Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP begins its new fiscal year with the promotion of the following seven lawyers. The firm proudly recognizes these talented individuals for their accomplishments and outstanding client service.

Brian M. Clarke (Capital Finance and Real Estate, New York) advises issuers, investors, and other stakeholders in chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court restructurings, and other distressed situations. In addition, he advises clients in the negotiation and execution of complex business transactions, including financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and control investments. Clarke received his undergraduate degree from Fairfield University and his law degree from Fordham University School of Law, graduating cum laude from both.

Andrea DeField (Litigation, Miami) focuses her practice on helping clients manage risk and maximize insurance recovery by advising them through the claims process and representing them in litigation, mediation and arbitration when necessary. She has tried coverage and insurance bad faith cases to jury verdict and has handled appeals in several state and federal courts across the country. She also helps clients proactively manage risk through policy reviews and audits, particularly of cyber insurance policies, and has conducted full-scale insurance program audits for some of the nation’s largest companies. DeField received her undergraduate degree from University of Miami and her law degree from University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Ian R. Goldberg (Corporate, Houston) advises clients on a broad range of energy transactions, including upstream and midstream oil and gas mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, financial transactions, and out-of-court and bankruptcy court restructurings. Ian has extensive experience representing exploration and production companies and financial partners with respect to operations in the major U.S. conventional and unconventional onshore basins, as well as offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Goldberg received his undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and his law degree from University of Houston Law Center.

Jared D. Grodin (Capital Finance and Real Estate, Houston) focuses his practice on commercial lending, finance and real estate transactions. His experience includes the representation of national and international lenders and borrowers in various secured and unsecured credit transactions, including, upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas lending, real estate lending, asset-based lending transactions, acquisition finance, syndicated finance and various restructurings. Grodin received his undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and his law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston, where he was one of the editors of the South Texas Law Review.

Douglas H. Hoffmann (Capital Finance and Real Estate, New York) focuses his practice on representing commercial real estate owners, developers, lenders, investors, private equity funds, and institutional REITs in structuring and closing all types of real estate transactions, including joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions, developments, financings, development rights or “air rights” transactions, and portfolio transactions. Hoffmann received his undergraduate and law degrees from Emory University.

Serena M. Mentor (Corporate, New York) has experience representing issuers, sponsors, underwriters, agents, trustees and servicers in connection with public and private asset-backed securitization transactions, with a special focus on mortgage and mortgage-related assets. She also frequently analyzes and interprets various regulations, requirements and restrictions promulgated by regulatory and other governing authorities with respect to such securitizations. Mentor received her undergraduate degree from Colgate University and her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Carter C. Simpson (Litigation, Washington) maintains a diverse civil litigation practice, with a focus on antitrust, consumer, class-action litigation and complex commercial and business disputes. She advises and represents clients across a range of industries in civil and criminal antitrust investigations and litigation, merger challenges and cases involving RICO, false advertising, deceptive trade practices, employment and intellectual property claims with particular expertise in the food and beverage, retail and hospitality. She also has a robust pro bono practice focused on civil rights. Simpson joined the firm following a federal clerkship and received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Lowenstein Sandler is pleased to announce that partner Bruce D. Buechler has been appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County Vicinage. Buechler, who is set to be sworn in to his new role in early April, has been a partner in the firm’s Bankruptcy & Restructuring Department for over 21 years.

Buechler joined Lowenstein in 2000, representing debtors and creditors’ committees in Chapter 11 reorganizations, out-of-court workouts, and other financial reorganizations. Recognized as a “smart, efficient, practical and very well prepared lawyer” by Chambers USA, he became well-known for his tenacity in high-stakes bankruptcy matters and for proactively engaging with clients to achieve solutions that aligned with their business objectives.

A 20-year member of the West Orange Zoning Board, Buechler was recommended to the bench by former Gov. Richard Codey (D-Roseland), the senior member of the New Jersey Senate. He received his J.D., cum laude, in 1987 from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his B.A. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1982.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Martha Roby is joining the firm as a senior advisor in the Governmental Affairs and Economic Development practice groups.

