Covington Promotes 15 Lawyers to Partnership

Covington Promotes 15 Lawyers to Partnership

October 1, 2012

WASHINGTON, DC, October 1, 2012 — Covington & Burling is pleased to announce that it has elected 15 new lawyers to its partnership.

This group is comprised of diverse and talented individuals from five offices who have made their mark at the firm through exceptional work and the highest standards of client service.

“We’re delighted to welcome these 15 lawyers to our partnership,” said Timothy Hester, chair of Covington’s management committee. “They have earned their promotions by demonstrating outstanding legal and client service skills in their respective practice areas.”

The new partners and their practices are:

Robert Amaee (London) focuses on white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and developing anti-corruption and anti-money laundering compliance programs. He advises clients on serious economic crime matters and in relation to mandatory and contemplated voluntary disclosures to regulators and enforcement authorities. Before joining Covington, Dr. Amaee served as Head of Anti-Corruption and Head of Proceeds of Crime at the UK Serious Fraud Office, leading the investigation and prosecution of high-profile bribery and money laundering cases. He is admitted to practice as a barrister in England and Wales and has defended and prosecuted cases in the UK criminal courts. Dr. Amaee holds a Ph.D. in medical research and a B.Sc. in life sciences.

Eric Carlson (Beijing) practices in the firm’s anti-bribery, international, and white collar groups. He advises clients operating in China and other jurisdictions in Asia on a range of anti-corruption laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mr. Carlson has deep experience counseling clients on proposed transactions, helping companies to update and strengthen their internal anti-corruption compliance programs and controls, and leading numerous internal anti-corruption/FCPA investigations in China and around the world. He also counsels clients on U.S. export controls and economic sanctions. Mr. Carlson speaks Mandarin and Cantonese and earned both his B.A. and J.D. from Brigham Young University, where he was the executive editor of the Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif.

Shaoyu Chen (Beijing) is the managing director of Covington’s China food and drug practice. He has over 10 years of experience in food and drug law, including serving as assistant chief counsel in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Chief Counsel, as senior counsel at California-based Amgen Inc., and as chief compliance counsel for GE Healthcare (China). Mr. Chen represents pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, food, dietary supplement, and cosmetic companies in matters before the China State Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. FDA, and other government agencies. A native of China, Mr. Chen received his undergraduate degree from Peking University and his law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Christopher Eppich (San Diego) is a member of the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice group. Mr. Eppich has particular experience representing companies in patent litigation and trade secret disputes in a range of arts and practices, including semiconductor products and processes, medical devices, and chemical processes. He also represents companies in patent licensing disputes and counsels clients on a variety of intellectual property licensing issues. He is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and has experience in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. A cum laude graduate of Santa Clara University School of Law, Mr. Eppich was a technical editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University.

Michael Fanelli (Washington) practices in the areas of antitrust, white collar investigations, and litigation. Mr. Fanelli represents companies and individuals in U.S. and international antitrust cartel investigations, defends complex class action and other antitrust litigation, and advises clients on antitrust compliance. He also represents clients in criminal, governmental and internal investigations. Mr. Fanelli is a member of the ABA Antitrust Section’s International Cartel Task Force, a former vice chair of the Section’s Criminal Practice and International Committees, and the former editorial chair of the second edition of the two-volume treatise Competition Laws Outside the United States, published by the Section in 2011. He earned his law degree with highest honors from George Washington University Law School and clerked for Judge Robert E. Payne of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Holly Fechner (Washington) is a leader of the firm’s government affairs group. She came to Covington after years of public service as policy director for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Ms. Fechner handles public policy, legislative, and regulatory matters for clients in healthcare, tax, intellectual property, employee benefits, energy, and education. Drawing on her extensive congressional and private sector experience, Ms. Fechner offers clients comprehensive advocacy services, including strategic advice and substantive expertise. She graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and with honors from Oberlin College. Ms. Fechner clerked for Judge John Feikens of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She is an adjunct visiting lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Jonathan Gimblett (Washington) combines international arbitration and antitrust law in his practice, drawing on his experience of more than 14 years in government, including a successful career in the British Diplomatic Service. Mr. Gimblett’s international arbitration practice focuses principally on investor-state and international boundary disputes, on which he advises both states and corporate clients. His antitrust practice embraces litigation, counseling of corporate clients, and regulatory matters. Mr. Gimblett is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated magna cum laude and served as editor-in-chief of the Law Journal. He holds both a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University.

