Baker McKenzie Elects New Partners, Counsel and Directors of Economics
Baker McKenzie has elected 20 new partners in North America. The firm also elected five attorneys to Counsel, as well as three individuals to Director of Economics.
“These individuals have made significant contributions to our firm, demonstrating a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses and industries,” said Colin Murray, Baker McKenzie’s Managing Partner in North America. “We are very proud of their accomplishments, and I congratulate each of them on achieving this significant career milestone. As the new year begins, I look forward to working with them to advise our clients as they pursue growth and navigate a complex marketplace.”
The firm’s newly promoted individuals include:
Partners:
Adam Beckerink is a Partner in the Tax Practice, based in Chicago. Adam advises multinational corporations and high net-worth individuals on a range of tax issues, tax controversies and litigation, including multistate and federal tax planning and the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions. He represents clients on state tax matters before administrative appeal boards, tax tribunals and courts in Illinois and other US states. He received his bachelor’s degree from Shenandoah University, his J.D. from the University of Maryland and his LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.
Christina Bullock is a Partner in the Corporate & Securities Practice, based in Chicago. Christina advises multinational companies on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, pre- and post-transaction corporate reorganizations and general corporate and commercial law transactions. She represents clients in the logistics, packaging, chemicals and healthcare industries, among others. She received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
Christopher Burkett is a Partner in the Employment & Compensation Practice, based in Toronto. Chris’s broad advocacy and investigations practice focuses on employment, civil, compliance and criminal law matters. He also regularly advises private and public corporations on regulatory compliance matters, particularly in the areas of anti-corruption and international human rights. Chris was a Fox Scholar at Middle Temple, Inn of Court, and received his bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University, his LL.B. from the University of Windsor, and his LL.M. from the London School of Economics and Political Science under a Baker McKenzie Graduate Legal Studies Scholarship.
Kerry Contini is a Partner in the International Commercial Practice, based in Washington, DC. Kerry focuses her practice on export controls, trade sanctions and antiboycott laws. She advises US and foreign companies on trade compliance programs, risk assessments, licensing, review of proposed transactions and enforcement matters across a range of industries, including the pharmaceuticals, medical devices, oil and gas and nuclear sectors. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at San Diego, her master’s degree from the George Washington University, and her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.
Paul DePasquale is a Partner in the Tax Practice, based in New York. Paul advises high net worth individuals and families on a range of matters, including cross-border investments, real estate investments, income tax and transfer tax planning, trust and estate planning and business succession, among others. He also advises multinational corporations and investment funds on US inbound and outbound international tax issues, as well as financial institutions on FATCA, CRS, withholding taxes and information reporting. He received his bachelor’s degree from College of William and Mary and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
Matt Dushek is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice, based in Washington, DC. Matt focuses his practice on all areas of patent law, including litigation, counseling, prosecution and post-grant proceedings. He litigates patent cases across the US and before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board, and as part of his patent prosecution practice, he obtains patent protection for leading global corporations from the US Patent and Trademark Office. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota and his J.D. from the University of St. Thomas.
Juan Carlos Gonzalez Novo is a Partner in the Banking Finance & Major Projects Practice, based in Chicago. Juan’s practice focuses on banking and finance matters, including global custody, cross-border financing, trade financing, project finance and major projects, particularly those related to infrastructure development. Juan received his law degree from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and his LL.M. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
José Hoyos-Robles is a Partner in the International Commercial Practice, based in Mexico City. José’s practice focuses on foreign trade and customs matters, including tariff classification of goods, rules of origin, customs valuation, free trade agreements, regulatory matters, consumer protection and export controls. He also advises on programs aimed at promoting imports and exports in Mexico, such as IMMEX and PROSEC, and on the implementation of trade compliance programs, licensing and certifications in different industries, including the electric, electronic, food, cosmetic, pharmaceuticals and medical devices sectors. He received his J.D. and master’s degree in Business Law from Universidad Panamericana.
