McGuireWoods LLP

Aaron represents utilities, national trade associations, oil and gas companies, and manufacturers in major environmental litigation and regulatory matters across the country. His practice is focused on reducing and managing his client’s regulatory burdens and liabilities under federal environmental statutes and the Clean Air Act in particular. Aaron has resolved complex regulatory matters before the EPA, at the White House, and through his extensive litigation experience before the federal courts. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a legal advisor to the US Congress and as an associate general counsel for the White House, where he was responsible for a broad portfolio of environmental matters, including Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act reform, helping to develop energy legislation, and responding to congressional investigations. That experience allows Aaron to provide companies with insight and practical advice concerning a wide range of issues, particularly related to federal oversight, policies, and processes. A recognized thought leader on visibility issues, Aaron has been called to testify before the US House of Representatives about implementation of the regional haze program and how it should be changed in the future. In addition, he has litigated significant visibility rules before numerous federal courts of appeals, arguing most recently before the Ninth and DC Circuits.

Adam Sowatzka

Adam is currently the co-lead of both the Environmental Regulatory and Incident Response Practice Groups at McGuireWoods. Fortune 500 companies turn to Adam when they face major legal and reputational risk in environmental, health, and safety proceedings. With more than 25 years of experience as an EPA enforcement attorney, a general counsel with an international manufacturing company and a private practice lawyer, he has helped clients manage bet-the-company environmental matters in all media, including air, water and waste. Adam also leads the response and investigation of catastrophic accidents, fires, explosions, and spills, and he handles environmental crisis management matters such as criminal and civil inspections and investigations. He defends clients in government inquiries following a crisis, such as investigations by the EPA, OSHA, ATF, the Chemical Safety Board, and state and local regulatory agencies. He also counsels on matters involving emerging contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (e.g., PFAS). Adam was the lead attorney in one of the first major regulatory matters involving PFAS contamination from a manufacturing facility that impacted a municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Alice Youngbar

Alice Youngbar is the managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Los Angeles – Century City office. Alice focuses her practice on representing institutional lenders in connection with commercial real estate loans intended for securitization and sale in the secondary market with an emphasis on loans originated under the Fannie Mae DUS and Freddie Mac Seller/Servicer programs. She is experienced in all conventional programs, including manufactured housing, student housing, green financing and moderate rehab.

Alicia Baiardo

Ali, a partner in the San Francisco office of McGuireWoods, is a commanding commercial litigator trusted by three of the largest U.S. banks and numerous Fortune Global 500 companies to defend multimillion-dollar class actions and other complex litigation. She defends nationwide consumer class actions brought on behalf of millions of class members, California-wide cases alleging unfair competition, fraud, and violation of various consumer protection statutes, and complex Ponzi-scheme matters brought against banks. With over a decade of experience, Ali advocates for her clients at all stages of litigation, often obtaining dismissals with prejudice and negotiating strategically beneficial settlements where appropriate while being prepared to litigate when necessary. She has significant experience defending financial institutions in consumer fraud, aiding and abetting, and ECOA and FHA claims. She is also deeply involved in the evolving mass arbitration landscape and advises clients accordingly.

Allison Tanner

Allie focuses on advising employers on the legal aspects of employee benefit and executive compensation matters arising under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She counsels a variety of public and private companies with respect to qualified retirement plans, non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements and other benefit programs. She also assists with a variety of interdisciplinary practice areas that are affected by employee benefits and executive compensation laws. Before joining McGuireWoods, Allie served as lead trial paralegal for a litigation firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. Allie received her undergraduate degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Juris Doctorate from The University of North Carolina School of Law. While attending law school on a Smith/Shaver Merit Scholarship, she participated as a staff member for the North Carolina Law Review.

Amanda Roenius

Amanda practices within McGuireWoods’ Healthcare Department and focuses on corporate healthcare transactional and regulatory work. Amanda regularly advises providers, investors, operators and health systems in navigating, negotiating and structuring complex acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, corporate governance and other contractual matters to achieve a compliant but business-oriented outcome. Amanda also counsels clients on a variety of regulatory matters, including but not limited to the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, state fraud and abuse laws, corporate practice of medicine doctrines and state licensure laws. While earning her law degree from DePaul University College of Law, Amanda served as editor-in-chief of the DePaul Law Review and as a research assistant for several professors. Amanda graduated from law school summa cum laude in 2016 and was elected to Order of the Coif.

Amy Manning

Global chair of the Antitrust, Trade and Commercial Litigation Department and past member of the Executive Committee and Board of Partners; Chicago, IL. Extensive experience handling criminal and civil antitrust matters for international and U.S. companies, as well as individuals, in federal and state courts and arbitration tribunals throughout the United States. Regularly advises clients on antitrust issues, compliance and distribution relationships and is a frequent author and speaker on antitrust, government investigations, and compliance. Named an Antitrust Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. Recently served as the Vice-Chair of the ABA International Cartel Workshop.

Andrew Konia

As chair of the firm’s data privacy and security team, Andrew leads a nationally recognized team of professionals dedicated to protecting clients’ systems, networks and data, managing information, and responding to cyber incidents. In his own practice, Andrew assists clients in the development of information governance and data protection programs, and regularly counsels clients on data breach remediation, as well as privacy and security issues in vendor contracts and M&A/private equity transactions. Andrew principally focuses on proactive protective measures that a company can employ in the construction of its policies and critical contracts in order to prevent the occurrence of security breaches, investigations, lawsuits and similar harmful events. He also counsels clients on interpreting and complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI/DSS).

Angelo Russo

Angelo advises international and U.S. companies and individuals in both criminal investigations and civil litigation involving a variety of antitrust issues, such as price fixing, bid rigging, customer and market allocations, monopolization, and no-poach agreements. He has successfully persuaded authorities to close investigations without taking enforcement action and has secured leniency protection for clients. Angelo counsels clients on exclusivity clauses, competitor collaborations, discounting practices, non-compete agreements, distribution relationships, and group boycotts. In addition to providing antitrust counseling, Angelo conducts antitrust compliance audits and designs innovative compliance programs for his clients.

Anne Peterson

Anne focuses her practice on data privacy and security, incident response, information governance and e-discovery. She routinely advises clients on a broad array of issues related to federal, state and industry compliance, as well as defensible internal policies and procedures to protect and leverage sensitive information. Anne has handled numerous data breach events from initial discovery to resolution including investigation, federal and state notification analysis, remediation and corrective action. Her experience spans diverse industry sectors, including energy, healthcare, manufacturing, banking, retail, travel, technology services, education, private equity, global food services and construction. Anne also routinely counsels international clients regarding global privacy and security, cross-border data transfers and defensible policy implementation.

Anthony Carna

Anthony (AJ) Carna, chair of McGuireWoods’ oil and gas practice, advises publicly traded and privately held energy companies in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, project development, regulatory matters, mineral conveyancing and other commercial transactions. His experience includes M&A, gas and crude oil gathering and processing agreements, joint development and exploration agreements, participation agreements, gas and crude oil storage agreements, oil and gas sublease and farmout agreements, coal and pipeline cooperation agreements, master services agreements, and disputes arising from upstream and midstream operations. AJ also advises on the development and construction of upstream, midstream, transmission, wastewater disposal and fresh water facilities.

Anthony P. Tatum

Tony is a co-lead of our Insurance Recovery Practice and sits on the firm’s Board of Partners. Tony represents prominent public and private companies on all aspects of insurance coverage and related complex commercial disputes. With over 24 years of litigation experience, Tony advises clients on various lines of insurance, including CGL, D&O, E&O / professional liability, property damage / business interruption, environmental / pollution, EPL, fidelity and crime coverage, cyber/data privacy, marine cargo, political risk / contract frustration, product recall, RW, trade credit, wrongful calling, and other manuscripted lines of coverage. Tony has represented clients in recovering almost $3.5 billion in insurance assets as a result of both litigation and pre-litigation resolutions, including over $1 billion in recoveries since 2019. Tony’s domestic and cross-borders disputes practice has included many noteworthy court rulings, awards, and verdicts against both domestic and international insurers, including London and Bermuda based insurers and syndicates. Tony has represented clients in virtually all business sectors regarding insurance coverage matters, and has worked for decades with clients in the private equity, energy, financial services / fintech, food and beverage and healthcare industries.

