(HOUSTON) December 11, 2023 – Locke Lord is proud to congratulate Sen. John Whitmire on his landslide election as Mayor of the City of Houston. Sen. Whitmire received 64.4% of the vote in the December 9 runoff election and will be inaugurated on January 2, 2024.
“We’ve long admired the storied career of the Dean of the Texas Senate as a longtime member of this Firm and friend. Sen. Whitmire will be an excellent leader as the next Mayor of the City of Houston, and we wish him every success,” said Locke Lord Chair David Taylor.
Sen. Whitmire has served as Of Counsel with Locke Lord for more than 25 years, advising the Firm’s clients on legal matters. He will leave the Firm at the end of December.
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About Locke Lord LLP
Locke Lord is a full-service law firm with global reach and 20 offices designed to meet clients’ needs in the United States and around the world. The Firm has a history that spans more than 135 years and is a leader in the middle market arena. Locke Lord focuses on providing the highest levels of commitment, quality and service to clients across its five Key Sectors: Energy and Infrastructure; Finance and Financial Services; Insurance and Reinsurance; Pharmaceutical; and Private Equity. In addition, the Firm advises clients across a broad spectrum of other industries, including fund formation, venture capital, health care, public finance, real estate, technology, cybersecurity and white collar, while providing a wealth of experience through its complex litigation, intellectual property, tax, regulatory and transactional teams.
Locke Lord Houston Partner Mia Lorick was named a Rising Star by Texas Lawyer, an award that spotlights lawyers under the age of 40 who have wielded influence in their practice areas in Texas and beyond.
A member of Locke Lord’s Litigation Practice Group and the Firm’s Lateral Hire Committee, Lorick concentrates her practice on commercial litigation, real estate litigation, energy litigation and civil appeals. She handles jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations as well as appellate briefing and oral argument, and she has argued before the Texas Supreme Court as well as numerous intermediate courts of appeals. She is a staunch advocate for a more equitable legal profession, regularly speaking on diversity and inclusion panels. Lorick is also the founder of the Suited for Success Scholarship, which awards law students with the funds needed to buy a business suit for interviewing.
Read about the 2023 Texas Lawyer Rising Stars honorees (subscription may be required).
Chicago Partner Kirk Dillard was recently named to 2023 Who’s Who in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business. The list recognizes Chicago movers and shakers, from Fortune 500 CEOs to civic leaders and philanthropists. Dillard, a former Illinois State Senator, is one of more than 300 names compiled to the authoritative list.
Dillard concentrates his practice in business and governmental relations, and in the representation of manufacturers in product liability prevention and litigation. He is currently the Chairman of the Regional Transit Authority in metropolitan Chicago — the nation’s second largest mass transit system with assets of nearly $150 billion and over one million daily riders. He also serves as the Independent Chair of the privately owned Chicago Skyway Toll Road. Dillard also serves as a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, which was created to assist and advise the Illinois Supreme Court in acquiring, collecting, preserving and cataloging documents, artifacts and information relating to the Illinois judiciary. The Commission seeks to accomplish much of its work in partnership with historical and cultural institutions; bar associations; universities; law schools; and federal, state and local agencies. Dillard has served as a Commissioner since 2012.
Dillard served in the Illinois Senate, representing Chicagoland’s western suburbs. He held a number of key leadership positions while in the General Assembly — including Chairman of the Judiciary Committee before stepping down in 2014 to assume the RTA chairmanship. Prior to his election to the Senate, Dillard served with distinction as former Governor Edgar’s Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to the late Governor James R. Thompson. Dillard also served as a Judge on the Illinois Court of Claims. Additionally, Sen. Dillard was recently appointed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to Western Illinois University’s Board of Trustees, and he serves as a member of the DePaul University College of Law Dean’s Advisory Council.
Read the full Who’s Who in Chicago Business list (subscription may be required).
Locke Lord has been listed in the Global Restructuring Review’s 2023 edition of the GRR 100, the publication’s guide to the world’s leading law firms for cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters. This is Locke Lord’s fifth consecutive year on the list, which is compiled based on the results of an annual survey and includes the top firms capable of handling insolvencies and restructurings as well as related matters such as banking and sovereign debt crises.
