Junaid Odubeko, a partner in Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Nashville office, has been elected to the Nashville Bar Association’s (NBA) Board of Directors for a four-year term, starting Jan. 1.

The election results were announced at the NBA’s Annual Meeting and Banquet on Dec. 5.

In a release, the firm said Odubeko, a member of Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group, focuses his practice on advising and representing clients in complex commercial and business disputes and real estate litigation. He has represented clients in industries that include healthcare, financial services, transportation, lodging, entertainment, and insurance. Odubeko represents clients in a variety of state regulatory matters before the state’s various departments, boards and commissions. His administrative law experience includes representing insurance producers before the department of commerce and insurance and representing utility companies before the Tennessee Regulatory Authority.

The firm said Odubeko represents and advises clients in the political arena on legal and other issues related to campaign finance. He serves as the legal counsel to the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus and as an adjunct professor of campaign finance and elections law at Vanderbilt University Law School.

Odubeko is a Fellow in the Nashville Bar Association and has completed the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Program. He has served on the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, which is a national organization made up of general counsel and law firm managing partners dedicated to creating a truly diverse U.S. legal profession. Named to the Nashville Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list in 2017, Odubeko serves on the board of directors of Hands On Nashville, which focuses on meeting community needs through volunteerism.

At Bradley, Odubeko is a member of the firm’s Recruiting Committee and serves as chair of the firm’s Lawyers of Color Resource Group.

Susan Meyer, an officer in the Chicago office of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. and leader of the firm’s Trademark, Copyright, Media, and Advertising group, has been appointed as Norway’s Honorary Consul General for Illinois, effective Dec. 1, 2019.

Norway’s honorary consul general assists with consular affairs and helps to facilitate development of business, cultural, and educational relations between Norway and the United States. In conjunction with the appointment, Greensfelder’s Chicago office is designated by Norway’s Foreign Ministry as the Royal Norwegian Honorary Consulate.

According to the firm, Meyer, a past president and current member of the Chicago Chapter of the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce, advises companies on matters related to commerce between the United States and Scandinavia. She is also involved with the Norwegian-American Defense and Homeland Security Industry Council and the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she is on the board of Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women-owned businesses expand internationally.

In her practice, Meyer advises businesses in the areas of intellectual property, franchising, and distribution. A member of Greensfelder’s Intellectual Property and Franchising & Distribution groups, she represents companies in the United States and internationally in every stage of development. In addition to her work involving intellectual property transactions, licensing, and dispute resolution, Meyer has experience in trademark law, representing clients before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts. She also works with franchisors on compliance issues and serves as outside general counsel for businesses on general business matters.

Joseph P. Lentivech III, a former administrative patent judge with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has returned to Harrity & Harrity, LLP as counsel. He was a patent attorney at Harrity & Harrity from July 2010 until late 2014 when he joined the USPTO.

The firm said Lentivech will be joining Harrity’s patent application drafting team, where he will draft patent applications for the leading technology companies in the world. He will also oversee all PTAB appeals at the firm.

As an administrative patent judge, Lentivech served as a member of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the USPTO. The PTAB conducts trials, including inter partes, post-grant, and covered business method patent reviews and derivation proceedings; hears appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and reexamination proceedings; and renders decisions in interferences.

Lentivech also was a patent attorney at Brouse McDowell L.P.A. before his earlier stint at Harrity & Harrity. Prior to his law career, Lentivech served with the U.S. Marine Corp., most recently as a captain/artillery officer.

Lentivech received his J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Akron School of Law and his Bachelor of Science from State University of New York at Buffalo.

Stroock announced the promotion of three lawyers to partner and nine lawyers to special counsel, effective Jan. 1, 2020.

The following lawyers have been promoted to partner:

David Cheifetz (Litigation); Christopher Guhin (Financial Restructuring); and Dina Kolker (Government Affairs & Regulatory Support).

