Firm News
Feb 10, 2009
Seyfarth Shaw Names Eighteen New Partners to the Firm
Chicago, IL (February 10, 2009)—Seyfarth Shaw LLP, one of America’s leading full-service law firms, is pleased to announce that 18 attorneys have been invited to join the partnership effective January 1, 2009. The new partners are: Alysa M. Barancik, Kathleen Eggers Buchar, Jason T. Cooksey, Pamela Quigley Devata, W. Andrew Douglass, Gregg A. Fisch, Erin Dougherty Foley, Tedd Lustig, Michael D. Mandel, Eric D. Martins, Robert B. Milligan, Regina Anne Musolino, Anna R. Palmer, Steve J. Pearlman, Brian P. Roche, Amy K. Skryja, Judith L. Wethalll and James S. Yu.
"We are pleased to welcome these talented attorneys into the partnership,” stated J. Stephen Poor, Chair and Managing Partner of Seyfarth Shaw. “Our newest partners, representing a wide spectrum of the firm’s practice areas, share our dedication to delivering top-quality legal services and providing value to our clients.”
Biographies of New Partners
Atlanta
Anna R. Palmer is an Atlanta-based partner in the Litigation Department and the Construction Practice Group. Palmer’s practice includes construction law, commercial and general business litigation, complex litigation and class actions. She assists clients with negotiating the resolution of business disputes, and also with litigation, arbitration, mediation and mechanics' lien remedies. Palmer is also experienced in the review, preparation, and negotiation of contracts. Palmer also advises clients in alternative dispute resolution procedures. She received her law and undergraduate degrees at the University of Virginia. Palmer is admitted to the Georgia state bar and the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia.
Boston
Tedd Lustig is a partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s Corporate and Finance Practice Group and is resident in the Boston Office. His practice focuses on the representation of middle-market and emerging-growth companies in an array of industries including high-tech, bio-tech and medical devices. Lustig counsels his clients on issues relating to corporate formation, capital structure, venture capital, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, securities law compliance, corporate governance, intellectual property licensing, equity based compensation, and general corporate and commercial law. His practice also frequently involves cross-border international transactions. Due to the breadth of his experience, Lustig frequently serves in the capacity of outside general counsel to his clients. He also lectures on a regular basis on topics relating to corporate formation and venture capital. Lustig earned his J.D. from Boston University, where he served as Note Editor for the Boston University Law Review, and his B.A. from Brandeis University (cum laude). He is admitted to the state bar of Massachusetts.
Chicago
Kathleen Eggers Buchar, based in the Chicago office, is a partner in the Trusts & Estates practice group of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. She focuses her practice on all aspects of estate planning and administration, probate proceedings, tax, trust administration, and charitable planning. Buchar received her J.D. from the University of Michigan (cum laude) and her B.S. in accounting from Northeast Missouri State University (magna cum laude). She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, where she previously served on the executive board of the Trust Law Committee. She is a frequent speaker on topics involving estate planning and tax issues for the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. Buchar is admitted to the Illinois state bar and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Pamela Quigley Devata is a partner in the Labor and Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, based in the firm’s Chicago office. She specializes in all aspects of employment defense including counseling, training, and litigation. In addition to these areas, Devata has a special emphasis on the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and state laws effecting background screening. She counsels both employers and providers (resellers and consumer reporting agencies) of background information on compliance requirements under the FCRA and related state laws, and has been involved in litigation regarding these issues. Devata is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. She has also been an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law teaching Legal Writing and Research. Devata is an alumna of Washington University where she earned her B.A., and of Chicago-Kent College of Law where she earned her J.D. (high honors, Order of the Coif). She is admitted to the state bar of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and several U.S. District Courts.
W. Andrew Douglass is a partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, based in the firm’s Chicago office. He has extensive experience with respect to the legal, financial, and administrative issues that affect qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and other employee benefit arrangements, including issues that arise during mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions. Douglass routinely advises on plan design and administration, fiduciary responsibility, claims procedures, and disclosure requirements under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, and other laws. He has also counseled companies through audits and other proceedings before the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. In addition, he regularly advises on issues related to multi-employer plans, including demands for withdrawal liability and delinquent contributions. Douglass received his B.S. (magna cum laude) from Miami University and his J.D. (cum laude) from Saint Louis University. He is admitted in Illinois, Missouri and Ohio.
Erin Dougherty Foley is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in Seyfarth Shaw LLP's Chicago office. Her litigation experience includes state and federal court matters involving the defense of race, sex, and religious discrimination claims, wrongful discharge, retaliation, sexual harassment, and state whistleblower matters. Foley has litigated wrongful discharge, discrimination, and retaliation cases to both successful summary judgment motions and favorable jury verdicts. Prior to beginning her legal career, Foley was a human resources manager for an international manufacturing and distribution company. Foley regularly counsels human resource personnel on compliance with federal and state employment and labor laws regarding terminations, performance counseling, leaves of absence, and accommodations. She also has extensive experience in conducting workplace harassment and employee complaint investigations. Foley received her B.S. from Marquette University, her M.S. in Industrial Relations from Loyola University Chicago and her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law (with honors). She is admitted to the Illinois state bar, the Trial Bar of the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and several U.S. District Courts throughout the country.