Tatyana Johnson is a Partner in the Tax Practice, based in New York. Tatyana focuses her practice on US federal income taxation of corporations, with an emphasis on international tax planning. She advises clients on international mergers, acquisitions, post-acquisition and pre-disposition restructuring, spin-offs, supply chain restructuring, and other tax-related matters, including outbound and inbound tax planning, income tax treaties, efficient repatriation and intangible property migration. She received her B.S.B.A. in Finance from Washington University, her J.D. from Southern Methodist University School of Law and her LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.
Ben Kelly is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice, based in Dallas. Ben’s practice focuses on patent litigation, trade secret enforcement and associated business torts, representing clients in US state and federal district courts, at the US International Trade Commission, and before the American Arbitration Association. He has managed the enforcement and protection of a range of technologies, particularly electrical, communications and networking systems. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
Victor Morales-Chavez is a Partner in the Tax Practice, based in Mexico City. Victor’s practice focuses on corporate taxes, non-resident taxation, international tax treaties and general tax planning. He advises multinational companies on projects related to mergers and acquisition, corporate restructuring and due diligence. He received his accounting degree from the Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente A.C. and degrees in tax from Guadalajara Public Accountants College and Universidad Panamericana.
Steve Park is a Partner in the Corporate & Securities Practice, based in Houston. Steve represents public and private clients in a range of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investments, international restructurings, spin-offs and general corporate and governance matters. He advises clients from a variety of industries, including oil and gas, life sciences, technology, auto, manufacturing, food and beverage, media and broadcasting and financial services. He received his bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
Jennifer Seale is a Partner in the Litigation & Government Enforcement Practice, based in Washington, DC. Jennifer focuses her practice on cybersecurity issues, including crisis management, data breach response, internal investigations, regulatory compliance and complex litigation. She also advises clients on administrative, civil, and criminal litigation matters across several industries, including financial services, hospitality, manufacturing, telecommunications and energy. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Ahmed Shafey is a Partner in the Litigation & Government Enforcement Practice, based in Toronto. Ahmed is a commercial litigator who advises on contractual disputes, professional liability actions, class actions, shareholder disputes, product liability actions, government procurement litigation, international commercial arbitrations and bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. He also advises on civil fraud and asset recovery matters, as well as business crime investigations. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and his J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Catherine Koh Stillman is a Partner in the Litigation & Government Enforcement Practice, based in New York. Catherine’s practice encompasses all antitrust matters, including private litigations, government investigations, merger review, and antitrust compliance. She counsels companies across a variety of industries on managing antitrust risk in their daily business activities, including competitor collaborations, tying, bundling, discount practices, vertical distribution issues, and non-compete agreements. She is also a general commercial litigator with experience representing companies in complex commercial litigations in federal court. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and her J.D. from the University of Michigan.
Carlos Vela Treviño is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice, based in Mexico City. Carlos focuses his practice in technology, media, privacy and telecommunications law. He represents some of the most innovative IT and consumer internet industry players on matters related to telecom regulation/licensing, technology contracts and procurement, monetization of e-commerce portals, e-marketing, consumer protection and copyright within the digital space. In the privacy field, Carlos has implemented privacy management compliance programs for more than 100 companies. He received his LL.B. from Universidad Panamericana and his LL.M. in Information and Communication Technology Law from the University of Oslo.
Jonathan Welbel is a Partner in the Tax Practice, based in Chicago. Jonathan advises multinational corporations on transfer pricing and other international tax issues with a focus on US federal tax controversy. He helps clients navigate the audits, appeals and litigation process, and he has extensive experience working with tax court practice and procedure. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University and his LL.M. in Taxation from Northwestern University School of Law.
Ora Wexler is a Partner in the Corporate & Securities Practice, based in Toronto. Ora’s practice focuses on capital markets transactions and securities regulatory matters, including private placements, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, capital market regulatory compliance matters and other securities issues. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Brandeis University and her J.D. from Queen’s University.
Richard White is a Partner in the International Commercial Practice, based in Dallas. Richard counsels clients on corporate transactions with an emphasis on cross-border business transactions, commercial contracts, and structuring international and domestic franchise transactions, among other corporate matters. He represents many of the leading hotel, lodging and hospitality franchise companies and negotiates complex franchise transactions in the US and around the world. He received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree in accounting and J.D. from the University of Tennessee.
