BCLP names global group to partnership

International law firm BCLP has elected 24 new lawyers to partnership in the firm, effective Jan. 1, 2024. This brings the total number of partners to 480. This new class, one of the largest to date, draws from BCLP offices across the globe and spans key practices and strategic sectors, including Real Estate; Corporate Transactions; Litigation & Investigations; and numerous sub-practices such as Tax; Employee Benefits and Private Client; Class Actions; Antitrust & Competition; Financial Services Disputes; Employment & Labor; Technology; Real Estate Finance; Planning & Zoning; and Construction Disputes.

“We’re proud to see these lawyers recognized for their significant contributions to the Firm and dedication to serving our clients. They exemplify the commitment to our core values and our client-centric approach – true hallmarks of BCLP – which will continue to drive our collective success in the years to come,” said firm Co-Chairs Lisa Mayhew and Steve Baumer. “Creating the right environment for our people to thrive and grow at BCLP has always been a Firm priority. These colleagues are successful lawyers because they are committed to providing clients with the highest level of service and are dedicated to the continued growth and success of our Firm."

The new partners are:

Christian Bromley, Atlanta/Los Angeles

Christian is a litigator representing corporate clients in complex commercial disputes and mass tort litigation ranging from consumer claims, product liability and environmental contamination to a variety of insurance and financial transactions. As a resident of the Firm’s Atlanta and Los Angeles offices, Christian has wide experience representing and advising clients before courts and arbitral tribunals in California, Florida, Georgia and many other venues nationwide. Christian has particular experience litigating and counseling clients in disputes with government entities and municipalities, related class actions, and the defense of clients in litigation involving PFCs (perfluorochemicals) and PFAS substances (per- and polyfluoroalkyl). Throughout Christian’s career at the Firm, he has dedicated well over 1,000 hours to representing pro bono clients, including voting rights litigation, constitutional challenges to legislation impacting the LGBTQ+ community, and capital post-conviction litigation.

Carolyn Browne, Denver

Carolyn is a member of the Financial Services Disputes and Investigations Group. She has experience representing clients in broker-dealer matters and regulatory investigations as well as complex commercial disputes. Carolyn represents firms and individuals in litigation, FINRA arbitrations and in SEC, FINRA and state regulatory investigations, with experience in both customer-initiated and industry proceedings. She has also represented broker-dealers and other industry professionals in cases relating to defamation and alleged unsuitability of investments. In addition, Carolyn has significant experience with complex commercial disputes, serving as an integral member of a team representing a client in a multimillion dollar, high-stakes litigation matter and securing summary judgment for the client in state court.

Daniel Burnand, London

Daniel’s practice focuses on complex development and investment real estate transactions across a range of sectors including office, retail, logistics and infrastructure. He advises institutional investors, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds and developers on multidisciplinary single-asset and portfolio transactions. Daniel has worked on a variety of ESG-related projects including the site acquisition, equity and debt financing, and development of two best-in-class London office towers and he regularly advises clients on sustainability and green lease obligations between owners, occupiers and developers. Daniel is actively involved in a range of DEI initiatives, sitting on the BCLP steering committees for the Race and Ethnicity Network and the Social Inclusion Network as well as being trustee for a charity.

Andrew Chereck, Los Angeles

Andrew concentrates his practice in the areas of franchise and distribution law, general corporate transactions and intellectual property. His franchise and distribution law practice includes counseling clients in structuring new franchise programs, franchise registration and disclosure matters, negotiating multi-unit transactions and assessing the applicability of federal and state franchise and business opportunity laws. Andrew also represents franchisors and multi-unit franchise developers in all stages of franchise and commercial litigation. In his corporate practice, he represents companies in various corporate transactions, including entity formation matters and mergers and acquisitions. His intellectual property practice focuses on the commercial exploitation of intellectual property and assisting clients in drafting and negotiating software, content, trademark and technology licenses and work-for-hire and co-branding agreements.

Rhys Corbett, London

Rhys advises large financial institutions and corporates on a wide range of complex litigation and regulatory proceedings. Rhys regularly counsels clients in relation to banking litigation matters in both the retail and investment banking spheres. He also has significant experience of multi-party litigation, including in bringing and defending shareholder proceedings pursuant to s.90/90A FSMA. In the contentious regulatory field, Rhys has acted for clients on a number of substantial FCA investigations and has spent time on secondment to the in-house global investigations team of a major international bank. In addition, he has advised clients in relation to the set up and operation of various high-profile regulator-backed compensation schemes.

Patrick DePoy, Chicago

Patrick is a member of the Firm’s Employment & Labor group.  He focuses his practice on employer-side labor and employment law. He represents businesses in a wide variety of disputes alleging wage and hour violations, breach of post-employment restrictive covenant and non-compete agreements, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and similar claims. Patrick has extensive experience representing employers before state and federal courts, the EEOC, the NLRB and Illinois state agencies. Patrick provides labor and employment advice to clients in mergers, sales and acquisitions. Patrick also conducts workplace investigations for clients facing allegations of hostile work environments or discriminatory practices and provides broad employment and labor compliance counseling for nationwide and global employers.

