Squire Patton Boggs Announces Global Promotions

Global law firm Squire Patton Boggs is pleased to announce that 20 of our lawyers have been promoted to partner and two have been promoted to principal.

“I would like to congratulate each of these colleagues on reaching this well-deserved career milestone,” said Mark Ruehlmann, Chair and Global CEO. “Every one of them has demonstrated their practice expertise and legal skills, and we are delighted to recognize their commitment to our clients and their contributions to the firm. Their achievements reflect the diverse reservoir of talent across our global firm and the strength of our future.”

The following individuals have been made partners:

The following individuals have been made principals:

Partner Biographies:

Laura Aber – (Corporate, New York). Laura focuses her practice on advising corporate and institutional clients, with significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, and institutional and private equity financings. She regularly guides clients through complex, multi-jurisdictional deal structures, helping them navigate complete legal frameworks to achieve seamless transactional execution. Laura has a particular emphasis on U.S.–UK cross border M&A, where she advises clients on the unique commercial, regulatory, and structural considerations that arise in transatlantic transactions. She frequently works with UK based buyers, sellers, and investment funds on inbound and outbound transactions, ensuring coordinated execution across jurisdictions and aligning deal strategy with both U.S. and UK legal environments. In addition, Laura counsels clients on general corporate governance matters and the development and implementation of sophisticated strategic plans, including cross border corporate reorganizations.

James Bradshaw – (Corporate, London). James is an experienced corporate lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions. He provides transactional advice to corporates, private equity investors, entrepreneurs and management teams on acquisitions, investments and venturing, disposals and joint ventures. James has significant expertise in advising on complex international and multijurisdictional transactions across a range of sectors and business cultures. He has particular experience in advising on transactions across the Middle East, having lived and worked in the region, and in the aviation, travel and logistics, technology and business services sectors.

Luke Burton – (Government Investigations & White Collar, Cincinnati). Luke’s practice focuses on appellate litigation, government litigation, internal investigations and criminal defense. Luke has substantial experience in state and federal appellate litigation, as well as in all matter of disputes with government agencies. He also has particular experience in federal criminal and civil investigations, and white-collar criminal defense. Luke is also an experienced investigations lawyer, having led internal investigations of alleged misconduct ranging from fraud, self-dealing and embezzlement to violations of federal laws and regulations.

Steven Conigliaro – (Financial Services, Phoenix). Steve brings over two decades of experience counseling consumer and retail banking clients on partnership agreements, joint ventures, and regulatory compliance matters. He has been a trusted advisor to the world’s largest national banks, auto captive finance companies, fintechs, and payment card networks, processors, issuers, and acquirers. Throughout his career, Steve has led many strategic transactions and partnership negotiations including auto finance private label agreements with auto original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), whole loan purchase agreements with major point-of-sale personal loan originators, banking as a service platform agreements, and transformational bank partnership agreements with financial services technology providers.

Jeremy Dutra – (International Trade & Foreign Investments, Washington). Jeremy’s practice focuses on all aspects of international trade proceedings, including antidumping and countervailing duty investigations before US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission, evasion investigations before US Customs & Border Protection and other import-related proceedings. He represents clients before federal district courts throughout the country, the US Court of International Trade and the International Trade Commission, as well as courts of appeals and numerous state courts.

Matt Lappin – (Corporate, London). Matt is an experienced private equity and M&A lawyer who acts on a broad range of transactional matters. Matt’s private equity practice involves acting for sponsors, portfolio companies and management teams on their strategically important and often cross-jurisdictional mandates. Matt also regularly advises on buy-side and sell-side M&A processes and has significant experience in helping entrepreneurs and management teams navigate sale processes, involving both trade and private equity-backed buyers.

John Lazzaretti – (Environmental, Safety & Health, Cleveland). John focuses his practice on environmental law, with an emphasis on complex environmental litigation and regulatory challenges. John’s experience includes defending industrial and municipal clients against federal, state and private enforcement actions arising under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and common law claims. John has represented clients in challenges to regulatory actions under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and their state counterparts in courts across the country.

Lianne Mantione – (Environmental, Safety & Health, Cleveland). Lianne’s practice includes all aspects of environmental law with particular emphasis on risk management counseling, regulatory advocacy, enforcement defense, and litigation of complex environmental matters involving Clean Air Act or chemicals regulatory issues. Lianne regularly counsels clients on developing compliance and risk management strategies, with a focus on understanding the client’s operations and business strategy to ensure effective and efficient counsel. She has also defended clients in federal and state agency enforcement actions, federal rulemaking appeals, and federal and state toxic tort and mass tort actions (including class action cases), and represented clients in multiple federal and state administrative appeals.

Maura McIntyre – (Restructuring & Insolvency, Cleveland). Maura focuses her practice on financial restructuring, corporate trust matters, and workout proceedings on behalf of financially distressed companies or their creditors, including representation of debtors; indenture trustees; creditors and creditors’ committees; investors; and purchasers, in in-court and out-of-court restructurings. Maura’s insolvency and restructuring practice is bolstered by her trust indenture experience, which has included representation of indenture trustees in Chapter 11 cases, negotiations with ad hoc bondholder groups and advising indenture trustees with respect to obligations in matters concerning defaulted securities.

David Myers – (Real Estate, Leeds). David is the head of Squire’s planning team in the UK, and his practice involves acting for a wide variety of clients within the public and private sectors. He is experienced in dealing with all aspects of town and country planning matters, from applications and appeals to enforcement and judicial review. David has also taken a lead nationally on natural capital projects in what is a new developing area of law and policy.

