Boston, MA. International law firm Nixon Peabody LLP is proud to announce the promotion of 16 attorneys to counsel, representing a wide variety of practice areas in each of the firm’s three legal departments.
“The collective accomplishments and entrepreneurial spirit of our new counsel class point to an exciting future for our firm,” said Stephen D. Zubiago, Nixon Peabody CEO and managing partner. “These attorneys have built notable careers with NP, delivering on our promise of exceptional client service while making a positive impact for our clients and communities.”
Business and Finance Department
Michal Cantor, Healthcare, Long Island
Michal represents clients through all stages of state and federal government investigations and related litigation, including both civil and criminal investigations and prosecutions. Michal’s practice also encompasses internal and regulatory investigations, risk mitigation, and compliance matters in the healthcare space and other industries. A subset of Michal’s practice also focuses on conducting internal investigations of abuse of vulnerable individuals, including children.
Lena Gionnette, Corporate, Rochester
Lena helps employers navigate the complex and evolving legal landscape surrounding benefit plans. She regularly advises employers, executives, and third-party administrators on a wide range of issues relating to qualified retirement plans, church plans, health and welfare plans, non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, and fringe benefits. She also guides clients through governmental investigations and helps resolve plan errors under the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor correction programs.
Jéna Grady, Healthcare, New York City
Jéna’s practice focuses in part on regulatory advice for private equity investments in healthcare. With previous public behavioral health experience, Jéna also assists providers in navigating complex regulatory and legal issues that arise while delivering behavioral health. She advises clients on issues related to Medicare and Medicaid compliance, scope of work and licensing, fraud and abuse, and healthcare privacy issues. Jéna is an active member of the American Health Law Association Behavioral Health Practice Group.
Litigation Department
Stacy Boven, Cybersecurity & Privacy, San Francisco
Stacy works with her clients to protect their intellectual property and maximize their value. She focuses her practice on IP litigation and advising; commercial contracts, licensing, and business disputes; corporate and fiduciary liability; and business separations. Stacy also litigates high-stakes appellate matters in both state and federal court. While Stacy focuses on tech and gig economy companies, her practice spans a wide array of industries, including consumer products, real estate, beverage and alcohol, higher education, and green tech.
George Dandalides, Intellectual Property, Chicago
George helps his clients protect their intellectual property by providing strategic advice, building strong patent portfolios, and drafting patent applications across a broad range of industries. With a background in physics and computer programming, he focuses his practice on preparing and prosecuting both U.S. and foreign patent applications. His experience extends across a wide range of areas, including electronics, virtual reality, semiconductors, integrated circuits, e-commerce, data systems and algorithms, autonomous vehicles, irrigation systems, radiation detection systems, optics, thermodynamics, and computer hardware and software.
Eric Ferrante, Complex Disputes, Rochester
Eric’s practice focuses on all types of commercial litigation, including contract disputes, business torts, and other commercial and financial matters. He represents clients in disputes arising from purchase and sale agreements, co-pack manufacturing agreements, claims of trade secret misappropriation, and lender liability and fiduciary duty claims. Eric also provides strategic advice to clients in the beverage alcohol industry on federal permitting, licensing requirements, compliance issues, organizational and ownership issues, and contract manufacturing and distribution agreements related to wine, beer, and spirits. Eric currently serves as chair of the Monroe County Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section.
Christie Kurow, Complex Disputes, Chicago
As a commercial litigator, Christie represents clients in state and federal courts and arbitrations nationwide. Her practice focuses on litigation involving trade secret misappropriation, restrictive covenants, breaches of contract and fiduciary duties, fraud, and corporate raiding claims. Christie co-leads the firm’s Chicago Women Resource Group and is actively involved in the firm’s pro bono work.
Jenni Psihoules, Intellectual Property, Washington DC
Jenni focuses her practice on trademark and copyright protection and enforcement, as well as intellectual property litigation and licensing. She routinely advises clients on trademark selection, clearance, and prosecution and copyright protection and registration. Jenni has extensive experience managing large-scale domestic and international trademark portfolios and developing and administering tailored and effective IP enforcement programs for clients across a variety of industries. She also has considerable experience in IP litigation, having represented clients in actions in federal court and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Jenni is a member of the International Trademark Association and Copyright Society of the USA.