Steven J. Pearlman is a partner in the Labor and Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in the firm’s Chicago office. His practice is focused on representing management in class action, multi-plaintiff and single-plaintiff employment litigation in federal and state courts across the country. He defends employers against claims of discrimination, harassment, wage and hour violations, and violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower provisions. He also manages litigation involving breach of restrictive covenant and trade secret misappropriation claims. In addition to achieving favorable results for employers through dispositive motions, Pearlman has successfully tried cases to verdict and defended those verdicts on appeal. Pearlman also counsels employers to minimize the risk of litigation, helping them develop policies and practices that comply with complex employment laws, and conduct sensitive internal investigations. Pearlman received his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and he earned his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is admitted to the state bars of California and Illinois, the California Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, as well as U.S. District Court for the Central and Northern District of Illinois (Trial Bar).
Brian P. Roche is a partner in the Chicago Office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP where he concentrates in commercial and tort litigation. Roche is an experienced trial attorney having tried over 70 cases to verdict. Prior to joining Seyfarth Shaw, Roche worked as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office where he spent time in the Narcotics Prosecutions Division and the Appeals Division. Roche gained experience writing appellate briefs and argued before the Appellate Court of the State of Illinois, First District. During law school he served as a Legal Fellow for Senator Richard J. Durbin on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. Roche is an alumnus of Marquette University where he earned his B.S. and IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law where he earned his J.D. He is admitted to the Illinois state bar and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Judith L. Wethall is a partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, based in the firm’s Chicago office. Wethall has extensive experience in health and welfare plans, including HIPAA privacy and security compliance, subrogation and claims reimbursement issues, coordination of benefits, state and local compliance issues, wellness programs and consumer driven health care initiatives, and health care continuation coverage. Wethall also advises employers on a broad range of qualified retirement matters, including counseling employers on the design, implementation, and administration of qualified retirement plans, including cash balance plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), as well as employee stock purchase plans, and fringe benefit plans. In addition, Wethall has substantial experience in corporate mergers and acquisitions. She also represents clients in ruling requests and controversies before the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Wethall earned her B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her J.D. at Stetson University College (cum laude). She is admitted to the Illinois state bar.
Los Angeles
Gregg A. Fisch is a partner in the Labor and Employment Department in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw. He has extensive experience in all aspects of litigation, and has successfully defended management before federal and state courts and administrative agencies in defense of complaints for class action and single-plaintiff matters, involving wage-and-hour violations, wrongful termination, age, race, gender, and national origin discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and other statutory, contract and tort-related claims, as well as in relation to union campaigns and elections. Fisch has experience conducting, organizing, and overseeing internal corporate investigations relating to allegations of discrimination, harassment, and employee wrongdoing, as well as counseling in-house professionals on how to conduct investigations of workplace misconduct. Fisch received his B.S. from New York University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he served as Editor of the Annual Survey of American Law. He is admitted to practice law in California, the District of Columbia, and New York.
Michael D. Mandel is a partner in the Labor and Employment Department in the Los Angeles office where he represents management in all aspects of labor and employment litigation in both federal and state courts, at both the trial and appellate level. Mandel’s practice includes representation of employers in single plaintiff and multi-plaintiff (including representative and class actions) wrongful termination, employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, and wage/hour cases. He has extensive experience in all phases of civil litigation, from pre-litigation settlements through trial through appellate work. In addition to his litigation practice, Mandel regularly advises and counsels employers regarding a wide range of employee relation and human resource issues, including employee termination and discipline, wage and hour compliance, accommodating disabled employees, and leaves of absence. He earned his B.A. from University of California at Irvine (with honors) and his J.D. from Pepperdine University (magna cum laude), where he was a member of Pepperdine Law Review. Mandel is admitted to practice law in California and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Robert B. Milligan, based in the Los Angeles office, is a partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group and the Labor and Employment Department. His practice encompasses a wide variety of commercial litigation and employment matters, including general business disputes, unfair competition, trade secret misappropriation, real estate litigation, insurance bad faith, invasion of privacy, products liability, wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment claims, wage and hour disputes, ADA and OSHA compliance, whistleblower cases, bankruptcy and other business torts. Milligan has represented clients in state and federal courts in complex commercial litigation and employment litigation. Milligan received his law degree from the University of California, Davis, where he was a Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Participant and Executive Editor of the University of California Davis Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree from Gonzaga University (summa cum laude). He is admitted to the California bar, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Central, Eastern and Northern Districts of California.
