Chamberlain Hrdlicka is pleased to announce that it has elevated two of its shareholders to equity status and elevated three attorneys to shareholder status. Moving up to equity shareholders are Philadelphia-based attorneys Kevin F. Sweeney and Kenneth I. Trujillo. Moving to income shareholders are San Antonio-based attorney Jillian Gordon Foerster, Atlanta-based attorney Jeffrey S. Luechtefeld and Houston-based attorney Julie R. Offerman. These promotions were affirmed during the firm’s virtual annual shareholders meeting held on Feb. 6, 2021.

Jillian Gordon Foerster
Foerster practices in the area of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and employee benefits law. She has significant experience with all compliance aspects for qualified plans, health and welfare plans and executive compensation arrangements. Foerster has a particular interest in healthcare reform compliance for employer health and welfare plans, HIPAA Privacy and Security rules, wellness programs and self-funded health plans. She also counsels clients on the insurer and third-party administrator side of employer welfare plans. Foerster earned her undergraduate degree from Southwestern University and her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law.

Jeffrey S. Luechtefeld
Luechtefeld represents clients in IRS examinations, appeals and litigation. He has a deep understanding of inner workings of the Internal Revenue Service as well as a strong technical tax background. Previously, he led the regional Tax Controversy practice for a “Big Four” accounting firm. Prior to that, he was a litigator for the IRS Office of Chief Counsel. Luechtefeld earned his undergraduate degree from Missouri State University, his law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law and his Master of Laws degree from University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Julie R. Offerman
Offerman is an experienced litigation attorney in Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s Houston Labor & Employment Practice. She has substantial experience defending employers nationwide in wage and hour class and collective action lawsuits, including matters involving allegations of misclassification of employees and failure to pay overtime. Prior to joining Chamberlain Hrdlicka, she clerked for Justice Phil Johnson of the Texas Supreme Court. Offerman earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law.

Kevin F. Sweeney
Sweeney is a member of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s Tax Controversy & Litigation Practice and is a former federal prosecutor who defends clients in civil and criminal tax controversy and litigation matters. He represents high-net-worth individuals and businesses with complex and sensitive tax issues. Sweeney focuses on high-stakes IRS audits, civil tax litigation, white-collar criminal defense matters and whistleblower matters for high and ultra-high net worth individuals, corporate executives, business owners and public and private companies worldwide. He is recognized by Legal 500 U.S. and has also been honored twice with the Tax Division Outstanding Attorney Award by the U.S. Department of Justice. Sweeney earned his undergraduate degree from Loyola University Maryland and his law degree from New York Law School.

Kenneth I. Trujillo
Trujillo represents U.S. and foreign corporations, as well as government entities, executives, lawyers and other individuals in contract disputes, securities, antitrust, education and other regulatory issues. His practice involves complex civil litigation and class actions, and he counsels clients on governance, regulatory matters, internal investigations and government relations. Trujillo has also represented numerous public officials and government entities, including city council members, mayors, governors, states, cities and Native American tribes in civil and criminal matters. He has extensive jury trial experience having tried to verdict civil and criminal cases ranging from personal injury to civil rights to complex class actions. Trujillo earned his undergraduate degree from Evangel University and his law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka recently promoted Jillian Foerster to income shareholder during the firm’s virtual annual shareholders meeting. The firm has also promoted two income shareholders to equity status and two additional attorneys to income shareholder status across its Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio offices.

Foerster practices in the area of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Employee Benefits law in Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s San Antonio office. She has significant experience with all compliance aspects for qualified plans, health and welfare plans and executive compensation arrangements. She frequently advises clients on employee benefits and executive compensation matters as part of mergers or acquisitions.

Foerster has a particular interest in healthcare reform compliance for employer health and welfare plans, HIPAA Privacy and Security rules, wellness programs and self-funded health plans. She also counsels clients on the insurer and third-party administrator side of employer welfare plans.

Foerster earned her undergraduate degree from Southwestern University and her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law, where she was the managing editor for the Texas Tech Law Review. She is a member of Bexar County Women’s Bar Association and the Military Spouse JD Network—a bar association of attorney spouses of active duty military members. She has been named among San Antonio Scene’s Rising Stars and Best Lawyers multiple times, including in 2020 and 2021.