The following lawyers have been promoted to special counsel:

Elizabeth Carter (Litigation); Raymond Garcia (Litigation); Matthew Garofalo (Financial Restructuring); Benjamin Lee (Real Estate); Shauneida Navarrete (Litigation); Nicholas Richard (Real Estate); Debra Sapp (Real Estate); Gabriel Sasson (Financial Restructuring); and Julieta Stepanyan (Litigation).

Michelle E. Espey has joined Farrell Fritz in its Uniondale office as a tax partner.

The firm said Espey counsels clients on  tax matters, from representing individuals and businesses in federal, state and city tax disputes to advising clients on tax aspects of various transactions. She also advises not-for-profits on issues related to their tax exempt status.

Prior to joining Farrell Fritz, Espey was counsel at Moritt Hock & Hamroff, LLP in Garden City.

She is a Smithtown, NY, resident. She earned her J.D. from Quinnipiac University School of Law and her B.A. from College of the Holy Cross. Espey is admitted in New York and New Jersey and the United States Tax Court.

Zachary G. Williams has joined Venable LLP as counsel in the Zoning and Land Use Practice in the firm’s Tysons and Washington, D.C., offices. Williams focuses his practice on land use law, and land use and real property litigation.

The firm said Williams works with land use, zoning, and real estate development matters, including applications for special exceptions, comprehensive plan amendments, conditional use permits, special use permits, site plans, variances, subdivisions, and rezonings. He also regularly assists clients with zoning violation issues and zoning due diligence reviews prior to the acquisition and development of property. Williams has handled land use and real property-related litigation and appeals that have reached the Virginia Supreme Court, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Maryland Court of Appeals, and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

In addition to Williams, the firm recently added three new associates to the Tysons office.

Williams received his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, and his B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College.

Galen R. Mason has joined Michael Best in the firm’s Transactional Practice Group and Venture Best, the firm’s team dedicated to matters impacting high growth entrepreneurs. He joins as a partner in the firm’s Chicago office.

In a release, the firm said Mason focuses his practice on representing investors, emerging companies, founders, and management throughout all stages of the start-up lifecycle. This includes start-up formations, financings, growth stage employment, tax, intellectual property, and regulatory matters as well as exits. He also has experience with corporate structure and transactions for high-growth companies and in matters impacting companies in their later stages of growth including commercial agreements, rapid and discreet dispute resolution, and secondary transactions.

He co-founded Catapult Chicago, a nonprofit co-working space specifically designed for such entities. Mason is also a managing director of an active early stage venture capital firm.

Before making the move to Michael Best, Mason served as special counsel at Foley & Lardner LLP. Mason received his J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review, and his B.S., cum laude, from St. Olaf College.

The law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP announced that Jessica B. Magee has joined the firm as a partner in the Trial Practice Group in Dallas. Magee was previously an associate at the firm from 2002 to 2010 before joining the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Fort Worth.

Prior to joining Thompson & Knight, Magee served as general counsel at Dallas-based financial services firm The Beneficient Company Group, a Thompson & Knight client, where she led an in-house legal and compliance department, advised the board and senior leadership on a wide array of legal, regulatory, and corporate governance issues, and oversaw the firm’s legal efforts through numerous strategic transactions.

Magee also served in a variety of leadership roles at the SEC, including as both the associate director in charge of the SEC’s enforcement efforts in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas and chief trial counsel for that region, which includes more than 400 NYSE- and Nasdaq-listed companies and numerous Fortune 500 companies. While at the SEC, she successfully prosecuted and supervised several high-profile matters across multiple industries and subject areas, including the agency’s first cryptocurrency enforcement action, the agency’s first appointment of a receiver in a fraudulent cryptocurrency offering, and a $46.8 million judgment against a publicly traded life settlements company and certain of its executives.

During her years in government, Magee was selected as a Senior Fellow in the Partnership for Public Service’s Excellence in Government Fellowship Program and earned the SEC’s prestigious Arthur F. Mathews Award and the Ferdinand Pecora Award for creativity and dedication in protecting investors and the public.

The firm said Magee focuses her practice on commercial and shareholder disputes, government and internal investigations, and matters of corporate governance. In addition, she has experience on issues involving regulatory compliance, disclosure, risk mitigation, corporate and shareholder rights, partnership disputes, director and officer disputes, and federal receiverships.