Prior to joining Bradley, Roby served as the U.S. Representative for Alabama’s Second Congressional District from 2011 to 2021. Early in her tenure, she served on the Agriculture, Armed Services, and Education and Workforce committees. She also served as the chairman of the Subcommittee of Oversight and Investigations of the House Armed Services Committee during the 113th Congress and was the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet for the House Judiciary Committee in the 116th Congress.

Roby was the first representative from Alabama’s Second Congressional District to serve on the House Appropriations Committee, where at some point she served on six of the 12 subcommittees, including the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, the Labor, Education, Health and Human Services Subcommittee, the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, and the Legislative Branch Subcommittee. In this position, she had direct oversight of over 90 departments and related agencies.

In her tenure in Congress, Roby sponsored and cosponsored more than 500 bills. She distinguished herself as an effective legislator focusing on issues directly impacting her constituents, including veterans’ health and military mobility. She exposed abuses in the Veterans Affairs health system and worked tirelessly to improve care for veterans, both locally and nationally. Roby continually led efforts to stop devastating cuts that threatened military readiness.

Before being elected to Congress, she was in private practice in Montgomery, Alabama, and then served on the Montgomery City Council from 2003 to 2010. Roby received her J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and a B.M. in Music Business from New York University.

Roby will provide governmental affairs, but not legal, services for clients.

Foley & Lardner LLP today released a guide for employers entitled, Best Practices for Returning to Work in a Vaccinated World.

For more than a year, the world has reacted to and adjusted for COVID-19. Now, with the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, there is light at the end of the tunnel and individuals and companies can start moving forward and planning for a new normal. As companies in all industries have undoubtedly been affected, employers must remain cognizant of various issues as offices and facilities reopen and employees return to work.

Foley’s guide covers the following key issues for employers to consider as they create or update their policies and practices in conjunction with a thorough analysis of all applicable laws, ordinances, and guidance.

• A Revised Understanding of COVID-19: One Year Later
• Considerations for Reopening
• Preparing for Reopening a Facility
• Working with Employees
• Vaccinations
• Indemnification Laws/Developments
• Operating in a Changing Regulatory Environment

The report was prepared by attorneys in Foley’s Labor & Employment practice, including Krista Cabrera, Sarah Guo, Carrie Hoffman, Daniel Kaplan, Jeffrey Kopp, John Litchfield, John Lord Jr., Jessica Glatzer Mason, Mark Neuberger and Rachel Powitzky Steely.

Read the report.

ORLANDO, Fla. – March 31, 2021 – Top 100 U.S. law firm Akerman LLP today announced Litigation Partner Carrie Ann Wozniak has been appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to serve as Judge on Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal. She fills the judicial vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Richard Orfinger.

After a clerkship with the Florida Supreme Court, Wozniak began her legal career at Akerman in 2007 and has been an integral part of the firm’s national Litigation Practice Group ever since. Board certified by the Florida Bar in Appellate Practice, she is also a member of Akerman’s Appellate Practice, where she represents clients in appellate litigation at the state and federal levels, as well as in commercial litigation in the trial courts. She also serves as general counsel to the Florida Bankers Association, where she assists with drafting, revising, and commenting on myriad banking legislation and issues.

Wozniak has served as Vice Chair of the Fifth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission via nomination by the Florida Bar and appointment by previous Governor Rick Scott, and as a member of the Florida Bar’s Appellate Practice Section Executive Council, Appellate Rules Committee, and Appellate Practice Board Certification Committee. A fierce advocate in the community as well, Wozniak is past chair of Akerman’s Community Impact Team in Orlando, and her work on behalf of abused and neglected children earned her the Orange County Bar Association’s Elizabeth Susan Khoury Guardian Ad Litem Award of Excellence in 2016.

Wozniak received her B.A. with honors from the University of Michigan in 2002 and a J.D. cum laude from Stetson University College of Law in 2004.

Brightflag, the A.I.-powered legal spend management and matter management platform, today announced the hiring of John Joyce as Vice President of Alliances. This appointment will accelerate the company’s plans to strengthen its partner community and present in-house legal teams with comprehensive solutions to their evolving business needs.

Having most recently led business development for document management and e-signature provider PandaDoc, Joyce brings more than 20 years of experience building strategic alliances with leading companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Intuit. He will now lead Brightflag’s global alliances strategy, simultaneously advancing existing relationships and driving new partner development.

