Bailey Brauer co-founder selected to D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas for 2021

DALLAS – For a sixth consecutive year, trial lawyer Alex Brauer, co-founder of litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC, has been recognized among the top attorneys in Dallas by D Magazine.

Brauer was selected to the peer-nominated 2021 Best Lawyers in Dallas listing on the strength of his commercial litigation work for clients across the country.

Brauer’s practice focuses on high-stakes business disputes ranging from allegations of fraud and deceptive practices in commercial transactions to breaches of fiduciary duties and obligations relating to non-compete agreements. He also has assisted several clients with disputes involving the sales and purchases of various businesses.

The Best Lawyers in Dallas selection is just the latest honor for Mr. Brauer. He has also earned recognition from Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, the Texas edition of Super Lawyers magazine and Texas Lawyer magazine. He also is a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and has served on several key Dallas Bar Association committees. He is a supporter of the Readers 2 Leaders literacy program and the North Texas Community Giving Foundation.

Selection to the Best Lawyers in Dallas list is based on a blue-ribbon panel’s evaluation of nominees recommended by their peers. The complete list is featured in the May 2021 edition of D Magazine and available at http://www.dmagazine.com.

Arent Fox is pleased to announce the expansion of its International Trade & Investment practice in Washington, DC with the addition of public international law Partner David Tafuri, Senior Advisor Richard Griffiths, and Associate Jasmine Zaki.

Tafuri’s practice is rooted in vast experience working with clients overseas in frontier markets and in solving complex problems at the intersection of law, diplomacy, and policy. Tafuri has worked in some of the most challenging environments and enjoys representing the underdog in international disputes and taking on novel questions of public international law. He relies upon his previous positions with the US Government and the United Nations to find creative, multi-forum solutions for his clients. Before joining Arent Fox, Tafuri chaired the Emerging Democracies practice at Dentons, working with clients to strengthen democracies abroad.

As part of Tafuri’s team, Richard counsels, advises, and leads the international strategy efforts on behalf of foreign governments in regions across the globe. Jasmine advises clients on commercial matters, including regulation and compliance issues related to companies operating in the Middle East and Africa.

Tafuri’s Experience
Tafuri’s clients include public and private companies seeking to invest in the emerging markets of the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, and US government contractors, NGOs, and intergovernmental organizations.

Tafuri led a legal team that supported the World Bank’s COVID-19 crisis response for sovereign governments in Latin America and Asia. The legal team worked with governments in emerging markets to provide strategic advice concerning the pandemic’s impact on public-private partnerships (PPPs) across a broad array of industry sectors. Tafuri headed up efforts by local lawyers in various countries to reform and restructure large transportation and infrastructure PPPs, while working closely with The World Bank, Ministries of Finance, and national PPP units.

Tafuri leads the legal effort to support security sector reform in a Middle East nation, including reforming legal and institutional structures and creating a national security council, counter-terrorism center, and disarmament programs.

Tafuri previously served as the US Department of State’s Rule of Law Coordinator for Iraq at the US Embassy in Baghdad during the height of the war in Iraq. In that position, he worked directly with the Chief Justice of Iraq and Iraqi ministries to help rebuild the legal system. He was awarded the Department of State’s Superior Honor Award for his work.

He also draws on his previous experience as an aide to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a staff aide to several Presidential and Congressional campaigns to augment his practice. For example, Tafuri was an outside foreign policy advisor to President Obama’s campaign in 2008.

Before entering private practice, Tafuri worked for the United Nations in Turkey. He has served on the board of directors of USA for UNHCR, which supports the UN Refugee Agency, and is the founder and current President of the US-Kurdistan Business Council.

A prolific thought-leader, Tafuri has written articles on foreign affairs issues in a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and The Hill, where he is currently a foreign policy contributor. Tafuri also frequently appears on CNN, Fox News, the BBC, and other news networks to discuss foreign policy topics.

“Three teams in Major League Soccer are switching law office jobs with the mid-April kickoff of the top tier of the U.S. sport’s 2021 season—a start delayed a few weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“D. Brock Denton, outside general counsel for FC Cincinnati, an MLS team whose owners include former gubernatorial candidate and business executive Meg Whitman, will give up his role when he starts a new job Aug. 1 with Cintas Corp., one of the largest U.S. uniform and workplace product suppliers.”

