Chicago, New York – Sidley is pleased to announce the names of its 29 newly elected partners and 12 lawyers newly promoted to counsel, listed below by office and area of practice. These individuals will become partners and counsel in the firm effective January 1, 2024.
“I’m privileged to recognize this group of partners and counsel for their exceptional talent, teamwork, and results in serving our clients,” said Mike Schmidtberger, Chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee. “This group of lawyers represents the best of Sidley and our breadth of practice areas.”
“Our new class of partners and counsel representing various practice groups and regions reflects our continued growth and emphasizes our commitment to providing clients with the most talented lawyers in the industry,” said Yvette Ostolaza, Chair of Sidley’s Management Committee. “As the first class to experience our award-winning Built to Lead℠ associate development program, I’m particularly excited to see them take this next step in their careers.”
The new Sidley partners are as follows:
Century City
Feifei Bian, M&A, focuses her practice on representing private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, venture capital investors, and strategic companies and other individual buyers, sellers, and investors in mergers and acquisitions and other strategic investments and transactions, across a wide range of industries and jurisdictions.
Evie Whiting, Global Finance, counsels clients in a variety of matters related to film slate financing, single picture financing, television financing, production and distribution of motion pictures, television, and digital content, as well as a variety of financing-related issues in the sports and music businesses.
Chicago
Natalie C. Chan, Labor, Employment and Immigration, focuses her practice on employment and labor law and commercial disputes. She maintains a dynamic hybrid practice that includes litigating, counseling, conducting internal investigations, leading trainings, and advising on corporate transactions. Her practice involves a broad array of employment and labor matters, including employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, contract disputes, and restrictive covenant issues.
John Grothaus, Insurance, represents insurance, financial, and private equity clients in a variety of corporate and securities matters, including M&A, capital investments, private and public securities offerings, and complex insurance financings. He focuses on developing creative and practical solutions for client needs.
Teresa A. Napoli, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, focuses her practice on employee benefits and executive compensation matters, providing counsel to public and private companies of all types, including private equity clients and their portfolio companies.
Zach Paterick, Investment Funds, regularly advises and represents alternative asset managers in the organization and operation of private funds, including hedge funds, private equity funds, co-investment funds, hybrid funds, credit funds, special opportunity funds, single investor funds, separately managed accounts, and other alternative asset investment vehicles. He also represents investors in the negotiation of portfolio company investments, co-investments, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.
Leif E. Peterson II, IP Litigation, represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex patent litigation, including infringement, validity, damages, FRAND licensing, breach of contract, and antitrust issues. His experience spans a broad array of technologies, including cellular and wireless standards, pharmaceuticals, automotive devices, telematics devices, and others.
Jennifer M. Wheeler, Commercial Litigation and Disputes, focuses her practice on white collar and regulatory enforcement matters, professional liability actions, and complex commercial disputes. She represents corporate clients, public accounting firms, and individuals in a wide range of enforcement actions before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dallas
Sean Damm, Global Finance, focuses his practice on financing transactions, including private equity-backed financings, acquisition financings, syndicated financings, cash flow-based lending, asset-based lending, investment grade lending, and direct lending transactions. In addition, he has experience with debtor-in-possession financings, exit financings, and debt restructurings. He represents both borrowers and financial institutions and has been involved in a variety of financing transactions both domestically and internationally.
Courtney J. Gilberg, M&A, represents public and private clients, including private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in complex corporate and transactional matters, such as acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and investments. She also advises clients on corporate governance and general corporate matters. Her experience includes representation of clients in a variety of industries, including healthcare, financial services, technology, insurance, manufacturing, and energy.
Jeremy B. Pettit, Energy and Infrastructure, focuses his practice primarily on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other energy transactions, as well as private equity investments. His clients include private equity funds and their portfolio companies, as well as public companies and other private companies. He advises his clients on a wide variety of transactions in the energy industry, including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and investments in the upstream, midstream, renewables/low-carbon, and services sectors.
David A. Silva, White Collar Defense and Investigations, defends companies and their directors, officers, and employees in complex criminal and civil investigations, environmental government enforcement actions, and white collar matters. He frequently represents clients in issues arising out of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), as well as the False Claims Act, financial reporting misstatements, regulatory fraud, environmental violations, and employee misconduct. He has conducted numerous multinational investigations throughout Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, and has presented findings to various federal and state agencies, including the DOJ, SEC, FBI, and EPA.
London
Jonathon M. Hamill, Private Equity, focuses his practice on advising private equity firms and other financial institutions on transactions, including leveraged buy-outs, carve-outs, asset portfolio M&A, distressed M&A, venture and growth capital investments, and joint ventures. He works with clients investing in a broad range of sectors and asset classes, including financial services, real estate, energy transition and renewables, clean energy technology, manufacturing and industrials, infrastructure, transportation, and telecoms.
Sarah Lainchbury, Commercial Litigation and Disputes, focuses her practice on the resolution of complex corporate and commercial cross-border disputes by way of litigation and arbitration, contentious regulatory work, and cross-border investigations. She has considerable experience conducting litigation in the High Court (particularly the Commercial and Chancery Divisions) and the Court of Appeal, as well as proceedings in off-shore jurisdictions.