Ashley Matthews

Ashley advises retailers and financial institutions on consumer financial services, payments, privacy and security, and governance matters. She counsels organizations with respect to the Truth in Lending Act, Consumer Leasing Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, as well as equivalent state-level financial services, consumer protection and unfair trade practices laws. Ashley also advises clients on state and federal automatic renewal and home solicitation sale laws. Ashley advises home warranty companies concerning compliance with federal and state laws and regulatory guidance, including creation of a state-by-state compliance handbook for home warranties and service contracts. She routinely assists clients with licensing and responses to regulatory inquires. Ashley holds the CIPP/US credential as a Certified Information Privacy Professional from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Ava Lias-Booker

Ava Lias-Booker is a partner at McGuireWoods LLP and leads the Baltimore litigation practice as a seasoned first chair trial and appellate lawyer representing businesses in complex commercial and civil litigation. She serves in a number of leadership roles at McGuireWoods. She is former chair of the firm's Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and a member of the firm’s Diversity Action Council and firm wide Associates Committee. She is also the former managing partner of the firm’s Baltimore office. For some three decades, Ava has been leading teams to win bench and jury trials, as well as appellate cases, in multimillion dollar disputes. She has represented clients from a broad range of industries, including financial, energy, telecommunications and retail in class action litigation and complex civil disputes resolving contractual and statutory claims, shareholder disputes, lender liability claims, products liability and toxic tort claims, UCC actions and claims arising under a variety of consumer financial services statutes in state and federal courts.

Barlow Mann

Barlow focuses his practice on representing public and private companies in securities transactions and other general corporate matters. He advises companies in connection with a broad range of securities matters, representing both issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings, secondary offerings of debt, equity, derivative and hybrid securities. He also advises public companies in connection with their periodic and annual reporting, proxy statements, board and audit committee matters, Regulation FD and insider trading matters. He has also represented financial institutions and other public company issuers in connection with liability management transactions, including tender offers, consent solicitations, redemptions, repurchases and exchanges.

Bart Walker

Bart concentrates on mergers, acquisitions, and healthcare regulatory compliance. His practice includes advising healthcare providers as well as equity sponsors and lenders to the healthcare industry. In connection with representing healthcare providers, he works primarily with ambulatory surgery centers, dental services organizations (DSOs), hospitals, urgent care providers, large physician group practices, end-stage renal disease facilities, and home health and DME companies on various regulatory and transactional matters. He has represented lenders, borrowers and equity sponsors in various healthcare-related financing and acquisition transactions, including asset-based lending, mezzanine and senior credit facilities, and leveraged finance.

Benjamin Hatch

With extensive litigation experience in both private practice and government service, Benjamin L. Hatch represents clients in high-stakes civil litigation, criminal investigations, and appeals. He has first chaired numerous jury trials, conducted bench trials, and argued appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th, 5th, 7th, and D.C. Circuits and the Supreme Court of Virginia. Before joining McGuireWoods, Ben spent nine years as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, serving in the Alexandria, Richmond, and Norfolk divisions of the Eastern District of Virginia. Most recently, Ben served as the Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney and Criminal Chief in the Norfolk Division. He received the John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation, one of the highest awards given for trial practice by the U.S. Department of Justice, from then-Attorney General Eric Holder for his role in a two-month trial of several Somali pirates. Ben served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Bill Seligman

Bill Seligman is a partner in McGuireWoods’ Real Estate and Land Use practice in its Los Angeles – Century City office. He concentrates his practice in real estate finance. He has extensive experience in the representation of senior and mezzanine lenders, and institutional investors, in financing transactions involving all major asset classes. Bill has lending experience in construction, bridge and permanent loans, for syndicated facilities, insurance companies and other portfolio lenders, and securitization execution, including for “loan on loan” and senior/subordinate financing structures. He also represents borrowers in acquisition, construction, bridge and permanent financings. A particular focus of Bill’s practice includes the net lease sector, where he regularly represents lenders, tenants and owners in sale-leaseback transactions and other structured financings. Bill advises bank and non-bank lenders in all aspects of the commercial real estate lending process, from designing procedures and drafting form documents for new lenders, to loan structuring and origination, and culminating either with the disposition (via securitization, one-off or portfolio sales) or servicing functions. He represents lenders and debt holders in negotiated workouts, foreclosures (consensual and contested), deed-in-lieu transactions, loan sales, equity recapitalizations and other exit strategies for under-performing or distressed investments.

Breenen Keene

Brennen serves as co-lead of the firm’s renewable energy team. He assists clients with land-use and transactional matters related to a wide range of real estate development projects, including renewable energy projects, industrial projects, and commercial/mixed-use projects in Virginia and nationally. In addition to his national practice on real estate transactional matters for energy projects, Brennen has significant experience representing clients on land use matters for power generation projects in Virginia and other states.

Brennen Keene

Brent Justus

Brent operates a broad antitrust practice, with a particular focus on cartel defense, litigation, and merger clearances. He served as the co-chair of the Cartel and Criminal Practice Committee of the ABA’s Antitrust Section and currently serves as the co-chair of the Section’s Trial Practice Committee. He is also an editor of the three-volume State Antitrust Practice and Statutes (Fifth) published by the ABA Antitrust Section, serves on the Board of the Business Law Section of the Virginia State Bar, and is a past chair of the Antitrust Section of the Virginia State Bar.

Brian Riopelle

Member of Practice Innovation Committee. Litigates patent infringement and other IP cases nationwide; has considerable experience in the Eastern District of Virginia. Lead trial lawyer for DuPont’s trade secret case against Kolon Industries; jury awarded DuPont $919,900,000. Lead trial lawyer for Verizon Wireless and others in patent infringement case brought by DNT LLC; verdict of non-infringement.

Brian Hager

Brian has extensive experience advising public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, securities offerings and corporate governance matters. He represents clients across a broad range of industries including manufacturing, retail, consumer packaged goods, finance and insurance. Brian volunteers with Central Virginia Legal Aid’s Pro Bono Hotline program, and frequently lectures on mergers and acquisitions and venture capital at the Washington and Lee University.

Brian Kelly

Brian, chair of McGuireWoods’ energy industry team, advises independent power producers, wholesale and retail participants, as well as utility, private equity and financial clients on a wide range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, energy project and infrastructure development, project finance, and structured commodity and hedging transactions. Brian has worked on solar, wind, biomass, natural gas, LNG, geothermal and battery projects, as well as non-energy infrastructure and commodity financings in the United States and internationally. He has significant experience structuring and negotiating project development and offtake agreements and advises U.S. and foreign clients on international trade, business and related export control issues.

Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson is the managing partner of the Charlottesville office, and is known for his success in trying high-exposure jury cases on behalf of energy, transportation and manufacturing companies in various jurisdictions throughout the United States. Energy Litigation Brian serves as a go-to resource relating to natural gas transmission and distribution for pipeline owners, operators and construction companies. He has experience with securing right-of-way access for the protection of underground assets and has substantial knowledge of the regulatory and investigatory issues arising out of catastrophic explosions, fires and contact incidents. Brian leads McGuireWoods’ rapid deployment team for cases involving catastrophic incidents and has particular experience with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration corrective action orders and NTSB investigations of these events. Over the course of his career, he has managed responses to pipeline ruptures, explosions and damages cases from Texas to Massachusetts, where he has coordinated onsite crisis management, interfaced with federal and state regulatory agencies, ensured evidence preservation, and managed the coordination of experts. Litigation Management As co-director of McGuireWoods' transportation industry team, Brian has experience in all aspects of litigation management, including first- and third-party claims, class actions, mass actions, personal injury defense and insurance coverage. He has served as national coordinating counsel for discovery and litigation and managed Department of Transportation audits and investigations as well as National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigations. He is well-versed in the complex interplay of regulatory bodies, litigation response and the necessary public relations issues that all arise from catastrophic events. His significant jury trial experience brings a perspective to crisis management that allows him to see a path forward.

Bryan Brantley

Bryan is a member of the firm’s Board of Partners and the leader of the firm’s Transportation Industry Group. He is a well-rounded litigator with national experience in a wide range of industries including transportation, retail, construction equipment, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. Bryan's practice is centered upon understanding clients' business needs and legal challenges, ultimately balancing the two to deliver favorable business results and litigation outcomes. Bryan has successfully resolved client’s issues through dispositive motions, mediation, arbitration and favorable settlements. He currently serves as National Coordinating Counsel and manages a significant portfolio of litigation for a Fortune 50 transportation company as well as a major technology platform. Bryan was a key driver in creating a litigation management dashboard with analytics components to give clients greater insights and predictability into their litigation.

Candace Blydenburgh

Candace is a partner in the firm’s Products, Environmental and Mass Tort Litigation department. Her practice involves the representation of corporate defendants in high exposure, complex cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. Candace has tried several cases to verdict in numerous jurisdictions including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Puerto Rico. Candace’s diverse trial experience includes, significant personal injury and product liability cases, toxic matters, breach of warranty and breach of contract actions.

Carolyn Trenda

Carolyn regularly advises public, private and non-profit employers on a range of employee benefits topics. She designs and assists clients with the ongoing administration of tax-qualified retirement plans including defined benefit pension plans, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, 457 deferred compensation plans, profit sharing plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). She routinely helps clients with health and welfare plan matters including plan design and COBRA and HIPAA related questions. She also works with employers to establish and maintain non-qualified, stock option and fringe benefit plans. Specifically, Carolyn has assisted clients with restructuring retiree medical programs, merging and terminating employee benefit plans, evaluating executive compensation arrangements and negotiating vendor agreements and trust agreements. She often advises employers on employee benefits matters during mergers and acquisitions, including issues related to the compensation and benefits of transferred and terminated employees. She routinely obtains rulings and determinations from the IRS, the U.S. Department of Labor and other government agencies and guides clients through agency audits and the use of government sponsored compliance and correction programs.