John Lee Shepherd, Jr., former Director of Legal Policy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as a partner in the firm’s nationally recognized energy and infrastructure team. Based in Washington, Shepherd’s energy regulatory practice will focus on rulemaking proceedings, litigation, investigations and appeals.

Shepherd joined FERC in 2018 as its leading policy lawyer and served as the principal legal advisor to agency leadership on the implementation of policy through adjudication, rulemaking, and judicial review, with a particular emphasis on issues surrounding electric and capacity market design, transmission incentives and cost allocation, pipeline certification, Mobile-Sierra issues, waivers, and bankruptcy.

His responsibilities also included drafting orders and facilitating negotiations among commissioners, managing external litigation and coordinating positions with other federal agencies, drafting briefs and arguing cases in matters before the Supreme Court, appellate courts, district courts, and bankruptcy courts.

Prior to joining FERC, Shepherd was a counsel in the energy litigation group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, having joined the firm in 2000, following his clerkship with D.C. Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University and his law degree from Duke University School of Law.

Between college and law school, Shepherd served as a legislative aide in the Alaska state senate while teaching at the University of Alaska and training for the U.S. Army. Over the course of his 20-year career with the Army, Shepherd achieved the rank of Major and was deployed four times, including during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Shepherd is among several recent additions to Hunton Andrews Kurth’s energy and infrastructure team. In November, international nuclear power projects attorney George Borovas joined the firm in Tokyo. Last June, the firm added project finance attorneys James D. Simpson, Jr. and Jason B. Parker in London and Martin A. Skehill in Dubai.

Hunton Andrews Kurth’s global energy and infrastructure team provides comprehensive finance, development, and infrastructure counsel to regulated and unregulated power companies and utilities, distributors and transportation companies, independent electric transmission companies, and others involved in the renewable energy, oil, gas, LNG, petrochemical, and nuclear industries. Lawyers in our energy regulatory practice represent clients across the energy and utility spectrum throughout the country. Our clients include electric utilities, independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs), independent power producers, and lenders, as well as natural gas utilities, storage companies, natural gas and oil pipeline companies, and midstream companies.

With lawyers in the United States, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP serves clients across a broad range of complex transactional, litigation and regulatory matters.

This month, Virginia became the second US state to enact comprehensive data privacy legislation of general applicability. On March 2, 2021, Virginia’s Governor, Ralph Northam, signed the Consumer Data Protection Act into law. The law’s requirements will take effect on January 1, 2023, which is the same day that requirements under the new California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) become operative.

In this program, our speakers will highlight how Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act affects the data privacy landscape in the US and how it may impact your organization. We also will discuss steps you can take now to prepare for the new requirements under the Consumer Data Protection Act and how to maintain a privacy program that can adapt to the changing legislative and regulatory landscape in the United States. Our speakers will address:

• The evolving nature of the data privacy landscape and our predictions for 2021 and beyond;
• An overview of the Consumer Data Protection Act, including to whom it applies and what it requires;
• How the Consumer Data Protection Act differs from other significant data privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act/CPRA and the EU General Data Protection Regulation; and
• Strategies for maintaining a nimble data privacy compliance program that can adapt to the changing landscape.

Speakers:
• Lisa J. Sotto, Chair of the Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice, Hunton Andrews Kurth, New York
• Aaron P. Simpson, Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth, New York
• Holly A. Brady, Associate, Hunton Andrews Kurth, Virginia
• Robert T. Bohannon, Director of Government Affairs, Hunton Andrews Kurth, Virginia

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Denise Williamee has joined Steel City Re as Vice President of Corporate Services, where she heads client relations and education for integrated reputation groups.

Williamee’s broad experience in the legal industry includes serving as a Deputy Clerk for US Magistrate Judge Joseph Miller, as well as working on a range of civil and criminal litigations and conducting a variety of investigations on behalf of clients, especially in the financial and healthcare sectors.

Previously, Williamee founded and operated a successful multi-location, full-service private investigations firm and served as the President of the Alaska Investigator’s Association. She also sat on the board of Directors for the Alaska Innocence Project. She holds an AAS in Paralegal Studies (cum laude) from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, an ABA approved program, and is an Associate member of the Chicago Bar Association.

Modern corporate websites incorporate interactive features like sliders, videos, dropdowns, forms, and personalized customer journeys to aid in storytelling and communicating effectively with customers. However, these same interactive features challenge most archiving solutions and demand powerful tools for capturing this data reliably and comprehensively. In this session, join us to experience how Hanzo ensures your websites are captured with high fidelity and are immutably stored to meet your ongoing compliance obligations.