Jim Dudukovich, Atlanta

Jim is a widely recognized and respected advertising, marketing, social media, entertainment, music, sports and transactional attorney who has spent over two decades of his legal career in-house and who counsels clients proactively on cutting-edge issues across the ever-evolving advertising and digital ecosphere. Known for his collaborative and creative approach, whether advising global corporations or early-stage startups, Jim has a unique ability to identify and assess risks practically and provide his clients with pragmatic, effective solutions. In addition to full-service legal support across all aspects of ideation, production and placement of marketing and advertising content, he also has extensive experience advising clients on sweepstakes, contests, giveaways and other promotions, cause marketing and charitable donation campaigns, loyalty and rewards programs, autorenewal/negative option subscription programs, and interpretation and compliance with the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract.

Richard Dupay, Dubai

Richard is an experienced disputes lawyer based in the Middle East. His focus is on large-scale and complex construction and engineering projects in the infrastructure, hospitality, culture and leisure, and manufacturing industries. He recently advised and represented clients on disputes arising from some of the biggest airport, transport and leisure projects in the region. Richard has experience in the most common forms of construction contracts used in the Middle East, with specific focus on the FIDIC forms of contract. His focus is international arbitration and he often represents employers, contractors and subcontractors in ADCCAC, DIAC, ICC and LCIA arbitrations. He also has experience of DIFC litigation and FIDIC dispute adjudication boards.

Denise Pino Erwin, Denver

Denise advises clients with respect to a broad range of employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, including qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, fringe benefit plans and equity compensation arrangements. She is experienced with designing, amending, merging and terminating benefit plans and she advises on integrating, restructuring and consolidating benefit and compensation arrangements in connection with corporate transactions. Denise partners with her clients to resolve issues that arise in day-to-day administration and she frequently negotiates service provider agreements and other contractual arrangements. She provides guidance in navigating the increasingly complex web of laws and regulations governing employee benefit and compensation arrangements and she represents clients in addressing tax and ERISA compliance issues, including successfully negotiating resolution under the IRS and Department of Labor voluntary compliance programs. She also provides counsel with respect to ERISA fiduciary and prohibited transaction issues. Denise has experience advising public and private companies, nonprofit organizations, churches and governmental entities.

Stephen Evans, St. Louis

Steve is a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice, focusing on employee benefits and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) matters. He advises clients on the design, drafting and operation of welfare benefit plans, qualified retirement plans, nonqualified plans and fringe benefit plans. Steve has broad experience with ensuring compliance with local and state laws and federal laws including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In addition, he conducts due diligence in mergers and acquisitions and counsels clients on employee benefits issues related to transactions. He also has experience counseling employers on issues related to Taft-Hartley multiemployer funds, including withdrawal liability and the defense of employer audits and claims for delinquent contributions.

James Fairburn, London

James is a member of the Insurance & Reinsurance Team. He acts primarily for insurers and reinsurers, advising on a broad range of issues and disputes, including reinsurance claims arising from major losses such as COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other catastrophes. He also provides complex coverage advice, for example in response to construction/property claims and claims arising under professional liability, W&I and D&O covers. James also has significant experience defending professionals, including brokers, managing agents, solicitors and barristers facing negligence or conduct allegations, as well as litigating alleged breaches of coverholder or binding authority agreements, and broker follow-on actions.

Christopher Girouard, Chicago

Chris’ transactional practice focuses on representing public and private companies in taxable and tax-free mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations and restructurings. He also advises clients on a wide range of matters related to renewable energy tax credits, including investments in projects qualifying for, and other monetizations of, production tax credits and other renewable energy incentives. Chris works closely with clients at all stages of a transaction, including structuring, tax due diligence, drafting and negotiating transaction documents, and post-closing integration and indemnification matters. His practical, economic-driven approach to transactions puts his clients in the position to maximize the value of their acquisitions and dispositions from a tax perspective.

Helen Goodman, San Francisco

Helen practices in the area of commercial disputes and class/mass actions. She has litigated a range of high-stakes cases in state and federal court, including class action, complex business litigation and product liability matters. Among the matters Helen has handled, she has represented a client in a high-profile data breach class action in federal court; she has litigated cases involving allegations of product design and warning defects; she has defended clients against state unfair business practices claims; she has defended a wide variety of causes of action on behalf of banking clients; she served on a litigation team pursuing intellectual property and trade dress claims on behalf of a footwear company; and she has handled real estate lease disputes on behalf of both tenants and landlords.  

Janany Kathirgamanathan, London

Janany is a commercial real estate lawyer, with a focus on the living sectors and particularly, build-to-rent (BTR) and affordable housing. Janany co-leads the firm’s BTR / Multifamily subsector group. Janany has been involved in the affordable housing sector for over 14 years and has experience in the structuring of complex joint ventures. Janany has also acted on large-scale development and regeneration schemes for landowners, developers and funders.