Locke Lord lawyers specifically mentioned for their achievements include:
Jonathan Aberman, Partner in the Firm’s Chicago office, helps commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) special servicers, banks, non-bank lenders, specialty finance companies, businesses and other secured and unsecured creditors enforce their rights and remedies, protect their assets and interests and maximize their recoveries in complex bankruptcy cases, loan workouts, business restructurings, mortgage foreclosures, property and equity receiverships, assignments for the benefit of creditors and other financially distressed situations.
Marc Abrahams, Partner in the Firm’s London office, focuses on contentious and non-contentious insolvency law, including U.K. and cross-border corporate restructuring and personal insolvency matters. He also has extensive experience acting in commercial disputes and international arbitration under the LCIA and ICC Rules.
David Grant, member of Locke Lord’s Executive Committee and Managing Partner of the Firm’s London office, has a globally regarded international insolvency and restructuring practice with an emphasis on cross-border corporate insolvency and recovery actions. Grant has 30+ years’ experience of fraud and forensic investigations by regulators and enforcement agencies.
Kevin Heath, Partner in the Firm’s London office, leads Locke Lord’s banking litigation team in London and has over 30 years of experience advising banks, asset-based lenders and consumer financiers on a wide range of disputes, including high-profile insolvencies, public bodies, enforceability of consumer credit agreements, misrepresentation and international recovery of goods.
Rick Kuebel, New Orleans Partner and Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group, has extensive experience in oil and gas and energy-related bankruptcies as well as corporate restructuring solutions. Kuebel has also represented numerous energy companies in business litigation, arbitration matters and regulatory disputes involving oil and gas exploration, development, transportation, refining and marketing.
David Kupetz, Partner in the Firm’s Los Angeles office, has more than 35 years of experience in distressed transactions, crisis avoidance consultation, workouts, restructurings, reorganizations, bankruptcies, receiverships, assignments for the benefit of creditors, creditor rights, and other non-bankruptcy insolvency solutions and related transactions and litigation.
Mark Silverman, Partner in Locke Lord’s Chicago office and the Firm’s CMBS Special Servicer Team Leader, frames and resolves issues involving creditors’ rights, loan workouts, bankruptcy and loan enforcement. He advises large, midsized and small banks; financial institutions; and financial technology companies across the country as well as the nation’s largest CMBS special servicers in complex commercial mortgage foreclosure, workout, bankruptcy and litigation scenarios. He also regularly advises receivers with respect to distressed commercial real estate.
Stephanie Wickouski, Partner in the Firm’s New York office, has a national reputation as a strategic adviser and innovator. Wickouski’s extraordinarily active and diverse practice includes representing clients in both the litigation and transactional aspects of bankruptcy, restructuring and insolvency matters, with measured experience in indentured trusts.
Jonathan Young, Washington, D.C., Partner and Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group, regularly advises investors, lenders, directors, equity sponsors and portfolio companies in connection with their rights and obligations relative to financial distress, insolvency and bankruptcy situations. He also advises trustees, receivers and other fiduciaries charged with reorganizing, restructuring or liquidating financially distressed entities.
Read the full Global Restructuring Review article (subscription may be required).
The Massachusetts Development Finance Agency’s $232 million offering on behalf of Boston Medical Center (BMC), the first designated sustainability bonds in the United States for a not-for-profit health care organization, won The Bond Buyer’s 2023 ESG/Green Financing Deal of the Year Award. The honor was announced in advance of the December 5 ceremony for The Bond Buyer’s Deal of the Year Awards, which recognizes excellence and innovation in municipal finance and spotlight transactions that exemplify creativity and resourcefulness in projects advancing the infrastructure and quality of life in U.S. municipalities.