Speaker
Justin Kreamer, Senior Enterprise Executive, Hanzo

Justin is a Senior Enterprise Executive at Hanzo. He consults with Fortune 500 companies desiring to transform the efficiency and effectiveness of their compliance and ediscovery initiatives. Justin brings specific experience in helping large enterprises proactively manage complex data sources such as dynamic web content and collaboration application data.

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Washington, DC – March 4, 2021 – Beth Hatef, a regulatory attorney focused on alcohol regulation and distribution issues, has joined the nationwide Food + Beverage Group at Davis Wright Tremaine. Hatef, who will join as counsel and work from the firm’s Washington, DC office, previously worked at McDermott Will & Emery. She will join a team that counsels many of the nation’s leading institutional investors and leading-edge beverage businesses aspiring to deliver better consumer experiences.

In addition to advising on regulatory and distribution issues, Hatef will provide critical counsel in connection with corporate transactions involving alcohol beverage suppliers and retailers, supplementing the team’s rapidly growing M&A practice with an additional presence on the East Coast.

Despite the pandemic, DWT’s Food + Beverage Group had another strong year. “We reached out early and offered clients support and solutions – including how we managed our business relationship with them – to help manage budgets, drive innovations, and position for growth,” said Lyon. DWT continued to gain market share among national alcohol beverage brands, restaurant groups, and their investors by demonstrating loyalty to the industry. Overall, the firm had its seventh consecutive year of record performance in 2020. Revenue increased by more than 7% and net income rose by nearly 12%.

Lansing – March 3, 2021 — Dykema, a leading national law firm, today announced that Jason T. Hanselman has been appointed to serve as Managing Member of the firm’s Lansing office.

In his practice, Hanselman, a Lansing native, advises clients in highly-regulated fields, such as energy, elections, education, and health care. He regularly represents those clients in complex business matters, legislative drafting on multiple jurisdictions, litigation before state and federal courts, and regulatory proceedings before administrative boards and commissions. He serves as outside general counsel to several trade associations, electric cooperatives, non-profit corporations, and other businesses.

Outside of his legal practice, Hanselman is extremely active in professional organizations. He is a former President of the Ingham County Bar Foundation (2017-19), former President of the Ingham County Bar Association (2015-2016), and served as the Michigan Chapter Leader of the Republican National Lawyers Association from 2010 to 2020.

Having learned the importance of volunteering from his parents, who were active in the Lansing Jaycees and Grace United Methodist Church in Lansing’s Colonial Village, Hanselman, is also active in community and civic organizations. He currently serves as the publicly elected Vice President of the DeWitt Board of Education and was appointed by Governor Snyder to serve as Unarmed Combat Commissioner (formerly known as the Boxing Commission) to regulate boxing and mixed martial arts in Michigan.

Hanselman received a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Miami and a B.A., with honors, from Michigan State University. Before joining Dykema, he worked at the Michigan House of Representatives, the Michigan Supreme Court, and the Internal Revenue Service.

In 2019, Michigan Lawyers Weekly named him among its Leaders in the Law. He has been recognized by Michigan Super Lawyers as a Rising Star, named a Michigan Leading Lawyer by the Leading Lawyers Network, and included in The Best Lawyers in America for Energy, Energy Regulatory, and Government Relations Practice.

Established in 1973, Dykema’s Lansing office shares the Binsfield Office Building with the Michigan Senate adjacent to Michigan’s Capitol and houses dozens of attorneys and government relations professionals. The firm’s state and federal government policy practices are coordinated from Lansing. Attorneys from the Lansing office are skilled in a broad range of matters including utility and insurance regulation, liquor and marijuana licensing matters, elections and public policy representation, municipal bond issues and lobbying activities.

Grant Thornton LLP has named Beatrix Bernauer as its chief risk and compliance officer, a new role at the firm.

In the role, she will design and execute the firm’s enterprise-risk management program and practices, including frameworks and methodologies to support effective risk identification, assessment, mitigation and monitoring.

Bernauer, a principal in the firm, has served as Grant Thornton’s chief compliance officer for the past three years — establishing standards, policies and procedures to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, as well as the firm’s own requirements. She has also led the firm’s data-privacy program and sustainability-reporting program. In her new role, she will continue to oversee these important areas and also retain her responsibilities as deputy general counsel at the firm.