Cheryl Haas

Chris Scheurer

Chris concentrates on complex business transactions with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investments, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, joint ventures, and related general corporate counseling. He represents national, regional and local clients, on both buy and sell sides, in acquisitions and divestitures, including asset transactions, stock transactions, and cash and stock mergers. He has led transactions ranging from a few million dollars to more than $1 billion in a variety of industries such as financial institutions, software and technology, transaction processing, food service, aerospace and defense, manufacturing and business services.

Christopher Michalik

Chris’ nationwide practice focuses on all aspects of labor and employment. He has experience representing management in union campaigns, negotiations and other interaction with existing unions, arbitrations, federal and state litigation involving wage and hour laws, employment laws, restrictive covenants, and trade secrets, and before administrative agencies such as the NLRB, EEOC and DOL. He also regularly counsels clients regarding labor and employment policies, standards, decisions, and strategies. Chris has an extensive wage and hour practice. He regularly represents clients in various industries in FLSA collective actions and in state class wage and hour actions of varying size from dozens of putative plaintiffs to thousands and involving issues from alleged misclassification of employees to alleged off-the-clock work. He also has conducted extensive wage and hour audits for clients, represented clients during DOL investigations, and advised clients regarding internal wage and hour decisions.

Christopher Thanner

Chris's practice covers many aspects of commercial real estate law, including big-box and shopping center retail, industrial, office and multifamily development, construction contracts, commercial lending and leasing, land use and development law. He has counseled sellers, purchasers, landlords and tenants on the various issues associated with real estate acquisitions, dispositions and leasing transactions. His practice also involves counseling clients on negotiating the maze of governmental regulations affecting development in Florida, including concurrency, platting and permitting issues. In the banking and finance area, Chris represents institutional lenders and corporate borrowers in a variety of real estate and other asset-based financing transactions and frequently serves as local counsel on state and national financing matters. Chris is a member of the firm’s restructuring team and distressed real estate practice group, and regularly works with special asset managers of national and regional lending institutions and special servicers of Commercial Mortgage-Backed (CMBS) loans on commercial loan workouts and forbearance agreements, foreclosures of real and personal property, guaranty enforcement actions, deeds in lieu of foreclosure and state court receivership proceedings. He has also represented lenders in the workout and foreclosure of incomplete construction and development projects, including partially constructed Florida condominium developments.

Craig Harmon

In his more than 25 years at McGuireWoods, Craig has focused his practice on real estate finance transactions and matters. He leads a group that represents participants in the real estate finance area, including representation of institution lenders on originating and servicing/administration of mortgage loans; sellers and buyers of mortgage loans, participations and other investments in mortgage assets; institutional investors in joint ventures related to commercial real estate; and servicers of mortgage loans. Related to his ongoing representation of institutional real estate investors, Craig advises clients on matters related to mezzanine loans, A/B notes, subordinated debt and other structured investment arrangements.

Craig Bell

Craig Bell is a nationally recognized tax attorney and tax litigator with more than 35 years of experience counseling clients through their most significant tax disputes. Craig, the former chair of McGuireWoods’ Tax and Employee Benefits Department, leads the firm’s state and local tax and tax litigation practice areas and serves as its lead tax litigator for both trial and appellate tax disputes at the federal, state and local levels. Bell is a co-founder and board chairman of Village Bank Financial Corporation, a publicly held commercial bank headquartered in Richmond. In 2023 the American Bar Association Section of Taxation honored him as the winner of its annual award honoring outstanding and sustained achievements in pro bono activities in tax law.

Dana Rust

Dana Rust has extensive experience in collective bargaining for corporate clients. He is also noted for his work in internal investigations and ERISA litigation, as well as his broad employment law capabilities. With more than 30 years of experience, Dana understands all facets of labor & employment, including employment litigation, labor negotiations, ERISA litigation, noncompete disputes and OSHA enforcement. Dana is a seasoned trial lawyer, a trusted counselor to senior executives and general counsel and a skilled negotiator. He has handled numerous sensitive and significant disputes within the C-suite, including severance and pension claims brought by senior executives as well as discrimination and retaliation complaints.

David Finkelson

David Finkelson is chair of McGuireWoods' Intellectual Property Litigation & Transactions Department and is one of the country's most sought-after patent litigators in the telecommunications and wireless technology space. He is a seasoned litigator widely recognized for his adept handling of intellectual property disputes, including patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation. His practice emphasizes patent litigation matters across a broad spectrum of technologies, with a particular focus in the fields of telecommunications, computer software and hardware, and e-commerce.

David Powell

David Powell focuses his practice on complex commercial and financial services litigation in state and federal courts. He is the firm’s Office Managing Partner in San Francisco. David has significant experience assisting clients across a broad range of service areas including securities, wealth management, trusts, consumer finance, insurance, mortgages, banking operations, real estate, creditor’s rights, lender liability, negotiable instruments, secured transactions and all manner of business disputes. He also has extensive experience in class action litigation and unfair competition claims.

David McLean

David McLean advises private investment funds and sponsors in their equity and debt investing activities. His deep experience up and down the capital stack allows him to bring a broad range of expertise to his clients, together with the deep market insight, knowledge and relationships that accompany that experience. David regularly counsels clients on all types of investing activities, from venture capital, minority equity, growth equity and control buyouts, to venture lending, mezzanine finance and senior lending. He has over 19 years of practice, with a particular focus on junior capital and the investment funds that focus in this sector. David and his team bring a partner approach to their clients, with an emphasis on providing value-added services that go beyond the mere execution of transactions.

David Franchina

Dave Franchina serves as environmental counsel to clients seeking regulatory and compliance advice in a wide variety of substantive areas, including solid and hazardous waste, water and air pollution, wetlands and surface water reclamation, chemical regulation, environmental remediation, and occupational safety and health. He has counseled clients in project development matters with complex environmental implications, redevelopment of contaminated property, multimillion-dollar clean-ups, environmental insurance coverage cases, and superfund matters. He has steered clients through the web of environmental regulation in real estate and commercial transactions, on complex permitting matters, and on enforcement matters ranging from administrative financial penalties to criminal enforcement proceedings.

David Whelpley Jr

David is a partner in the firm’s M&A and Corporate Transactions Department. David personally focuses his practice on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance and commercial transactions. He has represented a wide array of publicly traded and privately held companies in transactions involving international and domestic leveraged buy-outs, strategic joint ventures, recapitalizations, Section 363 asset acquisitions, private equity financings, secured and unsecured public and privately-placed senior, mezzanine and second-lien financings, commercial trade financings and letters of credit. David’s experience also spans a number of industries, including transportation (aircraft, trucking & rail), software, chemicals, telecommunications, real estate investment, manufacturing, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

Davis Walsh

Davis Walsh is a litigator who focuses his practice on representing public and private companies, predominantly in the automotive, medical device and transportation sectors, in state and federal court. He is the lead editor of Infectious Disease Litigation: Science, Law and Procedure. Davis has developed expertise in all phases of litigation, including discovery matters, motions to dismiss, motions for summary and default judgment, motions related to expert admissibility, and post-trial motions for judgment and new trial.

Deepak Reddy

Deepak Reddy is one of the nation’s leading aviation finance lawyers. He represents airlines, aircraft leasing companies, financial institutions and investment funds in complex M&A, financing, restructuring and leasing transactions involving commercial aircraft. Deepak leverages significant experience in cross-border transportation finance transactions to support and advance the business goals and objectives of his clients.

Dennis Mensi

Dennis serves as a partner in the Real Estate and Land Use practice in the McGuireWoods New York office. Dennis focuses his practice on real estate transactions and related areas including representing commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, funds, regional and local banks and other financial institutions in a variety of loan transactions—including permanent, bridge and construction loans, mezzanine financings, credit facilities and split loan structures—secured by all asset classes including retail, office, hotel, industrial, multifamily and mixed use. Dennis has extensive experience in the areas of low income housing and represents lenders in the origination and sale of multifamily mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Dennis also has experience in handling an array of commercial and residential real estate transactions including the acquisition of and disposition of real property.

Don Ensing

Don focuses his practice on corporate finance, particularly senior debt financing for acquisition transactions. He is a co-chair of the firm’s Financial Institutions Industry Team, chair of the firm’s Finance Committee, and served on the firm’s Board of Partners from 2012-2018. He has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Banking and Finance (Woodward/White, Inc.). Don’s experience includes structuring and negotiating syndicated, secured and unsecured senior debt, acquisition financing, real estate financing, and navigating complex intercreditor issues. His lending clients include regulated banks, debt funds and other non-bank lenders. While Don’s background includes a broad range of commercial financing transactions, he has particular expertise advising agents, lenders and borrowers on structuring, negotiating and documenting senior debt facilities for healthcare, energy and early-stage technology companies, and the collateral and operational challenges specific to those sectors. Don served as law clerk to District Court Judge F.A. Little of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana from 1998 to 1999.