Nathan Warecki, Complex Disputes, Manchester
Nathan’s practice focuses on business disputes, franchise litigation and arbitration, class actions, restrictive covenants, and immigration. He primarily represents businesses, franchisors, employers, and individuals in various industries in complex state and federal litigation. Nathan is a member of the firm’s Class Actions and Aggregate Litigation team, as well as the Non-Compete and Trade Secrets teams. He is a past recipient of the New Hampshire Union Leader’s “Forty Under 40” award and is an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.
Andrew Winetroub, Privacy & Technology, San Francisco
Andrew has extensive experience litigating trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other complex cases in federal courts throughout the country. In his practice, Andrew guides clients ranging from iconic global brands to emerging startups through each phase of a dispute. In the trademark space, he has both litigated heavily contested, multi-year disputes to protect clients’ brands and achieved favorable resolutions at the earliest stages to advance business goals. Andrew’s trade secret litigation experience includes winning a nine-figure jury verdict for a client as well as defeating allegations of misappropriation at the motion to dismiss phase. He has also represented high-profile clients, including universities, video game publishers, and artists, in copyright litigation.
Project Finance, Infrastructure & Real Estate Department
Justin Fitzgerald, Community Development Finance, Boston
Justin represents clients in community development finance transactions, which leverage various tax credit incentives. He primarily works with equity investors, syndicators, lenders, and community development entities to negotiate and structure transactions that qualify for tax credits and other tax benefits throughout the country. These transactions help finance the construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing, hospitals, and schools in historically underserved communities. Justin also works with clients to develop creative solutions to address concerns involving real estate, tax, and compliance issues.
Silvia Ponce, Community Development Finance, Boston
Silvia helps clients to leverage tax benefits, with a focus on low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) and new market tax credits, to finance housing and community development projects nationwide. She works with investors and syndicators to structure transactions and alternative financing solutions that mitigate risk, drive business success, and help revitalize communities. She helps transactions run efficiently by conducting necessary due diligence, identifying key issues in the initial stages of the deal structuring process, and finding cost-effective solutions for clients.
Christina Ricotta, Affordable Housing & Real Estate, Boston
Christina focuses her practice on all aspects of general real estate transactions, including acquisition, disposition, and development of commercial land and multifamily properties, property diligence reviews, financing arrangements, residential and commercial/retail leases, land use and easement agreements, and real estate joint ventures. She represents investors and owners looking to buy, sell, and oversee market-rate, seniors housing and affordable housing properties. Christina is a member of the firm’s Seniors Housing team, representing facility owners and operators in various transactions.
Gretchen Sherwood, Project Finance & Public Finance, Chicago
Gretchen regularly serves as underwriter’s counsel or bank counsel on financing transactions for health systems, charter schools, colleges and universities, cultural institutions, and other nonprofit entities. She also represents borrowers, including hospitals, health systems, charter schools, educational institutions, and other 501(c)(3) organizations, in structuring and negotiating their taxable and tax-exempt financing transactions. Gretchen advises clients on ongoing compliance matters, including secondary market disclosure, Internal Revenue Service audits, and change in use of bond-financed facilities, and advises healthcare providers on corporate governance and formation matters.
Rebecca Simon, Affordable Housing & Real Estate, Washington DC
Rebecca represents clients on affordable housing regulatory, transactional, and enforcement matters and applications before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Rural Development, as well as many state and local agencies. Rebecca’s previous experience as an attorney in HUD’s Office of General Counsel helps her serve clients with a unique knowledge and understanding of the federal programs relevant to multifamily affordable housing program participants.
Terance Walsh, Project Finance & Public Finance, Rochester
Terance represents industrial development agencies, local development corporations, municipal utilities, and other municipal bond issuers, as well as lenders and underwriters in tax-exempt bond and leaseback transactions. He advises clients on public offerings and private placements, serving as underwriter’s and disclosure counsel. He is active in the public power sector, helping municipalities secure long-term supplies of gas and electricity in a cost-effective manner. Terance currently serves as a board member for Literacy Rochester, an organization aimed at improving the reading, English language, math, and digital literacy skills of adults in Monroe County.