Los Angeles
Lauren M. De Lilly, Commercial Litigation and Disputes, works on a variety of commercial litigation and disputes cases, with her primary focus in trademark, advertising, and copyright law, where she assists clients to defend against class actions and to protect intellectual property rights. She works with a broad range of clients, including those from the media and entertainment, consumer products and retail, real estate, private equity, and financial services industries. She has substantial experience in all stages of litigation and investigations, from initial fact investigation and drafting pleadings, through discovery and dispositive motion practice, to trial and post-trial work.
Adriane Peralta, Products Liability, focuses her practice on defending companies in product liability, class action, and consumer fraud litigation. She has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, nutritional supplements, life sciences, and biotechnology industries. She has experience briefing and arguing successful dispositive and discovery motions in both state and federal court, and drafting appellate briefs and petitions before the Supreme Court of the United States, several Circuit Courts, and California Court of Appeal.
Munich
Jörg Fischer, Tax, advises German and international clients on both German and international tax matters, focusing on the structuring of private equity and restructuring transactions, M&A deals, as well as fund structuring.
New York
Mark G. Adler, Global Finance, focuses his practice on all aspects of debt financing. He has experience across a wide range of industries and jurisdictions, representing both corporate and private equity borrowers in acquisition and non-acquisition contexts. He also has experience in the financing and strategic elements of in-court and out-of-court restructurings, including complex liability management and other capital structure transactions.
Chuck Daly, Investment Funds, has extensive experience working with traditional and alternative investment advisers on regulatory compliance requirements, structures and programs, ongoing compliance monitoring, testing protocols, and the management and coordinating of regulatory exams and reviews. His work with investment advisers focuses on the practical design, implementation, and ongoing administration of compliance programs for registered and unregistered advisory firms.
Adam M. Gross, Capital Markets, focuses his practice on corporate and securities law matters that involve the representation of issuers, underwriters, and selling stockholders in public and private securities transactions.
Julie Ann Rosenberg Lamm, Global Finance, focuses her practice primarily on debt financing, including workouts and restructuring, asset-based lending, and syndicated and leveraged finance.
Reuben Zaramian, M&A, focuses his practice on shareholder activism and corporate governance. He advises public companies on investor engagement, takeover defenses, board matters, governance practices, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. He also frequently advises on Section 13 and Section 16 reporting and liability matters.
Palo Alto
Helen Theung, Capital Markets, represents clients in securities offerings and corporate governance matters, including private company financings, public offerings, general corporate advising, and SEC reporting and compliance. Her representative clients include private and public companies in the life sciences, healthcare, and technology industries.
Washington, D.C.
Laura Collins, Antitrust and Competition, draws on her experience as a former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division trial attorney to advise clients on a wide range of antitrust and competition law matters, including merger and non-merger investigations and litigation brought by the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). She also counsels clients on a variety of other antitrust topics such as monopolization, joint ventures, pricing and distribution policies, and potentially interlocking directorates.
Jacquelyn E. Fradette, Commercial Litigation and Disputes, represents clients in all areas of trial litigation. Her experience broadly ranges from pre-complaint analysis through trial, with a particular focus on hearings, trial, depositions, and expert testimony. She has represented clients in commercial litigation and class action litigation arising under statutes such as the False Claims Act, Lanham Act, state consumer protection laws, state common law false advertising, breach of contract, and business tort claims, as well as federal and state constitutional claims. She also represents clients in civil actions against government entities.
Krista Kay Lewis, Private Equity, represents private equity sponsors and privately held companies in connection with domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, investments, restructurings, and other transactions. She also provides general corporate counseling to portfolio companies and other clients on matters such as corporate governance, financing, and executive compensation. She represents clients in diverse industries, including healthcare, technology, distribution, manufacturing, and food and beverage.
Ray Mangum, Commercial Litigation and Disputes, represents clients in a variety of government investigation and civil litigation matters, including healthcare and government contracts matters arising pursuant to the False Claims Act. A former professional software developer and statistics-trained Six Sigma expert at a Fortune 500 company, he has nationally recognized abilities in complex eDiscovery and data analytics. Drawing on both his technological background and his real-world litigation experience, he maintains an active eDiscovery counseling practice, where he advises some of the nation’s largest and most technologically advanced companies.
Jack Raffetto, Environmental, focuses his practice on environmental litigation and has assisted clients in connection with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) matters, including complex allocation issues, and in complex civil litigation related to contaminated sites. He also represents clients in Clean Water Act litigation and advises clients in connection with environmental aspects of transactions. In addition to his environmental work, he focuses on defending financial institutions against consumer class action lawsuits and government enforcement actions in federal and state courts.
Andrew J. Sioson, Securities Enforcement and Regulatory, advises clients on a broad range of regulatory, compliance, enforcement, and transactional matters. In this capacity, he has represented clients before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and various other state and federal regulators. His practice also focuses on issues related to cryptocurrency, tokenized assets and blockchain, and distributed ledger technology.
The following lawyers will be counsel effective January 1, 2024.
