Snell & Wilmer Elects New Partners & Counsel

PHOENIX (December 22, 2015) – Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce four attorneys have been elected to join the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2016. In addition, three attorneys have been elected to counsel.

 

Snell & Wilmer’s newly elected partners are:

 

Craig S. Denney focuses his practice in the areas of white collar defense and investigations, securities litigation, government relations, commercial litigation and antitrust. He is a board certified criminal trial advocate with over 35 federal jury trials to his credit. Denney provides practical legal advice to corporate and individual clients on both internal and grand jury investigations. Denney has served in the U.S. Army both on active duty and in the reserve for 20 years as a military lawyer and currently as a military judge in the Army Reserve. Prior to joining Snell & Wilmer, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Nevada. Denney is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, M.A. from the U.S. Army War College, M.B.A. from Saint Martin’s College and B.A., summa cum laude, from Ohio Dominican University. He is active in the Reno community and serves on the board of trustees of the Nevada Museum of Art and is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Rotary Club of Reno Sunrise.

 

Greg Gautam focuses his practice on various areas of employee benefits, including qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans and executive compensation. He also advises clients on benefits and compensation issues in connection with corporate transactions. In the executive compensation area, he has been involved in the representation of public and private companies and senior executives in connection with negotiating and drafting employment agreements, equity plans and awards, change in control agreements, severance agreements, and other compensation arrangements, including Section 409A compliance/corrections and Section 162(m) compliance. In connection with mergers and acquisitions, Gautam analyzes compensation and benefits issues and drafts and assists in the negotiation of key benefits provisions involving employee benefits representations and warranties, employee plan compliance, health and welfare liabilities, severance obligations and COBRA obligations. He earned his J.D. from Washington University School of Law and his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Gautam is a member of Snell & Wilmer’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and Attorney Development Committee.

 

Ryan D. Ricks concentrates his practice in intellectual property law, including strategic intellectual property counseling, and patent and trademark prosecution, with emphasis on commercialization and licensing. With a background in industry and University technology transfer experience, he has broad technical capability, including electrical circuits, networking and communications hardware and protocols, transverse flux electric motors, military technologies including heavy airdrop and recovery and battlefield communication equipment, real-time and embedded systems, artificial intelligence, open source software and licensing, global positioning, operating systems, semiconductor manufacturing, photovoltaics, fuel cells, batteries, combustion dynamics and software. Ricks has worked with numerous clients to develop and implement global IP protection and enforcement strategies. A significant portion of Ricks’ practice is devoted to securing and enforcing copyright and trademark rights, including proceedings before the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) proceedings, and licensing and settlement agreements. He also counsels clients on privacy and data security issues related to corporate websites, software development and implementation, and distributed/cloud computing. Ricks earned both his J.D. and M.B.A. from Arizona State University and his B.S. from Brigham Young University. He is a member of the firm’s Hiring Committee.

 

Carol Wong Su concentrates her practice in commercial and public finance. She has extensive experience representing financial institutions in structuring, negotiating and documenting secured and unsecured transactions including loan portfolio transactions, lines of credit, syndicated loans, real estate financings for office, retail and residential developments, payoff agreements, purchase and sale transactions and workouts. Su also advises and assists lenders in restructuring distressed loans, foreclosures and other related matters. Her experience also includes representation of financial institutions as the letter of credit provider, the bond purchaser, the bridge lender, the permanent lender and the construction lender in tax-exempt bond financings of low-income housing projects. She received her B.S, cum laude, from the University of California, Irvine. She then earned her M.S. from the University of California, Davis. Su went on to earn her J.D. from the University of California, Davis.

 

Snell & Wilmer’s newly elected counsel are:

 

Jeffrey M. Singletary concentrates his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts. He has experience in matters involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, business torts, fraud claims, corporate and partnership rights, real estate, construction, governmental and internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense (including civil forfeiture proceedings), and various intellectual property litigation matters, including patent infringement, as well as Section 337 investigations before the International Trade Commission. Singletary earned his B.A. from the University of Colorado. He went on to earn his J.D. from University of San Diego School of Law where he graduated magna cum laude and was a member of the Order of the Coif.

 

Karlene Martorana practices in the areas of water, natural resources and real estate. She helps municipal, industrial and agricultural water users – both inside and outside active management areas – manage and secure their water rights, as well as develop alternative water supplies. Martorana also represents clients in the negotiation of contracts for the transfer and storage of water rights, in obtaining permits and approvals from state and federal regulatory agencies, and in the settlement of water rights with Arizona Indian tribes. She also represents clients in general stream adjudications in Arizona. In addition, she assists developers in obtaining withdrawal permits, reporting annual groundwater withdrawals and obtaining certificates of assured water supply. In Martorana’s real estate practice, she represents national commercial buyers and developers. Her work includes drafting and negotiating purchase agreements and leases, and performing related due diligence. Martorana earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland and her B.S. from the University of Arizona Honors College.

 

Erica J. Stutman concentrates her practice on commercial litigation. She has represented individuals and a wide range of businesses, including financial institutions, real estate and title companies, insurance companies, small businesses and others. Erica has experience in a variety of commercial litigation matters, including lender liability claims regarding mortgage practices and foreclosure, disagreements among business partners, insurance bad faith claims, real estate title disputes, lien priority challenges, contract disputes, fraud actions and negligence claims. Erica has worked on numerous cases in the financial services field, where she has defended national institutions in actions involving claims of alleged wrongful foreclosure, loan servicing errors, breach of loan modification agreements, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), attacks on the mortgage industry, and claims related to mortgage recording fees. She earned both her J.D. and B.S. magna cum laude from Northwestern University.

 

About Snell & Wilmer

Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 400 attorneys practicing in nine locations throughout the western United States and in Mexico, including Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles and Orange County, California; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Los Cabos, Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.swlaw.com.