Rukesh Korde (Washington) has for more than a decade focused on commercial litigation and complex insurance coverage cases. He has advised clients and litigated cases seeking insurance for property damage, business interruption, contingent business interruption, extra expense, civil authority, construction defect, E&O, D&O, asbestos, life, and environmental claims. Mr. Korde received his law degree magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He holds an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Columbia University, both in philosophy. He clerked for the late Judge Louis H. Pollak of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mark Mosier (Washington) practices in the areas of appellate litigation, administrative law, and white collar criminal defense. He has represented clients in more than two dozen appeals in both federal and state appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Before joining Covington, Mr. Mosier was a law clerk to Chief Justices John G. Roberts Jr. and William H. Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court, and to Judge Deanell R. Tacha of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Mr. Mosier earned both an A.B. and a J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago, where he was comment editor of the Law Review.

Chris Pistilli (Washington) is a litigator whose practice focuses on the defense of class actions and other complex civil matters. Mr. Pistilli has substantial experience with high stakes ERISA litigation, having defended pension plans, plan sponsors, and fiduciaries in the trial courts and on appeal. He has also defended large financial institutions in several nationwide class actions, including lawsuits asserting consumer claims. Prior to joining Covington, Mr. Pistilli clerked for Judge Amalya L. Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Pistilli graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was a Sears Prize Winner, an Ames Moot Court Winner, and an articles co-chair of the Harvard Law Review. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Haverford College.

Ingrid Rechtin (San Francisco) practices in the firm’s corporate group. Her corporate experience includes public and private mergers and acquisitions, finance and general corporate matters, and she has represented a number of companies in the technology and clean tech sectors. Ms. Rechtin recently served on the Covington team representing Microsoft Corp. in its $1.056 billion acquisition of the majority of AOL Inc.’s patent portfolio and a related deal under which Facebook, Inc. acquired from Microsoft the right to purchase a portion of the AOL portfolio. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. from Stanford University.

Michael Riella (Washington) is a member of Covington’s corporate and securities practice group. He represents public and private companies in a broad range of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, joint venture arrangements, and financing and licensing transactions. Mr. Riella also regularly advises public and privately-held companies and boards of directors in connection with federal securities law, corporate governance and general corporate law matters. He received his law degree from the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. Mr. Riella is a cum laude graduate of Stetson University.

Simone Ross (Washington) is a litigator who specializes in white collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, and complex civil litigation. She has represented corporate and individual clients in parallel criminal and civil proceedings conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal and state agencies, as well as in congressional investigations. Ms. Ross previously served as an assistant counsel in the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University with distinction and from Georgetown University Law Center, respectively. She clerked for the late Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Peter Swanson (Washington) practices in the firm’s litigation and intellectual property practice groups. Mr. Swanson has represented companies in numerous patent and copyright lawsuits, primarily involving software technologies, and has represented clients in ERISA class actions and other complex commercial litigations. Mr. Swanson also maintains a strong pro bono practice, which focuses on post-conviction and capital cases. A valedictorian and summa cum laude graduate of George Washington University School of Law, Mr. Swanson was a member the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his B.S. in computer science as a Tau Beta Pi and magna cum laude graduate from George Washington University.

Winslow Taub (San Francisco) practices patent litigation and general commercial litigation. He has worked on a variety of patent infringement matters, from pre-litigation counseling and negotiation through trial, with a particular focus on patents covering computer hardware and software. Mr. Taub clerked for Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California. He earned his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as articles editor of both the Law Review and Berkeley Technology Law Journal. Mr. Taub received a S.M. in computer science and an A.B. in physics from Harvard University.