Claire O’Connor – (Corporate, Birmingham). Claire is a highly experienced corporate lawyer with a strong focus on advising international corporates (both privately owned and private equity backed) on cross-border M&A and international, complex reorganisations as well as board advisory work. Claire excels in building client relationships at general counsel and c-suite level including, for example, with key clients NFP and BRUSH and her specialism in reorganisations provides broader-ranging, high-value advice to significant corporate clients such as Veolia, CEVA and NFP. Claire has spent her entire career with the firm, having joined as a trainee in 2010, and her extensive experience has been complemented by secondments to various clients over the years including SAICA and the Business Growth Fund.

James Pearson – (Intellectual Property and Technology, London). James advises on non-contentious matters for domestic and international clients in the technology, life sciences, gaming, sports and advertising sectors. His experience spans the commercial practice, including drafting and negotiating contracts for the supply of goods and services (including distribution and agency) and outsourcing, licensing, advertising and sponsorship agreements. He has particular expertise in advising clients on the supply of IT systems and services, including software-as-a-service, cloud computing, data centres, managed services, website and software development, licensing, integration and hosting, together with open source software and data protection issues.

Meghan Quinn – (Litigation, Washington). Meghan is an experienced, results-oriented litigator. She represents clients in a variety of complex commercial and civil litigations, including consumer class actions, multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceedings, finance and privacy-related matters, bankruptcy-related litigations, product liability and mass tort cases, construction claims, and commercial contract disputes. She defends clients in state and federal proceedings throughout the country and has been an integral part of federal trial teams.

Jessica Richards – (Corporate, Columbus). Jessica leverages her broad experience in general corporate matters to develop tailored, effective strategies designed to help clients find creative solutions and achieve their goals. She focuses on a variety of corporate transactional and commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, reorganizations, corporate compliance, corporate governance and assists companies with respect to confidential annual director evaluations. Jessica specializes in advising clients on Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) transactions.

Erin Tallent – (Litigation, Los Angeles). Erin focuses her practice on complex and high-stakes litigation involving automotive fraud and breach of warranty claims, particularly in relation to the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act and Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. She predominantly represents companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing and selling of motor vehicles. Erin is proficient in all aspects of litigation from inception through trial and has over a decade of experience defending matters before state and federal courts.

Lauren Trialonas – (Public & Infrastructure Finance, New York). Lauren focuses her practice on public finance including state and local government law and school law. She has served as bond counsel and underwriter's counsel with respect to taxable and tax-exempt bond financings and refinancing. Lauren’s experience includes assisting with bond financings for the benefit of nonprofit colleges and universities and nonprofit healthcare facilities, and solid waste facility bond financings.

Takujiro Urabe – (Corporate, Tokyo). Takujiro focuses his practice on corporate matters including venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. He has actively consulted with clients in the telecommunications, aviation, technology and software industries. His experience includes advising a non-Japan-based company in establishing and implementing its wireless business in Japan, negotiating landing rights for a US airline into Japan as well as advising on a corporate governance and compliance matter involving an investment in Japan.

Alexander Warents – (Financial Services, Miami). Alex represents borrowers and lenders in connection with a variety of commercial and project financings, advising banks, administrative agents, alternative capital providers, sponsors, and public and private companies in domestic and cross-border transactions across a broad range of industries. Alex has significant experience with syndicated and bilateral credit facilities, focusing his practice on the structuring and negotiating of debt financing transactions, including, secured and unsecured facilities, first and second lien financings, acquisition financings, project financings, cash flow facilities, asset-based loan facilities, institutional term loans and pro rata facilities.

Felix Weston – (Pensions, London). Felix advises clients in both the public and private sector on a wide range of pensions issues, from matters relating to individual members of pension schemes and general scheme governance to advising on the pensions implications of corporate transactions, buy-ins and buyouts, and contingent assets. He has significant experience of advising in relation to master trusts, and a particular interest in advising on the legal aspects of pension fund investments and taking environmental, social and governance factors into account.

Alex Wolcott – (Intellectual Property & Technology, Washington). Alex focuses his practice on intellectual property counseling and litigation for domestic and international clients across a variety of technologies, including telecommunications, automotive, consumer products, artificial intelligence, computed tomography (CT) equipment, oil & gas drilling, microelectromechanical systems and batteries. Alex has drafted hundreds of patent applications and uses his keen understanding of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to prosecute patent applications efficiently and effectively.

Andrea Zemenides – (Financial Services, London). Andrea advises clients on the finance aspects of complex structured and secured real estate finance transactions. She acts for a range of UK-based and international lenders and borrowers on both bilateral and syndicated facilities. Andrea has significant experience leading on transactions involving operational real estate assets, including acquisitions and refinancing of large care home portfolios, purpose-built student accommodation, hotels/serviced apartments and other living assets.

Principal Biographies:

Shennan Harris – (Labor & Employment, Columbus). Shennan helps employers solve – and prevent – problems through efficient, effective, personalized representation and counseling. She excels at efficiently and effectively managing all aspects of the litigation process and thinking outside the box to resolve tough problems. In addition to her dispute resolution work, Shennan counsels employers of all sizes regarding all aspects of federal, state and local employment law, including hiring, termination, wage and hour compliance, FMLA and ADA issues, federal contractor issues, and employee handbooks and policies.

Jessica Richards – (Corporate, Columbus). Jessica leverages her broad experience in general corporate matters to develop tailored, effective strategies designed to help clients find creative solutions and achieve their goals. She focuses on a variety of corporate transactional and commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, reorganizations, corporate compliance, corporate governance and assists companies with respect to confidential annual director evaluations. Jessica specializes in advising clients on Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) transactions.