Brightflag partners with a wide variety of strategic experts, such as UpLevel Ops, Mosaic Consulting, and Norton Rose Fulbright, and software providers, such as Coupa and Okta, to build compelling, fully-integrated customer experiences that deliver more value to all parties.

Raleigh, N.C. – Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP is pleased to announce that Michael Goldsticker has joined the firm’s Raleigh office as counsel. Goldsticker is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney with significant experience in large-scale investigations, and he strengthens Parker Poe’s Business Litigation Team.

Goldsticker concentrates his practice on business litigation, white collar criminal defense, and government and internal investigations. He has tried numerous cases as a prosecutor and on behalf of businesses and individuals before juries and arbitration panels throughout the country.

Prior to joining Parker Poe, Goldsticker served as a federal prosecutor in the District of Maryland, overseeing sweeping investigations into violations of federal criminal laws, including those involving corruption and money laundering. Earlier in his career, Goldsticker was a litigator at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., where he focused on complex civil litigation and criminal defense.

Goldsticker joins Parker Poe’s Business Litigation Team, which has extensive experience representing clients before state and federal courts, governmental agencies, and national and international arbitration panels. The firm’s trial attorneys have decades of first-chair experience and a proven track record of resolving disputes across a broad array of industries, including energy, financial services, health care, insurance, life sciences, manufacturing, real estate, and technology. Goldsticker is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.

New York (March 29, 2021) – Barnes & Thornburg is pleased to announce the arrival of Catherine Turgeon as a partner in the firm’s Private Investment Funds and Asset Management practice in New York.

Turgeon advises private investment funds and other financial investors in a broad range of U.S. and offshore investment and financing transactions, including private equity transactions, venture capital and growth equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, convertible instruments, private investments in public equity (PIPEs), special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), joint ventures and other specialized investment structures. She also counsels clients on general corporate and regulatory matters.

Before joining the firm, Turgeon practiced for 18 years at the financial services boutique Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP (now known as Kibbe & Orbe LLP).

Turgeon has advised clients on investments and transactions in a wide range of industries, including life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, automotive technology, data technology, energy, finance, online platforms, insurance solutions, social media and software.

Turgeon earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, and her B.S. from Penn State University.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Using Persuasion Techniques to Achieve Litigation Success: Part Two,” featuring Fitch Even partners Karl R. Fink, Nikki Little, and Timothy P. Maloney.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, April 22, 2021, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12 noon EDT. Register.

During this webinar, we continue our discussion of how the persuasion techniques ethos, pathos, and logos can be effectively used during intellectual property litigation. In Part One, we explored how these persuasion concepts can be applied when developing case themes, building a litigation team, and selecting and preparing fact witnesses.

In Part Two, we’ll explore compelling ways to leverage the concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos in other aspects of litigation, including these:
• Expert witness selection and reports
• Written and oral communications with the court
• Trial

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Blank Rome Formally Announces Its National Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Team

Blank Rome LLP is pleased to formally announce its national Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Team. This multi-disciplinary group is comprised of more than 25 attorneys from across the firm’s offices and practices who have been advising clients for decades in the areas of environmental compliance and management; natural resources and responsible energy development; human capital management; socially responsible, sustainable, and impact investing; capital markets; and governance best practices. The collective ESG Team officially launched last year and has been helping clients navigate emerging ESG issues, identify ESG risks and opportunities, and develop ESG strategies and programs.

Blank Rome’s multi-service ESG Team practices in the corporate and securities, mergers and acquisitions, investment management, energy, environmental, labor and employment, maritime, privacy and data security, real estate, and regulatory and litigation areas, and advises clients on a broad range of ESG matters, including:

• Program strategy, design, and implementation
• Investor engagement, shareholder communications, and reporting
• Corporate governance best practices, board of directors’ agenda, and oversight of risk management
• Disclosures and enforcement actions
• Environmental management and compliance
• Climate change, including regulations, disclosures, protocols, and insurance coverage
• Renewable energy, including energy consumption, power purchase agreements, and leases
• Investment management and ESG, sustainable and impact investing
• Considerations for specific industries, including oil and gas, chemicals, financial services, and life sciences
• Creation and operation of ESG funds and special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”)
• Mergers and acquisitions, including environmental compliance and liability and transactional due diligence
• Human capital management
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership and competency
• Remote workplace considerations

About Blank Rome

Blank Rome is an Am Law 100 firm with 14 offices and more than 600 attorneys and principals who provide comprehensive legal and advocacy services to clients operating in the United States and around the world. Our professionals have built a reputation for their leading knowledge and experience across a spectrum of industries, and are recognized for their commitment to pro bono work in their communities. Since our inception in 1946, Blank Rome’s culture has been dedicated to providing top-level service to all of our clients, and has been rooted in the strength of our diversity and inclusion initiatives. For more information, please visit blankrome.com.

Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has released the Inaugural Report of Littler’s Global Workplace Transformation Initiative. The report provides a detailed analysis of how the workplace is changing and addresses the litany of novel issues created for employers worldwide.

This is the first report from Littler’s newly formalized Global Workplace Transformation Initiative, which enables employers to capture the benefits of the technological revolution sweeping through today’s workplaces while mitigating the risks. The initiative, which evolved from Littler’s Robotics, AI and Automation practice group, integrates the full range of the firm’s global capabilities to provide the resources employers need to manage complex workforce issues and thrive in a rapidly changing landscape.

The report serves a critical resource for organizations as they develop policies and best practices to succeed in this new landscape, including examining:

• The technology-induced displacement of employment (TIDE™) and the need to provide workers with the skills, training and resources to adapt, which is an area where Littler has long been a thought leader through its role as co-founder of the Emma Coalition.

• The wide-ranging legal and operational impacts of the move to more permanent remote work, such as deploying AI to augment recruiting, complying with state and local employment laws and tax-related issues when employees work from a state where the company does not do business, and data-security challenges.

• The integration of robotics and automation technologies in the workplace and the associated legal issues, such as health and safety standards and employee privacy.

• How businesses are restructuring in the wake of workforce transformation.

• The evolution of litigation trends in an increasingly digital workplace.

• The importance of evolving approaches to improving inclusion, equity and diversity.

• The global implications of these significant changes.

Littler’s Global Workplace Transformation Initiative brings together the insight of the more than 1,600 attorneys across the firm’s global platform. In addition to building on the firm’s Robotics, AI and Automation practice, the initiative integrates numerous practice areas and capabilities involved in the transformation of the workplace, including:

• Business Restructuring and M&A
• COVID-19 Task Force
• Data Analytics
• Discrimination and Harassment
• Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Consulting
• Labor Management Relations
• Leaves of Absence and Disability Accommodation
• Staffing, Independent Contractors and Contingent Workers
• Wage and Hour
• Workplace Policy Institute
• Workplace Privacy and Data Security
• Workplace Safety and Health

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that Kathy H. Butler, an Officer and leader of the firm’s Health Care practice and industry groups, has been named to the leadership group for a new women’s initiative launched by global law firms network Meritas.

Greensfelder President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin T. McLaughlin said, “We congratulate Kathy on her new leadership role and her continued support of the mission of Meritas and its commitment to diverse representation in the legal community.”

Butler is one of 10 members of the Meritas Women’s Leadership Congress Leadership Council whose mission is to create a path to leadership for the women of Meritas by providing more visibility and engagement opportunities through knowledge-sharing, mentoring and skills-building. The group will boost interactions among member firms to promote diversity and inclusion as an important part of recruiting and retention, business development, and the elevation of women leaders.

Butler has been an active leader within Meritas for many years, most recently serving as chair of the organization’s U.S. Leadership Committee. She also has served on the network’s board of directors and the board’s executive committee.

Butler is one of Greensfelder’s primary liaisons to Meritas, of which the firm is a longtime member and the exclusive Meritas law firm in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Greensfelder’s membership offers the firm’s clients access to the experience and legal knowledge of the nearly 200 business law firms in 90 countries worldwide that belong to Meritas.

Butler is the second Greensfelder attorney this year to be selected to help lead new Meritas initiatives on diversity and inclusion. Greensfelder Chief Diversity Officer Christopher A. Pickett recently was named to the Leadership Council for the newly formed Meritas Black Lawyers Forum.

