Locke Lord lost an extraordinary friend and lawyer when our colleague Jeff passed away on October 31, 2023. Jeff, who served as Chairman of our Houston office and was one of only a very few to hold the title of Senior Partner at the Firm, joined the Houston office as just the 24th attorney in 1976 and spent more than 45 years helping us all professionally and personally. He will be remembered as always representing the best of Locke Lord — he was our greatest cheerleader whose leadership, integrity, and significant and countless contributions to the community and to this Firm were unparalleled. Our thoughts and prayers are very much with all of his family.
For any client-related inquiries, please contact Laura Edrington in our Houston office at ledrington@lockelord.com or 713-226-1490.
Learn more about Jeff’s remarkable life.
Locke Lord has received a score of 85 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality.
Locke Lord and its attorneys have a long history of supporting LGBTQ+ civil rights and health care organizations, including The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Fenway Health, HRC, AIDS Action Committee, Imperial Court of New York, Equality Illinois, the annual Lavender Law Conference and Pride in Our Workplace.
According to the HRC, the results of the 2023-2024 CEI showcase how U.S.-based companies are promoting LGBTQ+ friendly workplace policies in the United States and abroad. The CEI rates companies on detailed criteria falling under four central pillars: non-discrimination policies across business entities; equitable benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their families; supporting an inclusive culture; and corporate social responsibility.
Diversity and inclusion is one of Locke Lord’s five core values and an integral part of the Firm’s strategic plan. Locke Lord understands that fostering an inclusive environment results in better decision-making, better outcomes for clients and a firm where team members can be successful and thrive.
(MIAMI) November 15, 2023 – Maia Sevilla-Sharon has joined Locke Lord’s Miami office as a Partner in the Firm’s Health and Managed Care Litigation Practice Group. Advising multinational corporate clients in the areas of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and regulatory compliance, complex civil litigation, product safety, and data strategy and security, Sevilla-Sharon expands the Firm’s capabilities across the region.
Joining Locke Lord from DLA Piper, Sevilla-Sharon has represented clients in a wide range of high-stakes lawsuits, including breach of contract, business torts and insurance coverage disputes. She has also represented health care and pharmaceutical clients in government investigations and internal compliance matters.
“Maia has built a long-standing, far-reaching network throughout South Florida and nationwide within the insurance, health care and labor and employment sectors,” said Andrea Verney Kerstein, Chair of Locke Lord’s Health and Managed Care Litigation Practice Group. “Maia’s arrival will further bolster the Firm’s already strong Health and Managed Care Litigation Practice.”
In addition to her dedicated client work, Sevilla-Sharon is heavily involved in pro bono matters.
“Maia’s deep roots in the region combined with Locke Lord’s stellar reputation in the health care industry will be integral to advancing the Firm’s strategic growth plan in Florida. She will make a great addition to the Miami office, and we’re thrilled to welcome her to the Firm,” said Thomas J. Cunningham, Locke Lord’s Miami and West Palm Beach Office Managing Partner.
“I am looking forward to joining Locke Lord’s deep bench of talent in the Health and Managed Care Litigation Practice Group,” said Sevilla-Sharon. “The Firm’s collaborative nature is impressive and was a big draw for me, and its robust platform will provide additional opportunities to grow my practice and to engage in a meaningful way with clients.”
Locke Lord’s Health and Managed Care Litigation team includes trial and regulatory lawyers who routinely represent the interests of multinational health insurers, managed care organizations (MCOs), pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, distributors, PBMS, TPAs, hospitals, multihospital health systems, physicians and physician groups, academic medical centers, skilled nursing centers, and home health, hospice and long-term care facilities in a range of disputes, litigation, arbitration, investigations, civil investigative demand (CID) proceedings, administrative proceedings and threatened litigation, including high-profile matters involving billion-dollar claims and cutting-edge issues.
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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 Dallas Office Managing Partner Elizabeth Mack, Co-Chair of the Firm-wide Environmental Section and a member of the Firm’s Board of Directors, has been named to D CEO’s 2024 Dallas 500 for the third consecutive year, recognizing the most influential leaders in North Texas. Award recipients were celebrated at an awards dinner on Nov. 16.
