BCLP Names Largest Class of Partner Promotions

In what is the largest class of new partners in firm history, international law firm BCLP has elected 25 new lawyers to partnership in the firm, effective Jan. 1, 2022. This new class draws from more than a dozen firm offices around the globe and spans key practices at the firm, including Litigation & Investigations, Corporate & Finance Transactions, and Real Estate (from the US, UK and Asia). Consistent with BCLP’s commitment to make meaningful progress on Inclusion & Diversity, more than half of the promotees are diverse.

“This past year has been full of transitions for BCLP and for the world as a whole,” noted firm Co-Chairs Lisa Mayhew and Steve Baumer. “Our firm continues to grow and thrive through our global platform based on the contributions and energy of these new partners. Each of our newly promoted partners has already made tremendous contributions to the firm and to our clients we service. We are excited to see what the future holds as they continue to make their mark at BCLP.”

The new partners are:

Lindsay Wuller Aggarwal, St. Louis

Lindsay focuses her practice on broker-dealers, investment advisers and individual securities industry professionals. She routinely represents firms and individuals in litigation, FINRA arbitrations and in SEC, FINRA and state regulatory investigations. Lindsay also has an extensive complex litigation practice and regularly assists clients with property tax issues and contractual disputes. She has significant experience representing clients in the telecommunications industry relating to tax classification and treatment. Among her other commitments at the firm, Lindsay was a two-year co-chair of BCLP’s Motion for Kids Initiative in the St. Louis office and is a member of the Recruiting and Mentoring Committees.

Chris Archibald, Kansas City

Chris focuses his practice in all areas of labor and employment law and has handled a wide variety of matters, including complex wage and hour class actions, Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims, trade secret litigation, sexual harassment, retaliation, discrimination and wrongful termination claims. Chris has litigated more than 50 class and other representative actions in the federal and state courts. In addition to litigating, he advises employers regarding effective methods to avoid employment-related claims, especially in the wage and hour context.

Morgan Bassett, New York

Morgan practices in the areas of lender and borrower representation and commercial law. He is the North American co-leader of BCLP’s Fund Finance Team and has experience in financing for various types of pooled investment vehicles, including mutual funds, closed-end funds, private equity funds and real estate investment funds. His experience includes negotiation, documentation and administration of syndicated credit facilities, bi-lateral financing arrangements and “club deals,” including acquisition financings, secured and unsecured credit facilities, warehousing facilities, asset-based loan facilities, multicurrency facilities, senior and subordinated credit facilities, mezzanine loans and real estate financing.

Lauren Caisman, Chicago

Lauren is an accomplished litigator with a robust skill set whose practice spans all aspects of complex commercial, biometric privacy, products liability and class action litigation. She has broad and substantive experience in state and federal courts, arbitrations and administrative agency proceedings, including in case development and strategy, pleadings and motion practice, written and oral discovery, court hearings, witness examination and appeals. She also has helped clients in the media industry resolve commercial and contractual disputes, as well as solve First Amendment and other content-related problems. Lauren has been recognized by Super Lawyers as an Illinois Rising Star, an honor reserved for excellence in practice. Her leadership roles have included serving as chair of the BCLP Associates Task Force, as the Chicago office leader of the Women Lawyers’ Affinity Group, on the Board of the Federal Bar Association Younger Lawyers Division, and as a councilmember of the Illinois State Bar Association Civil Practice and Procedure Section.

Tim Cline, St. Louis

Tim’s nationwide commercial real estate practice touches on nearly every asset class – both the traditional and the alternative. His experience ranges from a “dirt” real estate practice (including purchase, sale and leasing) to representing both borrowers and lenders in real estate financings. His practice also includes work within the firm’s Private Client Group, where he often assists clients with their high-value residential deals. Among his other leadership roles at the firm, Tim is an active member of the global LGBTQ* Network and Lawyers Affinity Group, and has served on the St. Louis office Recruiting Committee and as the co-lead for the Associate Task Force.

Clare Reeve Curatola, London

Clare advises and helps clients, predominately in the financial services, transport and energy sectors, to resolve disputes and find solutions to corporate risk and regulatory issues. She is a solicitor advocate and has particular experience in complex high-stakes commercial litigation, banking and finance disputes, and competition law-related damages actions. Clare has advised on a number of internal investigations for regulated clients and represented clients in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Competition Appeals Tribunal and in front of UK regulators.

Colin Dailey, Charlotte

Colin is a commercial litigator with broad experience in state and federal courts. He is licensed in California and North Carolina and regularly assists clients in the e-commerce, consumer products, sports and financial services industries. He focuses his practice on complex business litigation, including data breach class actions, intellectual property litigation and LLC management disputes, while also serving as a go-to resource for clients on day-to-day business operation and legal needs. He has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star and Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch for Commercial Litigation.