Durham McCormick

Durham serves as co-lead of our renewable energy team. He focuses his practice on tax structuring for renewable energy transactions, with a particular emphasis on production tax credits (PTC), investment tax credits (ITC) and Section 1603 Treasury Grants. Durham’s renewable energy experience includes project developments, joint ownership arrangements, power purchase agreements, transmission agreements, turbine supply agreements, balance of plant contracts, financings, acquisitions, divestures and operational matters. He also has significant experience representing clients with their mergers and acquisitions, finance ventures, capital raises and general governance. Over the course of his career, Durham has represented wind, solar and geothermal project developers, consumer-owned utilities, borrowers, real estate developers, and buyers and sellers of businesses in deals aggregating well over 5,000 MWs. He also regularly writes and speaks on tax equity trends impacting the renewable energy industry. Durham is licensed to practice in Texas, Washington and Oregon. He is also admitted to practice in U.S. Tax Court. Durham has a master’s of law in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

Emilie McNally

Emilie McNally focuses her practice on advising buyers, sellers and developers on transactional and advisory matters in a broad range of energy-related projects and transactions. She has industry expertise in the renewable energy, power and oil and gas sectors. In addition to her private practice, Emilie is active in her community through pro bono service. She serves on the pro bono committee for the Richmond office and co-leads the firm’s medical-legal partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Health Systems and Dominion Energy, which offers free legal advice and representation for eligible patients and families. In 2024, Emilie was named to Law360’s “Rising Stars: Top Attorneys Under 40” and Bloomberg Law’s “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40” lists and won the “2024 Emerging Leaders Award” from the M&A Advisor.

Eric Bilik

Eric is former managing partner of the firm’s Jacksonville office. He has practiced for 22 years in the area of commercial litigation, with an emphasis on complex business and financial litigation matters. His litigation experience includes a wide array of commercial contract matters, business torts, real property disputes, and distribution and franchising matters in federal and state courts and arbitral forums. In addition to commercial litigation, Eric’s practice includes the representation of corporate fiduciaries in trust and fiduciary litigation matters

Evelyn Kim

Evelyn Kim serves as a strategic advisor to investors, lenders, private equity firms, infrastructure funds, independent power producers, sponsors and developers in all aspects of the development, financing, acquisition and sale of solar, wind, battery energy storage and biomass projects throughout the United States. She also has significant experience counseling clients on debt, tax equity and limited recourse project financings. Evelyn has led projects in various stages of development from initial bid, through financial close and into commercial operation.

Farnaz Thompson

Farnaz is a skilled litigator and investigator with extensive experience in representing corporations and institutions of higher education in high-profile litigation and government investigations. She is the firm’s Education Industry Team Leader and a trusted advisor with a keen eye for due diligence in education-related transactions, including in the edtech industry. She advises clients on employment and education laws to help identify and resolve issues before they become adversarial in nature. She also zealously represents clients before federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Education. Farnaz successfully has defended employers, state agencies, government officials, institutions of higher education, and academic medical centers, as first chair before federal and state courts as well as trial and appellate courts. She handles a variety of civil litigation including cases concerning civil rights, torts, breach of contract, employment, and constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Geoffrey Cockrell

Geoff is the chair of the firm's private equity group, and serves on the firm’s Board of Partners. He has a wide scope of experience in mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions. His mergers and acquisition experience, representing private equity sponsors, strategic purchasers and sellers extends across a diverse number of industries with a primary focus on healthcare provider services transactions. Geoff is a national contributor both at conferences and in publications on a wide array of issues unique to the private equity industry. He regularly contributes to Law360’s Healthcare and Private Equity sections, and is an author of The Healthcare Investor, a blog on healthcare finance topics.

Gerald Thomas

Chair of McGuireWoods’ Tax & Employee Benefits Department. Focuses on complex transactional tax matters. Offers significant experience with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and reorganizations, private equity funds, joint ventures, real estate investment trusts (REITs), financing transactions, and corporate and partnership tax planning. Handles major business transactions and complex tax issues for public and private companies, including REITs and private equity funds, in the United States and abroad.

Greg Krock

Greg Krock is an accomplished litigator who represents clients in matters involving the oil and gas, electric utilities, and coal industries. His experience includes litigating contract disputes, unfair competition claims, toxic tort cases, and other business disputes before state, federal and appellate courts. Greg is well-known in the energy market for his expertise litigating disputes which occur throughout the lifecycle of oil and gas production – from access to mineral rights to supply contracts. For example, Greg has litigated royalty and lease disputes with landowners (including bad faith pooling cases), toxic tort claims involving hydraulic fracturing, multi-million dollar contract disputes between drilling companies and their contractors, unfair competition claims against natural gas companies, disagreements involving joint operating agreements, and a myriad of disputes involving the construction and operation of natural gas pipelines.

Greg Kilpatrick

Greg, chair of the Securities and Capital Markets department, focuses his practice on public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. His experience includes assisting in the negotiation, structuring and closing of public debt financings, offerings of derivative and hybrid securities, M&A transactions, private placements, and private equity investments. He has extensive experience in private equity and in private sector merger and acquisition transactions for corporate clients. He has regularly represented private equity funds and strategic acquirers in connection with leveraged buyouts, sales of portfolio companies, growth capital investments and venture capital investments. Further, he advises and negotiates on behalf of the various mid-market companies with respect to capital raising and other transactional needs.

Gregory Evans

Gregory Evans is a nationally recognized environmental litigator and trial lawyer. He has over 25 years of experience in courtrooms across the United States. Appointed in 2023, Greg serves as the co-leader of McGuireWoods’ Environmental Litigation practice group. He has successfully negotiated EPA enforcement and CERCLA litigation cases at over 110 Superfund sites throughout the United States. This environmental litigation work includes marine environments on the West Cost, East Cost, and Gulf of Mexico. Greg has tried many Superfund CERCLA contribution cases to judgment in the United States District Court. He has also successfully argued environmental cases on appeal in many circuit courts throughout the United States.

Gregory Hawver

Greg is a deal lawyer focusing on private equity-backed transactions in the middle market to lower middle market, with particular depth of experience working with independent sponsors, emerging managers and other entrepreneurial investors and business owners. Greg represents private equity and strategic clients in a wide variety of change-of-control transactions, minority equity investments, domestic and cross-border acquisitions, recapitalizations, joint ventures and corporate reorganizations.

Hannah Thompson Frank

Hannah has a broad range of experience in securities and corporate law. She represents clients on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and financing transactions. On behalf of publicly held companies, Hannah has also handled equity and debt securities offerings, tender offers, exchange offers, complex recapitalizations and consent solicitations. She also advises corporate secretaries, boards of directors and general counsel on reporting requirements under federal securities law, listing requirements for public exchanges, and other corporate governance matters.

Heather Nixon Stevenson

Heather counsels clients on environmental permitting and environmental regulatory compliance issues and assists clients with environmental issues in business transactions. She also has substantial experience advising clients about, and preparing governance documents for, large-scale residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments, and both residential and commercial condominium projects. Environmental Heather advises clients on issues raised through diligence in transactions, including review and analysis of environmental site assessments, environmental permits, and environmental compliance reviews. She helps clients determine next steps and best practices when facing permitting and regulatory compliance issues. She advises clients on waste, wetland and stormwater permitting issues. Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Heather was an environmental specialist for over a decade, working for the the Virginia Department of Transportation, the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Developments and Condominiums Heather’s practice also involves working with clients to create governance structures for newly created or retrofitted communities. These structures range from the simple to the complex and can include master associations for mixed-use projects, residential and/or commercial associations, and condominium associations. Heather advises interested clients on ways to incorporate green building and other sustainability practices into their communities.

Heather Welch Arbogast

Heather Arbogast serves as a strategic corporate advisor to utilities, energy companies, developers, power purchasers, sponsors, investors and other clients on a broad range of transactions and regulatory issues in the power, retail energy, solar, wind and battery storage sectors of the energy industry. Heather has significant experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and structured commodity transactions and in structuring and negotiating project development and offtake agreements, including power purchase agreements, engineering, procurement and construction contracts, fuel supply and transportation agreements, and related project development documentation. Her regulatory compliance experience includes overseeing retail energy compliance on a statewide basis for a Fortune 500 energy utility, and regularly assisting one of the top four retail energy providers in the U.S. with compliance-related matters.

Holly Buckley

Holly Buckley is the chair of the firm’s Healthcare Department, one of the largest healthcare practices in the United States. A partner in the Chicago office, Holly focuses on corporate healthcare transactional work and regulatory matters. She primarily counsels private equity funds and healthcare clients, including hospitals and health systems, medical practices and physician-owned hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers, on a variety of matters, including structuring transactions, regulatory due diligence, affiliation agreements and compliance matters. Holly also counsels clients on general corporate matters, anti-kickback and Stark issues, self-referral, corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting prohibitions, and licensure requirements. She has also assisted clients with revising and developing compliance plans and implementing compliance programs.