“But Denton will be in attendance Saturday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at FC Cincinnati’s new home, the 26,000-seat TQL Stadium. He’ll also be there when his team makes its home field debut May 16 against Inter Miami CF, which is co-owned by former global soccer star David Beckham.”

Read the article.

“There is limited good news at K&L Gates. Associates that bill a bunch of hours — well over the firm’s typical bonus hour requirement — will get special bonuses in line with the market rates sweeping the industry. But, woo boy, the firm’s extensive memo outlining the bonus is a real read,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“Take a look at this gem, where the firm tells associates they need to care about more than just what other firms are paying:
We believe the Associate experience at K&L Gates is and should be an outstanding and rewarding career path for reasons going well beyond hours worked and what other firms are undertaking and expecting in the markets.”

Read the article.

“Diamond Resorts®, a global leader in the hospitality, vacation ownership and entertainment industries, announces another legal victory in its lawsuit against Pandora Marketing (d/b/a Timeshare Compliance), Intermarketing Media (d/b/a Resort Advisory Group), Carlsbad Law Group (including Slattery, Sobel & Decamp, Del Mar Law Group, and Sean Slattery), and McCroskey Legal (including Unlock Legal and Miranda McCroskey). A California federal court recently denied the majority of Carlsbad Law Group’s and McCroskey Legal’s motions to dismiss the claims leveled against them by Diamond, allowing Diamond to proceed against these timeshare “exit” lawyers for contributory false advertising under the Lanham Act, violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, civil conspiracy, and aiding and abetting Timeshare Compliance and Resort Advisory Group’s tortious conduct,” releases Diamond Resorts in their News Releases.

“Diamond’s lawsuit details the nationwide consumer scam perpetrated by Timeshare Compliance, Resort Advisory Group, Carlsbad Law Group, and McCroskey Legal. Timeshare Compliance and Resort Advisory Group lure timeshare owners into paying exorbitant upfront fees for timeshare “exit” services, and then assign the owners to Carlsbad Law Group or McCroskey Legal, law firms that merely procure forced defaults on the timeshare contracts. Instead of providing legitimate services, Carlsbad Law Group and McCroskey Legal, with help from Timeshare Compliance and Resort Advisory Group, mislead timeshare owners, delay service to induce additional upfront “exit” fees from owners, and then encourage nonpayment on the timeshare contract. This results in defaulted contracts, damaged credit, and tax liabilities for the timeshare owners.”

Read the release.

Turner Padget is pleased to announce the addition of Virginia “Ginny” Bozeman, of counsel, to the Litigation practice group in Columbia. She focuses her practice on defending physicians, physician practices and hospitals in medical malpractice litigation.

Prior to joining Turner Padget, Bozeman practiced in Tennessee for seventeen years. She spent ten years defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice matters. She has additionally served as Assistant County Attorney, Chief Ethics Officer, and Contracts Administrator for Shelby County Government in Memphis and as a senior judicial law clerk for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and Tennessee Supreme Court.

Bozeman is active in the legal community, having served on the board of directors for the Association of Women Attorneys – Memphis Chapter in 2016, as a fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation in 2018, and graduated from the Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law class in 2019. She also serves as an adjunct legal research professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Bozeman earned her undergraduate degree from Rollins College and her law degree from the University of Memphis – Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Los Angeles – April 28, 2021 – Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that Los Angeles-based Member Ashley R. Fickel has been appointed to serve as Leader of the firm’s Financial Services Litigation Practice Group.

In his practice, Fickel represents financial institutions, manufacturers, and a diverse group of businesses and individuals in complex legal disputes. He has significant trial experience with trials ranging from complex business disputes to catastrophic injury cases. Fickel recently served a lead role in obtaining eight-figure judgments in separate contested foreclosure proceedings on behalf of a large mortgage servicer. He also lead a nationwide effort on behalf of another financial institution client to rescind a series of fraudulently recorded title documents that were recorded as part of a sophisticated mortgage fraud scheme. Most recently, he has been engaged in defending businesses, including major financial institutions and manufacturers, from a variety of consumer and privacy-based claims.

