Winston & Strawn Names 21 New US Partners

Winston & Strawn promoted 21 attorneys to partner, with 42.8 percent of the new partners women, persons of color and/or from the LGBTQ+ community.

“Each of these partners reflects the excellence and integrity that Winston & Strawn has always stood for,” Tom Fitzgerald, chairman of Winston & Strawn, said. “Their tireless efforts and nuanced understanding of today’s most pressing legal and business challenges are a testament to the dedication they bring to their work every day. We are proud of the many successes they have achieved on behalf of our clients and we look forward to their continued career growth.”

Details on each new partner can be found below:

Dave Bauer (Chicago) concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of private equity, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate advice for publicly and privately held companies.

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Josh Birenbaum (Los Angeles) focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, leveraged buyouts and joint ventures. Birenbaum has experience in corporate matters related to public and private companies, private equity funds and their portfolio companies and financial institutions.

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Daniel Bley (New York) focuses his practice on derivatives, structured products and structured finance, including esoteric asset classes. Bley represents broker-dealers, hedge funds, financial institutions, asset managers and end users in a range of transactions, with an emphasis on structured financing solutions that combine securitizations and derivatives.

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Jason S. Campbell (Los Angeles) is an employment advisor and litigator. He represents employers in nationwide class actions and single-plaintiff employment litigation and counsels employers on a range of employment issues, including wage and hour compliance, leaves of absence, terminations, investigations and the protection of trade secrets.

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Chase J. Cooper (Dallas) is a commercial litigator with a white-collar investigations practice. He serves clients in a range of industries, including healthcare, energy, network marketing and financial services. He has experience with the False Claims Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act and other consumer-protection laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and all manner of contract and business tort claims.

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Laura Franco (San Francisco, Silicon Valley) focuses her practice on intellectual property counseling, litigation and transactions, providing clients with brand protection and enforcement strategies. She is a member of the firm’s video game, gaming and e-sports group and is co-chair of LLAW, the firm’s Latino lawyers’ affinity group.

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Hao Huang (Los Angeles) represents financing parties and sponsors in a range of financing and acquisition transactions in the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors across the United States. She has advised lenders, tax equity investors, energy hedge providers and sponsors in the development, acquisition and financing of wind and solar projects across the country.

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Jeffrey Huelskamp (Chicago) concentrates his practice on commercial litigation, financial services matters and securities litigation. He represents and advises public and private companies, including Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, real estate trusts and startups.

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Andrew Hutchinson (Chicago) has commercial finance experience with a focus on domestic and cross-border acquisition financings, mergers, recapitalizations, refinancings, take-privates and restructurings. He also advises middle-market clients in connection with structuring and negotiating unitranche and senior stretch facilities, recurring revenue facilities, growth debt facilities, first lien/second lien facilities and subordinated loans.

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Brian Jansen (Dallas) advises his clients on a variety of debt financing transactions, including acquisition financings, asset-based lending, debtor-in-possession facilities, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. His clients include private credit funds, national banks and other financial institutions providing financing, as well as private equity funds and operating companies in a variety of industries as borrowers.

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Samantha Katz (New York) represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies in connection with platform and add-on acquisitions, mergers, dispositions and growth equity investments and co-investments. Katz also has experience advising and managing clients in the healthcare industry and personal lifestyle space.

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Blaise Latella (New York) represents private equity sponsors, corporations and a range of lenders, including banks, hedge funds, mezzanine funds and SBICs, in connection with acquisition, cash flow and asset-based syndicated and club financings.

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Austin Leach (New York) advises private equity firms and their portfolio companies in connection with platform and add-on acquisitions, divestitures and other exit strategies, as well as joint ventures and general corporate matters.

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Jason A. Lewis (New York) has experience with energy, commodities and derivatives. Lewis has represented a range of market participants in financings, acquisitions and other commercial matters, and he has advised clients with respect to related regulatory issues.

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Shawn R. Obi (Los Angeles) focuses her practice on commercial litigation matters, specifically consumer protection cases, class actions, securities matters, financial services litigation and advertising litigation. Obi regularly represents clients in the food and beverage and consumer product industries in class action lawsuits related to false advertising and product labeling.

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Aaron C. O’Dell (Los Angeles, Dallas) is a trial lawyer with experience in securities and commercial and business litigation. O’Dell has experience litigating cases from their inception through trial, including trying multiple cases and arbitrations to verdict in federal and state courts.

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Justin Podjasek (New York) represents clients in all aspects of real estate, ranging from acquisition, disposition, leasing, financing, development, construction and asset management of various classes of real estate assets.

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Katherine A. Preston (Houston) focuses on commercial and bankruptcy litigation. She represents individual and corporate clients in contractual disputes and other litigation in state and federal courts. Preston also defends clients against fraudulent transfer claims and other bankruptcy litigation matters. She regularly advises clients in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, finance and power.

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Grant K. Schmidt (Dallas) specializes in commercial disputes, white-collar criminal defense matters and intellectual property matters. He has tried more than 10 cases to verdict, and his advocacy also includes oral argument, deposition and brief-writing experience across state and federal courts.

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Jeffrey L. Steinfeld (Los Angeles) focuses on securities litigation, white-collar criminal defense and SEC enforcement actions, class action defense, duties of corporate officers and directors, and mergers and acquisitions-related litigation, including advising on de-SPAC business combinations. Steinfeld has experience defending criminal and civil insider trading and securities fraud actions, as well as defending securities class actions.

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Kristin D. Wickler (Chicago) focuses on mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. She has represented companies in both public and private acquisitions, cross-border transactions, renewable energy portfolio sale transactions, joint ventures and equity investments. Wickler also regularly advises clients on day-to-day corporate and LLC governance matters and commercial engagements.