James Anderson

J Anderson's practice focuses on representing public and private companies in a broad range of corporate and securities law matters. He regularly advises clients on securities and governance issues, including SEC reporting and compliance matters, securities transactions, and entity formations and restructurings. J also frequently represents strategic and financial purchasers and sellers of businesses in the structuring, financing, negotiating and consummation of M&A transactions.

Janet Peyton

Janet Peyton practices in the areas of intellectual property and data privacy and security. She is skilled at handling the strategic management of trademark portfolios and also regularly advises on transactional matters, including brand sales and licensing agreements. Janet provides worldwide brand protection, enforcement, licensing and transactional IP services, and she assists clients with preventive data security as well as compliance issues in the aftermath of a data breach. Janet serves as the firm’s U.S. liaison on EU-U.S. cross-border data transfer matters. She counsels clients in the United States on GDPR compliance, auditing and evaluating clients’ data security policies, drafting website privacy notices and internal corporate privacy policies, and negotiating cloud computing and other data processing agreements from the vendor and customer perspective. She advises lawmakers and industry groups on privacy legislation at the state and federal level. As chair of McGuireWoods’ transactional intellectual property practice group, Janet also has significant experience with technology-related transactions, such as sophisticated IT procurement contracts, enterprise software licenses for corporate licensees and buyers, and transition services agreements in the contexts of stock or asset purchase agreements. She holds the CIPP/US certification as a Certified Information Privacy Professional from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Jason Cowley

Jason Cowley, a former federal prosecutor, is a member of the firm’s Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation department and its Securities Enforcement and Litigation practice group. He principally represents financial institutions (including investment funds), corporations, and executives in criminal investigations and trials, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and complex civil litigation. He also conducts internal investigations, undertakes transactional diligence, and advises on compliance matters. Jason has a particular expertise in matters involving securities and commodities fraud, cross-border enforcement issues, anti-money laundering issues, and criminal and civil asset forfeiture. Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Jason served for over 13 years in the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and, prior to that, the Eastern District of North Carolina. In the Southern District of New York, he held key leadership positions, serving for over three years as Co-Chief of SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and as Chief of SDNY’s Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit. As a Chief of SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, Jason supervised a team of approximately twenty senior prosecutors. He oversaw the investigation and prosecution of various white collar offenses, including insider trading, accounting fraud, corporate embezzlement, investment advisor fraud, market manipulation, hedge fund and private equity fund overvaluation, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In this position, he worked with a variety of domestic and foreign regulatory entities, including the SEC, CFTC, FERC, FINRA, PCAOB, NYSE, and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority.

Jay Hughes

Jay focuses his practice on public and private mergers and acquisitions as well as energy transactions and financings, primarily in the oil and gas, power, and renewable energy industries. M&A Practice Jay advises public and private companies in the structuring, financing, negotiation and consummation of business acquisitions, distressed asset acquisitions, divestitures and mergers ranging in size from several million dollars to fifteen billion dollars. Energy Transactions and Finance Jay has considerable experience and knowledge advising clients in the power sector, including both fossil fuel and renewables (wind and solar in particular). He regularly advises publicly traded and privately held energy companies on matters involving acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, project development, mineral conveyancing, and transactions associated with upstream operations and oilfield services. He also advises utilities, developers, and private equity and infrastructure funds in the sale and acquisition of a range of power assets, including nuclear, gas-fired, combined-cycle, hydro, coal, solar, wind, renewable natural gas and other alternative fuels. While earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond, Jay studied abroad at the Central American Institute for International Studies in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Jeremiah Anderson

Jeremiah brings more than two decades of experience representing multinational companies in commercial and environmental litigation, including energy and construction industry disputes. He defends businesses in complex commercial and environmental tort matters, as well as product liability and contamination litigation. He represents clients in trial and appellate courts throughout the United States and in domestic and international arbitrations. Jeremiah’s notable work includes managing the litigation team for a global energy company in national multidistrict litigation related to alleged groundwater pollution. He also manages the trial team for the American Petroleum Institute in climate change litigation across the country. In addition, he recently led the defense of multiple individuals and companies against allegations of trade secrets theft in cases spanning four states, and in the last year, Jeremiah has obtained temporary and permanent injunction relief in a similar case. And Jeremiah is no stranger to the courtroom or arbitration. In the past two years, he has tried two construction disputes with more than $50 million in damages at issue in both. In 2024, Jeremiah was included The Best Lawyers in America for Construction Law and in Legal 500 United States in the General Commercial Litigation section. Jeremiah was also named a “Texas Super Lawyer” in 2024 for the fifth consecutive year.

Joanne Katsantonis

Joanne is McGuireWoods’ former Deputy Managing Partner of Development. She practices in Richmond, Virginia. She has concentrated her practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, energy transactions and financing. Joanne devotes a significant portion of her practice to advising purchasers and sellers of businesses, representing both strategic and financial purchasers. She concentrates her practice on energy transactions and financing.

John Thomas

John Thomas represents businesses in matters across the spectrum of employment law. He is a first-chair trial lawyer with a successful record arguing employment issues before the Supreme Court of Virginia. John’s practice focuses on representing employers in disputes involving misappropriation of trade secrets, covenants not to compete, breaches of contract, and defamation as well as the host of employment statutes such as wage-and-hour laws (the FLSA and state laws), leave laws (the FMLA and state laws), and discrimination statutes (like Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, and state laws). Representative clients include those in defense, banking, healthcare, community property management, wastewater management, and legal industries. John currently serves as the elected co-chair for the Labor & Employment section of the Fairfax Bar Association. In addition to resolving disputes through litigation, arbitration, and mediation, John devotes significant time to counseling HR professionals and in-house counsel through difficult employment-related issues, including terminations, severance agreements, employment contracts, and lay-offs. He regularly advises clients on implementing drug-testing policies that comply with changing cannabis laws. He offers a practical eye toward revising policies and handbooks and messaging difficult decisions to employees; in fact, John is the author of An Employer’s Guide to D.C. Employment Statutes, a comprehensive online guide to help companies navigate Washington, D.C.’s complex employment laws.

John Padgett

John is the former office managing partner of McGuireWoods' Norfolk office and the founding leader of the Transportation Industry Team. He has extensive experience in providing a wide range of services to corporate and transportation clients. He is experienced in counseling public and private businesses, partnerships and limited liability corporations with matters involving mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate and operational issues. John also has experience with the transportation and terminal operating industries and has a unique perspective on maritime commerce. He has worked with a variety of enterprises at various points in their corporate trajectory, from early stage to maturity. He also advises corporations in the nuances of international trade and U.S. customs' compliance issues. Additionally, he provides litigation support to the firm's corporate and maritime clients. He has been selected by his peers as one of the best corporate and transportation attorneys in Virginia.

John Adams

Drawing on his deep experience in private practice and senior government service, John represents corporations, boards and executives facing significant legal and reputational risk in criminal, regulatory, civil and congressional proceedings. He has resolved complex, high-stakes matters through innovative settlements and successfully tried cases both as a federal prosecutor and against the Department of Justice. In addition to his investigations practice, John is often called upon to brief and argue appeals in courts across the country and has argued appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 11th Circuits.

Jon Finger

Jon Finger's practice focuses on private equity and corporate transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, fund formation, securities offerings and corporate governance initiatives. Jon’s client base includes private equity funds, independent sponsors, emerging managers, venture capital funds, mezzanine finance funds, and companies in mergers, stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, minority investments, fund formation, private placements, venture capital and growth equity transactions. His clients and representative transactions involve a diverse scope of industries including health care and pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, technology, telecommunications and financial services.

Jonathan Blank

Jonathan Blank is the chair of McGuireWoods’ Business and Securities Litigation Department. A problem solver who focuses on energy law, his experience includes wind, solar, biomass, natural gas mineral rights, royalty, transportation, construction, consumer protection, fiduciary, closely held corporation and other complex litigation. He has tried dozens of bench and jury trials, and has appeared in district, circuit and federal courts, as well as in AAA arbitrations. He has been reported in cases in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, federal courts in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and one in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Joseph M. Englert

A member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Department, Joseph M. Englert focuses on representing policyholders in complex commercial insurance coverage disputes. He represents policyholders in all aspects of coverage disputes including complex litigation and arbitration matters relating to property damage, bad faith claims, directors and officers liability, professional liability, errors and omissions, cyber/privacy liability, government expropriation, product liability and advertising injury. Joe also represents insurance brokers against professional negligence claims involving complex coverage issues. Joe advises clients in obtaining best-in-class terms and conditions for all manner of coverage with U.S. and international insurers. He also counsels companies on risk management needs arising out of insurance policy renewals and mergers and acquisitions.

Joy Fuhr

Joy Fuhr defends manufacturers and energy producers. She focuses on public and private nuisance, environmental, climate change, toxic tort, and product liability claims. She serves as national counsel and lead lawyer for Fortune 500 Companies in state and federal courts throughout the country.