Mack is a nationally recognized lawyer with significant experience in brownfield redevelopment, environmental compliance, and environmental litigation. In addition to her practice, Mack is an active volunteer and holds a number of leadership positions, having been honored on many occasions for her pro bono work in the community, including being named “Outstanding Law Firm Pro Bono Coordinator” by the Dallas Bar Association. As part of her pro bono efforts, she has served as a Past Chair and current member of the Board of Directors of Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit promoting social, economic, and racial justice for all Texans. Additionally, Mack serves on the Executive Committee of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board and the Executive Committee of the Dallas Regional Chamber, which leverages business resources to enhance the quality of life for all in North Texas.
The Dallas 500 list features the top North Texas business leaders and executives, and is the culmination of months of research, interviews, and conversations with extensive, high-level contacts in the regional business communities by D CEO editors.
Read Elizabeth Mack’s 2024 Dallas 500 profile.
(HOUSTON) November 27, 2023 – Locke Lord is pleased to announce that Jon Daly has joined the Firm’s Houston office as a Partner in the Corporate and Transactional Practice Group. Daly brings a broad range of experience in corporate and financing transactions, particularly energy capital markets, that will further diversify the Firm’s existing capabilities in Texas. He joins Locke Lord from Sidley Austin LLP.
Daly focuses his practice on corporate and securities law matters with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and the representation of issuers and investment banks in all forms of capital-raising transactions, including initial public offerings and public and private equity and debt offerings. He also advises companies, management teams and private equity funds in connection with private equity investments and M&A transactions. In addition, Daly advises public companies on SEC reporting, corporate governance and compliance with the federal securities laws. He also advises boards of directors, conflicts committees and financial advisers in M&A transactions. He has particular experience with master limited partnerships and clients in the energy industry, including oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, oilfield service and power generation companies, and with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), including IPOs, anchor investments and de-SPAC transactions.
“Jon’s stellar reputation across Texas paired with his breadth of experience advising issuers and investment banks in capital-raising transactions and public and private equity-backed companies in M&A deals across the energy sector will be integral to Locke Lord’s nationally recognized corporate team,” said Joe Perillo, Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s Corporate and Transactional Department and a Partner in the Firm’s Houston office. “He’s an entrepreneurial lawyer with an impressive track record having advised on multiple high-stakes and high-value transactions, and we are thrilled to welcome someone of his caliber to the Firm.”
A thought leader in his field, Daly has been acknowledged in numerous industry publications, including the U.S. Legal 500, BTI Consulting Group’s M&A Client All-Star List, Houstonia Magazine and Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers®.
“Jon is a very well-known lawyer in the market and will be an excellent fit in our Houston office,” said Locke Lord Houston Office Managing Partner Laura Edrington. “He will work closely and collaboratively with the Firm’s well-regarded tax and regulatory lawyers, and his robust knowledge of deal structures will be a strong component of the comprehensive solutions we offer clients as we continue to help them navigate current and future energy projects.”
“Locke Lord has one of the premier energy transactional practices in the United States and provides an ideal platform for my practice,” Daly said. “I am excited to capitalize on the Firm’s established presence in Texas and deep experience in the energy industry as well as its unique commitment to a highly collaborative approach to serving clients.”
Locke Lord’s transactional lawyers have represented U.S. and multinational publicly traded entities and private concerns in nearly every industry for over a century. The Firm’s knowledge and experience provides guidance well beyond the mechanics of the law, allowing for it to counsel clients on broader business implications and strategies. Locke Lord’s reputation for responsiveness and business judgment is unsurpassed. The Firm builds strong relationships to support its clients’ general counsel and frequently serves as leading outside general counsel for middle market clients and emerging companies.
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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 Partner Christopher Fontenelli and Associate Andrew Braunstein have been named to the Super Lawyers® 2023 New York Rising Stars list.