Prior to entering public service, Magee was recognized in Texas Rising Stars by Thomson Reuters (2010) for her work in Business Litigation. She received her J.D., cum laude, from SMU Dedman School of Law and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Texas State University.

Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. announced that associate Brian J. Clifford has joined the firm’s SDV Northeast office.

The firm said Clifford has almost a decade of experience in litigation, including insurance coverage, from depositions and discovery through mediations, trials, and appeals. He has represented clients on a range of matters, from advising on general liability and excess policies, to defending health care providers in medical malpractice actions, to trying cases involving complex constitutional and statutory issues.

Lowenstein Sandler has announced that Max Karpel has joined the firm as partner in the Investment Management group. His practice will focus on the structuring and restructuring of investment management businesses and on advising family offices and private foundations.

The firm said Karpel represents managers of both established and startup hedge funds in launching new funds and in private equity investments, lending, mergers and acquisitions, investor activism, and joint ventures; he also represents issuers and underwriters in debt and equity offerings. He negotiates seed deals, agreements with anchor investors, side letters with institutional investors, and employment and consulting agreements, in addition to providing advice on securities law and trading. In addition, Karpel represents hedge fund managers in establishing Insurance Dedicated Funds.

Before joining the firm, Karpel served as chief operating officer and in-house counsel to a family office and foundation.

Karpel was formerly a partner at a boutique law firm focused on the representation of investment managers, as well as real estate developers, family offices, and high-net worth individuals. Fluent in Hebrew, he has represented international clients making investments in Israel and has worked with Israeli investment managers on structuring and launching funds that are open to U.S. and international investors. He is the co-founder of Israel’s first industry association for hedge funds.

Karpel holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law and a B.A. from Yale University.

Attorney Monica Niewiarowski has joined Bailey Brauer PLLC, a Dallas-based boutique, in the firm’s complex commercial litigation, trial, and appellate practices.

“Business litigation is the foundation this firm was built upon and our clients know they can rely on us for the best possible representation,” said firm co-founder Alex Brauer.

Niewiarowski joins Bailey Brauer as an associate from the Dallas office of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP, where she focused primarily on product liability and toxic torts litigation.

“I am impressed with the quality of cases and the expertise of Bailey Brauer’s lawyers. I look forward to learning from these talented attorneys and growing my litigation practice in a new direction, including employment-related work,” said Ms. Niewiarowski, a member of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers’ 2019 Leadership Class.

Her employment litigation focus will include trade secrets, discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour claims, ADA, and regulatory agency investigations.

A 2016 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, she served as a judicial intern for Justice Douglas Lang of the Texas 5th Court of Appeals. She also worked with the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she assisted low-income residents with landlord-tenant disputes. She graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2013 and is an alumna of the school’s prestigious Eugene McDermott Scholars Program.

Barnes & Thornburg has announced the addition of a life sciences patent group comprised of 17 lawyers, patent agents, IP technical analysts, and paralegals. With the move, Barnes & Thornburg establishes three new offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Nine partners, one associate, two patent agents, an IP technical analyst, and four paralegals joined Barnes & Thornburg from the boutique IP firm Brinks, Gilson & Lione. In addition to Raleigh, Ann Arbor, and Salt Lake City, a new member of the Barnes & Thornburg team will be based in Chicago. The group is led by Allen Baum, an intellectual property attorney who has been based in Raleigh-Durham for more than 20 years, and William R. Boudreaux, a leading IP attorney in Ann Arbor.

In a release, the firm said the group has experience and advanced degrees in such fields as organic chemistry, molecular biology, chemistry and biotechnology. Group members also have in-house experience with life sciences and pharmaceutical

The Raleigh office will be located at 4819 Emperor Boulevard, Suite 400, Durham, North Carolina 27703. The Ann Arbor office will be located at 2723 South State Street, Suite 150, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. The Salt Lake City office will be located at 222 S. Main Street, 5th Floor, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101.

