WASHINGTON—Covington has promoted 20 lawyers to its partnership.
“This group covers a wide range of the firm’s most important practices and reflects the ongoing imperative of continuing to build and expand our strengths and to position the firm most effectively to be vibrant in the years ahead,” said Timothy Hester, Covington’s chair. "The size of our class is a sign of great strength – that we continue to attract exceptional young lawyers and build an exceptional pipeline of talented lawyers who will carry the firm forward."
The new partners, who are based in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, are:
Alice Ahn (San Francisco): Ms. Ahn focuses her practice on patent litigation involving computer software, electronics, telecommunications, and semiconductor technologies. Ms. Ahn received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, her master in science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and her undergraduate degree from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Shara Aranoff (Washington): Ms. Aranoff advises clients in technology, life sciences, and manufacturing on the use of intellectual property and international trade enforcement tools to compete in U.S. and global markets and on import and customs compliance. She was previously a Commissioner and Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission, where she was a decision-maker in hundreds of Section 337, antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard investigations. Ms. Aranoff graduated from Harvard Law School and earned her undergraduate degree at Princeton University.
Brianne Bharkhda (Washington): Ms. Bharkhda is a litigator who represents clients in high-stakes patent litigation. She specializes in complex life sciences patent litigation and has litigated numerous cases involving generic drug approvals and the Hatch-Waxman Act. Her trial experience includes both jury trials and bench trials and she has argued motions in several of the nation’s most active patent litigation jurisdictions. Ms. Bharkhda is a graduate of Harvard Law School and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ashden Fein (Washington): Mr. Fein advises clients on cybersecurity and national security matters, including crisis management and incident response, government and internal investigations, and complex regulatory matters. Before joining Covington, Mr. Fein served for 13 years in the United States Army, first as a military intelligence officer and later as a prosecutor in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Mr. Fein received his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Mark Finucane (Washington): Mr. Finucane represents institutions and individuals in high-stakes criminal investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, and complex commercial litigation. Mr. Finucane has extensive experience representing financial institutions in matters relating to anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, securities fraud, and other matters involving significant criminal and civil risk. Mr. Finucane earned his law degree at Stanford Law School and his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Mark Herman (Washington): Mr. Herman advises policyholders on insurance coverage and represents clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitration. He has experience pursuing insurance coverage for a wide variety of liabilities and losses, including under general liability, directors and officers liability, errors and omissions and professional liability, property, representation and warranty, and political risk policies and fidelity and financial institution bonds. Mr. Herman is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.
Laura Kim (Washington): Ms. Kim draws upon her experience at the Federal Trade Commission to advise clients on complex advertising, marketing, and privacy matters. She provides practical compliance advice and represents clients responding to inquiries from federal, state, and self-regulatory bodies on a wide range of issues such as influencers, native advertising, auto renewals, and green marketing. Ms. Kim serves as vice-chair of the firm’s Advertising and Consumer Protection practice group. Ms. Kim earned her law degree from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree from Yale University.
Kevin King (Washington): Mr. King advises clients on appellate litigation, administrative law, casino gaming, and communications matters. He has successfully litigated challenges against the FCC, EPA, FDA, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other agencies. He previously served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of the United States and at two federal courts of appeals. Mr. King is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and received his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College.
Cortlin Lannin (San Francisco): Mr. Lannin specializes in defending clients in complex litigation matters. He focuses primarily on antitrust and consumer cases, including cartel matters and consumer cases implicating deceptive and false advertising practices. Mr. Lannin also has substantial experience conducting internal investigations for clients facing potential criminal and civil exposure in these subject areas. He received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Brown University.
Patrick Manchester (Washington): Mr. Manchester represents a variety of clients in the life sciences and other industries in the purchase and sale of public and private companies and their assets, including in the context of asset and stock acquisitions, public and private mergers, carve-out divestitures, cross-border transactions, and private equity transactions. Mr. Manchester earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and his undergraduate degree from Duquesne University.