Venable LLP is pleased to announce that Virgil R. Montgomery has joined the firm as a partner in the Construction Law Group in the Chicago office. Montgomery was part of the initial group of attorneys from Schiff Hardin who joined Venable in December 2020. Montgomery draws on a lifetime of experience in construction. His practice is divided between project development, procurement, project controls, project monitoring and evaluation, and dispute resolution through mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

Montgomery has drafted and provided key assistance in the preparation of contracts ranging in value up to several billion dollars for construction projects on behalf of owners, contractors, energy, and infrastructure clients. He has advised clients during the development and negotiation phase and works closely with project participants to develop detailed evaluations of scope, bidding, and schedule issues. His vast experience includes projects involving major urban developments, light rail, transportation, breweries, selective catalytic reduction systems, flue gas desulfurization systems, nuclear facilities, heat recovery steam generators, alternative energy projects, sewage treatment facilities, steam and gas turbines, and other new and emerging technologies. Montgomery regularly mediates, arbitrates, and litigates matters concerning a variety of construction disputes, including performance issues, delays, scope of work issues, and rate disputes. He also utilizes his considerable experience to assist clients in developing project analysis, project controls and risk mitigation strategies.

Montgomery received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Colorado.

MILWAUKEE – Foley & Lardner LLP announced that Matthew Krueger has joined the firm’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practice Group as a partner in its Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. offices. Krueger is a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin with an extensive background in prosecuting health care fraud and other government enforcement matters, the primary focus of his practice.

As the former chief federal law enforcement official for 28 Wisconsin counties, Krueger supervised all criminal and civil litigation involving the United States in that district. Under his leadership, the office successfully prosecuted high-profile cases involving national security, cybercrime, public corruption, health care fraud, financial crime, PPP fraud and other offenses. As U.S. Attorney, Krueger formed a dedicated health care fraud unit and increased its focus on data analytics, leading to a rise in enforcement matters. Krueger also led efforts with the FBI to advise businesses on how to mitigate the risk of and respond to cyber intrusions.

Krueger previously worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the same district in both the criminal and civil divisions. While in the criminal division, he prosecuted cases from investigation through trial and appeal involving health care fraud, tax offenses, investment fraud and government program fraud. Krueger handled multiple jury trials, argued numerous appeals in the Seventh Circuit, and led the investigation and prosecution of a $9 million green energy investment fraud. While in the civil division, he handled the investigation and litigation of various False Claims Act matters.

Prior to his time with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Krueger was a litigation and appellate associate at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C.

State previously denied subsurface mining in the area

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Historic photographs from the 1960s provide evidence the state of South Dakota operated a second mine beneath portions of the Black Hawk area that began to collapse in April 2020, leaving homes in the Hideaway Hills subdivision worthless.

The photos, taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies, contradict state claims it conducted surface mining only. They also demonstrate that the whole neighborhood may be in danger of collapse, not just the portion that has done so already.

“We have been digging to find these pictures, and what they show is the state was doing plenty of digging too – underground, in the northwest part of the subdivision” says Kathleen Barrow of Fox Rothschild, who is seeking class action status in a lawsuit on behalf of 300 homeowners against the state. “This is further proof that the state of South Dakota is responsible for the danger my clients are facing and the damage to their homes and neighborhood.”

The photos show a mine entrance in the side of a cliff not far from where the state was also conducting surface mining.

“It’s pretty obvious it’s some kind of entrance to underground workings,” says Nick Anderson, a geologist in Rapid City. “What we can see in the photos matches testing we’ve done with electric conductivity and resistivity and other technology indicating voids beneath the surface.”

The photos also corroborate anecdotal evidence collected from older residents, who remember exploring the mine entrance in the northwest portion of Hideaway Hills when they were children.

For generations, the state operated gypsum mines throughout the region and still owns the subsurface and mineral rights. The lawsuit charges the state failed to properly remediate and maintain unstable land after the mining operation was shuttered in the early 1990s and surface property was sold to builders who developed Hideaway Hills. Homeowners were not informed of the hidden dangers to the land and their homes caused by the state’s mining activity and neglect, Ms. Barrow said.

Large sinkholes – collapsing mine cavities – that opened last year forced some Hideaway Hills homeowners to evacuate. Houses in the neighborhood cannot be sold as values have dropped to zero.

The state contends it is not responsible for the destruction, even though a trust fund created with revenue generated from the mining operation is now valued at over $330 million.

