brand development and the negotiation of sponsorship, product placement, licensing and celebrity endorsement agreements. Shaun has represented numerous institutional clients in their capacity as lenders, guarantors, and borrowers, in the negotiation and documentation of complex financing deals and intercreditor relationships, and in negotiations with assignees for the benefit of creditors and trustees. He also has drafted and negotiated numerous shopping, co-development and co-production agreements for episodic television and motion pictures, and collection account and custodial agreements in connection with the administration of proceeds from multiple sources. Shaun also represents investors, sellers and purchasers of entertainment and media companies, content libraries, brands, assets, and entertainment properties. Shaun represents or has represented such companies as Ogilvy & Mather, Snapchat, Playboy Enterprises, Bethenny Frankel, Skinnygirl Margaritas, Oculus, Spotify, Vice Media, TeamTo, Turner Entertainment Networks, Creative Wealth Media Finance, Hard Rock Casinos, Fashion Nova, CISCO, Focus Features, WPT Enterprises (World Poker Tour), Commerzleasing, Bunim-Murray Productions, Nespresso, Rainforest Films, Bridget Marquardt, Kolberg Kravis Roberts & Co., 23andMe, Kendra Wilkinson, Technicolor, Rare Beauty, Chrysler, EW Media, Alta Loma Entertainment, Activision/Blizzard, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lions Gate Entertainment, Twitch, Kilburn Media, Lenovo, Exxon Mobil, XPLR Productions, Morgan Stanley, Furlined, Paramount International Television, Vince Neil, dick clark productions, United Artists, Hilary Duff, The Walt Disney Company, Hugh M. Hefner, WEVR, Red Bull Media House, Match.com/Tinder, The Tetris Company, JWT, BH Cosmetics, Association of Independent Commercial Producers, PopFilms, Children of the Night (non-profit), and Yahoo!.

Tamar Rosenberg

Tamar Rosenberg is a partner in the Tax, Employee Benefits, and Trust & Estates Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's New York office. She is leader of the firm’s Nonprofit Sector Team. Tamar’s practice is focused exclusively on nonprofit and tax-exempt matters. She has advised a wide range of non-profit organizations in various sectors, as well as for-profit businesses and individuals with their interactions with nonprofits and with achieving their charitable objectives. Tamar has been individually recognized by Legal 500 as both a Recommended Lawyer – Tax: Not-for-profit and a “Next Generation Lawyer” (2019-2022), as well as a “Best Lawyer in America,” by Best Lawyers, 2023.

Thomas W. Solomon

Tom Solomon is a partner in the Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance Team in the firm's San Francisco office. Tom counsels developers and owners of natural gas-fired, wind, solar, biomass and geothermal electric generating facilities and energy storage facilities in the negotiation of physical and virtual PPAs, energy storage agreements, tolling agreements, master trading agreements, renewable energy credit purchase and sale agreements, resource adequacy and other capacity attribute purchase and sale agreements, interconnection agreements, transmission services agreements, and scheduling coordinator services agreements. In addition, Tom represents developers and industry associations in regulatory proceedings before the CPUC in connection with electric industry restructuring, transmission development, energy and capacity procurement, integrated resource planning, energy storage procurement mandates, and renewable portfolio standard issues. Prior to attending law school, Tom worked for an electric utility which gives him a unique perspective of the energy sector that he applies to his representations of developers, owners of electric generating facilities and energy storage facilities, and industry associations in energy transactional and regulatory matters.

Tim Reimers

Timothy Reimers is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Los Angeles office. Whether closing an acquisition of large real estate portfolios, financing sophisticated projects or providing legal counsel on day-to-day operations, Tim is focused on delivering positive change through providing healthcare, social infrastructure and impact investment clients with the highest possible level of legal advice. Tim is a leader in the healthcare real estate and finance practices. Tim strategically counsels some of the largest healthcare systems and other healthcare industry participants to achieve their missions through the acquisition, development, financing, syndicating, operating and monetizing, real estate and other capital resources – bringing an industry leading understanding of healthcare regulatory, return on mission, tax matters, nonprofit, canon law and other ethical considerations to each transaction. Tim’s experience and reputation is built on innovative work in a wide range of projects. Acquisitions and dispositions Complex financings on behalf of lenders and borrowers Leasing, including sale- and lease-leaseback and build to suit transactions Project syndications Structured and other creative finance solutions for projects Loan restructuring and strategic solutions Tim is also a leader in the public finance practice. He is recognized as a trusted securities and disclosure counsel, providing essential disclosure and due diligence counsel and assisting issuers, borrowers and underwriters to meet their securities obligations. Tim has experience assisting hospitals and healthcare systems, airports, ports, utility districts, cities, counties, schools, high-speed rail, the State of California and various agencies, as well as investors, acquire, manage and develop their real estate assets, raise capital and finance projects. Tim also works with impact investors to strategically align capital and values in projects that help create thriving, equitable opportunities that support diverse communities, incentivize economic equality and worker-empowerment, seek to reverse adverse environmental impacts and effect meaningful, measurable change. As part of his core mission of delivering positive change, Tim has recruited, mentored and developed a diverse team of dedicated professionals with shared values and a passion for excellence.

