Perkins Coie Announces 2016 Partner Class Including Donna L. Barnett in Bellevue

Firm Elects 22 New Partners

Perkins Coie recently announced that 22 counsel and senior counsel have been promoted to partner.  The new partner class of 2016 includes:

·         Donna L. Barnett (Bellevue)

·         Jeannil D. Boji (Chicago)

·         Alexandra Magill Bromer (Washington, D.C.)

·         Barak Cohen (Washington, D.C.)

·         Joseph P. Cutler (Seattle)

·         Nathan F. Fahrer (Chicago)

·         Nicholas E. Ferrer (Seattle)

·         Kate Sawyer Keane (Washington, D.C.)

·         Christopher M. Ledford (Seattle)

·         Kourtney Mueller Merrill (Denver)

·         Autumn N. Nero (Madison)

·         Katie Page (Seattle)

·         Kevin J. Patariu (San Diego)

·         Martha D. Sandoval (Seattle)

·         Steven J. Schindler (Seattle)

·         John P. Schreiner (Chicago)

·         Mack H. Shultz, Jr. (Seattle)

·         William (Ben) B. Stafford (Seattle)

·         Meredith R. Weinberg (Seattle)

·         Gwendolyn A. Williamson (Washington, D.C.)

·         Graham M. Wilson (Washington, D.C.) 

·         Chian Wu (Seattle)

“Our 2016 partner class represents Perkins Coie’s deep bench of outstanding up-and-coming lawyers who provide top quality service to our global clients and are widely respected by their peers in the legal industry,” said John Devaney, Managing Partner.  “These exceptionally talented individuals embody the high level of commitment we have to our clients and the strong resources we offer to support their legal and business needs.  We are delighted to welcome these colleagues into the partnership.”

Perkins Coie 2016 Partner Class

Donna L. Barnett (Bellevue) is a member of the firm’s Environmental, Energy & Resources practice.  Donna represents utilities and energy companies in state regulatory proceedings and helps her clients obtain regulatory approvals in cost proceedings, property transactions and mergers.  She assists utilities faced with enforcement action and represents her clients’ interests in rulemaking proceedings.  Donna also regularly appears in superior court representing commercial real estate owners and major tenants in real property disputes, including eminent domain proceedings.  Active in the community, Donna supports multiple arts organizations and was on the Board of Trustees for the Bellevue Arts Museum from 2009-2015.

Jeannil D. Boji (Chicago) is a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment practice.  Through counseling, negotiation and litigation, Jeannil represents and advises clients on a broad range of employment issues, with a focus on noncompetition agreements, trade secrets, unfair competition and whistleblower retaliation matters.  Jeannil has extensive experience drafting and negotiating executive employment and severance agreements, noncompetition agreements and confidentiality and privacy policies and agreements.  In addition, Jeannil regularly counsels and represents clients in litigation related to wage-and-hour issues, employee misclassification, family and medical leave, terminations and reductions in force, discrimination and harassment and privacy issues.

Alexandra Magill Bromer (Washington, D.C.) is a member of the firm’s Environmental, Energy & Resources practice.  She helps clients solve complex regulatory problems related to the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws, particularly those related to stationary source and fuels obligations, defends enforcement actions by the EPA and state agencies; challenges EPA regulations in court, and coordinates emergency environmental responses involving oil spills, explosions and fires.  As a primary member of the firm’s petroleum refining practice, Alix has significant experience with the EPA’s National Petroleum Refining Initiative.  She represents petroleum refineries during the negotiation of settlement terms and regularly counsels clients throughout consent decree implementation and termination. 

Barak Cohen (Washington, D.C.) is a member of the firm’s White Collar & Investigations practice.  Barak represents companies and individuals in criminal and government enforcement matters before federal and state law enforcement authorities, as well as regulatory agencies.  He also conducts internal investigations and provides compliance advice.  His most recent work has focused on the healthcare, automotive and defense industries, and has involved government allegations of environmental crimes, public corruption, violations of the False Claims Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  As part of his commitment to the community, Barak is a member of the West Point Society of the District of Columbia and the Wounded Warrior Mentor Program.

