New York (January 3, 2012) – Morrison & Foerster is pleased to announce that 14 lawyers have been elected to the partnership. Their election is effective January 1, 2012.
"Our newly elected partners reflect the firm's practice depth and international reach," said Morrison & Foerster chair Keith C. Wetmore. "These partners have demonstrated a commitment to client service and legal excellence. We are confident that this talented group of lawyers will make tremendous contributions to our clients' success and the firm's progress."
The following lawyers have been elected Partner:
Jeffery Bell, a member of the Corporate Group, resident in the New York office. Mr. Bell represents private and public companies in negotiated and contested mergers, acquisitions, tender and exchange offers, proxy fights, joint ventures, and corporate finance transactions. He has extensive experience advising buyers, sellers and targets in domestic and cross-border leveraged and strategic transactions, securities offerings, and other investments, divestitures, and restructurings.
Tiffany Cheung, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the San Francisco office. Ms. Cheung focuses on consumer class actions including federal, state, and multidistrict complex litigation. She regularly defends clients in disputes involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and various unfair competition, consumer fraud, and antitrust laws.
Todd Goren, a member of the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group, resident in the New York office. Mr. Goren specializes in complex Chapter 11 reorganizations and out-of-court restructurings. He has represented official committees, debtor-in-possession lenders, and debtors in industries such as real estate, aviation, mortgage lending, technology, telecommunications, retail, and energy. He has particular expertise in all aspects of airline-related restructurings, as well as intellectual property issues in bankruptcy, the treatment of environmental claims in bankruptcy, and in cross-border insolvencies.
Ryan Hassanein, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the San Francisco office. Mr. Hassanein has a broad range of experience in complex commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on healthcare fraud investigations and False Claims Act suits initiated by qui tam relators, the Department of Justice, and state Attorneys General. He also represents clients in securities and consumer class actions, shareholder derivative actions, domestic and international arbitration proceedings, and SEC investigations and enforcement proceedings.
Brian Kramer, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the San Diego office. Mr. Kramer's practice focuses on patent litigation. He regularly defends companies across technology sectors, including electronics, life sciences, and medical devices, with a particular emphasis on pharmaceutical companies involved in ANDA/Hatch-Waxman litigation.
Thomas McGovern, a member of the Real Estate Group in the Business Department, resident in the New York office. Mr. McGovern represents lenders, owners, developers, and investors in a broad range of real estate transactions domestically and internationally. His practice focuses on real estate finance and equity transactions, and on the restructuring and workout of troubled real estate loans.
Obrea Poindexter, a member of the Financial Services Group, resident in the Washington, D.C. office. Ms. Poindexter's practice focuses on financial services regulation. She advises clients on financial privacy issues relating to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act; consumer lending issues under the CARD Act, the Truth in Lending Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act; debit cards, prepaid cards, electronic banking and payment system issues under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E) and the E-SIGN Act. She also advises clients extensively on issues related to emerging payment systems such as mobile payment systems and person to person payments. Ms. Poindexter is the Chair of the American Bar Association's Privacy Subcommittee and is a frequent speaker on banking and consumer financial services issues.
Bita Rahebi, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the Los Angeles office. Ms. Rahebi's practice focuses on intellectual property, with an emphasis on patent litigation. Her patent litigation matters have spanned technologies such as graphical user interfaces, interactive media design, product design tools, liquid crystal displays, chip fuse technology, public key encryption, non-surgical medical devices, virtual camera control technology, digital televisions, and automated call processing.
Remmelt Reigersman, a member of the Tax Department, resident in the New York office. Mr. Reigersman specializes in federal and international tax matters. He advises clients on transactional work for capital markets transactions, bankruptcies and restructurings, corporate mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, and joint ventures, as well as tax planning in connection with inbound and outbound investments.
Karin Retzer, a member of the Litigation Department, resident in the Brussels office. Ms. Retzer specializes in privacy, data security and technology transactions. She counsels clients on compliance projects including international data transfers, sourcing, eDiscovery, breach notification, and behavioral advertising and direct marketing. She also assists with regulatory initiatives in the field of data protection and enforcement proceedings.
Cassandra Swain, Ph.D., a member of the Patent Group, resident in the Palo Alto office. Dr. Swain's practice focuses on patent prosecution, client counseling, and patent litigation support in a variety of technologies, including computer software and hardware, electronics, networking, and telecommunications. She regularly represents clients before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on matters related to preparing new patent applications, prosecuting pending applications, and reexamination of existing patents. She also advises clients on technology and legal matters regarding patents involved in litigation.
Narutake Takasu, a member of the Real Estate Group, resident in the Tokyo office. Mr. Takasu specializes in the acquisition and financing of real estate assets, the acquisition of distressed debt, and cross-border and domestic Japanese investment fund formation.
William Tarantino, MPH, a member of the Environment and Energy Group, resident in the San Francisco office. Mr. Tarantino's practice focuses on environmental and consumer protection law, with an emphasis on chemical exposures, consumer product safety, and environmental marketing. He advises clients on the environmental risks associated with corporate, real estate, and financial transactions, and regularly defends clients in a variety of complex litigation matters, including consumer class actions, product liability and mass tort claims, and environmental contamination disputes.
Gregory Wang, a member of the Corporate Group, resident in the Hong Kong office. Mr. Wang's practice focuses on securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate transactions in Greater China. He represents clients in matters such as the privatization of state-owned banks and companies, global offerings, listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and offerings of global depositary receipts, convertible bonds and high yield debt.