Tony Toranto

Tony Toranto is a partner in the Real Estate, Corporate and Finance Practice Groups in Sheppard Mullin's San Diego (Del Mar) and San Francisco offices. He is Team Leader of the firm's Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance Team and a member of the firm's Compensation Committee. Tony is a nationally recognized finance and commercial lawyer with three areas of concentration: corporate, real estate and energy transactions. Tony possesses a dual J.D./M.B.A. degree and started his career as a client in private equity; he brings that commercial understanding to every deal. Tony regularly advises clients on conventional and renewable projects, including some of the largest energy projects in the industry. Tony counsels clients on corporate and transactional matters, including advising sponsors, creditors and investors on capital, acquisition, disposition, development, financing and leasing transactions. He has advised sponsors, borrowers, lenders, investors, guarantors and other clients on hundreds of transactions totaling billions of dollars.

Whitney Roy

Whitney Jones Roy is a litigation partner in Sheppard Mullin's Los Angeles office. Whitney was recognized by Law360 as a “Female Powerbroker,” recognized among the Top Women Attorneys in Los Angeles in 2020 by the Los Angeles Business Journal, and named one of the top 100 Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal in 2014. Whitney has experience in all aspects of California and federal civil procedure through trial. She also defends her clients on appeal when necessary. Business Litigation Whitney specializes in business litigation. Her experience includes representing companies in a variety of business disputes and against claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, breach of contract, and unfair business practices. Whitney's cases have related to a broad spectrum of industries, including oil companies, financial institutions, insurance, real estate, construction equipment, food and beverage, and retail. Environmental Litigation Whitney also specializes in complex environmental litigation and related products liability litigation. Her expertise includes the Clean Air Act, CERCLA, RCRA, design defect, failure to warn, negligence, nuisance, and trespass. Proposition 65 Counseling & Litigation Whitney counsels companies on compliance with California Prop 65 warning obligations and defends her clients when accused of failing to comply. Activities Whitney is the founder of Sheppard Mullin’s Los Angeles Women Lawyers. Whitney also served as the Office Managing Partner for the Los Angeles office of Sheppard Mullin from 2009 to 2017. She is a member of Sheppard Mullin’s Recruiting Committee. Whitney serves on the Board of Governors for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. Whitney has served on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank since 2013 and was elected to Chair of the Board of Directors in December 2019.

Wook Hwang

Wook Hwang is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's New York office. Wook has been recognized as a leading media and entertainment litigator by The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Chambers USA. With a focus on copyright, trademark, false advertising and contract disputes, he represents major motion picture studios, media companies, publishers and brand owners in high-profile litigations across the United States. Clients seek Wook’s counsel for his understanding of complex legal issues affecting the entertainment industry, his ability to develop litigation strategies that lead to cost-efficient results, and a record of winning significant cases in the field. Wook regularly counsels clients on pre-litigation matters, including on rights analyses and copyright termination issues. In addition to his work in the entertainment industry, Wook has extensive experience litigating high-stakes commercial disputes for clients in a variety of other industry sectors, ranging from financial services institutions to insurers and real estate developers, at the trial and appellate levels in federal and state courts across the country.

Wynter Deagle

Wynter Deagle is a partner in the Privacy and Cybersecurity Team in the firm's San Diego (Del Mar) office. Wynter is a trusted advisor in the boardroom and a fierce advocate in the courtroom when businesses face issues found at the intersection of law, technology, and innovation. Wynter is a first-chair litigator who regularly represents clients in privacy, cybersecurity, false advertising, and unfair business practices class actions (including breach-related litigation), as well as complex commercial litigation matters. Clients depend on her ability to combine thoughtful legal analysis and strategy with an aggressive but practical “big picture” approach to litigation. A Certified Information Privacy Professional, Wynter’s experience includes representing a wide variety of companies, particularly those in the technology, life sciences, financial services, fintech, retail, food services, and consumer products sectors, in individual and class actions brought under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and various other privacy and cybersecurity-related state and federal laws and regulations. Wynter also defends clients from investigations and enforcement actions brought by federal and state regulators arising out of data breaches and/or data collection, use, sharing, and security practices. Outside of the courtroom, Wynter draws on her litigation experience to empower clients to make compliance decisions that balance regulatory requirements with business functionality. Wynter’s experience includes: Designing and implementing global privacy and cybersecurity programs; Advising on compliance with state, federal and international privacy and data security laws including CCPA, GLBA, COPPA, BIPA, GDPR and UKGDPR. Formulating practical strategies to mitigate the legal, regulatory and operational risks presented by data collection, use, storage and sharing practices; Preparing for and responding to data security incidents; Creating and delivering employee privacy and cyber awareness training; Conducting privacy and cybersecurity compliance due diligence in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other corporate and strategic transactions; Advising on the legal and regulatory aspects of developing and commercializing data-driven products and services, including in the areas of the internet of things (IoT), machine learning, digital media, AI, and blockchain; Evaluating options to extract value from the data collected, while identifying and addressing regulatory compliance requirements, and ensuring that data is appropriately protected; and Assisting clients with making privacy and cybersecurity a competitive advantage and market differentiator. Wynter is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal and business communities. She holds a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP) designation from the National Diversity Council and regularly provides advice related to inclusive recruiting and talent management strategies and diverse leadership development programs. She serves as President of the Board of Directors of Girls Inc. of San Diego County. She also serves as pro-bono counsel to SunLaw — an organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of women in-house attorneys — and Native Son — an organization dedicated to elevating the voices, visibility, and lived experiences of Black gay/queer men.

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