Boston Locke Lord lawyers Stephanie Massey and Jennifer Capasso Mendonça led the team that represented BMC as bond counsel with support from Cincinnati’s Todd Cooper and Boston’s Natalie Jersak. As BMC’s first deal to come to market in six years, the bonds finance expansion projects at several locations that will accommodate increased numbers of patients and address inpatient needs, improve energy efficiency of facilities and optimize hospital operations. BMC is a nonprofit academic medical center located in South End, providing medical care for infants, children, teens and adults.
This is the second consecutive year Locke Lord has been recognized for its role in The Bond Buyer’s ESG/Green Financing Deal of the Year and among the latest recognitions for Locke Lord’s Public Finance Practice Group, after ranking No. 5 on The Bond Buyer’s list of top bond counsel in the nation for competitive sales during the first half of 2023, with 54 issues totaling $1.3 billion.
November 2, 2023– Locke Lord obtained a National Tier 1 distinction for 14 practice areas in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®. In addition, 14 of the Firm’s domestic offices earned Metropolitan Tier 1 status.
Locke Lord’s recognized practice areas include:
National Tier 1
- Appellate Practice
- Banking and Finance Law
- Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate Law
- Employment Law – Management
- Energy Law
- Insurance Law
- Litigation – Intellectual Property
- Litigation – Labor & Employment
- Oil & Gas Law
- Public Finance Law
- Real Estate Law
- Tax Law
Metropolitan Tier 1
ATLANTA
- Mergers & Acquisitions Law
AUSTIN
- Appellate Practice
- Commercial Litigation
- Real Estate Law
BOSTON
- Banking and Finance Law
- Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Corporate Law
- Education Law
- Employment Law – Management
- Litigation – Labor & Employment
- Public Finance Law
CHICAGO
- Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Commercial Litigation
- Insurance Law
- Litigation – Intellectual Property
- Litigation – Patent
- Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
CINCINNATI
- Public Finance Law
DALLAS
- Antitrust Law
- Appellate Practice
- Bet-the-Company Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate Law
- Criminal Defense: White-Collar
- Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
- Employment Law – Management
- Energy Law
- Environmental Law
- Litigation – Banking & Finance
- Litigation – Intellectual Property
- Litigation – Labor & Employment
- Litigation – Trusts & Estates
- Mergers & Acquisitions Law
- Real Estate Law
- Tax Law
HOUSTON
- Appellate Practice
- Arbitration
- Banking and Finance Law
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate Law
- Derivatives and Futures Law
- Employment Law – Management
- Energy Law
- Environmental Law
- Insurance Law
- Litigation – Construction
- Litigation – Labor & Employment
- Mergers & Acquisitions Law
- Oil & Gas Law
- Real Estate Law
- Trusts & Estates Law
NEW ORLEANS
- Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Real Estate Law
NEW YORK
- Insurance Law
NEW JERSEY
- Corporate Law
RHODE ISLAND
- Antitrust Law
- Banking and Finance Law
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate Law
- Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
- Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law
- Mergers & Acquisitions Law
- Public Finance Law
- Tax Law
STAMFORD
- Patent Law
WASHINGTON, D.C.
- Energy Law
- Energy Regulatory Law
WEST PALM BEACH
- Corporate Law
Best Law Firms is an annual review of the country’s legal industry. The analysis is based on evaluations from clients and peer review. Firms are required to have at least one listed lawyer in a Best Lawyers practice area designation to be eligible for inclusion in the Best Law Firms report. Locke Lord has 173 lawyers listed in The Best Lawyers in America® 2024, with 39 lawyers recognized as Ones to Watch and five Lawyer of the Year recipients located in the Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas, Providence and West Palm Beach offices.
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About Locke Lord LLP
Locke Lord is a full-service law firm with global reach and 20 offices designed to meet clients’ needs in the United States and around the world. The Firm has a history that spans more than 135 years and is a leader in the middle market arena. Locke Lord focuses on providing the highest levels of commitment, quality and service to clients across its five Key Sectors: Energy and Infrastructure; Finance and Financial Services; Insurance and Reinsurance; Pharmaceutical; and Private Equity. In addition, the Firm advises clients across a broad spectrum of other industries, including fund formation, venture capital, health care, public finance, real estate, technology, cybersecurity and white collar, while providing a wealth of experience through its complex litigation, intellectual property, tax, regulatory and transactional teams.