Julia English

Julia D. English represents both electric and natural gas industry participants in regulatory matters, transactional matters and project development and finance. She represents clients in administrative and adjudicative proceedings before the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Energy Department and the State Department, as well as before state regulatory commissions. Julia regularly advises energy clients with respect to transaction matters, including mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations; project development; energy supply arrangements; and financing transactions. She negotiates and drafts a variety of commercial agreements for the electric and natural gas industries relating to power purchases, tolling, interconnection, energy management, operation and maintenance, fuel supply and transportation, and more.

Katlyn Davis Farrell

Katlyn represents energy and utility clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and appellate courts. She has broad experience on electric matters, including matters related to cost-based and market-based rates; generator interconnection; RTO/ISO issues including RTO/ISO tariffs, cost allocation and market design. Additionally, Katlyn provides transactional support, including obtaining required FERC, NERC and RTO/ISO approvals. Katlyn also counsels clients on FERC compliance and enforcement matters, with an emphasis on the FERC Standards of Conduct, Affiliate Restrictions and Cross Subsidization Rules, Electric Quarterly Reports, Interlocking Directorates, and Order No. 860 relational database requirements.

Kayla McCann Marty

Kayla is a member of the firm’s Healthcare Department, one of the largest healthcare practices in the United States. In her practice, she primarily focuses on healthcare transactions and related compliance matters, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic affiliations, joint ventures, and divestitures. She regularly counsels large physician practices, private equity funds, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, imaging facilities, and lenders through complex deal processes. In this capacity, she negotiates operating agreements, purchase agreements, subscription agreements, physician employment agreements, and management agreements. She also counsels clients on a variety of other regulatory matters in connection with transactions and strategic affiliations, including corporate structuring, corporate practice of medicine, licensing, fraud and abuse, and HIPAA issues.

Kevin McGinnis

Kevin McGinnis, chair of the firm’s Debt Finance department, has structured, negotiated and documented senior debt financing arrangements of all types, including secured and unsecured single bank and syndicated credit agreements, multicurrency financing facilities and acquisition financings for client that include, among others, national banking institutions. He has worked on financings for manufacturing companies, retailers, healthcare providers, business consulting companies and media outlets. Kevin also has extensive experience documenting and negotiating credit facilities on behalf of banking institutions that lend to or invest in NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL professional sports franchises as well as English Premier League clubs. In particular Kevin has worked with the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball and the National Football League in preparing loan documentation. Additionally, Kevin has represented the administrative agent in a variety of leveraged and investment grade syndicated and single-bank loan transactions.

Makram Jaber

Makram Jaber handles a range of environmental matters for clients from the manufacturing, power, and oil and gas sectors. His practice focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on the Clean Air Act. He regularly partners with clients to help them obtain and defend permits, defend enforcement actions, and represent their interests in rulemaking proceedings and related Court of Appeals litigation under the Clean Air Act. While involved in matters that run the gamut of Clean Air Act programs, he has deep experience in the New Source Review (NSR) program and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). Makram, a former professional engineer with more than 20 years of legal experience, has represented companies in numerous enforcement cases and settlements under the NSR enforcement initiative since its inception in 1999. Clients from a variety of industries–in the power sector, oil and gas, and manufacturing--rely on his in-depth knowledge of the NSR program to obtain and defend permits for new and expanded facilities, to counsel them on compliance and, if necessary, to defend enforcement actions for existing facilities.

Mark Kinghorn

Mark is the Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Department. He represents clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitration involving federal and state securities claims, banking and lending disputes, insurance coverage disputes, business torts and general commercial contract cases, and real estate disputes, including lienholder and landlord/tenant disputes. He has appeared in state and federal trial courts and has participated in numerous appeals on both the state and federal level. He also has extensive experience in complex and fast-paced commercial arbitrations, with a particular focus on dispute resolution within the confines of joint ventures.

Mark Anderson

Mark, an acclaimed litigator who leads McGuireWoods’ national trial team, represents clients in their most challenging matters in courts across the country. Throughout his 30-year career, he has prepared hundreds of complicated cases for trial and has served as lead appellate counsel in dozens of reported decisions. Mark’s trial practice remains very active as reflected by the 26 trial weeks he spent as lead counsel for seven jury trials in six different jurisdictions during the two years preceding the pandemic. He has completed one “zoom” trial so far during the pandemic.

Mary Nash Rusher

Mary Nash is the former managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Raleigh office. She works closely with local governments, nonprofits and others to finance capital improvements using tax advantage financing, primarily tax exempt bonds. She assists both lenders and local governments and nonprofits in traditional tax exempt financings of capital projects, as well as more innovative financings that involve public-private partnerships, synthetic tax increment financing and new markets tax credits. Her work includes financings for educational institutions (including public and private K-12 schools, charter schools, and public and private colleges and universities), YMCAs, statewide authorities and agencies, and local governments (including cities, towns, counties, and housing authorities).

Meghaan Madriz

Meghaan Madriz advises employers of all sizes on their employment-related matters and zealously defends them against employee claims in court, arbitration, and administrative proceedings. With experience representing employers before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, federal district courts across the country, Texas state courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, and the Texas Workforce Commission, Meghaan has the experience and, more importantly, the passion to handle companies’ employment law needs.

Michael Woodard

Mike Woodard is the chair of McGuireWoods' Mergers & Acquisitions and Energy Transactional department. He concentrates his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, energy transactions and finance, and general corporate counseling. Mike serves as lead transactional counsel to utilities, developers, and investors (including tax equity) as they navigate the development, purchase, and sale of energy projects as well as the structuring, negotiation, and implementation of corporate transactions and financings. He has led successful regulated and unregulated transactions involving wind, solar, battery storage, fuel cells, landfill gas, and other alternative energy sources in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and along the East Coast. Mike represents purchasers and sellers, both private and public companies, in stock and asset purchases, merger and acquisitions, joint ventures, and leveraged and management-sponsored buy-out transactions. He has experience advising public companies in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, including initial public offerings. In addition, he advises clients regularly on compliance with 1934 Act reporting requirements and annual meeting and proxy statement matters. In addition to his M&A and securities work, Mike partners with his clients on general corporate matters, including corporate governance issues, fiduciary duties and other standards of conduct. He also works with clients in each stage of venture capital growth, providing advice on an array of corporate issues facing an emerging and growing company.

Michele McKinnon

The chair of McGuireWoods’ nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations practice team, Michele routinely represents many public charities, major colleges and universities, supporting organizations, large private foundations, and charitable trusts on a variety of federal tax and governance matters. She concentrates much of her time on structuring planned gifts to charitable organizations, including the use of charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities and conservation easements. Michele’s work also focuses on estate planning and estate and trust administration, handling the administration of large complex estates, fiduciary income tax matters, fiduciary litigation, and risk management for corporate trust departments. A Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Michele currently serves as Chair of its Charitable Planning & Exempt Organizations Committee and previously served as its Virginia State Chair.

Miles Indest

A Texas-Louisiana litigator with an MBA, Miles enjoys helping companies protect their intellectual property, navigate artificial intelligence regulations and resolve high-stakes litigation. As a member of McGuireWoods’ Commercial Litigation Department, Miles has significant experience representing energy and technology companies in complex disputes involving contracts, environmental issues, government investigations and trade secret theft. Miles prides himself on securing quick and efficient victories for his clients to prevent unfair competition or irreparable harm. His colleagues recognize his unique experience with forensic investigations, electronic discovery, mobile devices and software, which he uses to rapidly uncover and organize evidence from computers, cell phones and storage devices. Using this experience, Miles has secured and defeated injunctions related to oil and gas services, joint operating agreements, debt collections, security interests, foreclosures, confidentiality agreements, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secrets. Miles is a thought leader in his industry on emerging technology, artificial intelligence and trade secrets, as he frequently publishes articles and speaks at conferences, CLEs and webinars. Miles also has helped clients win at both the trial and appellate levels, including in the Texas Courts of Appeal and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Molleigh Thomas

Molleigh focuses her practice on corporate and energy transactions. She advises companies across multiple industries in a wide range of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, asset purchases, lease transactions and general corporate matters. Molleigh is experienced in reviewing and drafting oil and gas lease transactions, easements, subleases, mineral conveyances, oil and gas title opinions, due diligence relating to real property acquisitions and transactions for the energy sector and other documents associated with natural gas operations.

Molly White

Molly is co-chair of the firm’s fintech practice group. As a former Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor, Molly brings her seasoned trial and trial preparation skills to a range of clients in complex commercial litigation and government, regulatory, and criminal investigation matters. In her government role, Molly prosecuted cases in all areas of federal securities enforcement, including accounting fraud, offering fraud, options backdating and market-timing. During her tenure at the SEC, her legal skills and acumen were recognized by her receipt of the Director’s and Chairman’s Awards for Excellence.