Furthermore, Fickel has extensive experience in many niche areas of litigation, including, automotive, class action, commercial, construction and product liability and toxic tort.

Fickel earned a J.D., cum laude, from Pepperdine University School of Law and a B.A. in History from Westmont College. He’s been named a Rising Star by Southern California Super Lawyers 10 times throughout his career.

“Sullivan & Cromwell — an agency that introduced in gross income of $1,555,441,000 in 2020, inserting it at No. 18 in the latest Am Law 100 rating — is requiring all workers to return to the workplace in individual on July 6. The information of the total reopening of the agency’s U.S. workplaces was introduced earlier this month throughout a call with all attorneys. No e-mail has been despatched out on the matter,” reports Staci Zaretsky in VBLSA’s Criminal Defense.

“… quite a few associates … are removed from pleased with the state of affairs. Why’s that? Because the agency has reportedly not made any point out of the potential for distant, work-from-home preparations going ahead.”

Read the article.

Pashman Stein Walder Hayden is pleased to announce that Aidan P. O’Connor, a partner and co-chair of the firm’s Criminal Defense practice group, has been elected president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL-NJ), beginning this month for a one-year term. O’Connor recently served as the ACDL-NJ’s vice president.

Aidan’s experience with criminal matters includes defending individuals against allegations of securities fraud, insurance fraud, health care fraud, tax evasion, bank and mortgage fraud, public corruption, union corruption, kickback schemes, computer intrusions and hacking, embezzlement, trade secrets, antitrust matters, and federal grand jury investigations. He has also represented clients accused of assault, kidnapping, extortion, murder, theft, sexual offenses, drug and controlled dangerous substance offenses, and state parole violations in both state and federal courts, as well as municipal court matters.

Established in 1985, the ACDL-NJ is the primary organized voice for the criminal defense bar in New Jersey. With more than 500 members, the ACDL-NJ advocates as amicus curiae in state and federal appellate courts on behalf of the interests of the criminal defense bar and its clients, as well as weighs in on pending legislation affecting criminal defendants. Pashman Stein partner Joseph A. Hayden, Jr. was the founder and first president of the ACDL-NJ (1985-86). Additional Pashman Stein attorneys who have served as president are partner Justin P. Walder (1987-88), partner Raymond M. Brown(1989-90), and of counsel Alan Silber (1992-93).

About Aidan P. O’Connor
Before entering private practice, O’Connor was an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey for 18 years, serving in the Criminal Division, the Organized Crime Strike Force, and as the chief of the Violent Crimes Unit. During his tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s office, he conducted hundreds of federal prosecutions involving long- and short-term investigations, grand jury presentations, witness interviews, wiretapping, and search warrants for offenses including organized crime, RICO, tax fraud and evasion, money laundering, theft of trade secrets, union corruption, embezzlement, commercial and insurance fraud, large stolen property rings, health care fraud, computer crimes, extortion, murder, robbery, and kidnapping.

In addition, he has tried more than 20 federal jury trials, argued hundreds of motions and conducted scores of hearings involving organized crime, tax fraud, money laundering, government program fraud, racketeering, alien smuggling, homicide, bank robbery, narcotics trafficking, civil rights violations and other offenses. He has also argued cases before the Second and Third Circuit Courts of Appeals, as well as the New Jersey Supreme Court.

He was a recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an assistant U.S. attorney for his successful prosecution of a RICO case involving hundreds of millions of dollars in excise tax fraud and organized crime. O’Connor has been highly ranked by attorney ratings organizations including Best Lawyers, Chambers USA, and New Jersey Super Lawyers.

O’Connor received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his B.A. from Columbia University.

Mitigating contract risk is more important than ever in today’s business environment. But, how do you determine which contract risks are acceptable for your business? How do you uncover hidden risk and minimize your exposure to it?

Join us on Friday, May 14th at 1:00 PM ET where our panel will discuss Best Practices for Mitigating Contract Risk using proven and data-driven contract management techniques.