Bernauer has more than 20 years of experience as an attorney advising, defending and supporting accounting firms, 17 of them at Grant Thornton. As deputy general counsel, she defends against litigation and legal threats and advises on a range of legal and transactional issues, including data privacy, security, incident response, M&A transactions and matters related to the firm’s governance.

Bernauer is a licensed attorney in Illinois and registered as in-house counsel in California. She is also CIPP certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She received a Master of Laws degree from Georgetown University, a Juris Doctor from Loyola University Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University.

Santa Barbara, CA –Rimôn PC is pleased to announce the opening of its Santa Barbara, California office, with the addition of four partners in the firm’s litigation and corporate practice groups. New partners Joseph Abkin, Jennifer Gillon Duffy, Craig Granet and Michael Hellman are joining the Santa Barbara office. All four were previously partners at Fell, Marking, Abkin, Montgomery, Granet & Raney LLP. Joseph Abkin and Craig Granet were founding partners of the firm.

The new Rimôn Santa Barbara team offers a diverse mix of legal services.

Abkin is a corporate attorney who advises clients on transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, financings, and the full breadth of real estate transactions.

The other three Partners are litigators.

Granet is a civil litigator with a dual focus on real property litigation (including property disputes, land use challenges and environmental contamination issues), and business and commercial litigation, including breach of contract actions, wrongful termination claims, telecommunications disputes, and intellectual property matters.

Hellman focuses his practice exclusively on litigation, with an emphasis on disputes concerning trusts and estates. Hellman has been awarded an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which recognizes lawyers for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards.

Duffy is a civil litigator with a focus on employment law and family law. She was notably ranked in the Pacific Coast Business Times, “Who’s Who in Professional Service” in 2020. Duffy has a comprehensive family law practice and will contribute to expanding Rimôn’s family law offerings.

A testament to the firm’s continued growth, the Santa Barbara office is the fourth new location Rimôn has opened in the first quarter of 2021, following recent openings in Paris, London and South Carolina. “We are excited to expand our presence in the Santa Barbara area and deepen our litigation and corporate practices with the addition of Joseph, Jennifer, Craig and Michael, said Michael Moradzadeh, Founding Partner and CEO of Rimôn. “The group’s diverse experience and existing connections in the Santa Barbara area are an asset to our firm.”

The opening of the Santa Barbara office reflects Rimôn’s continued growth. In the first two months of 2021 alone, Rimôn has added Partners Olivia Le Horovitz, Keith Munson, Sean Byrne, Sonia Oliveri, Jonathan Rosen, Steven Aaron and Peter Wielgosz.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka recently elevated Julie Offerman to income shareholder during the firm’s virtual annual shareholders meeting. The firm has also promoted additional two shareholders to equity status and two attorneys to shareholder status in its offices in Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio.

Named among the Up-and-Coming 50: 2020 Texas Women Rising Stars, Julie Offerman is an experienced litigation attorney in Chamberlain’s Houston Labor & Employment practice. She has substantial experience defending employers nationwide in wage and hour class and collective action lawsuits, including matters involving allegations of misclassification of employees and failure to pay overtime.

Offerman has successfully defended employers in all aspects of employment litigation, including disputes over breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation. In many cases, she has obtained complete dismissal for clients on summary judgment. In addition to handling state and federal cases, Julie represents clients in investigations by administrative agencies, including the EEOC, the Texas Workforce Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Department of Labor.

Offerman graduated from University of Texas at Austin, with a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, and received her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law, summa cum laude as well. While there, she was an articles editor for the Texas Tech Law Review. Prior to joining Chamberlain Hrdlicka, she clerked for Justice Phil Johnson of the Texas Supreme Court. She has been named to Texas Super Lawyers in 2020 after being named Texas Rising Star in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019. She has also been named among Houstonia Magazine Top Lawyers in 2019 and 2020.

Camille Milner has been named the 2020 Recipient of the Gay G. Cox Award for Excellence in Collaborative Law bestowed by Collaborative Divorce Texas. Milner, who has been practicing in Denton, Texas since 1985, is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and holds the designation of Master Credential by Collaborative Divorce Texas. Gay G. Cox was an early proponent of and trained hundreds of professionals in the Collaborative Divorce Process. Cox passed away in January 2013 after suffering injuries in an accident. Like Cox, Milner has trained hundreds of lawyers, mental health professionals and financial professionals in the Collaborative Divorce process, which enables divorcimg couples a process that is repectful, private and efficient, enabling them to settle their case outside Court. This process of negotiation is also used with couples in preparing Pre-Marital/Pre-Nuptial and Marital Agreements.

