Steptoe Announces Four New Partners and Six Additional Promotions; Re-elects Chair and Vice Chair of Firm’s Executive Committee

(January 5, 2010, Washington, DC) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP today announced the promotion of ten attorneys, as well as the re–election of Roger E. Warin as Chair and Philip L. Malet as Vice Chair of the firm’s Executive Committee for another two years.

Four attorneys have been elected to the partnership: Darren Abrahams in Brussels, David Lorello in London, Richard Reinis in Century City, and Jay Smith in Los Angeles. Five attorneys have been named Of Counsel: Mark Freeze in Phoenix and Michael Allan, Paul Gennari, John Mogg, and R. Whitney Winston in Washington. Michael Navarre in Washington has been named Special Counsel.

“We welcome Steptoe’s newest partners, of counsel, and special counsel in their new roles at the firm,” said Mr. Warin, the firm’s Chair. “These promotions are in six different offices, a testament to Steptoe’s growing geographic footprint and confirmation of our commitment to client service across the globe.”

This fall, Mr. Warin and Mr. Malet were re–elected for another two–year term as Chair and Vice Chair of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Warin and Mr. Malet have held these positions since 2002 and 2004, respectively.

“Roger and I are excited to have the opportunity once again to lead such a talented and dedicated group of lawyers and other professionals,” said Mr. Malet. “We look forward to continuing to enhance the firm’s reputation as a top tier litigation and regulatory firm.”

NEW PARTNERS

• Darren Abrahams — Mr. Abrahams is an English barrister in the firm’s Brussels office, where his practice is focused on EU regulatory requirements and related commercial issues in the environment and life sciences areas. He has been recognized by Chambers & Partners Europe as one of the “leading individuals” in EU environmental regulation. He joined the Brussels office in 2004 as part of a team of lawyers with experience in EU regulatory law, competition, and trade. He represents leading companies and associations in sectors including agricultural biotechnology, chemicals (biocides, cosmetics, pesticides, and REACH), electronics, food and feed, metals, and mining. Mr. Abrahams provides advice and representation to enable clients to gain authorization of their products for the EU market. He counsels on the environmental aspects of international transactions and structures regulatory compliance programs. An important part of his practice is helping clients to shape their legislative and policy initiatives, representing them before EU institutions, EU Member States, and in the European Court of Justice. Mr. Abrahams received his L.L.M. and LL.B. from University College London.
• David Lorello — Mr. Lorello is a US–qualified lawyer in the firm’s London office, where he was an associate prior to this promotion. Mr. Lorello is active in a range of areas of the firm’s International Department, including export controls, economic sanctions regulations, anti–corruption compliance and investigations, and international arbitration. Together with the attorneys in Steptoe’s London and Brussels offices, he provides regulatory advice to US companies operating in the EU and provides advice to European companies on US regulatory requirements. Mr. Lorello graduated from Rutgers University with high honors and then from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Prior to joining Steptoe in October 2001, Mr. Lorello served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Samuel G. Wilson of the US District Court, Western District of Virginia; and Associate Justice Gary Stein of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
• Richard Reinis — Mr. Reinis practices in the Business Solutions and Litigation Departments in Steptoe’s Century City office. He represents clients from diverse industries including energy, real estate, consumer brands, apparel, retail, and others. Mr. Reinis is involved as lead counsel in mergers and acquisitions of middle market companies and significant commercial litigation. He brings hands–on business experience as a real estate developer, manufacturer, and as the largest franchisee of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Mr. Reinis is trustee and secretary of the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation, a member of the Endowment Investment Committee of the University of California at Riverside Foundation, and lectures nationally to business organizations and business school students. He is a former board member of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the LA Children’s Museum, and the State Bar Fund, and was the founder of the Compliance Alliance, the nation’s largest volunteer organization dedicated to Fair Labor Standards Act compliance. Mr. Reinis graduated from Princeton University and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where he was a staff writer for the law review. He was of counsel prior to being elected to partner.
• Jay Smith — Mr. Smith, formerly of counsel in the Litigation Department, is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office and is a member of its Toxic Tort Group. He has principally defended clients in the oil and chemical industries in products liability litigation involving claims of groundwater and property contamination. Mr. Smith has also defended clients in numerous actions involving single and multi–plaintiff toxic substance personal injury and wrongful death claims. In addition to his work in the toxic tort field, Mr. Smith has represented clients in a wide range of industries—both as defendants and plaintiffs—in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters involving breach of contract, business torts, unfair competition, and similar claims. He also has significant real estate litigation experience, including as lead trial counsel. Mr. Smith is a cum laude graduate of Bowling Green and a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School.

