Choate, Hall Announces New Practice Group Leaders

Boston, MA, March 9, 2016 – Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP today announced that John Pitfield has been named co-chair of the firm’s Business Technology Group and John Ventola has been appointed co-chair of its Finance & Restructuring Group.  

Pitfield, who is a member of the firm’s Hiring Committee, will serve as co-chair of the Business Technology Group with current co-chair Brian Goldstein.  The highly regarded group includes attorneys with expertise in life sciences and technology, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and securities.  According to Chambers USA, “this is a team that places a real emphasis on relationships; clients of all sizes enthused about the attention they received and likened the relationships to those with in-house counsel.”
 
Ventola, who is on the firm’s Executive and Hiring Committees, will serve as co-chair of the Finance & Restructuring Group with current co-chair Doug Gooding.  The group, which is ranked by Chambers USA as one of the leading practices in sophisticated financial transactions, represents leading financial institutions, debt funds, institutional investors, private equity sponsors, borrowers and issuers in a full range of secured and mezzanine financings, and junior capital investments.  

“We are excited to have John Pitfield and John Ventola take on these important management roles,” said Charles Cheever, co-managing partner at Choate.  “They are both strong leaders at our firm, in their fields, and with clients, and we look forward to their continued leadership of these core practice areas.”

Pitfield brings nearly 20 years of experience in public/private U.S. and Canadian corporate transactions, mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and going private transactions to his new role.  He was named the 2016 Boston “Lawyer of the Year” for Securities Regulation by Best Lawyers, and a “2016 Client Service All-Star” by the BTI Consulting Group in the M&A and Securities and Capital Markets categories.  Pitfield received his LL.B. from the University of Toronto Law School in 1997 and his B.A., first class distinction, from Queen’s University in 1994.

Ventola has practiced in the finance and restructuring industry for more than 20 years, focusing on bankruptcy and restructuring, finance and junior capital, and private equity.  He was recently named one of the world’s leading bankruptcy attorneys by the Guide to the World's Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers.  Ventola received his J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Boston College Law School in 1994 and his B.S., magna cum laude, from Boston College in 1990. 

Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP, one of the nation’s leading law firms, is consistently recognized for excellence by leading third parties, including Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, The Legal 500, World’s Leading Lawyers, International Who’s Who of Lawyers and Expert Guides. With all of its lawyers under one roof, Choate focuses on a core group of areas where it represents clients across the United States and internationally and provides exceptional efficiency, service and value.  Choate’s areas of focus include business & technology, finance & restructuring, intellectual property, IP litigation, complex commercial litigation, corporate/M&A, private equity, government enforcement & compliance, insurance/reinsurance, and wealth management.