The Virginia law firm Gentry Locke is pleased to welcome Ryan Starks to its Richmond office. Starks will work in the firm’s commercial litigation practice group, where he will focus on assisting clients with complex disputes, as well as government contract matters.

Starks represents clients in commercial litigation and contract dispute matters in federal and state courts, as well as before the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Boards of Contract Appeals, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He also defends clients in qui tam whistleblower litigation under the False Claims Act, and construction professionals with respect to claims and disputes arising from delay and inefficiency, defective work, payment disputes, performance and payment bonds, mechanic’s liens, design and construction and other project related matters.

Prior to entering private practice, Starks worked as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice – Torts Branch, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and as a law clerk with the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Starks received his B.A. degree from State University of New York (SUNY) Albany and his J.D. from the Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce a major expansion of its national real estate and finance practices with the addition of partners Elizabeth C. Sauer, Mary O’Kelley, Kacie McRee and John P. McGehee, counsel Kyra F. Howell, and associate Taylor P. Scott.

All six attorneys join Bradley from Baker Donelson, bringing extensive transactional experience in the real estate, banking, and healthcare industries to the firm. This highly accomplished team routinely handles all aspects of commercial real estate development and complex real estate and finance transactions, with a focus on long term care facilities and senior housing.

Sauer advises investors, developers, managers, owner-operators, and lenders in large-scale, multi-state portfolio transactions, as well as single-asset deals. She has significant transactional experience with medical office buildings and condominiums; hospitals, outpatient clinics and surgery centers; skilled nursing facilities; assisted living facilities, memory care centers and independent living facilities; warehouse distribution centers and manufactured homes; and multifamily housing and hotels. Sauer routinely drafts and negotiates purchase and sale agreements, development agreements, ground leases, master leases and space leases, and oversees due diligence. She earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her B.A. (with distinction) from the University of Virginia.

O’Kelley focuses her practice on long term care transactions, including financing, leasing, acquisitions and dispositions of long-term care and senior housing facilities. In particular, she represents national healthcare lenders in origination and servicing of balance sheet, bridge-to-agency and mezzanine loans. She also represents owners, operators and developers of healthcare facilities, as well as investors in other real estate asset classes. O’Kelley received her LL.M. and J.D. from Cornell University School of Law and her B.S. (cum laude) from Vanderbilt University.

McRee has a broad range of experience in real estate and corporate transactions, including representing both borrowers and lenders in real estate development transactions, commercial leasing and secured lending, as well as representing clients in corporate formations and corporate M&A. She handles long term care transactions, including financing, leasing, acquisitions and dispositions of long term care and seniors housing facilities. McRee also has particular experience related to environmental issues in connection with sales and acquisitions of real estate. She earned her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and her B.S. (summa cum laude) from Troy University.

McGehee has extensive experience representing lenders and borrowers in HUD-insured loan transactions for multifamily and senior housing facilities and the related asset management and servicing work. He has been counsel to lenders and borrowers in hundreds of HUD-insured loans in 40+ states and to lenders and borrowers in bridge-to-agency loans throughout the country. McGehee received his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the University of Tennessee College of Law and his B.A. (summa cum laude) from Murray State University.

Howell practices in the areas of commercial real estate and finance transactions. Her experience includes HUD transactions, as well as primary and mezzanine lending in bridge-to-HUD and standard commercial lending transactions. She primarily concentrates on business transactions involving the financing of long term care facilities and other commercial properties. Howell handles all facets of such transactions, including drafting and negotiating loan documents, asset purchase agreements, leases and other closing documents, as well as performing related activities such as due diligence and corporate analysis. Howell received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her B.A. from Manhattanville College.