Joseph P. Cutler (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Privacy & Data practice.  Joe manages several rapid response teams for our Internet clients to defend against illegal spamming, phishing, hacking and other forms of malicious online activities by sending demand letters and filing lawsuits against the worst actors.  Joe counsels clients in areas related to privacy and data security, consumer protection law and Internet law.  He is also a founding member of the Blockchain Technology and Digital Currency industry group, where he advises clients that deal with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to develop and implement anti-money laundering programs and comply with a host of financial services laws and regulations. 

Nathan F. Fahrer (Chicago) is a member of the firm’s Real Estate & Land Use practice.  He represents commercial real estate clients in complex transactions involving acquisitions, dispositions, development, financings and leasing.  His recent focus has been on closing several high-profile purchase, sale and financing deals for major hospitality properties, including the Loews Chicago Hotel, the Washington Marriott Georgetown and the Miami Dadeland Hotel.  He has also managed the acquisition and disposition of commercial office buildings, retail shopping centers and multisite/multistate agricultural properties.  Nathan represents commercial landlords and tenants in all aspects of commercial leasing, including general office, retail and industrial leasing.

Nicholas E. Ferrer (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Corporate Governance & Transactions practice, where he focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance.  Nick represents public and private companies and private equity sponsors in a variety of complex corporate transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, joint ventures, spin-offs, venture capital and growth-equity financings, and a wide array of other domestic and cross-border transactions.  Nick’s experience spans a range of industries, including software, technology, consumer/retail, transportation, energy and manufacturing.  He also regularly advises clients on various corporate governance and securities regulation matters and provides outside general counsel services to a number of privately held companies.

Kate Sawyer Keane (Washington, D.C.) is a member of the firm’s Political Law practice.  Her  work includes federal and state campaign finance law, congressional and executive branch ethics regulation and lobbying registration and disclosure.  Kate counsels federal and state  elected officials, candidates, political parties, trade associations, corporations, PACs and other political organizations on campaign finance issues, government ethics, lobbying disclosure and issues related to financial disclosure and conflicts of interest. 

Christopher M. Ledford (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Product Liability practice.  He has experience in the full range of complex litigation, arbitration and appellate services.  Christopher’s areas of focus within litigation include product liability, corporate governance/investigations and business torts.  Christopher has defended manufacturers in litigation across the United States as well as abroad.

Kourtney Mueller Merrill (Denver) is a member of the firm’s Patent Litigation practice.  Her work focuses on patent infringement litigation, inter partes review (IPR), and related intellectual property claims.  Kourtney is experienced in all phases of litigation and has represented leading technology companies in a variety of technical fields, including software, telecommunications, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as well as other mechanical technologies.  She has litigated patent cases around the country, including before a variety of federal district courts, the Federal Circuit, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the International Trade Commission.

Autumn N. Nero (Madison) is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice and focuses on patent litigation.  She has represented a wide range of clients in commercial and intellectual property matters throughout the country, including patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright actions; breach of contract and licensing disputes; privacy suits; and breach of fiduciary duty claims.  Her clients have included consumer products, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, entertainment and biotechnology companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.  Autumn’s pro bono practice has included death penalty and civil rights matters.

Katie Page (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice.  She focuses her work on environmental litigation and has handled cases involving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), toxic torts and common law tort claims.  She also handles other types of complex commercial and business litigation matters, including estate litigation, consumer class actions, breach of contract cases and appeals.  Katie has handled a variety of pro bono matters, including immigration and asylum cases, Social Security disability matters and cases involving First Amendment rights.

Kevin J. Patariu (San Diego) is a member of the firm’s Patent Litigation practice.  He litigates for U.S. and foreign clients before U.S. District Courts and the International Trade Commission (ITC).  Kevin successfully tried two Section 337 investigations before the ITC.  He has represented petitioners and patent owners in over 25 inter partes review post-grant proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  He successfully argued before the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in an inter partes reexamination proceeding.  Kevin is a licensed professional engineer (P.E.) in California and co-inventor of eight patents, and draws on his technical experience when counseling clients on litigation and prosecution issues.

Martha D. Sandoval (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Corporate Governance & Transactions practice with experience in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, private placements and complex debt financings.  Her experience includes advising closely held and family-owned businesses as well as limited liability companies, particularly those in the consumer products industry.  Martha advises clients on strategies and prepares and negotiates documentation for company formation, private placements, financing, commercial contracts and transactions, including co-pack and service and supply agreements.