Natalie Zagari

Natalie’s practice concentrates on product and consumer litigation. She primarily serves as national coordinating counsel for a major transportation company. In this role, she oversees a portfolio of the client’s litigation and provides strategic insight to protect the client’s unique business interests. Natalie also represents financial and other clients from a broad range of industries in federal and state courts in complex civil litigation. She has successfully resolved matters for clients through dispositive motions, alternative dispute resolution, and preliminary injunctions.

Noel Symons

Known for leading rate cases involving issues of first impression and high profile matters for a coalition of transmission owners and for coalitions of generation owners. Many of his representations involve questions of RTO tariff and market design, and regional and inter-regional cost allocation. Represents utilities and energy companies before FERC and appellate courts, and advises on cross-jurisdictional matters involving other regulatory bodies. Also represents vertically disaggregated utilities, developers and operators of “merchant” transmission and other forms of nontraditional transmission, merchant generation developers and operators, financial institutions, power marketers, trade organizations, and owners of renewable resources and qualifying facilities. Co-led development of McGuireWoods’ FERC Enforcement Reporter.

Noreen Kelly

Noreen serves as McGuireWoods’ deputy managing partner for litigation. She oversees and manages the firm’s five litigation departments in the U.S. and the UK. She is the former chair of the firm’s Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation Department, which Law360 selected for its prestigious “Practice Group of the Year” award for its notable work in 2019, and is a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Noreen focuses her practice on regulatory enforcement matters and commercial litigation in the securities and financial services spaces. Noreen has represented a wide variety of clients – financial institutions, broker dealers, investment advisors, and other public and private entities and executives – facing regulatory and criminal investigations and supervisory examinations by the DOJ, the SEC, FINRA, various securities exchanges, as well as state attorneys general. She has conducted internal investigations on behalf of major financial institutions, audit committees and other entities involving, among other matters, alleged violations of securities and banking-related rules and regulations, accounting fraud, broker dealer compliance violations, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and general fraud and embezzlement. Noreen also counsels broker dealers on compliance matters, particularly in the areas of books & records compliance and transaction and non-financial regulatory reporting (e.g., Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), Large Option Position Reporting (LOPR), ACT and TRF reporting, and Electronic Bluesheets (EBS)).

Patricia Hosmer

Trish Hosmer is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She concentrates her practice on transactions involving aviation and other equipment. Her work involves representing borrowers, lenders, lessors, lessees, equity participants and agents in connection with transactions for the financing of aircraft, railcars, barges, manufacturing facilities, power generation facilities and miscellaneous equipment through leveraged leases, synthetic leases, true leases and loan structures. In addition, she represents borrowers in connection with senior syndicated credit facility transactions, primarily in the energy industry. She also represents buyers and sellers in connection with purchases and sales of various equipment and services, including aircraft and rail equipment and engineering, management and maintenance services. Trish assists owners in connection with negotiating management agreements with service providers and structuring ownership and use of corporate aircraft to comply with Federal Aviation Regulations Parts 91 and 135 relating to the sharing of use of aircraft.

Patrick Clyder

Patrick is a trial lawyer who counsels product manufacturers and distributors in complex personal injury and business disputes. While he spends the majority of his time in the Circuit Court of Cook County, one of the most difficult jurisdictions for defendants in the United States, Patrick has represented clients in multiple state and federal courts across the United States. Manufacturers and distributors from a broad array of industries, including aircraft, construction equipment, fire sprinkler systems, ladders, power tools, and transformers, have turned to Patrick to guide them through all stages of litigation, including trial. He also has successfully resolved matters through dispositive motion, settlement, mediation and arbitration.

Perry Miles

Perry principally serves as national trial and class action counsel in high exposure product liability matters. He has handled all aspects of defense litigation in single, class action and multidistrict litigation, including advanced motions practice; corporate witness preparation; developing technical defenses and expert witness testimony; excluding and limiting adverse expert testimony; internal investigations; litigation testing; trial work; and appellate practice. As defense counsel for a Big Three automaker, Perry has tried multiple-week high exposure cases, often in challenging jurisdictions. He has first-chaired jury trials to verdict in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Alabama and participated in jury trials in Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

Peter Szurley

Peter Szurley represents financial institutions, hedge funds and finance companies. He handles complex commercial financings of all kinds, including syndicated and single-bank lending transactions, equipment leasing, securitizations and structured finance. He also works on domestic and cross-border transactions (particularly involving aircraft financings and sales). Financial institutions turn to Peter for his experience in credit restructurings inside and outside of bankruptcy and hedge funds seek his counsel on financing and general corporate matters. Peter is the past co-chair of the Opinions Committee of the Business Law Section of the California Lawyers Association and is a member of its Steering Committee.

Richard Viola

Rick Viola is the deputy managing partner of the firm’s corporate practice. His practice historically has consisted of representing public and private companies in securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters. He has primary experience in corporate finance transactions, including public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities, representing issuers, underwriters, placement agents and selling stockholders. Rick regularly represents financial institutions and other public company issuers in connection with liability management transactions involving trust preferred and other hybrid securities and senior, subordinated and secured debt securities, including tender offers, consent solicitations, redemptions, repurchases and exchanges. He also represents companies of all sizes in M&A transactions, including stock and asset purchases, and tender offers. He counsels public companies with ongoing business issues, including Exchange Act reporting and corporate governance matters.

Robert Wynne

Robert focuses his practice on all areas of executive compensation and employee benefits law. His practice includes equity and non-equity-based incentive arrangements; non-qualified deferred compensation; tax-qualified retirement, health and welfare plans; compensation and benefits issues in the M&A context; multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liability; and issues involving ERISA fiduciary responsibilities. He regularly represents clients in interactions with the IRS, DOL and PBGC, and is experienced with the SEC’s executive compensation proxy disclosure rules. Robert serves as chair of the Board of Trustees of Jackson-Feild Behavioral Health Services, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents suffering from severe emotional trauma, mental illness and/or addiction.

Robert Muckenfuss

Robert Muckenfuss is chair of the firm’s Complex Commercial Litigation Department and is a first chair trial lawyer who focuses his practice on complex business and financial services litigation. He has tried cases to jury verdict in state and federal courts and has handled a wide variety of business disputes around the country. In his financial services litigation practice, Robert has represented large financial institutions in various consumer-related lawsuits, including nationwide mortgage litigation. He also manages large teams of lawyers who handle financial services litigation across the country. In his motorsports practice, Robert represents team owners and drivers in various aspects of the business. He has negotiated major driver contracts and sponsor deals within NASCAR’s top series. In his pro bono practice, Robert is routinely appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants and has tried numerous criminal cases to jury verdict.

Sabrina Conyers

Sabrina Conyers is a partnership and corporate tax attorney with more than 20 years of experience providing domestic and international tax transaction planning and advisory services, as well as general corporate, corporate governance, private equity and real estate finance advisory services. Her clients include public and private corporations, investment banks, private equity funds and other private companies. She represents clients across many industries in structuring, negotiating and documenting the tax consequences of their partnerships and joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and REIT transactions, domestic and cross-border financings and other corporate combinations and reorganizations. Sabrina has served as tax and corporate counsel in structuring, negotiating and implementing tax credit-driven transactions including NMTC, LIHTC, HTC and energy tax credit syndication transactions. She is a trusted resource to her clients, partnering with them to bring practical solutions to their complex tax problems. Sabrina has also served as general counsel to many nonprofit corporations and utilizes her mastery of nonprofit, corporate and partnership tax law to structure and implement cutting-edge transactions in social impact investment and ESG.

Sabrina Beldner

As former chair of the firm's labor and employment practice, Sabrina represents employers in all aspects of traditional labor law and employment-related litigation. Her broad practice consists of representing employers in wage and hour class, collective and representative actions and state and federal litigation of wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, FMLA/CFRA, ERISA, Unruh Act and unfair competition/trade secret claims. In unionized settings, Sabrina has obtained favorable results representing management in collective-bargaining negotiations, labor arbitrations and in unfair labor practice proceedings before the Region and at trial before the National Labor Relations Board. She also works with and advises management on union avoidance, union campaigns and collective-bargaining issues. Sabrina has extensive experience and has obtained favorable results representing clients in mediations, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, and at trial, and she regularly provides advice and counsel on discipline, discharge, reduction in force, leave and accommodation issues. Sabrina also conducts management training on the prevention of unlawful employment practices and drafts and advises employers on employee handbooks, employment policies, and employment agreements. Sabrina is an active LCLD mentor, and her past community involvement has included volunteering for numerous LGBTQ+ organizations. Sabrina also serves on McGuireWoods' Diversity & Inclusion Committee and is the former chair of the firm's LGBTQ+ Lawyers Network.

Sam Tarry

Sam is the co-leader of McGuireWoods’ Product Liability & Mass Tort practice group, a member of the firm's Trial Practice Steering Committee, and a past chair of the Product and Consumer Litigation department. For nearly three decades, he has represented clients in tort, environmental, and public health litigation in state and federal courts across the country. A fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he has won jury trial verdicts in ten states and successfully managed thousands of cases to resolution. Sam has served as punitive damages counsel for a variety of clients when corporate conduct is at issue, coordinating defenses at both the trial and appellate levels. He is a frequent commentator on professional ethics in mass tort litigation, and has served as an independent expert reviewer for the RAND Corporation and lecturer at the VCU School of Business.