Scott represents clients in real estate and finance transactions, long term care transactions and commercial leasing matters. Her practice includes real estate development transactions, commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions, and loan modifications, as well as long term care transactions involving financing, leasing, dispositions, and acquisitions of long term care and senior housing facilities. Scott received her J.D. (with honors) from the University of Tennessee College of Law and her B.S. (cum laude) from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Ethan E. Trull, a partner in the Complex Commercial Disputes practice and vice-chair of the Litigation Department at Nixon Peabody LLP in Chicago, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Formerly head of litigation for a Fortune 20 corporation, Trull represents clients in complex litigation involving commercial disputes and product liability claims, often brought as class, multi-district or aggregated actions. He has extensive experience in securities fraud cases, price-fixing and antitrust actions, and false advertising litigation including allegations of Lanham Act violations and frequently involving complex intellectual property issues.

Trull led a team that successfully secured a dismissal on behalf of drug outsourcing facility Leiters, Inc., related to a dispute spanning multiple states in connection with the sale of the company’s compounded ephedrine sulphate drug product. He also led a team that successfully represented Bourbon Marble, Inc., Chicago’s premier stone and tile installer, in recovering more than $4.3 million in damages and litigation fees and costs in a breach of contract action against Pepper Construction Company.

Trull received his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and his Bachelor of Business Administration (cum laude) from Loyola University Chicago.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that the firm’s attorneys Courtney Adair and Caroline Paillou have been chosen to represent the firm as 2021 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) participants.

An Officer in the firm’s Chicago office, Adair was named as a 2021 Fellow. Paillou, an associate in the firm’s St. Louis office, will participate inLCLD’s Pathfinder Program. Both are members of the firm’s litigation practice group.

Since 2010, Greensfelder has been a member of LCLD, a national group that includes managing partners of law firms and general counsel from major corporations. LCLD’s goals are to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and foster leadership skills. The LCLD Fellows Program aims to identify, train and advance the next generation of leaders. Now in its sixth year as a full-scale program, the Pathfinder program assists early-career attorneys with critical career development strategies including leadership and the building of professional networks.

For more information about Greensfelder’s initiatives to foster an inclusive, diverse workplace, visit: https://www.greensfelder.com/about-diversity.html.

Washington, D.C. – Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Sonia Barros has joined the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. Formerly the Chief Corporate Governance Counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Barros will be a member of the firm’s Global Capital Markets group, where she will be the chair of the group’s newly formed Public Company Advisory subgroup focused on advising clients in corporate disclosures and governance matters.

As outgoing Chief Corporate Governance Counsel, Barros is a leading authority on corporate governance matters that involve the agency’s rules and regulations. In addition to forming the Division’s initial corporate governance function, Barros also served as the SEC’s representative to the Corporate Governance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Prior to her role as Chief Corporate Governance Counsel, Barros served as the Assistant Director in the SEC’s Office of Real Estate and Commodities, where she had oversight authority for thousands of transactions and reviews of corporate disclosures, including financial statements, under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In this capacity, Barros also led the SEC’s disclosure review of companies across numerous industries, including REITs, real estate-related finance, real estate marketplace lending, lodging, casinos, commodities, stock exchanges, consulting services, and cryptocurrencies. Her other roles during her tenure with the SEC included Legal Office Chief of the Division’s Office of Risk and Strategy, Special Counsel, Attorney-Advisor for the Office of Health Care and Insurance, and the Office of Chief Counsel’s Shareholder Proposal Task Force. Before joining the SEC, Barros spent nearly a decade in private practice, counseling clients on corporate governance and securities matters.

Ashley Hutto-Schultz, a regulatory attorney with substantial experience in the mortgage industry, has joined the national financial services practice at Davis Wright Tremaine. Hutto-Schultz, who will join as counsel and work from the firm’s Washington, DC office, previously worked at Hogan Lovells and Morrison & Foerster, as well as serving as Director of Compliance at Castle & Cooke Mortgage. She will work closely with Chava Brandriss, head of the firm’s mortgage industry practice, who joined DWT in 2020.

Hutto-Schultz will support mortgage lenders, servicers and other mortgage industry participants, such as FinTech companies, on a range of matters, including helping companies structure mortgage products and services, advising on state and federal regulatory compliance, developing or revising compliance management systems, and assisting with regulatory examinations.

Davis Wright Tremaine recently reported that it had another strong year in 2020, its seventh consecutive year of record performance. Revenue increased by more than 7% and net income rose by nearly 12%.

After more than 50 years, USS Pueblo crew members and their families are finally being recognized for what they have endured. A federal district court has awarded compensatory damages in the amount of $1.15 billion and additional punitive damages in the same amount. Today’s decision follows a 2019 default judgment that held North Korea liable for taking the crew hostage in 1968. The damages awarded today are among the largest ever awarded in a state-sponsored terrorism case.

