Faegre & Benson Announces Eight New Partners

Faegre & Benson LLP is pleased to announce it has named nine new partners, effective Jan. 1, 2008.

The new partners represent a diverse mix of backgrounds and practice areas. Nearly half are women. Areas of expertise include: litigation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities, wealth management, government relations, intellectual property, real estate, and health care.

Those admitted to the partnership in the Minneapolis office are Jolene M. Cutshall, Kathryn S. Hahne, Michael M. Krauss and Jonathan R. Zimmerman.

New partners in the firm's Denver office are Bruce A. Johnson, Todd P. Walker, Nina Y. Wang and Marie E. Williams.

"Admission to the partnership is a milestone for each of these individuals and for the firm," said Tom Morgan, chair of the firm's Management Committee. "These partners add practice strength, leadership talent and new perspectives. Our firm grows stronger and more diverse—and better able to serve our clients—with the addition of this new class of partners."

Biographies:

Jolene M. Cutshall focuses her practice on wealth management. She counsels high-net-worth individuals and individual and corporate trustees in a wide range of matters, including transfers of wealth and related issues that involve federal and state income, gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes; business succession; the design and implementation of estate plans; and estate and trust administration. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska (B.A. and B.J., with distinction, 1994; J.D., 1998).

Kathryn S. Hahne is a member of Faegre & Benson's government relations team. She provides legislative advocacy for trade and professional associations, local units of government and corporations before the Minnesota Legislature, state agencies and local units of government. Kathy has been named one of Minnesota's best lobbyists by Minnesota Law & Politics magazine. She is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.S., 1971) and William Mitchell College of Law (J.D., 1999).

Bruce A. Johnson's extensive experience as a health care attorney and consultant includes representation of medical groups, hospitals, academic practice plans and other health care enterprises in a variety of operational, regulatory and transactional matters. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska (B.S., magna cum laude, 1981), Ohio State University (Master of Public Administration, 1984), and the University of Colorado (J.D., Order of the Coif, 1990).

Michael M. Krauss focuses primarily on financial services litigation, including actions on behalf of indenture trustees and other lenders on defaulted credits, lender liability actions, and data security breach litigation. Michael also focuses on public company and M&A litigation. He graduated from the University of Michigan (B.A., with highest distinction and high honors, 1993) and Stanford University (J.D., with distinction, 1996).

Todd P. Walker represents clients in a wide range of complex litigation matters, including environmental and real estate disputes and class actions. He has particular experience litigating cases with technical and engineering issues. He graduated from Colorado College (B.A., 1987) and the University of Denver (J.D., Order of St. Ives, 1999).

Nina Y. Wang's practice focuses on intellectual property litigation for clients in a wide range of industries. Her experience includes representing clients in patent infringement, trademark, copyright and trade secret cases in the areas of biotechnology, software and mechanical devices. She is a graduate of Washington University (A.B., summa cum laude, 1994) and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1997).

Marie E. Williams focuses on complex commercial litigation, including class action litigation, financial services litigation, and appellate practice in state and federal courts. She also handles a large number of insurance coverage issues, and she has extensive experience litigating insurance bad faith claims. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University (B.S., magna cum laude, 1997) and the University of Colorado (J.D., Order of the Coif, 2000).

Jonathan R. Zimmerman represents public and privately held companies, as well as investment banks, in many areas including public securities offerings, private placements of both debt and equity securities, mergers and acquisitions, structuring and creation of joint ventures and strategic alliances, and creation of stock incentive and compensation plans. He has significant experience working with medical technology companies and software companies. He is a graduate of Pomona College (B.A., 1997) and New York University (J.D., 2000).