The New York Rising Stars list recognizes the area’s top attorneys age 40 and younger, or who are in their first 10 years of practice. New York Rising Stars are selected through a process of nomination, independent research and peer evaluation. Only 2.5 percent of eligible lawyers in New York are selected to the list each year.
Fontenelli is a litigator whose practice focuses on two distinct but related areas of law — complex commercial litigation and labor and employment. In the area of complex commercial litigation, he represents various clients in the financial services industry, such as banks, trusts, private equity firms, portfolio companies and servicers in connection with class actions and commercial contractual disputes. Fontenelli also counsels many of those same clients concerning a wide variety of labor and employment matters, including disputes relating to the misappropriation of trade secrets, enforcement of restrictive covenants, discrimination, harassment, wage and hour violations, and employee misclassification.
Braunstein focuses on representing financial institutions and service providers in high-stakes and consumer class action litigations as well as government and regulatory investigations. He has extensive experience representing banks, non-bank lenders, trusts and loan servicers in class actions and other complex litigations involving alleged violations of federal and state consumer protection laws. Braunstein also represents these clients in sensitive civil, criminal and regulatory investigations.
Los Angeles Partner Amin Al-Sarraf was recognized as a Future Litigation Star honoree in the 2024 edition of Benchmark Litigation. Honorees were selected based on a combination of their recent casework, peer review and client feedback.
Al-Sarraf, Head of Locke Lord’s Entertainment Industry Group, regularly represents large corporations, financial institutions, entertainment studios, talent agencies, investment funds, small businesses, government agencies and individuals in a wide variety of civil disputes and complex litigation, including employment, commercial and entertainment matters.
Locke Lord’s Richard Miller, a member of the Firm’s Public Finance Practice Group, has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Bond Counsel (ACBC). Miller is a member of the Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas bars.
In addition to Miller, Locke Lord’s Margaret Comey, Todd Cooper (who serves on the Board of the organization as Past President), Karen Grande, Rick Manley (who also serves on the Board), Stephanie Massey, Brenda McDonough, Jennifer Capasso Mendonça and Walter St. Onge hold the distinction of being Fellows of the ACBC.
Miller concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate, securities law, municipal and project finance, public private partnerships, interest rate swaps and other derivative products. He serves as bond counsel to Palm Beach County and its Solid Waste Authority, Broward County and Miami-Dade County and its Housing Finance, Educational and Industrial Development Authorities, among others, and disclosure counsel to Broward County, and to the City of Pensacola and the Seacoast Utility Authority. In Illinois, he has served as bond counsel or disclosure counsel to DuPage County, the Village of Bolingbrook and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, among others, and in Tennessee, to the City of Memphis, Shelby County, the Memphis and Shelby County Port Authority and the Memphis and Shelby County Sports Authority. Miller serves as Chair of the Finance Committee of the Palm Beach County School District. Additionally, he serves as a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the Government Finance Officers Association.
Locke Lord’s Public Finance Practice Group has one of the largest bond counsel practices in the country. For more than 135 years, the Firm has been involved in the law of public borrowing and the federal tax and securities aspects of public debt obligations. The Firm’s public finance lawyers have extensive experience nationwide serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriters’ counsel, issuer’s counsel, borrower’s counsel, bank counsel, special tax counsel and trustee’s counsel for governmental and quasi-governmental issuers, special purpose entities, tax-exempt organizations and other entities and financial institutions.
Locke Lord consistently ranks among the top public finance practices nationally. The Firm was ranked 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. Locke Lord also secured some impressive regional top bond counsel rankings in The Bond Buyer’s Northeast Midyear Review, including: No. 2 in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island, No. 3 in New Hampshire and No. 7 in the Northeast.
October 4, 2023 – Locke Lord has promoted seven lawyers representing the Firm’s Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., offices to Partnership level, effective Jan. 1, 2024. The lawyers are members of the Firm’s Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Insolvency, Corporate and Transactional, Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
The new Partners are:
In Chicago:
Tom Bohac focuses his practice on investment management, securities and corporate law. He has experience counseling clients on securities compliance, investment adviser, trust company, investment company and broker-dealer regulation. He has considerable experience counseling clients on corporate governance and fiduciary matters as well as representing parties in joint venture relationships, with a particular focus on innovative joint ventures between health insurers and large health systems.
