Ropes & Gray Names New Partners and Counsel

(Boston, Nov. 1, 2012) — Ropes & Gray announced today that nine lawyers at the global law firm have been promoted to the partnership and four to counsel.  The new partners and counsel represent a range of practices, including finance, private equity, health care, bankruptcy & business restructuring, hedge funds, intellectual property litigation, securities litigation, government enforcement, and the securities & public companies and private client groups.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome such an accomplished and talented group of attorneys as partners and counsel,” said Brad Malt, chairman of Ropes & Gray. “Their experience and dedication to providing best-in-class service will continue to benefit our clients.” 

The new partners are:

·Cameron Casey, private client group (Boston), provides comprehensive estate planning advice to high-net-worth individuals and families and plays an active role in the private client group’s trust and estate administration practice. She also advises nonprofit organizations and their donors with respect to charitable planning matters.

·Michael Kazakevich, finance (London), focuses on leveraged finance transactions. He has advised investment banks as well as private equity firms and their portfolio companies in connection with high yield debt issues, credit facilities, bridge loans, tender offers and acquisition financing commitments.

·Michael Lampert, health care (Boston), provides regulatory, transactional, governance and strategic advice to clients, including hospitals, universities, schools of medicine, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, investors, physician practices and emerging providers. He has extensive familiarity with fraud and abuse laws, in both an advisory and enforcement context, and other health care regulation such as the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, HIPAA and Medicare reimbursement rules.

·Daniel Martin, bankruptcy & business restructuring (London), advises debtors, creditors, insolvency practitioners and private equity sponsors on all aspects of insolvencies and restructurings.  He has extensive experience with both cross-border and domestic cases, as well as with advising institutional and hedge fund creditors in the restructuring of failing portfolio investments and strategic investments in distressed debt situations.  

·Kim Nemirow, government enforcement (Washington, D.C.), concentrates her practice on advising multinational organizations and individuals in a wide variety of enforcement investigations, internal investigations and complex civil litigations.   She has extensive experience representing clients on matters involving potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and numerous health care fraud statutes.  In January 2013, Ms. Nemirow will begin working as a foreign registered lawyer in the firm's Hong Kong office.

·Jessica Taylor O’Mary, hedge funds (New York), advises investment managers on all aspects of their business, from formation of management company structures and fund formation, to a wide range of compliance matters, operational and trading issues facing registered investment advisers, to business acquisitions, sales and wind-downs. Her clients include both investment advisers to hedge funds as well as private equity funds and funds of funds.

·Leslie Spencer, intellectual property litigation (New York), represents clients in patent litigation involving diverse technologies, including software, electronic devices, secure communications, financial services and consumer goods. She also has advised clients on intellectual property matters related to business transactions, freedom-to-operate opinions and proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

·Rocky Tsai, business and securities litigation (San Francisco), represents a broad range of financial, technology, and pharmaceutical clients in securities and commercial disputes, with a particular emphasis on the resolution of complex class action litigation.  His experience includes counseling and defense in securities class actions, consumer class actions, M&A litigation, SEC investigations, and false advertising and unfair competition litigation.  He has defended and prosecuted cases in multidistrict litigation, in arbitrations, and in federal and state court trials and appeals. 

·Alex Zeltser, finance (New York), focuses on leveraged finance, including acquisition and cross-border financings and other private equity transactions. He has extensive experience representing private equity firms and their portfolio companies, investment banks, public companies and debt investors in a wide range of financing transactions, including cash-flow and asset-based credit facilities, second lien and mezzanine financings, bridge financings and high yield debt offerings, as well as restructurings and workouts.

The new counsel are:

·Turner Buford, government enforcement (New York), represents clients in litigation matters arising from government investigations, particularly in the life sciences and financial services industries, including responding to grand jury subpoenas and civil investigations and defending False Claims Act cases. He also has experience representing clients in a variety of civil litigation matters in state and federal courts, including appeals and in arbitration and mediation.

·Christopher Parsons, private equity (New York), focuses on representing clients in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, equity investments, joint ventures and other transactions. He regularly advises both private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a variety of matters including acquisition and disposition transactions, preferred equity investments, governance arrangements among investors, management equity investments and other general corporate matters.

·Paul Schoenhard, intellectual property litigation (Washington, D.C.), focuses his practice on patent litigation in federal district courts and before the United States International Trade Commission. His litigation experience spans cases relating to consumer electronics, computer software, Internet-related technologies, telecommunications and semiconductors.

·Louis Somma, securities & public companies (New York), focuses his practice on representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies, public companies, hedge funds and institutional investors in connection with debt and equity financings, securities offerings, venture capital transactions and corporate restructurings, as well as advising investment banks in a variety of capital markets offerings. In addition, he advises clients on securities law compliance and governance issues, SEC reporting and general corporate matters.

Ropes & Gray is one of the world’s premier law firms, with more than 1,100 lawyers serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology and government.  The firm has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, and has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas including private equity, M&A, life sciences, health care, finance, investment management, hedge funds, tax, bankruptcy & business restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, securities litigation and government enforcement.