Steven J. Schindler (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Personal Planning practice.  He represents individuals and families in personal and estate planning strategies to achieve a variety of family legacy and charitable objectives.  Steven also represents personal representatives, trustees and beneficiaries in estate and trust administration matters, dispute resolution and tax matters, including the preparation of gift and estate tax returns.  He also advises U.S. clients with international assets as well as non-U.S. clients residing in the United States regarding their unique U.S. tax, reporting and compliance obligations. 

John P. Schreiner (Chicago) is a member of the firm’s Corporate Governance & Transactions practice.  He counsels public and closely held established and emerging companies in their daily business needs, ranging from negotiating vendor and customer contracts to sale and succession planning matters.  He also represents public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, private equity financings, lending transactions, corporate governance and other general business matters.  John has a wide breadth of industry experience, with a particular focus on food and beverage companies, manufacturers, retailers, construction companies, providers of web-based services and biotechnology and medical products and devices companies.

Mack H. Shultz, Jr. (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Product Liability practice.  He represents companies in a variety of fields, including aviation, automotive, consumer electronics and medical devices.  His practice focuses on complex product liability litigation.  Mack also advises clients on a variety of strategies to reduce risk exposure, including risk-allocation provisions in contracts; appropriate warnings, manuals and other customer-facing documents; and compliance with various regulatory regimes.  Mack regularly presents product liability workshops to clients and recently co-authored the third edition of A Manufacturer’s Guide to Product Liability Law in the United States.

William (Ben) B. Stafford (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment practice.  His areas of experience include defense of individual and class action discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wage-and-hour claims arising from federal and state laws.  Ben has experience defending all phases of wage-and-hour class action cases, including early strategic assessment, defeating class certification, supervising large- scale electronic document review, oversight  expert witnesses and taking a case to trial.  In addition, Ben has deep experience with election and political law, including recounts, election contests, redistricting, Voting Rights Act litigation and campaign finance issues.

Meredith R. Weinberg (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Environmental, Energy & Resources practice.  She represents corporate and municipal clients involved in multiparty cleanup litigation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting and stormwater matters, Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement cases and state and federal tribal disputes.  She counsels clients on environmental regulations and compliance, including due diligence in support of real estate transactions.  Meredith speaks and writes regularly on Clean Water Act issues. 

Gwendolyn A. Williamson (Washington, D.C.) is a member of the firm’s Investment Management group under the Corporate Governance & Transactions practice.  Her experience includes developing fund and adviser compliance programs; building cybersecurity and financial intermediary oversight programs; harmonizing disclosure and synchronizing operations in connection with large-scale fund and adviser mergers and changes in control; collaborating with advisers, funds and SEC staff on applications for exemptive relief, proxy and registration statements, and shareholder communications; separating family office and registered adviser operations; advising boards of directors; assisting clients with reporting under the federal securities laws; and negotiating advisory agreements, fund selling and servicing agreements, credit facilities, securities lending arrangements and other contracts germane to the asset management industry.

Graham M. Wilson (Washington, D.C.) is a member of the firm’s Political Law practice.  He counsels clients on federal and state campaign finance law, voting rights, and congressional and executive branch ethics regulations.  Graham advises clients on lobbying registration and disclosure, foreign agents’ registration requirements and pay-to-play laws.  His work brings him before the Federal Election Commission, federal and state prosecutors and state lobbying and campaign finance regulators. 

Chian Wu (Seattle) is a member of the firm’s Financial Transactions and Restructuring practice.  She represents financial institutions in all aspects of commercial and real estate financing transactions.  Chian has experience advising lenders and borrowers with respect to secured and unsecured credit facilities, revolving and term loan facilities, letters of credit and real estate loans for the acquisition, development, construction and term financing of various types of properties.  She has extensive experience in industry-specific banking and financial transactions involving media and communications, manufacturing, agriculture, technology, intellectual property and senior assisted living.

About Perkins Coie:  Founded in 1912, Perkins Coie LLP has more than 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices across the United States and Asia.  The firm provides a full array of corporate, commercial litigation and intellectual property legal services to a broad range of clients, from FORTUNE 50 corporations to small, independent startups, as well as public and not-for-profit organizations.