Locke Lord’s Dallas office has been named one of the 2023 Top Workplaces in Dallas/Fort Worth by The Dallas Morning News, recognizing the Firm’s commitment to fostering a great place to work.
The Dallas Morning News’ Top Workplaces in Dallas/Fort Worth list is compiled based on an extensive survey process that evaluates various aspects of workplace culture, including company leadership, benefits, work-life balance and overall employee satisfaction.
Locke Lord’s Dallas office has long been active in local business organizations and a supporter of numerous civic and charitable groups dedicated to community affairs, education, arts and culture throughout the state.
Boston Partner Allison O’Neil, Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, was featured and pictured in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a 2023 Circle of Excellence honoree. The award, which recognizes only five women lawyers each year, celebrates those who have been previously honored as Top Women but whose continuing achievements merit additional distinction. Honorees were recognized at an annual awards program on November 1.
O’Neil, who began her legal career as a Middlesex County ADA in the Child Abuse Unit, reflects on the first case she tried that involved a little boy who had been abused by his neighbor. On each anniversary of the defendant’s conviction, the little boy’s mother sends her flowers. “I have had people come up to me and tell me or write a note that I was the first person who really listened, or the first person who believed them,” she recalls. “Reading those notes makes me proud of what we accomplished.”
With a strong desire to give back, O’Neil works diligently to foster and develop younger female lawyers’ careers through the Boston Women’s White Collar Defense Association, a chapter that was founded more than a decade ago and is committed to mentoring younger female associates in the white collar defense field. She is also active in the American Bar Association (ABA)’s White Collar Crime Division, and most recently was a panelist at the ABA’s 38th National Institute on White Collar Crime, covering new developments and trends in the Northeast to better inform attorneys of strategies and arguments used in litigating white collar cases.
O’Neil’s practice includes white collar investigations, internal investigations, employment matters and complex business litigation. She has experience representing independent schools seeking to address allegations of wrongdoing. She also represents companies and individuals facing False Claims Act investigations, FCPA investigations and internal investigations related to employment matters and compliance.
Chicago Partners Jennifer Kenedy and Kevin Kelly have been named by Crain’s Chicago Business as 2023 Notable Leaders in Employment and Labor Law.
Kenedy, who serves as Vice Chair of Locke Lord, concentrates her practice on complex commercial litigation, including trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, employment, restrictive covenant and other contractual/noncompete disputes. In 2022, she led a 12-attorney team in a $200 million bet-the-company noncompete, trade secret and unfair competition case in the District of Delaware involving a battle over AI-enabled telehealth technology that exploded post-pandemic. The case involved a sale of business and the interpretation of four separate noncompete agreements. After a continuance on the eve of the jury trial and subsequent rulings where the Judge excluded material parts of the plaintiff’s expert testimony and proposed evidence, the matter settled in favor of Locke Lord’s client Andor Health. Kenedy is a sought-after speaker on labor and employment issues, presenting at the American Intellectual Property Law Association and at Practising Law Institute’s (PLI) Advanced Trade Secrets and Advanced Noncompetes and Restrictive Covenants, and authoring PLI’s 2023 Illinois chapter on noncompete law. She was recently selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honor society composed of less than one-half of 1 percent of American lawyers who are chosen based on effectiveness and accomplishment in litigation and trial work, along with ethical reputation.
In addition to her full-time national trial practice, Kenedy has held numerous leadership roles in the Firm and community. She was the first female Managing Partner of Locke Lord’s Chicago office and co-founded and led the Firm’s Women’s Initiative. She serves as the Firm’s Deputy General Counsel and founded and Chairs Locke Lord’s Business Transformation Task Force, ensuring the Firm leads the industry in transforming the way it provides legal services in a post-COVID-19 world. Kenedy also Chairs the Firm’s Flexible Work Arrangement Committee. She is a Board Member of Business Counsel, Inc., an international network of trial firms, and a member of the Sedona Conference on Trade Secrets. She co-founded and was on the inaugural Board of Directors for the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law, a nonprofit membership association bringing together organizations dedicated to advancing women lawyers. She also co-founded Women Office Managing Partners to facilitate the sharing of best practices. She’s been recognized with awards for her efforts to empower women. Kenedy has held leadership positions in many additional community and professional organizations, including The Fairway Network, former Chicago Bear Allen Robinson’s Within Reach Foundation and The Executives’ Club of Chicago.