The case is Andrew Morse and John and Emily Clarke et al. v. State of South Dakota et al., No. 46CIV-20-000295 in the Circuit Court, 4^th Judicial District, County of Meade, South Dakota.

For more information on Fox Rothschild, visit foxrothschild.com.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Chanda M. Feldkamp, a partner at Kelly Law Partners, LLC, in Denver, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Feldkamp focuses her practice on employment, insurance coverage, professional liability and commercial litigation, as well as class actions.

Feldkamp is AV Preeminent rated and AV Distinguished rated. She is a member of the Professional Liability Attorney Network and of the board of the Colorado Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

Feldkamp received her J.D. (with honors) from Washburn University School of Law and her Bachelor of Science from Kansas State University.

Michael J. Rinaldi has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner in the firm’s Trial Practice Group in its Philadelphia office. Prior to joining Duane Morris, Rinaldi served as deputy chief of the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

As deputy chief of the Economic Crimes Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Rinaldi investigated, prosecuted, and supervised the investigation and prosecution of financial crimes, including securities and commodities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. He litigated all stages of criminal prosecutions, including through trial. Rinaldi also managed relationships with regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He previously served as trial attorney in the Securities and Financial Fraud Unit of the Fraud Section, investigating and litigating matters related to securities fraud, commodities fraud, procurement fraud and insider trading. Prior to his work for the U.S. Department of Justice, Rinaldi was senior trial counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rinaldi is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2002), where he was senior editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law, and Villanova University (B.A.H., B.A., magna cum laude, 1999).

Ball Janik LLP, a construction defect and property damage law firm with offices in Florida and Oregon, is pleased to announce that Doug Stanford, Jr. has joined the firm’s Orlando office. Stanford is a real estate attorney in the Construction Defect practice, strengthening Ball Janik’s continual commitment to its clients.

Stanford focuses his legal practice on representing residential owners in the pursuit of complex construction defect claims. Prior to joining the firm, Stanford spent his career handling complex construction defect matters on behalf of owners throughout Northeast Florida. Stanford has significant experience in appellate matters focused on pursuing justice on behalf of owners in complex construction matters, including first-party property damage claims, contract disputes, and failure of real estate sellers to disclose latent defects.

Stanford is a member of The Florida Bar Appellate Practice and the Real Property, Probate & Trust Sections. He received his J.D. from the Florida Coastal School of Law, and his bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University.

NEW YORK, March 23, 2021—Hernan Gonzalez Moneta has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner in the firm’s Corporate Practice Group in its New York office. Prior to joining Duane Morris, he was an attorney at Reed Smith LLP. Gonzalez Moneta joins on the heels of the addition of three partners from Reed Smith LLP – David M. Hryck, Christopher W. Healy and C. Neil Gray – and economist Theodor J. van Stephoudt in New York on March 15.

Gonzalez Moneta advises clients with respect to Mexican and international tax and corporate matters, including all aspects of cross-border transactions, interpretation and application of tax treaties, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, permanent establishment issues, licensing structures, tax compliance, transfer pricing, foreign tax credit planning and expatriates’ tax regime, as well as research and development of tax incentives. He concentrates his practice on international tax planning and guides clients in the implementation of their multijurisdictional business structures. Gonzalez Moneta also has broad experience in advising individuals and international families, celebrities and entertainers with their international endeavors. He is recognized as a trusted advisor for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and global families with focus on cross-border gift and estate planning structuring and succession governance. In addition, he has substantial experience in representing taxpayers undertaking voluntary disclosures under the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. He also assists clients with the negotiation of private letter rulings concerning international transactions, including the lobbying and prosecution of administrative matters before Mexican federal and state authorities. Gonzalez Moneta has drafted tax reform proposals concerning clients’ benefits, which were discussed and passed by the Mexican Legislature. Likewise, he has advised Mexican federal government agencies regarding compliance given to legal and payment obligations under major media campaigns. Gonzalez Moneta has also determined for the Mexican operations of major international groups value-added tax (VAT)-efficient strategies for imports and exports, as well as assisting them in securing large VAT refunds. In addition, Gonzalez Moneta has successfully handled several tax, administrative and intellectual property litigation procedures.

Gonzalez Moneta is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 2010) and the Universidad de Monterrey (J.D., 2001, B.A., 2003).