Allen Baum joins as partner-in-charge of the Raleigh office. He is a former president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada) and former president and chairman of the board of governors for Certified Licensing Professional (CLP).

Bashir M. Ali joins as a partner in Raleigh. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and has worked with companies to obtain hundreds of U.S. patents.

Eric D. Babych and Ryan Marshal join as partners in Salt Lake City.

William R. Boudreaux joins as partner in Ann Arbor and serves as attorney-in-charge of the Ann Arbor office.

Heidi A. Dare  joins as a partner in Chicago.

Amy H. Fix and Mark Jenkins join as partners in Raleigh.

Aisha R. Hasan  joins as an associate in Raleigh.

Joshua E. Ney joins as a partner in Ann Arbor.

Michael O’Brien has joined Perkins Coie in Anchorage as a senior counsel in the Labor & Employment practice.

O’Brien is the sixth lateral to join the practice group since July, the firm said in a release.

O’Brien’s practice focuses on counseling clients on the range of employment issues affecting the workplace and on conducting workplace investigations. He also has experience with Title IX and other education laws that impact both the K-12 and post-secondary school environments. Prior to joining Perkins Coie, he was an associate general counsel for the University of Alaska system.

O’Brien received his J.D. and M.A. from Vermont Law School and his B.A. from the University of Montana. He also holds an M.A. from St. John’s College.

Bloomberg Law reports that an Ohio attorney who was found guilty of a felony for helping clients try to evade federal taxes was suspended for two years by the state’s highest court.

The Ohio Supreme Court found that actions of Gregory Thomas Plesich violated professional ethics rules prohibiting lawyers from helping clients break the law and that he violated rules that forbid lawyers from committing acts that reflect adversely on the legal profession and from acting dishonestly.

Bloomberg Law’s Melissa Heelan Stanzione explains:

“Plesich deposited two checks from them totaling almost $200,000 into his client trust account in 2013. The money was not payment for legal services. He then wrote 29 checks from that account over the course of a year ranging in amounts from $3,000 to $7,500 to the wife.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Pittsburgh-based Biglaw firm K&L Gates has been steadily losing attorneys all year long, reports Above the Law, citing ALM Intelligence data.

The data show that “from December 2018 through October 2019, the firm lost a total of 96 partners, while only picking up 32 in that timeframe. That net decrease represents 7.9 percent of the total partnership. And across all attorneys, the firm is net down 56 lawyers.”

During that period the firm hired more associates than it lost — 164 hires and 154 departures.

Read the Above the Law article.

Stroock senior counsel Joel Cohen — a veteran prosecutor, white-collar defense lawyer and author on legal ethics topics — considers what it means to take an oath as well as the implications of adhering to one in his new book: “I Swear: The Meaning of an Oath.”

The book, available from Vandeplas 2019, asks the reader to consider the consequences of varied oaths, along with the respective oath-takers’ duties under diverse circumstances.

The book includes 11 profiles of a wide-ranging group of Americans who took oaths of personal intent and professional requirement, including former Central Intelligence Agency Director Richard Helms; Dr. Samuel Mudd; and former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“The book is intended to make us think about the oaths we ourselves take alongside those taken by members of professional societies,” said Cohen. “In this particular time and place in our country, it is important to understand the impact oaths have on society and consider whether the sanctity of one declaration surpasses another.”

Cohen is a white-collar criminal lawyer and has spent the last 30 years of his career at Stroock. Prior to joining the firm, Cohen served as a prosecutor in the New York State Special Prosecutor’s Office and as an assistant attorney-in-charge with the U.S. Justice Department’s Organized Crime & Racketeering Section. Cohen is a regular contributor to the New York Law Journal, The Hill and Law & Crime, among other publications.

“I Swear” is available on Vandeplas, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. announced that Dawn M. Johnson, an officer and a leader of the firm’s Franchising & Distribution industry group, has earned the Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) designation from the International Franchise Association (IFA) Institute of Certified Franchise Executives.