Considered the preeminent labor attorney in Chicago in the residential property arena, Kelly is labor counsel to the Apartment Building Owners and Managers Association of Illinois (ABOMA). In this role, he coordinates the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreements between ABOMA and SEIU Local 1 covering janitorial and door staff employees in numerous high-rise residential buildings in Chicago. He also provides day-to-day labor-relations advice to numerous condominium associations and property management companies in Chicago. In 2022, he coordinated the negotiation of the ABOMA-SEIU local door staff collective bargaining agreement. Kelly actively participates in ABOMA events, including speaking on labor issues at ABOMA’s annual educational seminar for community association managers. Additionally, he is a frequent speaker on labor issues impacting the residential property management industry in other settings, and he has spoken on these issues at such forums as the Chicago Bar Association Condominium Subcommittee and the Community Associations Institute.
Kelly leads Locke Lord’s involvement with The Chicago Lighthouse, a world-renowned social service organization serving the blind, visually impaired, disabled, and veteran communities with comprehensive vision care and support services. He ensures the Firm’s continuing and active participation in the Lighthouse’s annual dinner and other Lighthouse events.
Read the Crain’s Chicago Business profiles on Kenedy and Kelly (subscription may be required).
(CHICAGO) November 6, 2023 – Locke Lord Vice Chair Jennifer Kenedy has been selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA). The LCA is a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of 1 percent of American lawyers. Fellows are selected and invited into Fellowship after being evaluated for effectiveness and accomplishment in litigation and trial work, along with ethical reputation.
Kenedy concentrates her practice on complex commercial litigation, including trade secret misappropriation and other intellectual property litigation, unfair competition, employment, restrictive covenant and other contractual disputes, catastrophic product liability and real estate litigation. She mediates, arbitrates and tries cases nationwide.
In addition to her full-time national trial practice, Kenedy has held numerous leadership roles in the Firm and community. She was the first female Managing Partner of Locke Lord’s Chicago office and co-founded and led the Firm’s Women’s Initiative. She serves as the Firm’s Deputy General Counsel and founded and Chairs Locke Lord’s Business Transformation Task Force, ensuring the Firm leads the industry in transforming the way it provides legal services in a post-COVID-19 world. Kenedy also Chairs the Firm’s Flexible Work Arrangement Committee. She is a Board Member of Business Counsel, Inc., an international network of trial firms, and a member of the Sedona Conference on Trade Secrets. She co-founded and was on the inaugural Board of Directors for the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law, a nonprofit membership association bringing together organizations dedicated to advancing women lawyers. She also co-founded Women Office Managing Partners to facilitate the sharing of best practices. She’s been recognized with awards for her efforts to empower women. Kenedy has held leadership positions in many additional community and professional organizations, including The Fairway Network, former Chicago Bear Allen Robinson’s Within Reach Foundation and The Executives’ Club of Chicago.
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About Locke Lord LLP
Locke Lord is a full-service law firm with global reach and 20 offices designed to meet clients’ needs in the United States and around the world. The Firm has a history that spans more than 135 years and is a leader in the middle market arena. Locke Lord focuses on providing the highest levels of commitment, quality and service to clients across its five Key Sectors: Energy and Infrastructure; Finance and Financial Services; Insurance and Reinsurance; Pharmaceutical; and Private Equity. In addition, the Firm advises clients across a broad spectrum of other industries, including fund formation, venture capital, health care, public finance, real estate, technology, cybersecurity and white collar, while providing a wealth of experience through its complex litigation, intellectual property, tax, regulatory and transactional teams.