By attending this webinar, you will learn:

-Steps and tools necessary to identify risk in your contracts
-Methods for assessing and scoring risk probability and consequence
-Solutions to mitigating contract risk

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we will send you the webinar recording.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Chris Schwegmann, a partner at Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann LLP in Dallas, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Schwegmann is a litigator who is well known as a “go-to” trial lawyer in Texas for business disputes, with an emphasis on claims involving intellectual property. He also tries trademark and copyright infringement, false advertising, antitrust, and other business cases.

After law school, Schwegmann clerked for former Judge Joe Kendall and current Judge Sam A. Lindsay, both of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Schwegmann received his J.D. (cum laude) from New York University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) from Southern Methodist University.

Seasoned maritime lawyer joins as partner in the firm’s New Orleans office

NEW ORLEANS – Schouest, Bamdas, Soshea & BenMaier PLLC, or SBSB Law, continues to strengthen its bench of maritime law experts as the firm welcomes veteran maritime lawyer Elton Foster to its New Orleans office. With more than 30 years of legal experience, Foster joins as partner where he will focus his practice on cases involving Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, Defense Base Act, Jones Act, and general Maritime Law matters.

Prior to joining SBSB Law, Foster served as Senior Maritime Counsel for Travelers Insurance Groups Holdings, Inc. for more than 10 years. He also served as General Counsel for a California-based company providing services to clients in the domestic and DBA workers compensation arenas.

Foster received his undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University and his J.D. from Tulane University Law School. During his time at Tulane, he held the position of editor-in-chief of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal.

Foster is licensed in Louisiana and has been admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana.

He also comes from a long line of sea captains and attributes his appreciation for and gravitation to maritime-related matters to his early exposure to waterway commerce.

Barnes & Thornburg has added Austin Bersinger as partner in the firm’s Litigation Department in Atlanta. He joins from Bersinger Law, which he founded in 2019, and focuses his practice on insurance recovery litigation and complex business disputes.

Bersinger serves as counsel to policyholders in trial and appellate matters involving coverage denials, claim presentation and bad faith matters, and does a significant amount of insurance counseling and policy review. He also has experience representing major insurers, giving him unique insight into their approach to litigation and coverage claims.

In addition to his years of law firm experience, Bersinger was an Assistance Staff Judge Advocate for the United States Air Force. During this time, Bersinger handled litigation matters on behalf of the U.S. government in military and federal courts.

Bersinger earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law and his B.A from the University of South Carolina Honors College.

Formerly served as the first Executive Deputy Superintendent for Enforcement at NYDFS and the Acting Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section at EDNY

New York, NY (April 19, 2021) – Phillips Nizer LLP is pleased to announce that Matthew L. Levine, who has served in senior enforcement and regulatory roles on both the federal and state level, has joined the firm as a partner in its New York office.

Levine joins Phillips Nizer from Guidepost Solutions, a compliance and investigations consulting firm, where he served as President for the Financial and Regulatory Compliance Services practice.

Levine previously served as the first Executive Deputy Superintendent for Enforcement for the New York State Department of Financial Services. There he oversaw complex investigations involving money laundering, terrorist financing, cybercrime, virtual currency fraud, tax fraud, and consumer fraud. He also supervised major monitorships implemented by NYDFS at financial institutions, and served as the main point of contact for other criminal and civil governmental authorities. Additionally, Levine represented NYDFS in high impact litigation in both federal and state court.

Levine also served as a federal prosecutor for nearly a decade, first in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and later in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. In the Eastern District, Levine served as Acting Chief of the Business & Securities Fraud Section, supervising a group of federal prosecutors conducting major securities fraud, cybercrime, money laundering, health care fraud, tax fraud and other white-collar prosecutions.

Levine also assists companies in compliance matters and investigations, including risk assessments, strengthening risk management and compliance programs, remediation efforts, corporate monitorships, and internal investigations. Representative matters involve the financial markets, anti-bribery, cybercrime and intellectual property. Levine previously litigated on behalf of a wide range of clients, including Fortune 100 companies, high-tech startups, and individuals, at two major law firms and in his own practice. Representations include numerous intellectual property matters involving disputes involving trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, patents and technology licensing.

