Faegre Baker Daniels Admits 15 Associates and Counsel to Partnership

Faegre Baker Daniels is proud to announce that 15 former associates and counsel will be admitted to the firm’s partnership effective Jan. 1, 2019.

FaegreBD’s partnership voted to admit the following lawyers to partner, listed by office:

Chicago

Ryan Milligan is a finance and commercial litigator who couples early case assessment with proactive strategy and case management to help clients navigate litigation. Milligan has represented financial institutions in securitization and corporate trust litigation, appeals, class actions, defense of state and federal statutory claims, adversary proceedings, and other defensive litigation. He also represents public and private businesses in a variety of civil litigation.

Indianapolis

Kayla Britton helps businesses navigate situations of insolvency with a focus on maximizing the economic outcome for her clients. She advises debtors and creditors in and out of bankruptcy, including representing clients in national Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. Her experience includes business reorganization, restructuring, and liquidation and representing buyers, sellers and lenders in distressed sales transactions. She provides general and transactional representation to mid-sized businesses and publicly held companies in various industries, including financial, agribusiness, manufacturing, distribution, insurance and professional services.

Benjamin Blair advocates for clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 corporations in cases involving state and local taxes. He combines substantial trial experience with deep knowledge of the tax laws in representing clients nationwide across numerous industries, including gaming and hospitality, real estate, energy and natural resources, high-tech and heavy manufacturing, retail, and logistics.

Victoria Calhoon is a product liability litigator who represents regional and national manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer products in individual cases and multidistrict litigation. She brings expertise on scientific issues and expert witness matters to defend clients.

Fort Wayne

Therese (Tess) Williams is a corporate and real estate investment finance lawyer. She helps private companies and private equity funds manage risk and make strategic investments in commercial and multifamily real estate. She has particular expertise representing clients as they finance the acquisition, construction and operation of office buildings, multifamily residences, industrial buildings and other properties.

Minneapolis

Linnea Eiden advises clients on corporate debt finance. She represents corporate borrowers, private equity funds, hedge funds and lenders in secured and unsecured finance transactions. Eiden also advises public companies, emerging companies, venture capital funds and corporate venture arms in both public and private offerings of debt securities..

C.J. Harayda represents clients in bankruptcy and insolvency-related matters and proceedings. He advises clients from multiple industries, including financial institutions and retailers, to guide their strategy when they encounter bankruptcy and other restructuring issues. He also represents clients in bankruptcy adversary proceedings and other insolvency-related litigation.

Jeff Justman is a legal strategist and advocate who represents clients in securities and shareholder litigation and appellate matters in courts across the country. He specializes in (1) defending corporations and their officers and directors in securities and shareholder litigation involving all types of alleged mismanagement; and (2) litigation and advocacy in appellate courts at all stages, from interlocutory appeals in intermediate appellate courts to extraordinary writs at the Supreme Court. Justman has particular appellate expertise before the Eighth Circuit, where he clerked for the Honorable Judges James B. Loken and Diana E. Murphy.

Braden Katterheinrich helps clients protect and evaluate their intellectual property assets — leveraging past experience as in-house counsel for a global technology company. He represents clients before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, drafting appeal and reply briefs and arguing oral hearings. He also provides guidance on challenging competitor patents and applications at the USPTO, including preparing third-party preissuance submissions.

Kristin Jones Pierre advises management nationwide on complex labor and employment workplace matters, including identifying long-term strategies and best practices to reduce employment-related legal risks while meeting business needs. She leads the firm’s Affirmative Action/OFCCP Compliance team, which assists employers in designing affirmative action plans and represents government contractors during audits. Pierre is also a qualified civil neutral mediator under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice.

Peter Routhier is an intellectual property lawyer focused on copyright and trademark law. He provides strategic counsel on the maintenance and preservation of copyright and trademark rights, enforces those rights in federal litigation, and defends against third-party infringement claims. He is also active in the usual adjacent areas of law, handling false advertising, right of publicity, defamation, and utility and design patent issues and claims.

Sean Somermeyer represents employers—particularly colleges and universities—both in litigation and advising on complex issues. This includes defending clients in court, conducting internal investigations, responding to government investigations and counseling on difficult issues. Somermeyer specializes in serving college, university and secondary education institutions and the unique needs and challenges they face.

Tyler Young is a legal strategist and litigator who defends businesses against complex class actions and protects their trade secrets. He partners with companies to defend against complex class actions of all kinds with a focus on defending food companies against consumer fraud claims.

Shanghai

Cloris Mao counsels multinational companies on corporate, compliance and commercial matters and M&A deals, particularly in and out of China. Mao helps numerous clients through mergers and acquisitions, joint venture transactions and greenfield investment in China. She also has advised on a number of venture capital, private equity and China outbound investment projects.

Washington, D.C.

Libby Baney is a dynamic public policy advocate, lawyer, strategist and facilitator. Clients hire her to delve deep in the issues, devise a strategy and execute on many fronts. Baney works primarily on policies and issues confronting health stakeholders, but she also touches on the insurance and financial services industries. She has built trusted relationships with U.S. and international government agencies, law enforcement, and policymakers on both sides of the aisle.