Micaela McMurrough (New York): Ms. McMurrough represents clients in high-stakes, complex commercial litigation matters and advises domestic and international clients on cybersecurity and data privacy issues, including cybersecurity investigations and cyber incident response. Prior to her legal career, she served in the Military Intelligence Branch of the United States Army. Ms. McMurrough received her law degree from Cornell Law School, her master's degree from the University of Oklahoma, and her undergraduate degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Jessica O'Connell (Washington): Ms. O'Connell provides strategic advice to a broad range of companies and trade associations engaging with food and drug regulatory bodies and Congress. She assists clients in complying with U.S. regulatory requirements for the manufacture and sale of foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, OTC drugs, and animal products, and the import and export of all FDA-regulated products. She also counsels clients regarding potential crises, such as recalls and unanticipated regulatory attention. Before joining Covington, Ms. O’Connell served as Associate Chief Counsel at FDA. Ms. O'Connell received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, her master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.
Adrian Perry (New York): Mr. Perry's practice focuses on matters involving emerging and innovative uses of technology, intellectual property and data. He works with clients across a range of industries, with a particular focus on advising sports leagues and media and entertainment companies on technology transactions, and advising clients regarding content licensing and distribution issues through digital and mobile platforms. Mr. Perry is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and received his master's and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.
Patrick Phelan (Washington): Mr. Phelan focuses on white collar defense and investigations and has represented companies in civil and criminal investigations by the Department of Justice and other federal agencies concerning alleged violations of several federal and state laws, including the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He also has experience representing clients in intellectual property litigation and in civil litigation. Mr. Phelan earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Boston College.
John Playforth (Washington): Mr. Playforth is a member of the Litigation Practice Group and focuses his practice on high-profile antitrust litigation matters. He has extensive experience representing clients who face claims in complex class-action multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceedings. He previously clerked for Judge John Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Mr. Playforth received his law degree from Harvard Law School and his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
Ashley Simonsen (Los Angeles): Ms. Simonsen is a litigator who specializes in defending class actions and complex commercial disputes in state and federal court. She represents clients in the financial services, consumer brands, and professional sports industries, among others. Ms. Simonsen has significant experience with "true lender" lawsuits and consumer class actions under California's Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Ms. Simonsen is a graduate of Stanford Law School and received her undergraduate degree from Amherst College.
Brian Smith (Washington): Mr. Smith represents companies and individuals facing high-profile and high-risk congressional investigations and hearings, and other criminal, civil, and internal investigations that combine legal, political, and public relations risks. Mr. Smith also develops and executes government relations initiatives for clients seeking actions by Congress and the executive branch. Mr. Smith received his law degree from The George Washington University Law School and his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary.
Sergio Urias (New York): Co-chair of the firm's Private Equity Practice Group, Mr. Urias represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies in a wide range of corporate transactions primarily in Latin America, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, leveraged financings, restructurings, reorganizations, growth equity investments, and other corporate transactional matters. Mr. Urias received a master of laws from Harvard Law School and his law degree from Escuela Libre de Derecho.
Michael Wagner (Washington): Mr. Wagner helps government contractors navigate high-stakes enforcement matters and complex regulatory regimes. Combining a deep knowledge of the FAR with extensive investigations experience, he specializes in representing contractors in civil and criminal actions, including False Claims Act cases, and in suspension and debarment proceedings. He also counsels clients on a broad range of government contracts compliance issues. Mr. Wagner earned his law degree from The George Washington School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Villanova University.
Amy Wollensack (New York): Ms. Wollensack is co-chair of the firm's Private Equity Practice Group where she represents private equity and other corporate clients in a wide range of complex transactions including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, going private transactions, PIPEs, venture capital and growth equity investments, and other transactional matters. Ms. Wollensack received her law degree from Washington University School of Law, her master's degree in nursing from Medical College of Virginia, and her undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond.
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