At Phillips Nizer, Levine is rejoining colleagues who were veterans in enforcement and financial regulation. Levine worked with Phillips Nizer White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Chair Ilene Jaroslaw, who served as chief of the General Crimes Section at the EDNY.

He also worked with Data Technology & Cybersecurity Group Chair Patrick Burke at the NYS Department of Financial Services, where Burke served as a Deputy Superintendent.

All three of them, along with Phillips Nizer Litigation Chair Mark Elliott, previously worked at law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

Earlier in his career, Levine worked as Deputy Director in the US Department of Justice’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He also clerked for Chief United States District Judge Barefoot Sanders. He began his career as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill to Representative Les Aspin, the former Secretary of Defense.

Levine received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. from Lehigh University.

NEW YORK (April 21, 2021) – COVID-19 proved to be the ultimate “stress test” for ethics and compliance programs worldwide, but employees said their companies largely rose to the challenge, according to the latest annual Ethics and Compliance report published by LRN.

The report, titled “The 2021 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report: Meeting the COVID-19 Challenge,” examines how the pandemic affected ethics and compliance programs around the world, and whether employees felt supported by their employers. LRN, a pioneer in the ethics and compliance space, works with more than 700 companies globally and publishes the report annually.

Surveying nearly 650 ethics, compliance, and legal executives and experts at companies and organizations around the world with at least 1,000 employees, researchers found:

● 87% of ethics, compliance, and legal experts reported that leadership rose to the challenges of dealing with the consequences of the crisis
● 85% reported that their boards of directors effectively supported ethics and compliance during COVID-19
● 82% indicated that their organizations emphasized company values — not just rules and procedures — to motivate employees to do the right thing in difficult circumstances
● 68% said leadership took steps to help employees cope with the negative effects of the pandemic in their lives
● 79% said their company’s ethical culture is stronger as a result of their COVID-19 experience

Despite these positive efforts, researchers found reported failures within ethics and compliance programs, such as:

● Only 40% of respondents reported that their firms simplified or modified compliance procedures to meet the new business challenges
● Only 45% indicated that their ethics and compliance team, in the face of the pandemic, strengthened risk controls in critical areas like cybersecurity, privacy, and donations of critical equipment

Findings in the report demonstrate that a values-based approach to governance builds and sustains an ethical culture and strongly correlates with more effective ethics and compliance programs. These insights can also provide a roadmap for the “new normal” as the world emerges from the crisis.

“The 2021 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report: Meeting the COVID-19 Challenge” survey was conducted during the second half of 2020 and analyzed during early spring 2021.

Washington, D.C. – April 27, 2021 – Dykema, a leading national law firm, today announced the addition of James M. Burns to its Business Litigation Practice Group as a Member in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Burns joins Dykema after practicing at Akerman LLP’s Washington, D.C., office.

Burns has extensive experience handling health care antitrust matters and litigating antitrust and related claims in trial and appellate courts across the nation. He represents clients, including numerous health care providers, insurers, and health care systems, before the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission on a wide variety of antitrust matters, including mergers and governmental investigations. Burns also writes frequently on health care antitrust issues in the trade press, and has won several “Readers Choice” awards for his writing on those issues.

In addition to his health care antitrust practice, Burns also focuses on assisting insurance industry clients with unique antitrust issues. He has assisted clients in a number of industries on antitrust compliance, distribution-related antitrust issues, and the application of antitrust laws to intellectual property rights.

Burns also has been actively involved in the leadership of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section for many years. He currently serves as a member of the Antitrust Section’s Long Range Planning Committee and, over the years, has previously served as Chair of the Section’s Membership and Diversity Committee, the Legislation Committee and the Insurance Industry Committee. Burns is also a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Burns earned a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and an A.B., cum laude, from Colgate University.

Pashman Stein Walder Hayden is pleased to announce that Lisa M. Buckley has joined the firm as Partner and Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice and Partner in the firm’s Litigation practice. Buckley was previously an intellectual property and litigation partner at a mid-size law firm in Manhattan for more than 20 years.