NEW OF COUNSEL

• Mark Freeze — Mr. Freeze is based in the firm’s Phoenix office and his practice includes environmental, toxic tort and complex civil litigation, environmental enforcement defense, and environmental counseling. He has negotiated favorable settlements for his clients with the EPA and various state environmental agencies and has obtained dismissals and recovered millions of dollars in response costs for Superfund plaintiffs. He also has defended numerous federal and state agency enforcement actions and citizen suit enforcement actions brought under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Mr. Freeze has been a visiting instructor at Arizona State University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and an instructor at numerous seminars on environmental laws and government institutes. He graduated from Baylor University and The University of Texas School of Law and was special counsel prior to this promotion.
• Michael Allan — Mr. Allan is a member of the Intellectual Property and Litigation Groups in Steptoe’s Washington and New York offices. His practice is focused on complex commercial litigation, with a particular emphasis on issues involving intellectual property. Mr. Allan has successfully litigated numerous intellectual property cases in federal courts throughout the country, as well as in mediation and arbitration proceedings. His intellectual property litigation experience involves the prosecution and defense of trademark, patent, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, and false advertising claims. Formerly special counsel at Steptoe, Mr. Allan graduated from Hamilton College and was a cum laude graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, where he participated in the law review and moot court board.
• Paul Gennari — Mr. Gennari, formerly an associate, practices in Steptoe’s Washington office, where he is a member of the Intellectual Property Group. His experience includes litigation and counseling regarding intellectual property matters, with a focus on patent litigation. He has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies in patent infringement and trade secret litigation before the International Trade Commission and District Courts, and he has significant experience with software, semiconductor, business method, and electro–mechanical patents. Mr. Gennari received a M.S. in mechanical engineering and a B.S., cum laude, from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and received his J.D. from University at Buffalo School of Law, The State University of New York, where he participated in the Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal.
• John Mogg — Mr. Mogg, formerly an associate, is a member of the Litigation Department in the firm’s Washington office. His practice covers a wide variety of complex litigation matters. Although Mr. Mogg’s practice focuses on product liability and mass tort cases, he is regularly involved in insurance matters, commercial litigation, and investigations. Mr. Mogg also has substantial experience drafting appellate briefs and arguing appeals. Prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. Mogg served as a coordinator for the successful re–election campaign of a member of US Congress and as a law clerk to the Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Mogg is a graduate of Harvard University, magna cum laude, and Yale Law School, where he was the managing editor of The Yale Journal of International Law, the notes editor of The Yale Law Journal, and an Olin Fellow.
• R. Whitney Winston — Mr. Winston is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group based in Washington and practices in the areas of intellectual property litigation, technology transfer, and strategic patent portfolio management, representing clients in litigation matter before District Courts and the US International Trade Commission and in prosecution matters before the US Patent and Trademark Office. Before joining Steptoe, Mr. Winston was General Counsel of PureWave Networks, Inc., where he represented the company in technology–oriented transactions and managed corporate intellectual property. Formerly an associate at Steptoe, he is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and George Mason University School of Law. During law school, Mr. Winston worked as a consultant to the Romanian Patent Office through the Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program and served as a patent examiner for the US Patent and Trademark Office.

NEW SPECIAL COUNSEL

• Michael Navarre — Mr. Navarre, formerly an associate, is a member of the Litigation Department in Steptoe’s Washington office. His practice focuses on government contracts and criminal defense matters. In addition to a variety of commercial litigation matters, Mr. Navarre has previously been involved in bid protests at the Government Accountability Office and the Court of Federal Claims, contract disputes before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, insurance coverage litigation, and internal investigations. He is a Vice–Chair of the Battle Space and Contingency Procurements Committee of the ABA’s Section of Public Contract Law, and he has significant experience with laws governing the accountability of government contractor personnel involved in supporting US contingency operations abroad. Prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. Navarre served for five years as a judge advocate in the US Navy. He graduated from Towson University and then was a cum laude graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law, where he was an associate editor and staff writer for the law review.

About Steptoe

Steptoe & Johnson LLP is an international law firm widely recognized for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in complex litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions. The firm has some 500 lawyers in offices in Washington, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Century City, London, and Brussels.