Brian Zurawski is a Partner in the Banking Finance & Major Projects Practice, based in Chicago. Brian advises on real estate and finance matters. He advises landlords and tenants in the negotiation of lease agreements and lease agreement amendments, as well as purchasers and sellers on the sale of office spaces, hotels, data centers and other properties. He received his B.B.A. from Loyola University Chicago and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Counsel:
Jane Chen Klinger is Counsel in the Litigation & Government Enforcement Practice, based in Washington, DC. Jane advises clients on a range of international corporate compliance matters, and has led multijurisdictional internal investigations and guided companies under investigation by US enforcement authorities and multilateral institutions. She has also conducted risk assessments and developed third party diligence programs, compliance policies and procedures, and anti-corruption training programs for multinational companies. She received her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her J.D. from George Washington University.
Bianca Lansdown is Counsel in in the Employment & Compensation Practice, based in San Francisco. Bianca advises multinational companies in the design, implementation and ongoing compliance of global executive and employee incentive programs, handling matters related to securities law compliance, tax obligations, data privacy, exchange controls and labor law compliance. She also advises companies on US and international tax considerations and related recharge arrangements. She received her bachelor’s degree from New York University, her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law and her LL.M. in Corporate & Commercial Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Brook Mestre is Counsel in the Corporate & Securities Practice, based in Dallas. Brook represents publicly traded and privately held businesses in a range of corporate transactions, including advising purchasers and sellers in cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions from the inception of a deal through any post-acquisition restructuring and integration matters that may arise. He also counsels clients in capital market transactions, including public offerings and private placements of equity and debt, as well as on day-to-day governance and other corporate matters. He received his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Allan Pasalagua-Ayala is Counsel in the Tax Practice, based in Mexico City. Allan advises clients on transfer pricing matters, with an emphasis on economic analysis, including planning, compliance, valuations, APAs and audits in Mexico. He counsels companies from different industrial sectors on local transfer pricing matters, but has also been involved in global and regional documentation projects. He also has experience advising on business and intangible assets valuations. He received his bachelor’s degree from Universidad Iberoamericana.
Stephanie Russ is Counsel in the International Commercial Practice, based in Dallas. Stephanie counsels franchisors on the structuring and operation of their domestic and international franchise programs. She assists start-up, mid-market and large, publicly-traded franchisors with their franchise registration and disclosure matters, as well as the management of their franchising programs and their ongoing day-to-day franchise relationship matters with franchisees, acting as an all-around business adviser. She received her B.B.A. in finance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and her J.D. from Texas Wesleyan School of Law (now Texas A&M University School of Law).
Director of Economics:
Joshua Nixt is a Director of Economics in the Tax Practice, based in New York. Josh advises multinational companies across a variety of industries on transfer pricing and tax-related engagements, including planning of intercompany transactions, preparing US and foreign documentation, valuation and audit defense. His practice focuses on intellectual property and other intangibles, and he has managed several analyses related to licensing, IP migration, and cost sharing. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Ohio State University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Andrew O’Brien-Penney is a Director of Economics in the Tax Practice, based in Chicago. Andrew provides clients with economic analyses and valuations to assist them in planning and supporting business reorganizations, new transfer pricing policies, transitioning to principal company structures and implementing cost sharing arrangements. He also advises on audit and dispute resolution situations, supply chain restructuring, planning, advance pricing agreements and intellectual property migration opportunities. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Ivan Tsios is a Director of Economics and Valuation Services in the Tax Practice, based in Chicago. Ivan provides comprehensive economic and valuation services related to transfer pricing issues and other tax matters. Ivan assists clients with planning intercompany pricing, US and foreign documentation, negotiating advanced pricing agreements, restructuring intercompany arrangements, intellectual property transfers, and dispute resolution. He also prepares valuations of businesses, intangible property and damages in mergers, acquisitions and other transactions, corporate tax planning, corporate reorganizations, antitrust and competition, and debt and equity valuation. He received his bachelor’s degree from Dominican University and his M.B.A. from DePaul University.