Ben Doyle, Boulder

Ben focuses his practice on real estate development, construction and affordable housing. He is knowledgeable in all aspects of affordable housing development and operation and has advised owners, developers and government agencies on a broad range of real estate development matters, including zoning and entitlements, subdivision issues, purchase and sale agreements, ground leases, condominium regimes, easements, covenants and cost-sharing agreements. He is familiar with the relevant local, state and federal law impacting affordable housing.

Mica Germain, Atlanta

Mica works with lenders in all aspects of structuring, negotiating and closing financing transactions for all commercial asset classes – multifamily, industrial, retail, hospitality and mixed-use projects – whether at acquisition, refinancing or construction. She has extensive experience with both landlord and tenant side leasing of both office and retail space, and has worked with companies in providing flexible office space solutions. She also works with developers and real estate companies on complex acquisitions and dispositions. Mica devotes a substantial amount of her time representing technology and manufacturing companies in tax-exempt revenue bond financing transactions and related economic development incentive packages. In addition, she is involved in pro bono efforts at the firm, coordinating with local volunteer lawyer organizations to address housing needs of the underserved.

Jon Ginsberg, New York

Jon focuses his practice in the area of commercial litigation and is also a member of the firm’s Real Estate Disputes and Hotels & Hospitality Teams. He has experience handling complex litigation matters at both the trial and appellate levels, before state and federal courts, and his practice focuses on handling claims involving commercial contract and real estate disputes on behalf of a diverse array of clients, including but not limited to, hotel owners and operators, financial institutions and lenders, and condominium and cooperative developers. He also regularly handles matters involving the First Amendment, as well as misappropriation of trade secrets, employment discrimination, mass torts and products liability claims. Jon’s practice includes all facets of litigation, including written motion practice and oral advocacy, written and document discovery, depositions, e-discovery management, arbitration and trial. Jon is also involved in pro bono asylum work and is a member of the New York office Recruiting Committee. 

Wanjing Goh, Singapore

Wanjing specializes in construction and engineering matters and has broad experience advising owners and contractors on their development, design and construction contracts, with a particular focus on the energy, infrastructure, and hospitality and leisure sectors. She also has experience in dispute resolution and has acted in a wide range of litigation, arbitration and adjudication matters. She is an Accredited Specialist in Building and Construction Law in Singapore, and was part of a select group of construction law practitioners that was accredited in the inaugural batch of 2018. Wanjing was based in Myanmar previously, and was recommended in legal directories for her Corporate and M&A as well as Projects (including energy) work in Myanmar. Among her other leadership roles at the firm, Wanjing currently serves on the global LGBTQ* Steering Committee and leads the I&D initiatives in Asia.

Caitlin Hartsell, San Francisco

Caitlin focuses her practice on the corporate transactional issues of private and public companies. She regularly represents clients in a broad range of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, securities offerings, financings and restructurings. She also advises clients on corporate governance issues, general securities law issues, and the drafting and negotiation of various commercial contracts. Her practice spans a number of industries including health care, retail, financial services, higher education, agricultural technology, financial technology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and insurance.

Mike Heaney, St. Louis

Mike's real estate practice focuses on the areas of development, acquisition, finance and land use, with a particular emphasis on commercial leasing. His real estate experience includes acquisition and disposition of industrial property, hotels, shopping centers and office properties. He regularly advises and counsels clients on issues related to zoning, public and private finance, land development, appurtenant rights and subdivision of property. Mike has broad, extensive leasing experience and works regularly with landlords and tenants on developing and leasing projects for retail, restaurant and hospitality, sports and entertainment, office warehouse, storage facilities, manufacturing, utilities and distribution facilities. 

Barry Hester, Atlanta

Barry practices in regulatory compliance, financial technology (fintech), bank operations and payments laws. He leverages years of experience as in-house counsel for a leading financial institution where he was the lead attorney for deposit, credit card, broker-dealer, and wealth management lines of business. He counsels clients on Regulation E (Electronic Fund Transfers Act), Regulation DD (Truth in Savings Act), Regulation Z (Truth in Lending Act), Regulation CC (Expedited Funds Availability Act), Regulation V (Fair Credit Reporting Act), Regulation B (Equal Credit Opportunity Act), debit and credit card network rules, NACHA rules, FINRA rules, FinCEN rules, Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), privacy, and cybersecurity matters as well as money transmitter licensing and securities matters. His practice also encompasses bank operational compliance matters. 

Cass Hollis, Atlanta

Cass concentrates her practice in employee benefits matters and executive compensation. Her particular areas of concentration include design, implementation and ongoing compliance of qualified retirement plans (with a particular focus on employee stock ownership plans) and non-qualified retirement plans, welfare benefit plans, deferred compensation arrangements, bonus arrangements and equity incentive plans. Cass focuses on transactions involving employee stock ownership plans, including representation of companies, lenders and trustees in connection with those transactions. Additionally, she advises clients with respect to the legal aspects of plan administration; negotiation and preparation of executive employment agreements on behalf of both the employer and the executive; benefits issues related to corporate transactions; detection and correction of defects in tax-qualified retirement plans; and issues related to the establishment and maintenance of Association Health Plans.