Dallas
Jocelyne E. Kelly, M&A, handles complex corporate and transactional matters for clients across a variety of industries. She has experience advising both domestic and international private and pension fund sponsors as well as corporate clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions, minority investments, divestitures, joint ventures, and other corporate matters. She also represents issuers and investment banking firms in public and private equity and debt offerings, and she advises clients on Exchange Act reporting obligations and corporate governance matters.
Hong Kong
Liming Xu, Capital Markets, focuses his practice primarily on corporate finance and capital markets transactions, including Hong Kong and U.S.-registered initial public offerings and debt offerings pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S. He also has experience advising multinational corporations on mergers and acquisitions, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations, and export control regulatory compliance.
Houston
Andy Chen, Energy and Infrastructure, advises clients on debt financings, including corporate lending transactions and leveraged acquisition financings, in the oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, and oilfield services sectors. He represents both capital providers and borrowers in connection with credit facilities and note purchase facilities, including acquisition financings, reserve-based lending facilities, second lien credit facilities, and cash flow loans.
Quan Q. Lu, Energy and Infrastructure, focuses his practice on global finance, especially in the energy sector. This experience includes structured finance, asset securitization, and corporate finance transactions.
Eduardo Marquez Certucha, Energy and Infrastructure, advises private equity firms and institutional and financial investors in a wide range of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and project development, with an emphasis on the conventional and renewable energy, mining, and transportation sectors. He has particular experience advising clients in complex cross-border transactions in Latin America and is licensed to practice law in both Mexico and Texas.
London
Dr. Chris Boyle, Food, Drug and Medical Device, advises and litigates in the highly regulated fields of human and veterinary medicinal products, medical devices, biocides, chemicals, food, and feed. In addition to his advisory and litigation work, he coordinates multi-jurisdictional compliance projects and supports complex life sciences corporate transactions and private equity deals by providing valuable legal and industry insights and specialist due diligence. He also advises companies on novel food authorizations, human and animal supplements, food and feed claims, food incidents, product withdrawals and recalls.
New York
Jessica M. Pisani, Private Equity, focuses her practice on domestic and cross-border mergers, carve-outs, acquisitions, dispositions, investments, spin-offs, and internal reorganizations. She represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, corporations, and global asset managers across a wide range of industries, including government contracting and defense, technology, food and beverage, services, and retail.
Jamie M. Sadler, Antitrust and Competition, focuses his practice on counseling clients regarding antitrust issues that arise in the context of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. He works closely with co-counsel and economists around the world to develop the best global strategy for clients’ advocacy across several jurisdictions, including in the United States. He has significant experience preparing competition filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and responding to Voluntary Access Letters and Second Requests issued by the FTC and DOJ, as well as significant experience assessing, preparing, coordinating, and responding to foreign competition filing requirements and inquiries.
David L. Zhao, M&A, focuses his practice on a wide range of domestic and cross-border transactions and investments, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity financings, and minority investments.
San Francisco
Lauren C. Freeman, White Collar Defense and Investigations, helps clients navigate complex regulatory environments in government investigations and regulatory enforcement actions. Her experience includes representing clients before agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration. Her clients range across multiple industries with an emphasis on the technology, consumer products, energy, and healthcare sectors. Lauren has particular knowledge counseling clients on complex consumer protection issues, including marketing, advertising, and auto-renewal and subscription products.
Washington, D.C.
Elyssa R. Kutner, Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy, counsels clients on all aspects of U.S. customs law and import compliance. Her practice focuses on all matters related to the importation of merchandise into the United States, including classification, valuation, country of origin determinations, country of origin marking requirements, including use of the “Made in USA” mark, free trade agreements, duty preference programs, and trade enforcement actions such as the Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs. She also has experience representing clients before U.S. Customs and Border Protection in administrative proceedings including audits and focused assessments, prior disclosures, protests, and ruling requests.
Meghan F. Weinberg, Healthcare, focuses her practice on healthcare regulatory and compliance matters. This includes advising clients with respect to fraud and abuse, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law, healthcare reform and other legislative regulatory developments, federal healthcare program coverage and reimbursement, healthcare compliance programs, managed care contracting, and state and federal licensure issues. She advises a wide range of clients on these issues, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical device manufacturers, durable medical equipment suppliers, and physician practices.
Sidley is an elite global law firm. With 2,300 lawyers, annual revenue of US$3 billion, and experience that spans 157 years, we have established a reputation using Built to Win℠ legal strategies in successfully representing clients in more than 70 countries on complex transactional, investigation, regulatory, and litigation matters.
With 21 offices strategically situated in key commercial and financial hubs throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific, our perspective and our reach are truly global. Our lawyers and business professionals, fluent in more than 80 languages, possess the cultural awareness and cross-border legal acumen needed to bring clarity to a dynamic business landscape.
Follow Sidley on Twitter @SidleyLaw.
Matt Messinger, Director, Public Relations, +1 312 456 4009
Attorney Advertising—Sidley Austin LLP is a global law firm. Our addresses and contact information can be found at www.sidley.com/en/locations/offices. Sidley and Sidley Austin refer to Sidley Austin LLP and affiliated partnerships as explained at www.sidley.com/disclaimer.
