Winston & Strawn announced that 21 attorneys have been elevated to partner. The class represents Winston’s ongoing commitment to diversity with 42.8 percent being women, persons of color, and LGBTQ+.

Established members of eight different practice areas and seven U.S. offices, this year’s slate of new partners highlights both the breadth of our practices as well as the firm’s growth in key markets.

“Each of these partners reflects the excellence and integrity that Winston & Strawn has always stood for,” said Tom Fitzgerald, Winston chairman. “Their tireless efforts and nuanced understanding of today’s most pressing legal and business challenges are a testament to the dedication they bring to their work every day. We are proud of the many successes they have achieved on behalf of our clients, and we look forward to their continued career growth.”

This year’s partner class is as follows:

Dave Bauer (Chicago) concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate advice for publicly and privately held companies.

Josh Birenbaum (Los Angeles) focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, leveraged buyouts, and joint ventures. Josh has diverse experience in corporate matters related to public and private companies, private equity funds and their portfolio companies, and financial institutions.

Daniel Bley (New York) focuses his practice on derivatives, structured products, and structured finance, including esoteric asset classes. Dan represents broker-dealers, hedge funds, financial institutions, asset managers, and end users in a range of transactions, with an emphasis on novel and innovative structured financing solutions that combine securitizations and derivatives.

Jason S. Campbell (Los Angeles) is an employment advisor and litigator. He represents employers in nationwide class actions and single-plaintiff employment litigation and counsels employers on a broad range of employment issues, including wage and hour compliance, leaves of absence, terminations, investigations, and the protection of trade secrets.

Chase J. Cooper (Dallas) is a complex-commercial litigator with a substantial white collar investigations practice. He serves clients in a broad range of industries, including health care, energy, network marketing, and financial services. He has significant experience with the False Claims Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act and other consumer-protection laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and all manner of contract and business tort claims.

Laura Franco (San Francisco, Silicon Valley) focuses her practice on intellectual property counseling, litigation, and transactions, providing clients with comprehensive brand protection and enforcement strategies. She is a member of the firm's Videogame, Gaming & E-Sports group, which is dedicated to providing comprehensive legal solutions to companies in these industries. Laura is also co-chair of LLAW, the firm’s Latino lawyers’ affinity group.

Hao Huang (Los Angeles) represents financing parties and sponsors in a wide range of financing and acquisition transactions in the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors across the United States. She has advised lenders, tax equity investors, energy hedge providers, and sponsors in the development, acquisition, and financing of wind and solar projects across the country.

Jeffrey Huelskamp (Chicago) concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation, financial services matters, and securities litigation. He represents and advises numerous public and private companies, including Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, real estate trusts, and startups.

Andrew Hutchinson (Chicago) has broad commercial finance experience with a focus on complex domestic and cross-border acquisition financings, mergers, recapitalizations, refinancings, take-privates, and restructurings. He also advises middle-market clients in connection with structuring and negotiating unitranche and senior stretch facilities, recurring revenue facilities, growth debt facilities, first lien/second lien facilities, and subordinated loans.

Brian Jansen (Dallas) advises his clients on a variety of debt financing transactions, including acquisition financings, asset-based lending, debtor-in-possession facilities, mezzanine debt, and equity co-investments. His clients include private credit funds, national banks, and other financial institutions providing the financing, as well as private equity funds and operating companies in a variety of industries as borrowers.

Samantha Katz (New York) represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies in connection with platform and add-on acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, and growth equity investments and co-investments. Samantha also has experience advising and managing clients in the health care industry and personal lifestyle space.

Blaise Latella (New York) represents private equity sponsors, corporations, and a wide range of lenders, including banks, hedge funds, mezzanine funds, and SBICs, in connection with acquisition, cash flow, and asset-based syndicated and club-financings.

Austin Leach (New York) advises private equity firms and their portfolio companies in connection with platform and add-on acquisitions, divestitures, and other exit strategies; joint ventures; and general corporate matters.

Jason A. Lewis (New York) has extensive experience with energy, commodities, and derivatives. Jason has represented a wide range of market participants in financings, acquisitions, and other commercial matters, and he has advised clients with respect to related regulatory issues.

Shawn R. Obi (Los Angeles) focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation matters, specifically consumer protection cases, class actions, securities matters, financial services litigation, and advertising litigation. Shawn regularly represents clients in the food and beverage and consumer product industries in class action lawsuits related to false advertising and product labeling.

Aaron C. O’Dell (Los Angeles, Dallas) is a trial lawyer with significant experience in securities and complex, commercial, and business litigation. Aaron has extensive experience successfully litigating cases from their inception through trial, including trying multiple cases and arbitrations to verdict, in federal and state courts throughout the country.

Justin Podjasek (New York) represents clients in all aspects of real estate, ranging from acquisition, disposition, leasing, financing, development, construction, and asset management of various classes of real estate assets. His ability to represent parties on either side of transactions and their investors allows him to craft solutions for complex transactions that gain consensus among all stakeholders in a time- and cost-efficient manner.

Katherine (Katy) A. Preston (Houston) focuses on complex commercial and bankruptcy litigation. She represents individual and corporate clients in contractual disputes and other complex litigation in state and federal courts. Katy also frequently defends clients against fraudulent transfer claims and other bankruptcy litigation matters. She regularly advises clients in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, finance, and power.

Grant K. Schmidt (Dallas) specializes in complex commercial disputes, high-profile white collar criminal defense matters, and intellectual property matters. He has tried more than 10 cases to verdict, and his advocacy also includes substantial oral argument, deposition, and brief-writing experience across numerous state and federal courts.

Jeffrey L. Steinfeld (Los Angeles) focuses on securities litigation, white collar criminal defense and SEC enforcement actions, class action defense, duties of corporate officers and directors, and mergers and acquisitions-related litigation, including advising on de-SPAC business combinations. Jeffrey has extensive experience defending criminal and civil insider trading and securities fraud actions, as well as defending securities class actions.

Kristin D. Wickler (Chicago) focuses on mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. She has represented companies in both public and private acquisitions, cross-border transactions, renewable energy portfolio sale transactions, joint ventures, and equity investments. Kristin also regularly advises clients on day-to-day corporate and LLC governance matters and complex commercial engagements.

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with 15 offices located throughout North America, Asia, and Europe.