Mateen Khan, London

Mateen practices within the firm’s core Real Estate Department and has significant experience advising on a broad range of commercial real estate matters, including development projects, corporate and asset acquisitions and disposals, pre-lets, forward funding transactions and the management of real estate investments. His experience spans a variety of asset classes including office, retail, residential and student accommodation. He acts for a range of clients comprising institutional investors, developers, public bodies, overseas investors and private equity funds.

Aiten McPherson, Atlanta

Aiten focuses her practice on general commercial litigation with a concentration in business and commercial disputes, unfair competition matters and employment litigation. Her unfair competition litigation experience includes litigating the enforceability of noncompetition and nonsolicitation covenants, and handling trade secret disputes. She has litigated numerous matters involving temporary restraining orders and requests for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief. Aiten also frequently litigates claims arising out of employment relationships, including discrimination claims and employment disputes for high-growth companies, financial institutions and Fortune 500 corporations.

Rebecca Moore, London

Rebecca advises on all aspects of commercial property with a particular focus on development transactions, acting for developers and public bodies. She has significant experience in the acquisition, disposal and asset management of commercial and mixed-use properties for the largest UK supermarket retailer, property companies and institutional investors. Rebecca also has experience advising on forward fundings and corporate real estate acquisitions. She recently advised one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing electric vehicle (EV) charge-point networks on the deployment of Transport for London’s first EV rapid-charging hub. Rebecca is an active member of the firm’s gender representation committee and is proud to be involved with BCLP’s Amplify program.

Jonathan Nesher, Washington, D.C.

Jon regularly advises public and private companies, private equity funds and independent sponsors in connection with domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, carve-out transactions, minority investments, venture capital financings, reorganizations, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, and corporate compliance and governance matters. He primarily counsels clients in three key industries: aerospace & defense, technology, and financial services. He also represents clients across a broad range of other industries, including real estate, health care, construction, government contracts, energy, and retail & consumer products.

Ali Ragsdale Olszeski, St. Louis

Ali’s practice includes defending a range of clients in complex class and commercial litigation, with a particular focus on high-stakes litigation, including bet-the-company cases, and white-collar investigations. Among her other commitments at the firm, she currently serves on BCLP’s Associate Task Force and is a member of the firm’s Arts & Education Counsel. She also has served on the Recruiting Committee and as a workload coordinator for summer associates. Ali has devoted a substantial amount of time to pro bono matters.

Natalie Prager, Miami

Natalie focuses her practice on commercial real estate transactions, including leasing, land development, joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions. Her practice also includes the representation of private and public clients throughout the country in connection with the acquisition, finance, sale and operation of hotel and condominium hotel properties. Natalie also regularly counsels professional sports leagues, teams, ownership groups and related governing bodies in various matters associated with the acquisition, development and operation of sports facilities. 

Adam Stern, Denver

Adam is a trial lawyer with a proven track record of helping clients navigate high-stakes business disputes both inside and outside the courtroom. Adam has litigated all types of cases, and has particular experience handling M&A, trade secrets, class action and securities lawsuits. Adam has helped companies and individuals in a wide range of industries, including technology, oil and gas, private equity, real estate and heath care.

Catherine Turner, London

Catherine focuses her practice on helping leading financial institutions and corporations with their advisory and contentious matters, advising on a broad spectrum of employment issues. She is highly experienced in leading and running complex, high-value employment litigation matters, in particular discrimination, whistleblowing disputes and injunctions. Catherine also regularly advises on post-termination restrictions and gives strategic and practical advice on severance arrangements for board members and senior executives. Catherine’s key sector is financial services working closely with the firm’s Financial Services Disputes & Investigations Group in advising on cross-over employment and regulatory issues, including on remuneration issues.

David Unseth, St. Louis

David concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, creditor’s rights and lending. He represents Chapter 11 debtors, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, equipment lessors and asset purchasers in bankruptcy cases throughout the United States. In addition, David represents regional and national lending institutions, debtor-in-possession lenders and mortgage lenders in bankruptcy cases, debtor-in-possession financing transactions, receivership actions, out-of-court restructurings, foreclosure actions and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transactions throughout the United States. 

Rachel Ziegler, London

Rachel is an accomplished commercial and contractual disputes lawyer with wide ranging, hands-on experience in litigating complex cases to trial. She specializes in disputes with a particular focus on allegations of fraud, dishonesty and breach of trust in both England and offshore. She also has substantial experience in running high-value “follow on” damages actions. Rachel is a frequent author on both litigation and antitrust issues affecting clients in numerous industries.