Sarah Zielinksi

Sarah helps businesses resolve disputes and navigate compliance challenges arising under the antitrust and consumer protection laws. She represents clients in all varieties of antitrust and consumer protection matters, including as defendants in class actions and complex litigation, as plaintiffs in competitor lawsuits, and as targets of government investigations. She counsels businesses on a wide variety of antitrust and consumer protection issues and regularly provides compliance training. Sarah is a leader in the antitrust community, and currently serves as co-chair of the Pricing Conduct Committee of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association.

Sarah Zielinski

Scott Becker

Scott Becker is a partner in the healthcare department at McGuireWoods. He previously served on the Board of Partners of the firm and chaired the healthcare department for nearly 13 years. Scott is the founder and publisher of Becker’s Hospital Review and Becker’s Healthcare. He represents hospitals and health systems, healthcare companies, surgery center chains, large practices and private equity funds. Scott is a Harvard law graduate and certified public accountant.

Shelby Guilbert

Shelby represents businesses, manufacturers, financial institutions, and healthcare providers in insurance recovery actions, high-stakes contract disputes and cross-border litigation. Over the last three years he has recovered over a billion dollars from insurance companies in on behalf of his policyholder clients. His experience includes handling coverage litigation involving all major lines of insurance, including CGL/umbrella, Crime/Fidelity Bond, Cyber, D&O, E&O, Marine Cargo, and Property lines. Shelby has handled matters in state and federal courts around the country at the trial and appellate levels Shelby also routinely handles cross-border disputes in domestic and international arbitration, and he has substantial experience advising clients on claims arising under policies issued by the London and Bermuda markets. He has extensive experience arbitrating disputes under the AAA, ARIAS, CPR, JAMS, ICDR, ICC, LCIA, SIAC, and UNCITRAL rules, and currently serves as the President of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society.

Shelby S. Guilbert

Shelby S. Guilbert Jr. represents large businesses, manufacturers, financial institutions and healthcare providers in insurance recovery actions, high-stakes contract disputes and cross-border litigation. He has recovered over a billion dollars from insurance companies in the U.S. and international markets on behalf of his policyholder clients. In addition to helping clients pursue all types of first- and third-party insurance claims, Shelby regularly advises companies on risk management needs arising out of insurance policy renewals, mergers and acquisitions, and IPO transactions. Shelby has assisted dozens of companies with D&O and cyber insurance reviews, and as lead coverage counsel, he has helped Fortune 500 companies recover hundreds of millions of dollars of cyber insurance following some of the highest-profile data breach incidents on record. He is currently serving as president of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society.

Stephen Older

Stephen is co-chair of the Capital Markets subgroup of the firm’s Financial Institutions Industry Team. He is a member of the firm’s Board of Partners and Executive Committee, and a former member of the Opinions and Pension Committees. He focuses his practice on corporate and securities law, with a concentration on public offerings and private placements. He also maintains an active practice representing hedge and private equity funds in transactions, as well as trading and general advice. In addition, Stephen has been involved in numerous private and public mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Stephen G. Foresta

Steve is a litigation partner in our New York office focusing his practice on complex commercial litigation, including insurance recovery, life settlement disputes, and mass tort and product liability actions. His experience includes handling all phases of complex litigation and he has tried numerous cases in state and federal court and before arbitral panels in the United States and abroad. In Steve’s life settlement practice, he has litigated a wide variety of disputes, including insurable interest/STOLI challenges, cost of insurance rate increases, enforcement of contestability clauses, and claims of elder abuse, fraud and unfair competition. Steve has also represented plaintiffs and defendants in environmental actions, patent infringement claims and other types of disputes for clients across a wide variety of industries.

Taylor French

Taylor French is co-chair of the firm's employee benefits and executive compensation group. His employee benefits practice covers a wide-range of traditional executive compensation and employee benefits matters along with a variety of inter-disciplinary practice areas and industries that are affected by executive compensation and employee benefits laws.

Taylor Wedge French

Thomas Zahn

Tom is the chair of the firm’s Corporate and Private Equity Department. He also previously served as a member of the firm’s Board of Partners. Tom focuses his practice on private equity-backed corporate transactions. He regularly represents private equity funds, mezzanine finance funds, family offices and institutional co-investors, independent sponsors, privately held companies and executives in a wide variety of transactional matters, including platform and add-on acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, control, minority, growth and structured equity investments, divestitures, joint ventures, recapitalizations, commercial transactions, executive employment agreements and corporate governance matters. His transactional experience extends across numerous borders and spans a wide array of industries, including healthcare, energy and infrastructure, education, food and beverage, distribution and manufacturing, consumer products, transportation and technology.

Timothy Callahan

Tim Callahan has closed wind, solar and other renewable energy projects aggregating well over 10,000 MWs in his nearly 30-year career. He is a leading advisor to owners, developers, sponsors, lenders, manufacturers and contractors in all facets of the development, financing, acquisition and disposition of energy and other infrastructure facilities. His comprehensive experience includes advising clients in connection with renewable energy facilities, gas and coal fired power plants, and gas and water pipelines. Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Tim served as the global chair of the Wind Energy Practice at another Am Law 100 law firm. He frequently speaks and writes on alternative energy.

Todd Steggerda

Todd Steggerda serves as McGuireWoods’ Deputy Managing Partner for Strategic Development, following service as the deputy managing partner for litigation where he oversaw and managed the firm’s litigation departments and roughly 500 litigators in the U.S. and the UK. He is the former chair of McGuireWoods’ Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation Department, which Law360 selected for its prestigious “Practice Group of the Year” award for its notable work in 2019. In a dynamic practice spanning 20 years in Washington, Todd has resolved a diverse range of high-stakes government investigations, regulatory enforcement, and litigation matters, including dozens of matters investigated by the civil and criminal divisions of the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and numerous other federal and state agencies and investigative bodies

Todd Mullins

Office Managing Partner, Washington, D.C.; Chair, Power Sector Member; Board of Partners. Represents energy clients in enforcement, compliance matters involving Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, North American Electric Reliability Corporation, others. Branch Chief, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Enforcement, Division of Investigations, 2006-10; 30 years of experience in private practice and government with litigation, enforcement on energy matters

Vishwa Link

Vishwa is chair of the firm’s Regulatory and Compliance practice. Her practice involves administrative litigation before state public utility commissions. She excels at uniting large teams addressing complex subject matters to speak with one voice and reach a common goal. Vishwa has served as lead counsel in proceedings for electric and gas clients involving securing transmission-line certificates of public convenience and necessity, grid transformation prudency review, off-shore wind prudency review, demand-side management program and cost recovery, integrated resource plans, affiliates act and securities act approvals. She has led teams in base rate proceedings for electric clients and led base rate proceedings for gas clients, including managing substantial amounts of discovery.

Wolfgang McGavran

Wolf is a litigator that helps solve his clients’ most complex disputes. In addition to tackling commercial claims of all stripes, Wolf focuses his practice on trade secret, financial, environmental and energy litigation. Wolf serves clients in variety of industries, including technology, energy, banking and manufacturing. For example, Wolf has experience seeking and defending against injunctive relief in cases involving alleged trade secret misappropriation and breach of confidentiality agreements. Wolf has represented energy companies in lawsuits in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Montana. Wolf’s environmental experience includes resolving toxic tort claims, contamination claims, and claims under CERCLA and various state statutes. Wolf’s civic engagement includes a dedication to providing pro bono legal services, mentoring law students with diverse backgrounds, and supporting various charitable and nonprofit endeavors. For instance, Wolf serves as a board member for Bikes for the World, a non-profit organization that makes used bicycles available to low-income people in developing countries.

Yasser Madriz

Yasser is the managing partner of the Houston office. A trial lawyer with extensive experience handling complex, high-stakes litigation in federal and state court, he plays key roles in various multi-billion dollar cases filed throughout the United States. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants from a wide array of industries in a broad range of business, commercial, and energy litigation matters. Over the past several years, Yasser has focused his practice on cases involving technology and intellectual property disputes, trade secret theft, and unfair competition claims, but he has substantial experience handling other litigation matters. As a former transactional attorney, for instance, Yasser frequently leverages his transactional background to help clients solve complex transaction based disputes, business organization controversies, and derivative actions. He is able to dissect complex corporate disputes from the perspective of a litigator and a transactional attorney—an asset from which many of his clients have benefited. Yasser collaborates with his clients to proactively plan and develop strategies to protect their business. An avid negotiator, Yasser uses his negotiation prowess to obtain favorable results for his clients in settlement proceedings and mediations. Yasser also understands that litigation sometimes cannot be avoided and is fully equipped to fight for his clients and to advance their positions in jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations. As a native Nicaraguan, Yasser's Latin American roots and fluency in Spanish have additionally enabled him to develop experience in representing Latin American clients in international and cross-border disputes.

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