Buckley’s intellectual property practice includes copyright, trademark and trade secrets matters for start-ups, corporations and individuals, and she is regularly involved in M&A due diligence related to valuation of IP rights. Clients turn to her to safeguard their IP in industries including digital media, software, fashion, cosmetics, perfume, and apparel, often associated with celebrity brands. In addition, she has long worked with music publishers and artists, resolving disputes concerning master recordings. Across her practice, she has litigated many matters that have resulted in multimillion-dollar verdicts.

Buckley’s IP and complex commercial litigation experience extends to real estate, securities litigation, and corporate governance. She litigates in federal and state courts around the country and represents clients before alternative dispute resolution forums including JAMS, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Buckley received her J.D. with honors from Rutgers University School of Law in 1989 and her B.A. with honors from William Paterson College in 1985. Upon law school graduation, she clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Gary S. Stein. She has been named to Super Lawyers – New York Metro list in intellectual property litigation annually since 2013.

She is the author of the Entertainment Law Chapter, 2020 edition of the New York City Bar Association’s legendary treatise, Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts.

SHAREHOLDER JESSICA TRAVERS RETURNS TO LITTLER’S ORLANDO OFFICE
Travers is the Second Shareholder to Rejoin in April

ORLANDO, Fla. (April 27, 2021) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has added Jessica T. Travers as a shareholder in its Orlando office. Travers, who rejoins from Akerman LLP, practiced at Littler from 2010 to 2017. Her arrival comes after Lisa Kathumbi’s return to the firm’s Columbus office earlier this month, marking the second shareholder to rejoin the firm in April.

Travers has extensive experience advising large, multi-state, employers in an array of industries, including energy, hospitality, retail, e-commerce, technology, and transportation and logistics. She represents clients in federal and state courts and agencies, appellate courts, and arbitral forums. Jessica provides counsel on a wide range of employment matters, including employment policies and procedures, internal investigations, accommodation requirements, leaves of absence, wage-and-hour compliance, employment-related agreements, terminations, discipline, disability access laws, and manager and employee training.

Travers regularly speaks and publishes on workplace legal issues and is regularly recognized as a leading labor and employment lawyer by Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America®. She earned her J.D. from the Tulane University Law School and her B.S. from the University of Florida.

“In his 13th year as Group General Counsel of UBS, Markus Diethelm has decided to step down from his current role effective 1 November 2021. He will remain in a senior advisor role into 2022 with responsibility for select legacy litigation cases. Markus joined the Group Executive Board in 2008 and has achieved a notable reduction of our litigation portfolio, zealously defending the firm‘s interests. He has also modernized the Group General Counsel function, optimizing related operational risk charges for the firm and total legal costs,” released UBS in their Media.

Barbara Levi will succeed Markus Diethelm as Group General Counsel effective 1 November 2021. She joins UBS from Rio Tinto Group where she has served as Chief Legal Officer & External Affairs and before that as Group General Counsel and member of the Executive Committee since January 2020. From 2004 to 2019, she worked for Novartis Group in various senior management roles, including Group Legal Head, M&A and Strategic Transactions, Global Legal Head & General Counsel of Sandoz, the Novartis generics and biosimilars division and Global Legal Head, Product Strategy & Commercialization, for the Novartis Pharma division. Before joining Novartis, Barbara worked in private practice in New York and Milan. She is a qualified attorney-at-law admitted to the US Supreme Court and to the bar in Milan and New York State.

Read the release.

“Sidley is is pleased to announce that Tom Califano is joining the firm’s global Restructuring group. Mr. Califano will be a partner in the New York office. He joins from DLA Piper where he was the global co-chair and U.S. chair of the Restructuring group,” released Sidley in their News.

“As a nationally recognized restructuring lawyer, Mr. Califano represents large private and public companies, both in and out of court, buyers of distressed companies, and significant ad-hoc creditor constituencies with a particular focus on company and buyer-side representations. During his more than 30 years in practice, he has extensive experience working within multiple industries, including healthcare, energy, and financial services restructurings.”

Read the article.