Andrew Leitch, London

Andrew has significant experience in competition litigation, having acted for both claimants and defendants in disputes arising out of price fixing cartels, in addition to advising on litigation concerning abuse of dominant positions in marketplaces. Andrew has experience of litigating disputes in various courts in the UK, including the High Court of Justice, the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. He has advised clients in a range of regulated and non-regulated industry sectors, including industrial manufacturers, financial institutions and technology companies. Andrew also has experience in commercial litigation, including disputes involving complex financial products.

Alejandro Montenegro, Chicago

Alejandro’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions. He leads negotiations and coordinates M&A deal teams for both buy and sale-side transactions in various industries, including food and agribusiness, manufacturing, private equity, health sciences, consumer goods and information technology. Maintaining a high-level of professionalism while executing complex deal strategies, Alejandro focuses on strong, genuine communication and truly partnering with clients to help meet their strategic business needs. Alejandro helps entrepreneurial and seasoned companies alike to craft solutions tailored to specific needs. In addition to his M&A practice, he serves as an adviser on other transactions, including commercial contract negotiation, corporate governance, confidentiality agreements and facilitating internal legal audits.

Puanani Norwood, Los Angeles/Kansas City

Puanani’s practice places particular focus on commercial real estate transactions in the renewable energy sector. She represents sellers, purchasers, investors and lenders in connection with the disposition, acquisition and operation of energy generating properties across the country. She also has experience leading local counsel teams, on behalf of tax equity investors and construction finance lenders, in large-scale review and negotiation of documentation related to real estate, environmental, litigation, regulatory and tax matters arising in connection with the development of wind and solar projects. In addition to her renewable energy practice, Puanani also manages medical office leasing matters across the country for a multibillion-dollar REIT.

James Parker, London

James' practice focuses on planning/zoning and development consenting, environmental impact assessment, compulsory purchase and land compensation issues. James has considerable experience of advising in respect of nationally significant infrastructure projects and associated development consent orders, as well as government and Parliamentary processes, Transport and Works Act Orders, and highways matters. James has advised on some of the largest major projects, dealing also with court processes such as judicial reviews and other litigation, including in the UK Court of Appeal, High Court and Lands Chamber. He has advised utility companies in various sectors, developers, local authorities and other public bodies. James has particular experience of the energy, water and sewage, airports and ports sectors, as well as having experience in the rail and housing sectors.

Bryan Reid, Denver

Bryan has 17 years of experience negotiating and closing transactions across a broad spectrum of commercial real estate matters. He represents institutional investors, public and private real estate companies and financial institutions in transactions involving acquisition, disposition, financing (borrower and lender), leasing, management and development of a variety of asset types, including student housing, senior housing, office, condo, multifamily, industrial and retail throughout the United States.

Jacob Simon, St. Louis

Jacob is a litigator in the Firm’s Commercial Disputes and Class Action Groups. He focuses on business disputes arising from mergers and acquisitions, commercial contract disputes and ERISA class actions, and has also been tasked with drafting key motions and briefs in connection with the Firm’s representation of Bayer AG in the ongoing Roundup litigation. Jacob routinely handles pro bono court-appointed matters, including representation of incarcerated persons bringing constitutional claims against prison officials. Prior to joining BCLP in 2019, Jacob served as a law clerk to Judge Sarah S. Vance in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and was an associate at an international law firm in New York City.

Christopher Skone James, London

Chris is a member of the Non-Contentious Construction & Engineering Team. He is experienced in a broad range of commercial construction matters with a particular emphasis on drafting and negotiating industry standard and bespoke form building contracts as well as forward funding agreements, settlement agreements, professional appointments and related documents connected to a wide range of developments, including commercial, mixed-use and residential properties. He also has extensive experience in providing construction advice to developers, property companies and institutional investors in relation to the funding, acquisition, disposal and asset management of a number of different property classes.

Andrew Street, London

Andrew is a member of the Firm’s Business & Commercial Disputes Team and advises on a wide array of complex commercial disputes. Andrew routinely acts on cases with an international dimension, and has particular experience in corporate and shareholder disputes, civil fraud and complex trusts disputes. Andrew also advises on matters involving reputation management, including actions for defamation, breach of confidence/privacy, and protection of data. Andrew has particular experience advising public figures, financial institutions and clients in the real estate funds and sport sectors.

Benedict West, London

Benedict focuses on all aspects of real estate finance in the UK and across Europe. He acts for both sponsors and lenders, with his lending clients including investment banks, clearing banks, debt funds and other alternative lenders and sponsor clients including private equity borrowers, institutional investors and developers. Benedict’s experience includes acquisition financings, development financings and refinancings, working across all real estate asset classes including offices, residential (both build-to-rent and build-to-sell), student accommodation, hotels, later living, self-storage, logistics and life sciences. Benedict has a particular interest in green finance and has experience of advising lenders and sponsors on this area, including some of the most significant green development loans in the UK.

Jennie Wynne, St. Louis

Jennie has over two decades of commercial real estate experience representing diverse and sophisticated clients across a broad range of industries. Her practice involves all areas of transactional real estate work with a focus on complex leasing and acquisition, disposition, and merger transactions, including in the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector. Jennie’s leasing practice covers all asset classes, including office, industrial, health care, retail, data center and renewal energy.