Alyssa Gregory concentrates her practice on reinsurance, insurance and health care disputes. She also has substantial experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in other complex commercial litigation and arbitration matters. Gregory helps clients with all aspects of the litigation process, including initial case evaluation and risk assessment, fact and expert discovery, motion practice, pre-trial, trial, post-trial and appeals.
In Houston:
Christian Perez focuses his practice on business litigation and dispute resolution, construction law and energy litigation. He assists clients in commercial contract disputes, fiduciary relations issues and a wide variety of construction disputes in front of state and federal district courts as well as domestic and international arbitration tribunals. Perez represents clients in pre-suit matters, the discovery process, motion practice, and final trials and arbitration hearings.
In San Francisco:
Lindsey E. Kress concentrates her practice on defending clients in class action and financial services litigation as well as advising on privacy and cybersecurity issues. She regularly represents clients in complex matters in state and federal courts across the country. Kress has second-chair trial experience and has argued cases at both the trial and appellate level.
In Washington, D.C.:
Chelsey Rosenbloom List focuses her practice on corporate restructuring, insolvency, bankruptcy and related litigation matters. She represents a wide spectrum of clients, including secured and unsecured creditors, corporate debtors, indenture trustees and other interested parties in bankruptcy-related transactions and out-of-court workouts. She advises clients on creditors’ rights, distressed acquisitions and dispositions, debtor-in-possession financing, loan-to-own strategies and other matters.
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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.
Chicago Partners Ernesto Palomo and Julie Webb have been named by Crain’s Chicago Business as 2023 Notable Leaders in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, recognizing the significant impact both have made advancing diversity and inclusion in the Chicago community.
This marks the third consecutive year that Palomo was honored by Crain’s Chicago Business as a Notable Leader in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Palomo’s long-standing leadership on diversity and inclusion issues has informed and enabled the expansion of Locke Lord’s diversity and inclusion education efforts, including mandatory, Firm-wide diversity and inclusion training that emphasizes identifying and interrupting bias. As former Co-Chair and a current member of Locke Lord’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, he has co-led activities focusing on recruitment, retention, equal advancement opportunities, and initiatives supporting equal justice and civil rights organizations. Palomo serves on the Board of Directors for numerous organizations, including The Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Just the Beginning—A Pipeline Organization and the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic. He is a former Board Member of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, past Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow (LCLD) and an active member of the Hispanic National Bar Association.
In his practice, Palomo has devoted considerable time to pro bono matters through the National Immigrant Justice Center, Center for Disability and Elder Law and Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. He has extensive experience representing large multinational companies in court and commercial arbitration proceedings around the country.
Webb has been a tireless advocate for the rights and privileges of LGBTQ+ individuals both at Locke Lord, where she currently serves as Co-Chair of Locke Lord’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and in the broader legal community. She has spearheaded the Firm’s involvement in the National LGBT Bar Association’s Lavender Law Career Fair, which is designed to achieve a sense of community and inclusion for LGBTQ+ candidates in legal recruiting efforts. Through Webb’s involvement in setting Locke Lord’s diversity and inclusion policies, she has helped the Firm achieve a 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for six years, earning the distinction of being an employer of choice for LGBTQ+ employees. For the past three years, Webb has served as an appointed member of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which leads its work on equity and inclusion for LGBTQ+ persons in the ABA, legal profession and society. Webb was chosen as Locke Lord’s 2020 LCLD Fellow, is Vice Chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Books & Treatises Committee, and was recently Co-Chair of its Civil Practice & Procedure Committee.
Webb represents financial institutions and other corporate clients in class actions and other complex litigation throughout the country. She is experienced in all aspects of the litigation process, including early settlement opportunities, motion practice, discovery, trial and appeals.
Read the Crain’s Chicago Business profiles on Palomo and Webb (subscription may be required).