The case, John Doe A-1 et al. v. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was filed by Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp three years ago this month on behalf of 61 crew member plaintiffs and 110 family member plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It arises out of the capture of the Pueblo during an intelligence-gathering mission in international waters off the Korean Peninsula. On January 23, 1968, armed North Korean warships and fighter aircraft surrounded and fired on the ship. One crew member was killed, and the remaining crew – consisting of U.S. Navy, Marines and civilians – were held hostage by North Korea for 11 months until the United States negotiated their release. The plaintiffs, which include members of the crew and their families, sought damages for torture, hostage-taking, and personal injuries they suffered as a result.

The case was filed under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s terrorism exception. This exception allows victims to sue a state sponsor of terrorism for torture, hostage-taking, personal injury or death resulting from its actions or its material support for such actions. The Trump Administration re-designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism on November 20, 2017, shortly after Trump’s 2017 visit to South Korea and a speech to its Parliament in which he highlighted the USS Pueblo incident as part of North Korea’s history of terrorist acts. If deemed eligible, this would be one of the largest terrorism judgments in history to be paid by the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

North Korea previously was found liable by the D.C. District Court in 2008 for the capture of the Pueblo and its subsequent treatment of its Commander and three crew members during their nearly one year of captivity in Massie v. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This case arises out of the same basic facts as Massie, but due to the nature of their claims, plaintiffs in the case decided today proceeded pseudonymously.

Edmund S. Cohen, Rachel Ingwer, and Scott Malone have joined Lowenstein Sandler’s Tax practice. Cohen and Ingwer will join as partners, and Malone will join as counsel; the team will be based in the New York office. The lawyers, who all until recently practiced at Winston & Strawn LLP, are expected to work closely with the firm’s Investment Management, Family Office, Private Equity, and Mergers & Acquisitions teams on sophisticated transactions and disputes.

The new group has extensive experience representing funds, corporations, and family offices and high net worth individuals with investments and philanthropic initiatives around the world. They advise on tax issues and controversies involving fund formation across asset classes, cross-border M&A, and a wide range of financial products.

Cohen has over 40 years of experience providing tax advice to multinational corporations, many of the largest investment funds, and numerous ultra-high net worth individuals. He has provided tax advice in connection with investment and cross-border corporate matters, as well as PFICs, Subpart F issues, the application of the GILTI tax, derivatives, and other financial product transactions, including life insurance investments. Cohen also has extensive experience in structuring foreign investment in U.S. real estate and tax planning for family offices and international families with U.S. family members. He is consistently ranked as a leading tax law practitioner in numerous independent surveys, including Who’s Who in America, Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America. Prior to Winston & Strawn he was Chair of Coudert Brothers LLP’s tax practice for nearly 20 years.

Ingwer counsels both corporate clients and high net worth individuals on a variety of domestic and cross-border tax issues. She focuses a significant portion of her practice on tax matters relating to private equity transactions and other transactional tax matters, including business formations, taxable and tax-free mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, financings, and restructurings and recapitalizations. She also counsels on debt and equity offerings and fund formation issues, including fund structuring and partnership tax matters.

For her private clients, Ingwer advises on a variety of individual and private foundation tax matters, as well as tax matters relating to their business interests. She has extensive experience advising both high net worth individuals and charitable foundations on structuring investments both into and out of the United States.

Scott Malone’s practice focuses on tax controversies. He represents investment funds, multinational corporations, trusts, family offices, and high net worth individuals in disputes with the IRS and state and local taxing authorities at the examination and administrative appeals levels. Malone also advises on the tax aspects of domestic and cross-border structuring and planning matters, such as trust restructuring, business formation and exit planning, debt and non-debt financial instruments, investments in controlled foreign corporations and passive foreign investment companies, family investment companies, residency planning, charitable giving, application of tax treaties, and compliance with FATCA and Chapter 3 withholding tax provisions.

In the past 18 months, Lowenstein has significantly grown its capabilities in the areas of domestic and cross-border structuring and planning matters for multinational corporations, trusts, family offices, and high net worth individuals with the addition of partners Max Karpel, Co-chair of the Family Office Practice, Boris Liberman in Investment Management, and Michael P. Vito in Trusts & Estates.