Regina A. Musolino is a partner in the Labor and Employment Department in Seyfarth Shaw’s Los Angeles office where she represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment federal and state litigation, including complex litigation involving complaints of wage and hour violations, as well as complaints of wrongful termination, employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and breach of contract. She also regularly assists employers in establishing appropriate labor and employment policies and procedures in all areas of the employment relationship, with a specific emphasis on compliance with wage and hour laws. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she was a member of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program and an editor of the Review of Law and Women's Studies. She received her B.S. from Youngstown State University (magna cum laude). Musolino is admitted to the California bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the Central, Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of California.
New York
Alysa M. Barancik is a New York-based partner in the Labor and Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Barancik represents management in federal and state courts and agencies nationwide in all aspects of labor and employment law. She has substantial trial experience, including two month-long federal court jury trials in a multi-plaintiff race discrimination case. Barancik also regularly counsels employers on a variety of employment-related matters, including workplace investigations, leave and accommodation requests, employee discipline, and wage and hour issues. She also reviews, revises, and drafts employee handbooks, policies, and procedures, and conducts equal employment opportunity training for employees. Barancik received her B.S. from Cornell University and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She is admitted to the state bars of New York and Illinois, as well as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Northern and Central Districts of Illinois, and Eastern District of Michigan.
Eric D. Martins is partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the New York office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. He focuses his practice on corporate transactions and has extensive experience handling corporate, securities, business law and real estate matters. Among the various services he provides, Martins is involved in public and private equity and debt financings on behalf of underwriters, placement agents and issuers. In addition, he serves as legal counsel on a number of sophisticated mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, both negotiated and contested, and advises clients on commercial loan transactions, including asset-based financing and equipment leasing. For privately-owned businesses, joint ventures and limited liability companies, Martins handles all the legal work pertinent to the business establishment, ownership, structuring and management matters, as well as the issues of succession planning, generation transitioning and other types of ownership transfers. Among the many clientele he has served over the past forty years, Martins has worked extensively with the investment banking, alcoholic beverage, healthcare and real estate industries. He earned both his undergraduate degree and law degree at New York University, and he served as Associate Editor of NYU’s Law Review. Martins is admitted to the New York state bar, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
James S. Yu is a partner in the Litigation Department, specializing in product liability defense, trade secret litigation, and commercial litigation. He has handled a diverse range of matters, including complex contract disputes, toxic tort litigation, trade secret misappropriation, franchise disputes, business torts, consumer fraud, creditors’ rights and workouts. Yu has frequently defended claims alleging strict products liability in tort, design defect, manufacturing defect, and failure to warn, and he has substantial experience defending manufacturers against claims of injury or fear of injury caused by exposure to asbestos-containing products and various dioxin-related chemical compounds. He has also successfully obtained restraining orders and injunctions against former employees and competitors for theft of confidential/proprietary information and/or breach of restrictive covenants. From 2000 to 2001, Yu served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ariel A. Rodriguez of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. He received his law degree from Rutgers School of Law – Newark and his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University (with honors). Yu is admitted to the state bars of New York and New Jersey, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of New York.
Sacramento
Jason T. Cooksey, based in the Sacramento office, is a partner in the Wage and Hour, Complex Discrimination Litigation and Single Plaintiff Litigation Practice Groups at Seyfarth Shaw LLP. He represents clients in single plaintiff and class actions in federal and state courts, and before various state and federal agencies. His practice concentrates on harassment, discrimination, wage and hour, and wrongful termination claims. He also advises management on wage and hour issues, investigations, terminations, leave of absence issues, human resource policies and procedures, traditional labor issues, and other various state and federal laws. He speaks regularly to management groups on various employment related issues and provides training on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination laws to employers throughout the United States. He received his law degree from the University of California, Davis and his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego. He is admitted to the California state bar, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
San Francisco
Amy K. Skryja is a partner in the Labor and Employment Group in the San Francisco Office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. She has successfully defended management before federal and state courts and administrative agencies in defense of complaints for wage-and-hour violations, wrongful termination, age, race, gender, and national origin discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and other statutory, contract and tort-related claims. Skryja regularly provides clients with practical advice on a wide range of day-to-day employment law issues, including establishing effective human-resource policies and complying with federal and state laws, such as those relating to wage-and-hour issues, disability and family/medical leave laws, and the discipline and termination processes. Skryja earned her B.A. from the University of California at Davis (with honors) and her J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. She is admitted to the California state bar and the U.S. District Court for the Central and Northern Districts of California.
Seyfarth Shaw has over 775 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States including Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as Brussels, Belgium. The firm provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services. Seyfarth Shaw’s practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the country’s business and social fabric. Clients include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, newspapers and other media, hotels, health care organizations, airlines and railroads. The firm also represents a number of federal, state, and local governmental and educational entities. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com.