Alston & Bird has announced the election of 15 attorneys to its partnership, effective January 1, 2022.
The new partners span multiple practice and industry groups across five U.S. offices. As a Mansfield Rule participating firm, Alston & Bird is pleased to note that 47 percent of its new partners are diverse, marking the third consecutive year that the firm has promoted a partner class that is 45 percent diverse or higher.
“Our new partners have distinguished themselves by their dedication to our clients and our firm,” said Alston & Bird Chairman and Managing Partner Richard Hays. “They represent a rich diversity of talents, perspectives, and backgrounds that supports exceptional service for our clients and consistent and enduring leadership for our firm.”
Elected to Alston & Bird’s partnership are:
- Alexander Akerman (Los Angeles) as partner in our Litigation & Trial Practice Group, where he focuses his practice on class action defense and complex commercial disputes relating to sophisticated technologies. His experience includes defending claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act, as well as counseling clients on their business policies and terms of use/service.
- Ian Calhoun (Atlanta) as partner in our Financial Services & Products Group. He represents wealth management and investment advisory firms as well as payments and banking clients on a range of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and card-issuing and merchant-acquiring relationships.
- Matthew L.J.D. Dowell (Atlanta) as partner in our Litigation & Trial Practice Group. Focusing his practice on government investigations and health care litigation, he conducts internal investigations and represents clients in a wide variety of health care proceedings, including payer-provider disputes, antitrust litigation, and civil and administrative proceedings under the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act.
- Anoush Garakani (Los Angeles) as partner in our Financial Services & Products Group, where he advises on mortgage banking and consumer finance, with a focus on counseling clients on compliance with federal and state consumer financial protection laws and regulations, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Mortgage Servicing Rules, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Truth in Lending Act.
- Ronnie A. Gosselin (Atlanta) as partner in our Environment & Land Use Group. Focusing her practice on complex environmental and toxic tort litigation, she also counsels and represents clients in environmental site remediation, project development, corporate transactions, and enforcement actions and compliance under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund), Clean Air Act, and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
- Katherine Doty Hanniford (Washington, D.C.) as partner in our Litigation & Trial Practice Group. She focuses her practice on cybersecurity and privacy compliance and enforcement, including cyber risk management, cybersecurity governance, and security incident response. She also tracks and monitors the potential impact of cybersecurity-related legislative and regulatory developments at the state and federal levels.
- Stephen R. Lareau (Charlotte) as partner in our Intellectual Property Litigation Group, where he concentrates his practice on litigating complex patent disputes in district courts across the country, at the International Trade Commission, and before the U.S Patent and Trademark Office.
- Brian Lee (Washington, D.C.) as partner in our Health Care Group. He advises physicians, hospitals, post-acute care providers, insurers, and manufacturers on federal reimbursement regulatory and legislative issues and assists clients in navigating Medicare coverage, reimbursement requirements, and payment policies. He also represents multiple health care providers in matters relating to the Provider Relief Fund.
- Debra L. Lofano (Charlotte) as partner in our Finance Group. Representing major financial institutions, she advises trustees, master servicers, custodians, and other corporate trust agents in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securitization transactions. She focuses on the ongoing administration of such transactions, including related litigation, bankruptcy, and regulatory compliance matters.
- Steven L. Penaro (New York) as partner in our Litigation & Trial Practice Group. A commercial litigator, he represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial disputes, including breach of contract, fraud, and other tort claims. He represents U.S.-based companies as well as international clients and their affiliates in domestic and cross-border disputes. His clients span multiple industries including insurance, health care, and retail.
- Gavin Reinke (Atlanta) as partner in our Litigation & Trial Practice Group, where he defends clients in data security and privacy class actions, False Claims Act litigation, and government investigations. He also represents clients in products liability and financial services litigation as well as complex commercial disputes.
- Sean Sullivan (Atlanta) as partner in our Health Care Group. He advises health care providers and industry stakeholders on regulatory risks related to health care compliance, fraud and abuse, licensing matters, and transaction structuring, with a focus on digital health and telehealth issues. He also counsels private equity firms and other investors in addressing regulatory implications related to investing in the health care industry.
- Joseph G. Tully (New York) as partner in our Litigation & Trial Practice Group. Focused on complex commercial disputes, he represents clients in securities class actions, derivative suits, merger and acquisition litigation, and investigations by state and federal agencies including the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He also counsels international companies establishing operations in the U.S., with a focus on companies based in Ireland.
- Joshua M. Weeks (Atlanta) as partner in our Intellectual Property Litigation Group. He represents clients in protecting and enforcing patents, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights in federal district courts and before the International Trade Commission. He also counsels clients on various intellectual property issues, including pre-litigation diligence, validity and enforceability investigations, freedom to operate opinions, and licensing.
- Jennifer F. West (Atlanta) as partner in our Real Estate Finance & Investment Group, where she guides developers and institutional investors in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, financings, leasings, and dispositions across multiple asset classes nationwide. Her experience also includes leading complex multistate portfolio transactions, including sale-leasebacks.