In a release, the firm said the CFE designation “exemplifies a commitment and passion toward franchising and the franchising community,” according to the IFA. The designation requires a high level of participation in initial and ongoing educational programs intended to provide in-depth insights into every aspect of franchising. The IFA is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising and franchise establishments.

A longtime member of the IFA, Johnson has represented national and international franchisors for more than 20 years. She focuses her practice on all aspects of the dealer, distributor and franchise relationship, including termination and non-renewal, claims under state and federal relationship laws, and claims such as breach of contract, fraud, tortious interference, antitrust pricing, and trademark infringement. Among her clients, she has represented oil refiners in numerous state and federal courts. Johnson also handles a range of general business litigation disputes for clients. In addition, she is co-leader of Greensfelder’s Appellate practice.

Venable LLP announced that Stacie E. Tobin, a partner in the Commercial Litigation Practice, has been named partner-in-charge of the Baltimore office.

The firm said Tobin has litigation experience spanning a diverse range of matters and has tried dozens of cases to verdict while serving as first-chair counsel or co-counsel before federal and state courts across the United States. She represents companies, manufacturers, and financial services clients as part of her commercial litigation practice. She has also counseled heavy equipment manufacturers, automobile and watercraft manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and tobacco companies in product liability disputes.

Tobin leads Venable’s Electronic Discovery Task Force and the women’s affinity group for the Maryland offices; she also serves on several Venable committees related to attorney recruitment, promotion, and compensation. She has served on the boards of numerous nonprofit and civic organizations, including Special Olympics Maryland, Live Baltimore, Executive Alliance, and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. She is a 2016 graduate of the GBC LEADERship program. She has been recognized by Best Lawyers for Commercial Litigation (2013-2020); Best Lawyers Business Edition’s Women in Law for Commercial Litigation (2017-2019); The Daily Record in its Maryland’s Top 100 Women list (2019), and by the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland for its Distinguished Women’s Award (2018).

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that Robert Fordhas joined the firm’s Houston office as a partner in the Litigation Practice Group. The Houston office has added 13 new attorneys since April of this year.

The 2020 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” recently awarded Bradley Tier 1 national rankings for four practice areas (Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Litigation – Construction, and Mass Tort Litigation / Class Action – Defendants) and Tier 1 metropolitan rankings across 70 practice areas. In addition, “Best Law Firms” named Bradley the nation’s “Law Firm of the Year” for Construction Law.

In a release, the firm said Ford represents plaintiffs and defendants and has handled all facets of trial as lead counsel in all manner of high-stakes civil matters. These include complex commercial litigation fiduciary disputes, business torts, personal injury suits, product liability claims, construction litigation, and legal malpractice actions. He has a particular focus in cases involving Chapter 95 of Texas’ Civil Practices & Remedies Code (which limits commercial premises owners’ liability for injuries and deaths sustained by independent contractors), trade secrets cases, and motions and appeals under the Texas Citizens’ Participation Act (TCPA), Texas’s anti-SLAPP statute.

Licensed in Texas and Louisiana, Ford practices in state and federal courts throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast. He is a Fellow of the bar foundations of Texas, Houston and Louisiana; the Texas Bar College; and the Trial Lawyer Honorary Society of the Litigation Counsel of America. Prior to joining Bradley, he was a partner at Fogler, Brar, Ford, O’Neil & Gray LLP.

Ford received his J.D. (with honors) from the University of Texas School of Law and his dual Bachelor of Arts (in philosophy and political science) from Loyola University New Orleans.

Sarah M. Anderson has joined Freeborn & Peters LLP’s Tampa office as an associate in the Litigation Practice Group and as a member of the Insurance and Reinsurance Industry Team.

Prior to joining Freeborn, Anderson served as a law clerk to Judge James D. Whittemore and Judge Timothy J. Corrigan in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She also served as the tobacco judicial law clerk in the Middle District of Florida and was responsible for the district’s docket of Engle progeny cases against the Big Tobacco companies over injuries suffered over the health effects of smoking.

Anderson received her J.D. (summa cum laude) from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center and her Bachelor of Science from Cornell University.